It's situations that occur in a lot of battles though. Let's see...
-the 12 new alchemy cards
-growth
-scavenger
-mutants
-freeze
-poison
-treat damage
-procrastination
-butterfly effect
-blessing
-plate armor
-momentum
-gravity pull
I'm sure there are more, but that's all off the top of my head. With even more stuff coming out, like the thorn shield, effects on creatures are going to be a lot more common. This card is effective against every element, so it's not as "situational" as you think.
Sure, it's not a card you'd build a deck around, it's a card you'd put one or two of in your deck. It's not supposed to be over-the-wall amazing.
Something else it does, which no one seems to have realized, when a creature is placed on your opponent's side during your turn, if that creature has an ability, your opponent can't activate it on their next turn. Pretty sure that's how it works anyway, since that's how it works with ash. So you can effectively stop a creature from using its ability.