I also advise steering clear of most cards that only gain life, like Feed the Clan and Natural Spring
Its been well-known for a while that there would only be 3 Meld cards in this expansion, and the third card has finally been unveiled
The treatment is perfectly defined (the card is either banned or it isnt), the timing is exact (the ban goes live the moment WotC posts), and the market response is observable in real time through secondary market prices
Its such a versatile mechanic that it is better to memorize how to deal with each significant type of counter individually rather than apply a standard rule to all of them
Im not a big fan of the other splashable snow payoffs so my guess is this is worse than just playing normal good cards, but if you somehow found yourself at The Three Seasons milling Burning-Rune Demons, it might be what you want to resort to
Beautiful artwork combined with deadly attacks make for very popular cards, and Gouging Fire ex has that in spades