Why was there a poll in the first place if it meant nothing ?
Don't get me wrong, I voted for no SoG only , but I made 12 decks without shards because 37 people voted for that option, and now I have to rethink my strategy all over again.
Well, that was Essence's decision, not mine. You don't need SoR's to compete. They are basically only useful with cards that have a high ability cost, and there aren't many of those. Since they have to be upgraded to be useful, you can't take upgraded versions of other cards (or not as many).
Off the top of my head, SoR's only help with flying weapons, nymphs, and steam machine. With the addition of pendulums, a steam machine deck would most likely be better using those instead of SoR's, since they'd give you fire quanta for other fire cards as well.