The main drawback to these strategies is that gaining life doesnt impact the board, which can lead to a bunch of dead draws
You can end step this to double your creature count, which is pretty nice, and seems like the primary use case, in go-wide token decks, as protection or doubling when you're ready to go
Scampering Surveyor Scampering Surveyor is Compass Gnome, but as a 3/2 for 4 mana
A lot of Horror creatures like the Nemesis of Reason and the captain himself have high toughness, which makes them difficult to destroy with combat damage
The additional advantage that Kykar, Winds Fury has is that its Spirit creature is triggered off noncreature spells
Clever Concealment and Teferi's Protection provide absolute protection, while Dawn's Truce and Heroic Intervention provide almost absolute defense that notably affects your noncreature permanents