Its a 5-drop with some real card advantage potential in the late game, but you can also just use it to cantrip early on, kind of like a cycling card that reserves the creature for later use
The ability resolves and deals damage to that creature before combat damage is dealt
However, you can actually gain life twice here because their ability isnt called lifelink, instead it says you gain life equal to the damage dealt this way
There are some easy ones like Rakdos Signet, Talisman of Indulgence that can even give you coloured mana, and some like Worn Powerstone and Thran Dynamo that can help keep your Commander on the table
If live dealer tables appeal to you, practice reading round histories and bet timing
III Create Smaug, a legendary 6/6 red Dragon creature token with flying, haste, and "When Smaug dies, create fourteen Treasure tokens." Enchantment - Saga Enchantment (CTRL to add secondary) Instant Ephemerate Exile target creature you control, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control