Ideas and suggestions.

Why didn't this bother you during the "red Annabelle" era?

Yeah, right, the "red Annabelle" era – that's, at best, Legends of Might and Magic, or even just Might and Magic. And secondly, these are games for newbies who won't climb above 500 anyway, and will just keep playing in their own little bubble. But the "Shades of Darkness" era specifically affected top players, and that's a real problem because it discredits Heroes of Might and Magic III as a strategy game, turning it into a card-based "poker" game. P.S. Merlin is the CIS champion in poker.