At one point, I looked as the ESDF instead of the WASD keys.

The benefit seems to be, an extra set of keys to the left...
Having shifted the hand over, there are more binds within reach of the left hand.

I never thought of using CTRL with the palm of my hand; that's an extra benefit too.

It felt awkward, the time I tried it...
And the muscle memory felt right to be WASD.
I type fairly quickly with my index fingers on F and J, with the tabs, and the other fingers naturally on the keys that typing/keyboarding classes taught.

Then again, going from a G5/G7 to a G600 mouse, the 12 thumb buttons were awkward initially.
As opposed to two thumb buttons.
Also the third mouse button, under the ring finger took a while to get used to.
The mouse didn't feel right for a few weeks, but after a few days the binds were easy enough to use but I had to think about them.
Within a month, probably less time, the binds had been learnt.

If you stick with it, you'll adjust over time.