In a way, you choose what to proliferate by choosing which permanents or players to increase the counters on
While the pose Nicol Bolas is positioned in on the card is not identical to Lapeas fan art, by simply rotating the dragons limbs you can see that the silhouette and even many of the fine details of the artwork are identical
It can't be a natural part of the creature
Whenever means many times if this thing remains alive for several turns
I decided to just stick with my decision and proceed to play against the first of three leagues
For example, if your commander has the ability to gain a lot of life, you might build a Commander deck with cards that benefit from maintaining as high a life total as possible, and focus on out-enduring your foes - or you might use your life total as a resource, burning through it to fuel powerful abilities and relying on your commander to keep yourself from succumbing