At the beginning of your end step, if a player controls no creatures, sacrifice Sothera, then put a creature card exiled with it onto the battlefield under your control with two additional +1/+1 counters on it) gives me the sense that Wizards is aiming to make your exile zone into a resource all of its own
Niv-Mizzet, VisionaryNiv-Mizzet, Visionary takes the formula of "deal a damage, draw a card" and ships out the damage dealing part to other cards, unlike his predecessors
Cards like "Asari Captain" and "Eiganjo Exemplar" can grant benefits to Samurai or Warrior creatures who attack alone
These cards are well-tuned engines of aggression, recursion, and even card draw
There will be times where it is big for sure, but a two drop that you probably cant play on turn two isnt exactly ideal, and the upside is still just a large vanilla creature