If you're in Rakdos, you'll probably have another Lizard, so you can just swoop in and grab a big boy. The "lot of work" feels mostly like the high mana cost... But it's a threaten and a 4/2 for 5 mana and 1 piece of cardboard, that's not awful.
I mean, you're not wrong. But Zealous Conscripts was a very powerful card, and a rare.
If this was zealous conscripts good at uncommon, it would be format warping.
