In that format, it can be oppressive because its naturally cheap and can stop blockers from doing their work, or it can just get ahead on value when paired with strong ETB effects
Some of these are exact clones (Balduvian Bears, Bear Cub, Forest Bear, Runeclaw Bear), while others are close enough, like how you pay 1 more generic mana for 2 more power with Alpine Grizzly or 2 more mana for a Golden Bear
There are toxic creatures and non-toxic creatures that also provide the same poison counters
Murktide Regent enters the battlefield with +1/+1 counters on it for each instant and sorcery exiled with its ability, letting you catapult it up from a 3/3 up to an 8/8 at most, though youll likely settle around a 5/5 or 6/6
This card also rewards decks that spend their turn drawing lots of cards at sorcery speed before combat since they are able to recover the tempo with a Glamdring hit
With that said, Affinity is quite a powerful deck in Pauper, a format thats historically more degenerate than Modern
