Wizards already set a precedent for this by featuring Tom Bombadil in Tales of Middle-earth , who wasn't featured in the LotR movies, so it makes sense
Homelands was developed by a different group of people than those who had created the rest of Magic sets up to that point
Three new commanders join the hallowed ranks of the Simic halls, with the inclusion of Hakbal of the Surging Soul
The mechanic as a whole seems quite hard to deal with since its on an emblem and its operating in a zone thats difficult to interact with, just like with dungeons
The first striker gets to attack first, and deathtouch assigns only 1 damage to each blocker, so it takes a lot of creatures to deal with something like this
If the uptick did anything useful or impacted the board, it could even be a reasonable card