Both. I love them. They enable the attrition archetype. Its a beautiful deck that's always fun to build and play. If more effects like these were printed, I would run them too.
Disappointing. People in my usual group slam Cruel and go deep in grixis as soon as they see it. You need to draft Cruel control and 11-for-1 someone to teach them respect for the card.
I thought Bring looked sweet and had it in a tri slot but eventually cut it because it was just too clunky and underpowered for my format. If it said nonland card, I would probably run it.
Is Permeating Mass good? I think I actually like it. It looks like a fun and balanced answer to aggro matchups. I can imagine it backfiring a tad though.... I actually have no idea how it plays out at all.