Surge has more general utility, as in addition to protecting a Mentor or a Serra Paragon, it can also stop Invoke Despair in its tracks, since you gain hexproof as well
Others are immune to being countered by blue or discarded by black
Soul-Scar Mage It may not have haste like a certain other 1-drop on this list, but Soul-Scar Mage is still more than efficient enough to be a relevant threat
You also want to ensure that you can either protect your creatures in the event of a board wipe or rebuild as quickly as possible after one, and that's where a strong mana base comes into play
Starting the game with 4 Life and a standard 5000 power stat, her design exploits the synergy of both colors, allowing players to utilize yellow cards that manipulate health pools alongside blue cards that focus on card draw
Notable decks that play stage 2s: -Gardevoir (once you have a stage 2 attacker setup you have energy acceleration from Gardevoir ex) -Charizard (your stage 2 attacker supplies itself with energy) -Chien-Pao (the only stage 2 in the deck accelerates energy) What currently meta stage 2 deck actually needs NUE