Never had time to really come up with cool ideas, long posts, etc, but I did have one quick idea I will share that may still be fun.
The "Run-it-back" option.
After playing someone in manual ranked mode, instead of going back to the queue and waiting 1-2+ minutes for a new opponent, let's give the option for both players to click a button to allow them to match again!
If one side feels very underpowered, they don't need to accept, but if its a fun competitor of similar skill, get back into the battle and face them again. Grind through those dailies a little quicker and have something to chat about in Tavern or other places with a mini-series of battles.
Obviously we don't want a way to exploit this so maybe if one person wins 3x in a row or just in general, stop the option after 5-7 repeated plays, but since its ranked manual mode, normal TOS would apply that you cant win-trade.
If only a few humans are on at the same time, let them battle it out (if both agree) instead of putting on some cooldown that you can't match again right away and both sit there waiting for a new opponent.
Rewards would remain the same since this is occurring in normal ranked mode.
RE: Community Contest Design a New Game Mode!