Well, with Altar of Dementia out, you can take out another player by eliminating their library altogether, giving them a very narrow window to do anything by the time their next draw step comes around
They knew what they were doing putting this in the base set
Some things that may draw you into specific colors are: A really strong rare you're excited about Plenty of "removal" cards that can deal with your opponent's creatures A lot of playable cards in that color A good "mana curve" in that colormeaning lots of creatures of different costs Ideally, the colors you pick will have all four of these criteria, but if two or three of those are true, that's plenty good
No digital cutting machine
Torchics significance extends beyond its initial roles in the games
Additionally, its effect became even better over time with the introduction of Urzas Saga and the metagame shifting towards more artifact-heavy synergies