You might notice that in the background of this card is a shattered horn of the massive, omnipresent effigy of Nicol Bolas
The legendary is a six-drop Vampire flyer and it gives all Black dorks +1/+1 (even your foes) and non-Black dorks -1/-1, so that's pretty compelling in a Black brew but it pumps around 20% of your foe's things and it's better in two color decks with multicolor stuff that includes Black
Don't get me wrong, it's a fine 3/1 for two that gets you two energy
You had to find a way to buff damage high enough to kill in two to three hits (Blackblade Reforged was a huge pickup back in the day!), you had to find Protection and Haste for your Commander as it was definitely going to be removed 3 or more times in a game, and you had to do this with comparatively limited access to card draw and ramp, at least compared to today, and at least if you werent playing Rafiq or someone else with green and blue
92/102 Energy Removal
Low gem rates do not automatically mean the card is expensive, but they reliably indicate where the most significant grade premiums exist