Hmm, I just had a thought and while I’m sure it’s not feasible to code it, perhaps the idea will spark something else for the team.
Way back in the day, I used to play MOOs/MUDs/MUSHs and that sort of thing. There was always a newbie area where new players were “safe” from more seasoned users (PK was a serious thing for some of those games.) In this area, the user was given newbie equipment and set out into a small world not connected to the rest of the game. In this area, everything was explained . . .how to cast a spell, how to move around, how to equip/unequip gear etc. At the end of the newbie area, some games upgraded newbie gear to low end actual game gear and the player then exited the training zone to the actual game. There was always the option to skip it if one cared to but you usually ended up losing out on something if you did.
It’s been a long time since I had a new account on GoW but perhaps something like this could be feasible for it? Give the player some common cards to work through and then at the end of the area, a small gift that wouldn’t be impactful overall to the game. Perhaps a couple of rare cards and 1k gold to get them started.
Just a few thoughts my <haven’t had enough coffee> brain came up with.