The Prepare mechanic is nifty because it can go on permanents of any type. The conditional lifelink is inspired by the discussion on Prepare for Ambush about making all preparations conditional on something.

Did you borrow this from Anydria, did I borrow it from you, or did we both just end up making a very similar mechanic?

The resemblance was noted earlier over on Prepare for Ambush :) I think it's just coincidence / convergent evolution.

The heritage of this cardset's Prepare can be traced on the discussion over on Prediction / planning mechanic. JackV proposed the first version, over on the cardset comments page: > Plan (: Exile this facedown from your hand. Until the end of your next turn you may turn it face up and cast it for . If you don't, return it to your graveyard.)

Then me, Jack, and the Goblin Artisans (particularly Jenesis) riffed off each other as chronicled on Prediction / planning mechanic, to end up where we are now, > Prepare ( as a sorcery: Exile this face down from your hand. On future turns you may cast it from exile for its prepare cost as if it had flash.)

I created the Prepare for Ambush cycle, playtested, concluded it's good, created a few more such as this card; then I did nothing for two years, then came back and started making more cards :)