Decks that want to play counters are almost always control decks, and control decks would much prefer to gain life rather than cause opponents to lose life, so all things being equal they would have preferred to play with Absorb but there were other considerations that forced most of them down the black road instead
It gains lifelink and haste until end of turn
Malcator, Purity Overseer This card is a flicker target, for sure
Jokes asides, there is this unboxing video showing more (spoiler: I dont see jigglypuff): Pokemon Go Version: uno2512001600 275 KB uno2612001600 345 KB Another fake
It's a small value engine, but it is definitely not among the most powerful artifacts in the game like Black Lotus, the five Moxes or Time Vault
Given that white happens to be the prime colour in this set, we did get more blue colours than anything else