I would suggest to make more restrictive meta-altering deck-building rules, e.g. what Oni did previous Trials was fun with that graph-walking (even though we complained about the complexity, but at the end it was really interesting). The current rules allow pretty much open-meta, especially for the master's battles, where we do not even have bans. The even-game shard is a good rule in this sense (a step in the right direction), but it is not enough IMHO. More tweaks like that would be nice.
Possible rule ideas to include:
- you are only allowed to use any in-element card maximum two games per match (to avoid over-using an OP card)
- you are allowed to use a total of 10 copies of each in-element card (except for pillars/pends) per match -- an alternative way to achieve the above
I like that there is a pool-phase for the masters and it is not just a single-elimination tourney -- kudos for that!