According to Wizards of the Coast, this card was subtle, but powerful and the benefit that it provided came at too low a cost. Due to the probe functioning as a cantrip (draws a card) and costing a single Phyrexian mana, it allowed players to peer into their opponent's hands for the often negligible cost of two life
While a 1/1 might not be much to write home about, as soon as you get ten permanents in play and you get the City's Blessing, all your Saproling creatures get +2/+2 and suddenly become 3/3 threats
The only problem was that by this point, it was clear that Bitterblossom wasn't actually that good in Modern, meaning its usefulness outside of Commander and Cube was low
But the rare card also has a single ability called 10,000 Needles, which is excessive in a way that only Final Fantasy abilities can be excessive: Whenever this creature attacks, it gets +9999/+0 until end of turn. Do you need to deal 10,000 damage to another creature in a game of Magic ever
Tier placement may shift as more data is collected