I think I can clarify now that I understand. What they are doing is using their "safe browsing" hidden partial-hash-based list to determine if a site "deserves"

I think I can clarify now that I understand. What they are doing is using their "safe browsing" hidden partial-hash-based list to determine if a site "deserves" to be subject to the EasyList/EasyPrivacy lists. So it's selectively choosing where the lists are applied unlike your awesome tool. I have confirmed even in current Chrome they are already downloading these lists (in Windows at ~/AppData/Local/Google/Chrome/User Data/Subresource Filter)...both the indexed and unindexed sets have the EasyList licenses. Also, from my quick perusal of the code, I don't believe they apply cosmetic filters. People work hard on those lists, not sure they appreciate selective application of them. Also, the statement "Google’s ad blocking capabilities will be on par with the best tools available from day one" is impossible like you claim because it's only a subset of what other blockers would do unless the author is claiming that not-blocking ads means better or on-par capability.