I like it but agree with your self-critiques. To that, I'd add that I think OTL is the more valuable card. If I decide to drop a card, it would be 1x AER before I dropped 1x OTL. 2 creatures on board can still be slept or ordered or stalled with frontline. OTL is an excellent finisher because it avoids this. AER is a nice supportive/flavor spell.