Honestly? He can be interesting with just Death Baron. A 1/1 with deathtouch is pretty poor for BlackBlackBlack, but it can scare off even the largest attacker. Meanwhile, the Remains can bring itself back forever (as long as you have wads of black mana sitting around) and can pick up a handful of +1/+1 counters from other, bigger guys in your hand. Say, who's a zombie that is useful in your hand and can also let you ramp up the swamps? Korlash!

So, yes. The Remains aren't great, but they definitely have some interesting applications.