Counters are a big part of our format, whether its +1/+1s, charge, experience, or even poison
The Ancient One is an 8/8 creature that can be cast for one Blue mana and one Black mana
As an MTG card, this puts it in similar company with budget reanimation spells like Miraculous Recovery, though with the artifact flexibility that allows it to be sacced for other purposes if no longer relevant for that turn
It can come from anywhere - your hand, the battlefield, your library, or even from exile if you can figure out a way to do that
This list does have a few cards that abuse the symmetry of cards like Smokestack but the primary thing this deck is doing is benefiting from sacrificing things
Mutational Advantage You need to be in on counters for Fallout s Mutational Advantage to give you a leg up, but what a protective spell