It was intentional that the game got harder by broadening the pool of drafts. The design goal was that you need to develop your skill to build more flexible boards, that don't rely on just forcing a single synergy to materialize.
Unfortunately, I don't think the game communicates this goal well, AND prevailing design trends (rogueliTe, which this game is NOT) I think have trained players to expect that games should get artificially EASIER over time by increasing the player's power level.
It's a point of the design I'm willing to concede, so it's something I do hope to address. But not increasing the power level as in a roguelite, just by preserving the density of drafts and taming dilution a bit.
The widening of the pool of drafts doesn't work because it is not fun. When you find something that works you want to use it as much as possible because as the player all I want to see is the numbers get higher and higher. This is where the fun is. Most of the additional drafts aren't fun. Some I never use. When I play I don't even care about the forces that make it harder at the start anymore because most of the gameplay comes from what cards show which is heavy random number generator. There should be a continue play button when you fail the run though just so you can keep playing and see the numbers go higher and higher.
Unfortunately, I don't think the game communicates this goal well, AND prevailing design trends (rogueliTe, which this game is NOT) I think have trained players to expect that games should get artificially EASIER over time by increasing the player's power level.
It's a point of the design I'm willing to concede, so it's something I do hope to address. But not increasing the power level as in a roguelite, just by preserving the density of drafts and taming dilution a bit.