At the time, land theme seemed to just mean ramp with a light graveyard theme enabled by a generic Jund value package
There are so many original characters, creatures and concepts to cram in, and only so many existing cards that are a thematic fit
This deck died down over time, especially when Mox Opal was originally banned (Mox Opal is back, but there are plenty of stronger combo options in Modern than Cheerios)
That said, we already have a pretty powerful black discard deck in Standard, with cards like Liliana of the Veil and Bandit's Talent
Al Bhed Salvagers's ability will trigger when an artifact is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, even if that artifact wasn't a creature
This strategy cares nothing of quantity, only quality