Either way, the defending player does not lose any points from their life total
Realize that if we wanted, Naturalize could be written out like this: The point of this is that the difference between a modal card and other choice cards is a thin line that could easily be shifted by templating
With all sorts of wild ways to make Goblin creature tokens, you can reliably deal damage to your opponents every turn
I highly recommend running a lot more ramp than you think you should (and a few ways to grant Haste!)
That being said, there are definitely some situations where you just have to drop a Flare defensively to stay alive especially to take out an enemy Narset, Parter of Veils
Morbid Opportunist ($3) Commander staple, good art, awesome foiling, price is far too low