Actually, this fits perfectly with elements. You have to know your cards. If you have a better knowledge of the cards than another person, you will have a better chance of winning a battle.
No it doesn't. A card game where the cards don't actually tell you what they do is poor design. The only way it'd fit with Elements is if Elements is a poorly designed game.
I'll make the assumption you've at least heard of Magic: the Gathering. I'm a, let's say, fledgling player of Magic. I've got a few months under my belt, I know the basics by now, and every other time I play there's something I or someone else is not quite sure about. The local forum's topic "how does this card work under these and these circumstances" is 70+ pages big after just a few months. Hence that's a flawed way of thinking, just like the topic. In fact, I don't even get why people are so bothered by this, do you even meet those decks in PvP?