You make a great point here. Many of the same arguments could be made for something like football except you have a very clear view of a flat, empty playing field and the players are still fundamentally human.

I really don’t think Lord of the Rings is suited to games in general. Every adaptation has had to stray fairly significantly from the source to fit the game.

Something to keep in mind if you’re calling them out in a public forum, even if the target of your words has a forever closed mind, the other readers may not.  If you come off as bad as your target, you'll harden some readers against you that could have been influenced in a better direction.

Fun thing to use on Thief Priest is a Warlock deck with lots of discard sacrifices. You get to sit there and watch them be confused as to what to do.

If you just want to play for fun you don’t have to sink any money, though the starter deal is nice. If you want to compete, be prepared to pay. I’ve never been above tier 18 on ranked and the only thing I ever paid for was one of the solo adventures.