WOTC pivoted the general exploration story to a race to find the resource cosmium
With Amulet of Vigor in play and enough lands on the battlefield, casting Scapeshift to fetch two Lotus Fields, Simic Growth Chamber, Tolaria West, and Shifting Woodland unlocks a chain reaction: the bounce land returns Tolaria West, which transmutes for Summoner's Pact, which finds Aftermath Analyst
The fact that its a mass bounce, and targets all enemy nonland permanents instead of just creatures, makes Cyclonic Rift a silver bullet for dealing with certain troublesome abilities like indestructible, hexproof, and shroud
It is good because it is free not because 1/1s are good
It seems the same is true of the artists too, because neither artist we spoke to currently plays the card game