He was able to keep the life-gain effect, although for 1 less life
Hexing Squelcher takes care of the other important hurdle facing your Gruul cards are counterspells, normally the Island-lover will hold up something like an Essence Scatter or Negate and waste your big spell before it resolves
By casting it, players can deal 2 damage, and by casting another instant with 3 mana value or more, they can cast another, reaching the 4 damage required to give you a card draw during the end step
With the high starting life total and the inclusion of Commander damage, life gain strategies are not generally considered very powerful in the format
Below is an overview of the creatures most commonly played in decks with Pod according to its EDHREC entry as of this writing
This means that effects that trigger off sacrificing creatures or even just creature deaths work pretty well with Fling