For the ticket challenge, as others have said, you can use custom decks - yours AND the AI's. Give him rats, skeletons and fill the rest of his deck with useless cards ie: combine, reinforce, etc. Take for yourself the big hitting creatures and go to it. Once you win one, hit restart, begin and wait for the return data stream to register your win.
People who repeatedly let the timer run out in an attempt to bore you to death, especially when they're losing so it takes an extra 15 minutes to finish need to die! That is no way to play!
Any game where a life is the least expensive item available for purchase... balance issues abound crush any possible light or goodness this game may offer. This might be a gem if they could wipe the surrounding 6 foot thick ball of feces from its surfaces, take said gem and re-forge it completely