This is an interesting post. You brought up so many ideas/feedback and I think the Splinterlands team should take a look at this.
I will get into the groove with it, just in time for Rift Watchers to come in and screw me up all over again.
Yeah I guess change is always the constant, not sure if that is a good or bad thing. Similar to what you mentioned, actually I think half the battle is won when you are able to predict what cards your opponent would put out. So it gets more difficult when there are more card combinations. That said, I think the variety in Silver leagues is still manageable. Apart from some overpowered Yodin/Llama/Kitty lineups, most of the cards are still Chaos edition.
And, they don't even feel like they are made for Splinterlands at all - it is like the default Avatars for a kids Halloween game.
I literally laughed at this. Totally agree! They should really change this.
Not seeing the opponent prior has made things harder, as now it is put out the best team and cross fingers. But, this is a good change in some way - in live tournaments in the future though, it will be more interesting - more chess-like, as people will study opponents.
Those images have been in since the start, right?
Yeah I think so, at least since a year ago when I started playing. I am probably one of the few that chose a random avatar because I didn't want to leave it blank. Lol!