First strike makes the creature harder to block, allowing it to reach renown, and then makes the upgrade more valuable because first strike's value is closely tied to the creature's power
(2020-11-10) You can choose two commanders with partner that are the same color or colors
At a rate of only one life point for each card you draw, this powerful enchantment can fill up your hand quickly, and you can do it multiple times per game
On the other hand, Nightveil Specter can steal lands, which is a nice upside, but because it was printed nearly a decade ago, it doesn't fix our mana for the cards it steals (it's our only theft card that doesn't), so we either need to hope that our opponent is playing blue and black cards that we can cast with our mana base or hope that we can use Nightveil Specter to steal some lands of the proper color before moving on to casting nonland cards
In Legacy, its used in Stompy lists to power out busted cards like Chalice of the Void and Caves of Chaos Adventurer