@sigh sure, there's no reason to be mean spirited about it, which is why I said that Brad shouldn't be mean-spirited about it and that maybe it would be better if this stayed as just a thought exercise. I'm still not sold on the idea that beating someone in a game is mean-spirited, but to each their own.
And you're right, it's not a given that people are going to break systems constantly throughout life. However, what I was trying to get across is that that's an integral part of magic, and every kid there is probably already going through the process of trying to improve their deck! So this wouldn't introduce anything truly novel.
You're also right that kids can figure out everything by themselves, but again, that's not the point I'll making either. I'm saying that it's
better that the adult be the enemy, not that it's
required for any sort of social functioning. If Brad is one of the adults in charge of this group, I'm going to take a wild guess and say that he'd probably prefer they be somewhat annoyed with him rather than squabbling amongst themselves, lol.