A lack of red or green makes me slightly suspicious as it cuts off easy access to the wombo-combo of double strike and trample, but tricks and equipment that grant flying probably make up for that
They both have numerous modes that actually impact the game in important ways in their respective deck shells, and are almost never dead draws
Gavin, the lead set designer, noticed that my White Auracite design from the Commander set fulfilled our mechanical needs and had a fairly high-profile concept, so we swiped it (and got an extra mana added to its cost somewhere along the way)
They are a core element of many FINAL FANTASY games, and even in games where jobs aren't explicit, they are present in characters' designs
We'll give you a canned article I wrote a couple of weeks ago next week, and then return later.
This deck needs a lot of mana, so just keep your opponents strategy in check while playing lands turn after turn