In my opinion, it would be more beneficial if 5 pros and 50 beginners played in the tournament, so the beginners could learn from watching the pros play. They already know everything themselves.

Well, you have some very strong players. Learn from them.
Those who play as Equilibris will almost certainly not switch back, even for a single tournament. I don't know what kind of motivation would be needed.
Although, I tried it here. I remembered about the infinite poison and managed to kill 150 thieves with a level 1 hero and an imp. I had a good laugh.

There is experience in growth. Both general and personal.

Excellent. As they say, may it continue.

Added 2 minutes later

It's logical, but it also needs to be widespread enough so that rejecting a flawed version doesn't negatively impact the tournament participants.

By the way, let's not confuse things – a disc that needs to be found and bought is different from an archive downloaded from the internet.