Any abilities that trigger when a creature with a certain power enters the battlefield, such as that of Mentor of the Meek, will see the token enter as a 0/0 creature before it gets +1/+1 counters
When a player chooses to attack another player in combat, attackers and blockers are declared
In return, you are able to create a Hero Token which acts as a creature with 1 Power and 1 Life, but you are able to put as many counters on it for each life you paid which increases both by 1 per counter
If you want to control the board, Sphere of Safety is a massive help since most decks can't afford to pay 3+ mana a creature to attack you
They use a slight variation of the grading system that most players are familiar with, but its intuitive
The gate deck is not nearly as scary or popular as it used to be, but it still pops up every once in a while and somehow finds a way to beat whatever I happen to be doing, even if its not as underpowered as blue red spells was back when it was the only deck I played