Pointed Discussion

The self-parasitic nature of Kamigawa block rears its ugly head...

Cards that specifically refer to other cards are always bad. Especially when one of the cards involved is so mediocre by itself.

I use this in an Eight-and-a-Half-Tails Commander deck. If you use this in any other deck, you're probably doing something wrong.

Seriously... don't use him without his sensei.

If you use this in any deck, you're probably doing something wrong.

fixed

Proliferate! for the...lose.

never has lifegain been so bad

This card is severely underrated. Yes, it requires you to have another card in your deck. Luckily, that card is so good (i.e. three mana for instant color protection at any given moment) that you'd run it in a lot of white decks anyway. So when you're running Eight-and-a-Half-Tails, which many times you generally just are in the first place, this card can be a powerful auxillary. Sure, it takes a while to rev up (which, granted, pretty much takes it out of the running for any DCI-managed Legacy games), but you get this thing running into the late-game and you'll be getting a ridiculous amount of life every turn. Eventually it just reaches a point where your opponent really just can't hit you fast enough to stop your rampant lifegain. But the real kicker of all of this is that your opponent can't even Bolt your Pious Kitsune or do any other such nonsense, as for a mere three mana your Eight-and-a-Half Tales can make Pious Kitsune have protection from whatever color it is that is trying to screw with you. And after the two mana kick-up, all it takes is just one mana for each spell, so if they try to double bolt you, it's just an extra mana to stop the second one.

So is this card incredibly narrow? Yes, yes it is. Is it also only viable in casual decks? Of course. But is it still a great card when its put into the right deck? You bet your Jace it is. Trust me, when this card does its thing, well, it can be one of the most ridiculous lifegain operations out there. Not a 5/5, but it is definitely a shame to have it so maligned.

This card combos well with Eight-and-a-Half-Tails

Proliferate!!! !!! !!! ... ... what? am I doing something wrong? I should check the other comments, to see if I am doing something wrong. I could be. You never know.