None of the dorks you can sensibly use with Channel return you a bunch of life or suitably protect you to make it consistent or safe enough to be a good strategy
The deck starts by casting efficiently-costed creatures with strong abilities including Finneas (vigilance, reach, counters, card draw), Valley Questcaller (anthem effect), Burrowguard Mentor (grows with your army size)
You can also get some extra value out of impulse draw by running cards like Squee, the Immortal and Eternal Scourge, since they can always be played from exile
Summary Black offers versatile commanders like Horobi, Erebos, and Toshiro, enabling graveyard play, lifegain hate, and efficient spells
If a Group Hug deck doesn't have a win con, it isn't Group Hug