These creatures rarely get much credit, compared to the powerful cards they're usually enabling, and I think that's a shame.
Your opponent must know the name of the card
There are two recently printed common two cost sorceries in this genre that exile two for the next turn for cheap enough to play they are pretty pricey too (Wrenn's Resolve is sold out here and as high as 2 bucks on other sides, Reckless Impulse is also sold out here and tends to be closer to 2.50 on other sites) The only cheap is the uncommon from a limited Commander only set, Inspired Tinkering, also sold out but a cheaper 30 cents on other sites
If the target is an artifact or creature spell, it never goes to the graveyard
What Comes in an Alchemy Pack
The Blue clearly makes the populate mechanic better because you have better targets by virtue of Blue having the easiest time turning creatures into tokens, but I submit that Blue makes the rest of the deck better