It takes very little to make Neo Exdeath massive, which pairs nicely with cards like Rishkar's Expertise and Essence Harvest to make use of the huge body, and it does it all for a low, low mana value
The idea here is to spread the Poison around and reap the rewards, rather than taking one player out at a time (which is often the common gripe surrounding the 10 Poison counter conversation)
Kels origins were in asking, what about a sacrifice commander, someone you can build a pack around? Nocturnal Feeder This workhorse features in all four variants of the Minions packs, a basic card thats there to be sacrificed to enable your more powerful cards, like Kels, while dealing damage to your opponent and restoring your own life
Historic players are drawn to the wide range of strategies and deckbuilding possibilities, and while dominant strategies have led to bans in the past the format has remained largely untouched by the ever-shifting mentality of Standard and now the new Alchemy format
It doesnt specify that the creature needs to tap for mana, which means Eldrazi Scion and Eldrazi Spawn tokens benefit from the buff