Not strongest opening, but because it's an asymmetric opening system, which introduces imbalance into the position, thus it tends to have less drawish tendencies than a symmetric opening system.

This creates the psychological effect of slightly turning the knob of "Black is playing for equality", to "Black is playing for counter-play".

It seemed to play a lot of English Opening...that also seems strange to me.

I think in a way it’s an opening that rewards preparation and theory. With near perfect play expected on both sides, what seem like sharp games to humans are quite easily navigable.