mtg card anatomy Expanded – Slawomir Maniak - Magic: the Gathering Artproof 4x Expanded Anatomy | Strixhaven

Bristly Bill, Spine Sower

A sac outlet (Carrion Feeder) + a recurring zombie (Gravecrawler) + a death payoff (Diregraf Captain / Undead Augur) is your repeatable value loop assemble it and the game tilts

Or at least play them

They reprinted Exquisite Blood in a Commander precon (technically it was in Jumpstart (2020) and added to The List that same year, those are not reliable ways to obtain a copy and are a clear reason why Bloodthirsty Conqueror is a chase card from Foundations )

Having card quality and draw on a creature is also really nice as it allows you to increase the consistency of decks which rely on high creature counts such as Opposition decks

Taken as a package Barricade does a hell of a lot for its low mana cost, in enough matchups to see Standard sideboard play at the very least