The higher damage / faster game meta was absolutely necessary in my opinion. We are a rapid strategy TCG - matches should not be lasting well into fatigue rounds and taking 10+ minutes to resolve.

That said, there should be some sustain available; enter Gottem.

As far as the mechanics of the game itself you are calling out, SPL has always had chase cards that were necessary to win in whatever the current meta is, so I'm unsure as to what here surprises you.

There are new game modes that seek to balance this - the impending Survival rework, as an example, where players can be very particular about where they compete and therefore everyone in said pool is on much more equal footing.

We, as a game, had gotten away from that for a good while, I agree (removal of leagues, Hall of Legends, Heloise the Hollow, just to name a few), but the pendulum is very much swinging back in the right direction here.