It definitely makes him scary with some big drawbacks, but that was the intention ;) - Commander's design, as opposed to Brigadiers push-for-damage strategy, is to be able to get over singular, huge targets
If you're running Machina Fortress, Train Connection, Special Schedule or Scrap Recycler (more on him later), then you might not actually want to run this guy as shuffling your grave can be counter productive
Ampharos doesn't have a Poke-Power or Poke-Body but it does have two moves, the first move is called Acceleration Bolt and this move does 30 damage for only one electric energy card
Venomspout Brackus Rarity: Uncommon TYPE: Creature SUBTYPE: Beast CMC: 7 Mana cost: USD: $0.14 EUR: 0.10 TIX: 0.04 EDHREC RANK: 27834 (5/5) , : This creature deals 5 damage to target attacking or blocking creature with flying
The third was fully used from the existing EDH mentioned above, which was already widespread at the time