See Shifting Allegiances for general comments on the cycle.

This one is somewhat unfortunate in that if it kills a creature, you can't move it in time to keep the Aura around. I think it'd actually be less frustrating if it were -3/-0 (or -4/-0 or something). (Although I guess that's not black any more...)

Mmm. I think I liked the stress produced from this card when I first designed it. But players don't like stress as much as designers do. I mostly kept it as it is because I couldn't think of a good black ability I wasn't already using at common off the top of my head.

Also of note: The activation went way up. That's because this card is a pain to plan attacks around... something you shouldn't have to put up with regularly in common.