They often have very high Strength and Willpower stats and sometimes have the Challenger ability that makes them more powerful when challenging
The Ice Age and Alliances reprints were not legal in Standard tournament play however, and the reprints have not been added to the official card database
You play a Mountain, pass, play a Mountain next turn, cast Ashling, nobody sees anything wrong with it
Most interesting to me, though, are the many merfolk which can impact the game outside of combat using tap abilities or ETB triggers that are flashed in
Quick note: Youd still have to pay the two life to have shock lands enter untapped, as their ETB condition still applies
For this reason, alongside the card's roots as a part of Magic's first graveyard strategies, Animate Dead deserves to be on this list