I'd add a floor between 2 and 3, the stat jump is a bit harsh if you beat the second boss too quickly. Game's a nice simple time waster as is, going much deeper would take a lot more coding.
Something to note: yugioh itself is far more unfair to casual gamers, without money it is impossible to get certain cards, while here it is mearly difficult.
Ranger, production maxes at 16 on the kong version, 32 in the dlc. Furthermore, the creeper continues to get stronger and stronger in survival, and there is a point where even dozens of turrets cannot cap an emitter. The bs is strong with this one.
So long as you do play 5 games (even if you surrender 5 times) you do get something. The arena works fine, and i encourage new players to at least try.
bitcloud, the level of the card affects have an effect on the cards, usually higher level monsters are punished more harshly by cards or benefited by less cards. Evosaur Darwino, one of the best cards in the game, destroys all level 6 and higher monsters the opponent controls as an example, while constellar belt boosts only level 5 and lower monsters.
Astral Guard is balanced in the form of it being a 12 drop card that is instantly shut down by 3 other cards (Armageddon, Inferno, Stone Rain) and also leaves the player hugely open while building up to it. The color itself has no acceleration outside of water elemental, and if a player players water elemental, you can use the card viewer to check his side, if you see water elemental in the 4th slot, he does not have guard, but if it is in the third, he does. You can also often just kill a player if he is playing super defensively and trying to push an early guard.
The tamed griffin was added in the update after the one used for this game. After you beat the shardholder, there was supposed to be a second opponent who gave you your griffin.
4d4 = 1-4 four times. The base damage of this attack is 4-16. Also, vs an attack such as 2d8, this attack is more likely to deal higher damage as the damage floor is much lower. Generally good weapons have a high first number, but the second number raises the max damage.
Something to think about: As you climb the difficulties, your enemies will gain cards more often to abuse the senario (Gustav gains wrath of god, Baffler Roost girl gains overtime). As a mage you need to try and account for these problems just as someone in a normal magic duel would.
Destroying a creature isn't the same as damaging it. Direct destroy cards also bypass all abilities (example, you can tornado phoenix regardless if your opponents red count.)