I described this a long time ago:
This is why I never blemmed or broke 3*.
Until they made a legendary one 
Because I never needed to…
For tournaments you can easily score top 1% simply with bench and experience. And for events I once had time to farm boards for an entire weekend to score top 10. After that, my time was more precious. If your not pushing top then you don’t need materials to finish.
Saved me plenty of resource for real value later on while 3* get replaced to quickly, and easily… by new cards.
With 4 and 5* tournaments being more prevalent. I don’t see any edge for “new players”. They still get to decide where they will commit resources. And as a f2p, those choices contain limits. Forcing them blem and break 3*.
I don’t view this as “easier” in the long run.
More of a boat anchor really. You can see what “new players” are doing when you look at his opponents!
It’s no wonder frustration awaits them.
We didn’t have to deal with such set-backs a few years ago.