Well what I was hinting at is that do you favor being good at the game versus just having spent all your cash. If brackets are only meant to separate the rich from the poor, I think personally it kind of suck. If it separates the good players from the casual, it's another thing.

I can play Pokémon without spending thousands of dollars and can still win is where I'm getting at. On the other hand I still need a deck that costs money and some rarer cards on the market that's a given.

I think balancing things out makes the gamers stay long term. Though from what I understand you seem to understand this.