I think trading card game art has a ratchet effect. Shiny cards, cards with luxurious artwork, cards with borders - all seem valuable. And worthy of purchase! Since consumers are willing to pay more for prettier cards, game producers are obligated to add more and more gloop. Eventually almost every card has some kind of "thing" happening. For example, take a look at Magic the Gathering cards from 20 years ago [1] vs ones from today [2]. Today's cards have more gloop.

[1] https://gatherer.wizards.com/sets/7E

[2] https://gatherer.wizards.com/sets/EOC