With the threaten effect in the mix it gets even better, especially if youre in Black/Red and you have some cheap sacrifice outlets It is a little sad it cant buff itself, as that would have made it significantly better, but offering +1/+0 to something every turn does do enough to improve combat for you often enough for this to be fine Red always gets a card at high rarity that is super wacky and potentially powerful, but really impractical for Limited, and thats what this is
For as long as it remains exiled, you may play it, and mana of any type can be spent to cast that spell
In a similar vein, Ruthless Technomancer can provide a ton of excellent utility by producing treasures and enabling reanimation
Thats a pretty deece combo, and then you see it also has that lovely big-butt Commander statline of being a 2/4 for three as well
Grist, the Hunger Tides first ability states, As long as Grist, the Hunger Tide isnt on the battlefield, its a 1/1 Insect creature in addition to its other types. This is a characteristic-defining ability that applies to Grist at all times