Many card illustrations are steeped in Japanese storytelling, folklore, or natural beauty
For example, a card might say, Legendary Creature Elf Druid
If you want this ability combination, this version is a third of the price of the rainbow edition, making it a smart choice
Alternatively, you can keep a nonland card on top if you have multiple Map tokens so that you can load up a creature with +1/+1 counters guaranteed
They are popular for vintage openings or for collectors who want to own a piece of TCG history.
The Sun & Moon era would later try different styles for their GX cards to great success, but these early sets did struggle with a reliance on this style which ended up rendering many of its Ultra Rare cards a bit lifeless