The Inevitable Lifestone Thread

There were quite a few of these threads in the Kong forums, so it seems inevitable that we should have one in the Steem forum as well.
One primary difference, however:
Whereas most people who make these threads are adversaries of Lifestone, I am an unabashed fan of Lifestone.
I think Lifestone in its current incarnation is slightly underpowered.
Every update I ask Grand to buff Lifestone.
These are unpopular opinions and I am aware that this is the case.

Anyway, there was a discussion on Discord in the balancing thread recently, in which it was suggested that Lifestone is a "bad design", because it allows players to pay morale for material advantage.
To respond to that point: First of all, there are other pieces which do "morale for material" as well: Lich and Gemini are the two which come most readily to mind, although there are others. Gemini is the most straightforward of these, since it twiddles the fewest number of knobs: namely, you pay 15-18 value and 4 morale and get two Gemini Twins. One Twin is probably worth about 8 points, roughly comparable to base Berserker. So when you run Gemini, you're basically saying that the value of being able to run a second Berserker in a 17th unit slot is roughly equal to 7 value plus 4 morale (plus 1 turn necessary to split the Gemini in the first place). I don't know if that math is right, but I do assume that the numbers can be tweaked to reach some level of "acceptable" if not.

Lich is a little more complicated because rather than get exactly 1 extra piece, you can create any number of extra pieces for 4 morale each. Granted, Skeletons are nowhere near as powerful as a GeminiTwin, but the ability to summon them in a crowded center is not to be underestimated. I won't go into the math on this piece here. Suffice it to say for now, however, that Lich just got a buff in v0.54 (Skeletons used to cost 5 morale each) and because of that buff will likely be under increased scrutiny for some time.

Which brings us back around to Lifestone. Unlike Gemini and Lich, using Lifestone does not itself increase the number of pieces you can run. Instead, it effectively converts one of your Minion slots into an extra Champion slot. The advantages of doing so are obvious: most Champions are stronger than Minions in all but a few fringe cases. The costs of using a Lifestone are more subtle: for starters, you net -1 morale by using a Lifestone even if you resurrect the most expensive piece possible for the tier you're running. Second, Lifestone is immobile, which makes it vulnerable to an early minion rush or a quick snipe by Thundermage. And the longer it takes you to make a champion trade, the longer it will be before you can use your Lifestone. It also costs 1 turn to resurrect the piece - a small cost to be sure, and it's not impossible to use a resurrected piece to force a tempo play by the opponent, but a cost nonetheless.

Anyway, whether you're a fan or an opponent of Lifestone usage, it's fairly clear that repeated nerfs to the piece have pushed it out of OP territory, and it now presumably lies somewhere in the "balanced" area, if toward the lower end of the spectrum.
...Or is it? Hatred for Lifestone continues unabated, and probably will continue as long as the piece exists.

One last note: guhbuh suggested the following "rework" to Lifestone, which I tweaked slightly:

This version of Lifestone is a Champion rather than a Minion, which means there's no concern about gaining extras - you get 7 champions to start and that's all you get. The incentive for using the piece then becomes a flat gain of 3 value if the LifeStone is used.
Is this edition better or worse than Lifestone as it currently exists?