Hey @themarkymark!
10+ years of playing MTG the Gathering at pro level here.
Ideas after playing the game from season 1 and reaching champion II, currently stucked at 2800 cause matchpairing.

Some considerations about the game:

1. The idea is beautiful. Owning cards through the blockchain mechanism makes everything smooth and a further security measure as a proof of ownership of digital goods.
2. Servers are stable, the community is amazing. The Discord chat is really active and contests are everywhere. There is a continuous wave of hype rising!
3. The game is a non-game at this stage. There is non interaction, which is a big concern to a "player". I love the idea of conflicts every 48 hours, which lead to a wide range of variety both in terms of strategies and team compositions.
4. The match pairing system is extremely questionable. See this screen that needs no further comment:
5. Playing at the highest level is impossible or close to impossible for non whales or non early bidders. I am really invested into the game yet I should really need maxed out cards to make strategies and compositions prevale over money, which is a TERRIBLE feeling.

All-in-all, I really like the idea and the concept and I do hope that suggestions are heard. The path is good, the roadmap is long and harsh.
Maybe this comment will be useful to @yabapmatt as well.

I'm looking for some maxed out team to be borrowed to play at the highest level, will share back packs in return
The feeling of beating really high elo players which spent thousands of dollars in the game is great btw! ✌️