While one mana is pretty easy to pay, the ward effect has the potential to keep your creature protected across several turns, or at least tax your opponent so they cant do multiple things in a turn
1) Define the table you are building for (yes, before card choices) Commander is a social format with a rulebook attached, not the other way around
Things like the potential to miss and the potential to put cards you need at the bottom of your deck
90s Spider-Man and X-men Saturday mornings ruled
A whooping 8 mana to get a 7/7 non-flying dragon that you can pay 3 red mana to get another +1/+1 counter in a roundabout way
Blast From The Past covers the first eight Doctors, in a deck themed around Historic permanents (Artifacts, Sagas, and Legendary permanents)