Exerting one of your characters to exert one of theirs is just not good enough in really any scenario
Five years ago, before Id even started writing about Magic art, Sam from Rhystic Studies did a video on Frames, what they are, how they changed over time, and ultimately how they have influenced the game
Also, if youre going to have non-Elf Creatures in the deck, why not use Hydras that are built just for +1/+1 counter synergies
With Ranar the Ever-Watchful as your Commander , you can create flying spirit tokens whenever you foretell or exile a card, steadily building board presence
(In short, does my next official game against my opponent in the same tournament count?) No, unless the tournament organizer says otherwise at the beginning of the tournament