I don't have the playtest data from this card to know how well it was received and how much of these feelings of disappointment were real or just based on a bunch of other factors. I don't know if you played in a draft with this card, so I guess we would need Chris to bring his perspective. From what I've seen in the video, Chris says that newer players have had issues with these two mechanics, and Jason gets confused by thinking of how to combo with Kitchen Finks, but I really don't know what to take out of it in a vacuum.
In my own experience, I participated in a Build-your-Own draft where two players designed this same card independently (I did it as a 3/3 for 1GG, someone else did it as 2/2 for UG). From what I gathered, we had some very inexperient players (I've been told that one of the players was confused by the term 'permanent' in our card review round, for example), but no issues came up with these cards and they were played as intended.
Our experiences might vary greatly, especially considering that the play contexts are very different, but I can't help but wonder if this sense of confusion doesn't just comes from people watching the video and the first thing mentioned was this problem. Even Chris says that after telling players how Evolve works, the rules issues are fairly minor. I've played commanders with new players and helped running the Gatecrash prerelease, so I know the questions that come up because of Evolve are always numerous because the mechanic is what it is. It is always the same issue with learning that the trigger checks twice, and you never get the same question after you answer it once.
Now let's imagine that the players still get salty and tilting after discovering how the card actually works during gameplay:
• It is not a in-your-face powerful card, and it will very hardly signal players that it is a high pick, so the chances of it being picked over an important card is fairly low.
• It is a 2-drop that depends on other creatures to work. Considering that your cube is somewhat balanced, a missed +1/+1 counter turn three or four should still leave you room to win the game. This card wasn't going to win the game by itself anyways, and even trying to interact with it in a wrong way is advancing your board position.
• Worst case is if the issue happens repeatedly, none of the players notice, and someone wins or loses the game with it. This can very well happen, just as any other rule interpretation issue in Magic. Don't think there is anything to be done in this case.
Even in the worst case scenario, I don't believe that this card is any worse then any of the finalists. Unless you have tilted 4+ of your regular players with these rules issues, it will still do more good than harm to your cube format.
(I keep writing these bibles here. Considering that the coolest discussions in this forum come out of people disagreeing in the comments, I'm fine with that
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