shower thoughts on Standard (my first games with Ikoria were last Friday)

I think the companions would actually be fun if they were only legal in standard (maybe pioneer) and then banished to the shadow realm after rotation. They're a fun puzzle to solve with a limited card pool and finite time horizon, but a stupid puzzle to solve forever.

Yorion's restriction should have been switched with Lutri's, or anyone else's. Yorion is an absurd payoff for how trivial the restriction is. Lurrus is stronger in older formats because the cost there is actually 0 and 3 < 5, but at least his restriction matches his design.

The biggest problem with Companions is that Legacy used to be the Brainstorm format, Vintage used to be the Workshops format, etc. and now every eternal format is the Lurrus format.

Why does Lutri have the hardest restriction to meet and the lowest payoff? Some attempt to balance limited?

I hate Flourishing Fox more than all of the Companions. It's the same genus as Edgewall Innkeeper, and no other card I've played with has so positively influenced my win rate in my opening hand.

I would take 2 lands, 2 cyclers, and a Fox over a random 7 with the cycling deck, and I don't think it's close.

Frostveil Ambush should not be a constructed playable card.

Most underhated: Elspeth Conquers Death, Witch's Oven, Growth Spiral, Agent of Treachery, Claim the Firstborn, Nightpack Ambusher.

Most overhated: Teferi, Time Raveler. The number of confusing interactions with the static ability is bad and the power level is a bit high, but maneuvering with and against Teferi are both hard and interesting problems.

Deservedly hated: Fires of Invention, Wilderness Reclamation.