Serra Ascendant turns a single mana into a massive lifelinking threat, which is why it still shows up in many of the best commander staples lists for white decks
Instants and sorceries are a type of spell that never enter the battlefield they only go onto the stack and once they resolve or are removed from the stack they enter the graveyard
Keep in mind that these are all prerelease prices and will change
There is an occasional exception to that as a few of the APs remaining from very early editions were signed with a silver pen
His strategic value comes from his Fortune Hunter ability, which lets you search for the top four cards of your deck for an item upon play, combined with Put it to Good Use, which allows him to be played for zero ink by exerting four existing items
The Final Fantasy versions dont quite have the statlines to dominate developed boards, but they still give every deck a reasonable late-game punch basically for free while reducing the rate of mana and color screw
