Bears are widely used in the rules examples, when you need a simple creature without abilities
Creature - Archon Ballad of the Black Flag (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter
The sacrifice ability occasionally came in handy, guarding against mass removal even though it was never the primary motivating factor, and it was hard for decks running him to justify keeping the necessary mana untapped until very late in the game
Card prices can be dictated both by the rarity of the card and the card's utility in powerful, relevant decks in one or more formats
I think for a deck that embraces flooding the field with characters and bouncing would-be-banished characters back to your hand, the cards that let you heal (which are almost never useful in any trading card game) are wasted space here
Irencrag Pyromancer Irencrag Pyromancer is the deadly force behind a draw deck