(10/2/2025) Any other mana you add during combat will still be lost as normal when moving between steps of combat
While it is not such a big swing on the board as the Angel the versatility and reliability of it make it a superior life gain card overall
Being able to attack unblocked could allow you to take out a player who thinks they're safe behind a big board, and it can also help you benefit from combat damage triggers
Excess damage spills over onto the second blocker, and so on, until all the damage is used up, or all the blockers have taken damage equal to at least their toughness
Better yet, it keeps the monks coming whenever a new shrine arrives
If you wanted to go a bit further with this build, I would recommend Breath of Fury and Surge to Victory as super-easy ways to win off having a bunch of monk tokens, or cards like Dream Halls which can trivialise our mana issues