Now, a barrage of upkeep triggers from Subversion and Palace Siege wont exactly lead to an engaging play experience, but they do reinforce a unique take on the archetype: slowly draining the table until one player finds themselves at a slightly lower life total than the others
Conspicuous Snoop made me hopeful for Goblins in Historic and gave us some great new combos to work with in Modern
Its an interactive take on removal, since it lets the targets stick around for abilities etc., but it is still very powerful
(Look at the top X cards of your library, then put any number of them into your graveyard and the rest on top of your library in any order.) At the beginning of your end step, surveil X, where X is the number of tapped Assassins you control
Its also got flashier animations, sound effects, and boards to play on, if thats your bag, and I definitely missed the heft of a big creature slamming into a foes defender