Originally, it represents the creatures of Eldraine's Wilds in Throne of Eldraine
The White, Black, and Red deck for this set comes in the form of 'Revival Trance', a deck built around Final Fantasy VI's Terra, Herald of Hope
A shoutout to the other decent Ward characters Heathcliff Stoic Butler who is a draft bomb, and Prince Phillip Royal Explorer as a decent standalone card but a great Shift target
Duress and Time Warp are also immensely popular cards, with Duress being the kind of unsung hero staple card that regularly sees play in decks ranging from Standard to Legacy
The reason for that was that Rith, the Awakener came along at the most favorable time in history for a good, large finisher in its colors thanks to the rise of Fires of Yavimaya