Even if the Curtains die to a Lightning Bolt or Unholy Heat (rarely with delirium on Turn 2) after blocking the Monkey, they still blocked the Monkey before trading, when the typical auto-loss pattern is having your Turn 1 creature die to removal on the spot while your opponent gets a free Treasure and card flip
While it doesnt have any fancy enter-the-battlefield effects, Griselbrand has the ability to pay seven life to draw seven cards
For Commander, a singular opponent is difficult to balance against the goal of creating a mutually pleasant game
It revolves around Yurikos ability to flip the top card of your deck, turning its mana value into direct damage to each of your opponents
When you cannot get cheap cards you want that give you life you might as well get something really robust and powerful with the potential to gain vast quantities of life
Cogsworth, Grandfather Clocks Unwind ability grants all other characters Resist +1, giving protection to those cards