you never seen emotionless then. The perspective and coloration of the Metwo evokes what is intended: menacing. I can see why people think it’s plain, since the placing of Giovanni in it is quite weird. Also it is far from the best Mewtwo out there, yes. it still carries exactly that emotion tho. Same for the Ho-Oh. It is a card that shall evoke freedom and happiness. It is just not intended to show a fierce beast, which Ho-oh isn’t to begin with. Calling it no artistry is also a very uneducated term to describe your stance. You can find it boring, but the illustration is very well executed in both cards - not only those difficult perspectives but also the color choice. I hate to play the “I studied art and illustration” card, but I did. Maybe you should find better wording for what exactly you dislike instead of calling it plainly bad.
The Charizard you showed is nothing special either. The whole illustration maybe good, but the crop of the card is quite bad. Moreover this card has less artistic value if you want to throw this into the ring. It has no distinction in art style from most anime on TV. Bringing up that term and than choosing what is the simplest art style in anime possible doesn’t make a good point. The card itself has been done better in the TCG before - one was in Crown Zenith.
Lastly, “most people would agree” is never a good point to make in pop culture. History showed that the majority of people has no good taste in anything at all and is drawn to the safest solution possible. Hence why the worst pop songs are often the most famous ones.
