Under the "old" rules, you did not die until the end of the current phase (regardless of your life total), so you could Contract all day long even at zero life and simply cast a game-ending Drain Life to decimate your opponent
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight Gisela, Blade of Goldnight is a fun combat-oriented commander
Until the advent of land cycling creatures, Krosan Tusker and Explosive Vegetation seemed like the only feasible solutions to get a third color of mana in a draft
They can make the choice to sacrifice it for three mana, but then everyone else draws a card
Conclusion Battles have a lot of potential in the future of Magic, and just as we've seen with creatures and other permanents over the past few years, they're another step on the road to making the game more permanent-based and combat-oriented
Synergy The second main metric for choosing your decks ramp is synergy