> Have you actually tried the alternatives ? There's a trivial variant of M:tG where you can play any card face down to act as a land.

That's not really eliminating randomness, since you're just evaluating (at runtime) whether or not a given card is more valuable as a mana source or at face value. There's still some randomness in determining how high the opportunity cost of playing a land is.

A better example of nonrandomness - which I have considered playing with my friends - is enforcing an even mana draw by increasing access to mana each turn in a manner proportional to the number of lands in the deck. That's deterministic.

> You have a point, though - constructing a deck in M:tG is far more fun than playing one.

I've been playing Magic: The Gathering for far longer than I should admit, and I'd disagree.