A sketch of a lion cub can be seen to the right of the card, and Rafiki's facial expression seems to come alive in the sketch
Making two creatures fight for one mana is only barely not worth it
Admittedly, while you do get commons and uncommons on top, saying these decks are fairly priced is disingenuous
In this case, the cards no longer need to look and feel like originals, only the proxies need to be equal to each other in the above characteristics
Combo decks might want more than this, but theyre generally geared toward finding very specific cards at any cost, so finding as many routes to reach their desired destination is also completely reasonable
Jafar, Striking Illusionist is a prime example