Here's the problem I see:

Right now we are losing players because they feel the game decision makers (big players and devs) don't really care about the new and/or smaller players.

Changes like this are probably ok, but it seems to me like we want to do everything BUT think about what the new player faces. For instance:

1. First and most importantly, a new player has to face over 100k automated bots that have been programmed to have the perfect teams in the bronze and silver levels for each of our rulesets and mana caps. Unless a person has some insight as to some work arounds, they simply have no fun getting their brains beat in day in and day out.

2. Secondly, these automated bots ONLY EXIST because they get FREE cards to play. These aren't new accounts, these are accounts that have been opened for many months (and in some cases years), but THEY DON'T HAVE TO OWN/RENT THE CARDS that they play. They simply rent the key cards necessary to milk the system, and do it by relying heavily on the free cards to do so.

In other words, if you took away the starter cards for all accounts after an introductory period, then a substantial portion of those 100K+ accounts would either 1) cease to exist or 2) have to rent/own.

These 2 things affect the game for new players in the following ways:

Gameplay at the low level is not fun, and in order to rise above this unnecessary hurdle a player must decide to spend many hundreds of dollars to build an adequate deck. So enabling these 100k bots to have FREE CARDS to play and stomp in the lower leagues, not only ruins the small player experience, it take a massive amount of their earnings (see below).

Because a bronze and silver player must share their earnings with these 100k+ accounts, their earnings have be destroyed. I would suggest that there is probably 50 to 100 bots for each human in those leagues. This is a massive hit to the "little guy's" earnings from playing. Just like larger players think large players should make their fair share, little players feel the same too. The same frustration is applicable.

For a game that suggests (rightly) that you should own your assets to earn from the game, it seems like this concept is being lost when it comes to the little guy. It seems like little players don't matter. While I know better and know that the DEVs do care, the appearance is terrible.

I have made this point before and I can tell you the first reaction: The nerfs put in already have made the bots not use the starter cards since they don't earn on them. If this were true, which isn't, then removing the starter cards would have no negative impact. In other words, what is the point of having them after an introductory period?

Summary

While I like the game trying to always improve the way in which rewards are given out, I HATE when the game neglects a segment of our community. If someone has been here for more than an introductory period, they should own or rent the cards they play. PERIOD.

While people can debate if my solution would work or not relative to chasing away the bots, one thing is clear. All changes to rewards at this point mean nothing to the little players, they will continue to feel that they stand no chance and aren't listened to as long as their competition gets FREE CARDS to both steal their rewards and beat the shit out of them.

I love this game, I think the team truly cares about everyone. But I think they've lost touch with what the smaller players feel and should put much more thought into this issue. The community was built for all size players, and I don't think its possible to grow much larger without getting back to those roots.

Please help people and not bots.