(Tarmogoyf's reminder text in Future Sight did hint that the card type was coming.) The core of the Lorwyn design team (Aaron Forsythe, Paul Sottosanti, and myself) did the majority of the second half of planeswalker design
You can use it to line up combo pieces and late-game finishers with minimal investment
The one innovation was that, while Innistrad only had DFCs that were a creature on both sides (and one planeswalker on both sides at mythic rare), Dark Ascension had two DFCs that started as artifacts, one of which wasn't even a creature on the back face
Ezuri, Renegade Leader gives the elves deck a win condition in the command zone, and some protection from board interaction
Lands (22) Spells (38) 2 Brainstorm 4 Counterspell 4 Force of Will 4 Accumulated Knowledge 1 Impulse 1 Capsize 3 Intuition 4 Merchant Scroll 4 Donate 4 Illusions of Grandeur 4 Sapphire Medallion 3 Fire Sideboard The combo of Donate + Illusions of Grandeur seemed over the top in those days, giving you a twenty life boost and saddling your opponent with a liability that would rapidly become unwieldy (and take twenty life points with it when they couldnt keep up)
Even cheap cards like Mire Triton or Guildsworn Prowler can stop terror decks from getting thanks to Deathtouch The rest of the meta is around the same, as Pauper has many viable options, and it's very diverse with a pool of different decks you can choose from