According to the Wizards of the Coast designers, the Banding mechanic confused players and required too much text to explain
Hydra Trainer Hydra Trainer looks beyond hydras, at all the modified creatures, counter doublers and evergreen use of +1/+1 counters and says, I've got job security! Green decks can randomly have a bunch of such counters and while it might not surprise anyone, one attack with a Hydra Trainer and a trampler and it's just game over
Although a niche case, Death's Shadow can be paired with an enchantment, Phyrexian Unlife, to allow it to exist without its statistics being hindered
I think the idea was that the hammer was conveying the flavor of creating lightning
Nazgl are awesome
The second major change to the Reserved List happened in 2010, after Wizards reprinted some Reserved List cards as foils in Duel Decks and From the Vault releases