You need experience points to advance in ranks and a certain rank must be met before the story progresses, and dueling is the way to gain experience points
Of course, since there is a tournament-legal deck of Magic the Gathering cards that turns any game into a Turing Complete computer, capable of reading & writing data, you could just use Magic cards to run the algorithm that generates new Magic cards
Well, it depends on the vibe of the table
Symphony Whip70+ If you played a Supporter card from your hand during this turn, this attack does 70 more damage
With a decent 70-damage attack for three energy in Devour Soul, theres a case to be made for switching Dusknoir in to take out a weakened foe
This in-joke come to life has definitely done its part in centering Modern on a tight circle of Lurrus-delirium-artifact synergy