The life loss is more than paid for thanks to Tallyman's lifelink ability, leaving us with a creature that provides a relatively easy-to-trigger source of card advantage
The original Archenemy and its sequel are great, and the latter is especially flavorful, but theres really no substitute for Commander
Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis was printed in June of 2019 and didnt make it to the end of the summer
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Explore by itself is a ton of value -- you guarantee your next land drops and are buffing your army -- but it's especially good here due to synergy potential with +1/+1 counter payoffs (Tributary Instructor) and graveyard payoffs (Deeproot Historian)
Meanwhile, Virtus the Veiled turns into a 1-shot killer when paired up with Wound Reflection or the new Archfiend of Despair