In most cases theres no real difference if an opponent loses 3 life or takes 3 damage, but there are four cards that attempt to make the hurdle of 40 life in a Commander game climbable for burn decks, and each synergizes specifically with noncombat damage
If you generate a bunch of token creatures with a commander like Rhys the Redeemed or a lot of cheap, efficient creatures, each can tap to untap a basic land, ramping your mana at unreasonable speed
Branded also works very well as an engine in a variety of decks, since the Fusion material requirements for Albion, Lubellion, and MIrrorjade are generic enough to work with many different strategies
Of particular note, monsters of the Yokai Type from the Yu-Gi-Oh
This means they offer complex and unconventional strategies for winning games rather than plain old brute force
Like all permanats lands only exist on the battlefield in any other zone be it the graveyard, library, or hand they are cards