It seems to be split down the middle, whether people like this or not. Although, those for it usually have a reason why, and those opposed don't.. lol
This will fit well with the 400 card starting total.
There's plenty of reasons for that, aside from the obvious removal of players from an already shallow pool of players to auction from my biggest concern is that it's free. For example: last war team Fire paid 24 cards for their lieutenant, team Time paid 1. Now you're practically saying: "screw you team Time, your lieutenant is worth just as much." Which I dislike. In fact, it's more strategic NOT to choose whom you consider to be the best possible lieutenant, but whom is likely to be your most expensive player. Previous wars have shown this is definitely not always your lieutenant. As much as you may value your precious lieutenants, not everyone thinks of this the same way card-wise.
On top of that there's the fact that future lieutenants have to agree with wanting to get on a team, unpopular masters will therefore be at a natural disadvantage, because people are less likely to choose for said team. This, I also consider as a bad thing.