Swords to Plowshares is not what you might consider as a life gain card but a good number of games have been saved and then won with the Plowing of your own guy for life, not ideal situations but better than death and all from a card you were playing purely as a removal spell
A real-life activity that embodies red/green is Circling ( la the Authentic Relating community), which in part emphasizes setting aside narratives and frames and just being present , in the moment, with yourself and other people
Yes, giving lifelink to certain vampires is annoying, but cheating expensive vampires into play can be backbreaking
Each creature can only have one role per player at a time, a decision which principal game designer Ian Duke said kept players from stacking as many roles as possible onto a single creature
For me, one of the ways Magic has always stood apart is with its commitment to exploring those things