White decks have cards like Solitude, which is a Swords to Plowshares plus a lifegain creature, and cards like Prismatic Ending can get rid of different permanents
Whenever chaos ensues, discard your hand
Another reason could be that WotC wanted to sell lots of sealed product in Alpha/Beta/Unlimited to generate interest
After about two years of collecting again as a hobby, Overton decided to open a shop of his own
Crush your opponents with cards like Xenagos, God of Revels, Rionya, Fire Dancer, or Helm of the Host
To paraphrase a Reid Duke line about Miracles, sometimes its better to make a decent play given the time you have and lose a bit more rather than try to make the perfect play and draw a bunch more (or be rushed later on and cease to play perfectly when it is too late to change the clock and critical to make the right plays)