To be honest here, I wasn't a fan of collection power either, actually, I was really frustrated at first. That said, it was much needed and even if it's not the most elaborate solution, it's serving an important purpose for the economy. So instead of revising that, I'd prefer to alleviate it's negative impact for new players :-)

I like the idea of matching my two friends against each other, would help them to gain some experience - I could even have them fight for card delegations that way :D