The ability to turn off life gain is important for decks that can deal a finite amount of damage, and, unlike Stigma Lasher, we can control who we hit with its ability, which functions outside of combat
Of course, the National Championships stamp on the artwork, which immediately makes it much rarer, has led to this particular version of the card being very valuable indeed
You can tap the Cradle to add green mana equal to the number of creatures you control
I dont expect this to break any deck thats not already broken, but it should make a great companion for Branching Evolution or Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider
Take out Seal, since the 500 boost for your vanillas isn't worth losing your entire ED (especially since the ED has so many good cards available)