It's not a Lab. Lab draws you two cards per play. This draws you one card per play.
It also misses reshuffles more. See Caravan versus Lab.
Originally the card searched for Victory cards in your discard pile or the top of your deck. But those designs all felt too hamfisted. Instead, this version fits in a more subtle way. When you draw a hand with a Duchy, three Silvers, and a Copper, you say hey, maybe this would be a good turn to call my Town Planner.
But also, like, the secret history of Fool pretty plainly states it has a part that doesn't fit at all, Fool's Gold has a bottom part that nombos against itself too, so I don't see how that's a problem.