The miscut rule of thumb applies on non-inverted back versions of this error (needs to show a 2nd card for anyone to care about it)
Playing them early makes them hard to remove and will almost always give you benefits
His other ability, the most important one, states, "whenever Squall deals combat damage to an opponent (which you could do twice if he attacks alone) you'll get to return a permanent that costs 3 or less to the board from your graveyard
This time around, its cheaper (albeit a sorcery), you have complete control over where the counters go, and Proliferate further magnifies the value of these counters
And life was a bit bleak in a lot of stories because well, it was
Sage of the Beyond is fairly expensive and doesn't provide a lot of power to back up its price tag