Its no surprise that the Top 100 metagame of #GPPIT was roughly 90% white-incorporating strategies
The Moxen and Black Lotus, lands like Tolarian Academy, the Affinity mechanic, Stoneforge Mystic, Aetherworks Marvel all of these circumvent the traditional flow of a game and allow you to rocket, if not outright jump, straight to the finish line of your decks game plan
Years ago, many people were still blind to the value (or potential value) pokemon had as an established card game/collectable, and now its been the largest grossing childrens (classification only, we all know its beyond that) franchise ever and people are aware of the value
Just to be explicit, it's because it's quite likely that later on while drafting you'll open up copies of the Rares that you already got from your early-opened packs
Sanctum of Shattered Heights
That he is a 2/1 in addition to all this other stuff is just pushing the power level over the top of everything we have seen in a one-mana creature, and his printing will remain a controversial thing for some time