The incidental Lifelink that Solitude brings with it makes it so that slower white decks have a decent chance against Burn or Prowess, which would otherwise just run them over
Fantasy setting, or real life
Plus, these counters can't be interacted with, so we don't loose all our progress if Minthara gets removed we only have to play her again
Activate Bartolom del Presidio to sacrifice that fourth creature, thanks to Ygra, Eater of All, Experimental Confectioner triggers, and creates a fresh Rat token that you can again sacrifice with the vampire knight
Remember you can do weird stuff like assign this to block and turn it face up, at which point you get the mana and the creature it blocked is still considered blocked, but you don't lose the land