One of the items that pops out at me when reviewing the recent Timeline of Vintage is that Sword of the Ages spent some time on the Restricted List.

I knew about some of the other dubious members of that list (Dingus Egg for instance), but Sword of the Ages?? During the so-called Creatureless Era? Does anybody have any stories or decklists from that era that motivate the restriction?

Quoting from Smmenen’s Alternative History of the Banned and Restricted List:

The restriction of Sword of the Ages is inexplicable. According to Beth Moursand, it was restricted because it “allows any creature-heavy deck to do a huge amount of nearly unstoppable damage.” Yet, this was a case of bad timing. As noted above, the Legends expansion ushered in the “creatureless era of Magic,” a hyperbolic description to be sure, but it was nonetheless a metagame where this card was rarely seen. It should not have been restricted.