Sure, I could toss in twelve or 15 counters, but thats not where I see Noyan Dar
(I always imagine it like being what youd get if chess had certain edge cases where rooks could fly, bishops could teleport, or for a second, pawns were driving tanks.) Since the game is built around several thousand collectible cards, and almost every card has some additional unique ability to it one way or the other, it creates an endlessly manipulable, constantly surprising experience
For that mana cost, we already have the much more effective Chain ReactionChain Reaction
So it provides defense and card advantage
While Survival was always an extremely over the top way to search for creatures, the interaction with Vengevine actually turned it into an incredible mana engine to boot (letting you play as many Vengevines as you want for just one mana each)