Stronger spells deplete more mana
Verhey mentions that the panel was assembled to have diverse viewpoints and perspectives, whether demographically or in terms of player profile
That's not hard with one power, and it also means that when this creature attacks it'll be a 2/3, which is a nice bonus
In a Disturb-heavy deck, this is an above-rate creature that gives you 1.5 cards (a common theme for blue in this set)
It makes minus loyalty abilities less painful because normally that might mean your 'walker is heading toward a dangerous place, but now
Of course were running plenty of weird tricks, like Gavel of the Righteous, Flourishing Defenses, and The Ozolith, that will let us do everything from put -1/-1 counters on our opponents creatures to creating tokens or making one gigantic attacker wielding an Equipment thats somehow getting stronger with bad counters on it