(The starting configuration is one generation after a "Methuselah" pattern known as the Acorn, by the way: if left undisturbed it will grow for over 5000 generations before stabilizing.)
This puzzle is sort of like a dropquote based on Conway's Game of Life. Using logic, the rules of the Game of Life, and English word-pattern recognition, you can find the letter in each grid square and trace back the history of the cell evolution since t = 0. As it turns out, the letters in each cell are as follows, with the starting position of the eight cells at t = 0 marked in pink.
(The starting configuration is one generation after a "Methuselah" pattern known as the Acorn,
by the way: if left undisturbed it will grow for over 5000 generations before stabilizing.)
The text in the grid spells out YOU MAY BURN THIS CARD TO PREVENT THIS MINION FROM BLOCKING. This is text from a card called "Creeping Infection" in the game Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, and CREEPING INFECTION, which also can be taken as describing the behavior of the cells, is the answer to the puzzle.