If that's not how it works then obviously it should work differently. But Strange doesn't know how to grab all of creation and force it to do what he wants...or if he can even do it in the first place. Someone's hitting a tiny crisis of confidence at the moment.

Lambert's question causes Strange to scowl. "Steven happened. He made some of those plant things to attack me. That damned pineapple one had it out for me-I had to explode it to get it to stop."

And the explosion happened all over Strange. Further proof that pineapples are evil incarnate.