i only ever saw that one arc as well, what has apparently later been dubbed “season zero” because there wasn’t any card games in it. that was something they apparently came up with on the fly and it just stuck around. the writers didn’t know anything about tcgs so the rules make no sense.

that first season is wild though, with the protagonist just challenging bad people to random games of chance with gruesome outcomes like “because you are greedy, i challenge you to stab through this wad of cash lying on top of your hand. you get to keep every dollar you pick up but if you’re too greedy you’ll nail your hand to the table”