They capture flavor, format impact, and collector appeal in equal measure
And sacrificing lands isnt that bad if you follow with Splendid Reclamation
If there arent exactly six Creatures available to be targeted, Hex cannot be cast
While its better known as an interaction spell, stapling any amount of mana acceleration to a 2 mana counter is ridiculously efficient, and there are only a handful of counterspells in the game that would be considered better even after 30 years
Commander Hazel of the Rootbloom also creates more copies of tokens, generating even more Mana the next turn
Fog + Holy Day + Darkness Ive talked down about Fog and similar effects like Holy Day and Darkness, but they have one advantage over many cards that introduce modality or add more text to prevent all combat damage: Theyre incredibly efficient