This entire endeavor was well-planned and carried out well, resulting in LTR being one of the best-selling sets in Magics history
Junkblade Bruiser is an example of an underwhelming expend effect, as it doesnt do much and it isnt repeatable
It paid off big time and formed an incredible story I still think about decades later
However, its most likely that it was Costas card
The flip condition seems fair: play two Spirits or Arcanes, collect two ki counters, then flip
This might have been another reason to ban Emrakul, the Promised End in Standard, with both two or three card types in your graveyard and three or four artifacts in play, including Clue tokens, the Statuary itself, Servos and more, you could get an Emrakul for 5 or 6 mana