It kills stuff, doesnt die, pressures, and defends
If you drop to as low as 20, youre barely over a two thirds chance to hit two of the specific kind of card you need
Combo Winter (1998) I mentioned before that in old days, Wizards really liked their fast mana, and perhaps no single card exemplifies this better than Tolarian Academy
Good sacrifice targets usually fit one of these categories: Enters value: creatures like Solemn Simulacrum or Elvish Visionary that already replaced part of their cost Dies value: creatures with death triggers, recursion, or graveyard payoffs Mana value 3 or 4 creatures: these create the best early Emerge curve Artifact fodder for Emerge from artifact: eggs, Wellsprings, Clues, Blood tokens, and similar pieces Recursive creatures: threats that come back from graveyard or exile Creatures you wanted in the graveyard anyway: because some decks treat the graveyard like a second hand with worse lighting The practical sweet spot is often mana value 3 or 4
It's a diverse field in standard right now: with Theros on the scene, there isnt really a settled top tier