Within just a few turns, attached to the right creature, it can activate its ultimate quickly and ramp you above the competition
Once you internalize that, the card evaluations below become obvious: ask of every card, is this a source or a payoff, and does the rest of my deck cover the other side? Best lifegain sources (the engines) You want repeatable, incremental gain lots of small triggers beat one big lifegain spell, because payoffs like Vito or Archangel of Thune care about the number of times you gain, not just the total
So if you want to build a collection thatll gain value over time, here are some options for you
Below, you won't see Vivi Ornitier, the Chocobo MTG commander or any of the precon deck leaders
4 Deadly Cover-Up Wipe The Board And Your Opponents Memory Sometimes very specific effects in Magic can only see the light of play when they come attached to other, more maindeckable cards
The more generically powerful your colorless columns, the more youll reward players for taking this approach