something interesting to note is peoples takes on value the reason we are fond of this creature based decks is the power level when it hits curves to just seal away fast and easy wins.

Back then bears and hillgiants were terms of average utility creatures. Now if you are playing a hill giant with +1/+1 more i.e. 4/4 plus it is considered trash and now overall removal cards are far more accessible giving removal less impact and selection quality needs to increase
anyways this has sparked a little interest in me to get back on mtga so thanks for taking the initiative to start this im sure I'll reach mythic in no time.

Night clubber is certainly an amazing uncommon, and it actually is very good against the best deck - brokers as it hits gathering throngs, inspiring overseers, and the 1/1 lifelink flier. The problem here is that black is pretty far behind white overall... so best uncommon probably has to go to disciplined duelist if you take in the whole context of the format. But standalone... night clubber might be there

as far as equipment goes it's not a huge part of the format. The +2/+1 trample citizen shovel is good, but really only in citizens decks otherwise it's a bit too slow. Quick draw dagger is actually quite good in this format particularly if your deck has a lot of ground creatures it ends up being a 2 for 1 a lot of the time with a nice little +1+1 buff left over. Citizen crowbar is meh, i'll play it if I have to or in a citizen themed heavy deck

I remember when it was can you get a 1/1 turn 1, 2/2 turn 2, 3,3 turn 3, etc, that was a good deck

now if you cant beat that ur a really bad deck

the baseline is 1/1 turn 1 2/2 turn etc etc now

Well here is the thing about understanding power as well (mind you i have not yet played this set)
Sometimes the best draft decks comes from the worst colors. As people are fighting for GW that makes more people have divided decks and if it were true that black is extremely far behind it will just be the splash color i.e. if building esper deck black is the color you prioritize cutting so it sends very direct signals blocking out RB, BW, and other color combos so pack 2 rewards far greatly.

One should never focus on color

But anyways I plan on jumping into the scene to see for myself now.

@crunkt yeah but the true balance came in knowing to skip the 1/1 and go towards 2/2 with a decent amount of balancing 3/3
and what makes a pro is knowing when to attack a 2/2 into a 3/3 even when you dont have the pump or removal spell in hand sure you end up losing the 2/2 but in a lot of well timed and calculated situations it allows you to push 2 points of damage where you would otherwise had missed it.

Nowadays truth be told is a far less skillful format so when you say you were spoiled most people that navigate those times just have a slight edge in todays meta as the power creep has been insane allowing for worser players to have a chance to win.