I play several card games that use the Duel Masters system and I cannot understand why you think you didn't succeed at improving lands. Almost all of my worst experiences in Magic have involved land. It's one thing for drama to involve top decking a lightning helix for game; it's quite another for it to involve just not being able to do stuff. While obviously Magic is stuck with lands regardless of what's better, is R&D really on board with frustration at being unable to play as a positive?

Obviously, different people can enjoy different things, but if you can always hit your N drop on your Nth turn every time in every game, I think it would make Magic a significantly worse game on numerous vectors. I get that not drawing mana when you need it can be frustrating, but always drawing it, is also problematic, and I believe in a way that takes a lot of the excitement out of the game.

Can monowhite have Lifelink on its typical conditional damage spells, like Divine Arrow? Sort of like a situational monocolored lightning helix

The problem of putting lifelink on damage spells is they starting feeling like drain spells which is very black in flavor.

Since red can deal damage and green can gain life, can red-green get a lightning helix effect?

There’s a difference between what we could and we would do. We could do it.

Do you think a supplemental set could be made where every card already exists in some form, but they’re all color shifted to colors it also works in? Such as lightning helix in black, Serra angel in black green, etc. sort of planar chaos, but completely within the color pie.

That would be a very hard set to make. Exceedingly hard.

Lightning Helix doesn't feel BR. Black's life gain is usually tied to its damage, so if we treat the damage as the red side, the life gain feels out of place.

The point is monoblack and red/white can do it, so no matter than mana spent, you’re allowed to get the effect. If the effect had to be white/black, black/red, white/red and monoblack, I’m not sure you’d get a design.

Is there any chance of lightning helix being reprinted in standard?

Not a big chance.

What are the chances of lightning helix being reprinted on our next visit to Ravnica?

That’s mostly a development question.

I'm curious what you think about Lightning Helix and the color pie? It takes two effects normal to their colors (burn and life gain), puts them together (fine for a gold card) and then makes an effect that is usually seen in a different color (life drain, usually in black). Does this cause issues or confusion in the color pie?

No. Occasionally a monocolor effect can also be done in another two-color combination.

Can red-green get lightning helix?

Not really. The pieces are there but it doesn’t fit holistically.

But wait, Lightning Helix is a RW spell that does a Black ability. Could you not shift effects around in this way until your 4 color card does nearly anything?

Draining is a black ability and also a red/white ability. That happens sometimes.