This comes down to really the collector communities opinions on what is acceptable and what isn't
Thats fine if those cheap versions of characters are decent includes in your deck, but theres a whole list of floodborn characters that simply dont have a cheap enough or effective enough early game play to Shift onto
Or, to put things in a more modern context, let's take a look at another brand-new Eldritch Moon card, Courageous Outrider
The goal here is to put +1/+1 counters on your other Creatures, turn them into Mutants, and then sacrifice them to draw a bunch of cards
While you can't get 3 instances of Mana Leak for 5 mana that isn't really a thing, you are not often countering 3 separate spells at once
While the box toppers are not foil, they do have a special high-gloss treatment