This card game has the 1v1 trainer fighting which makes thematic sense to me
Picture this: You tap Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh (one damage), Lightning Strike your opponents face untapping Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh (four damage), tap Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh (five damage), use convoke to cast Stoke the Flames untapping Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh (9 damage), tap Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh again (10 damage), flip Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh into Chandra, Roaring Flame and +1 (12 damage)
While most of the chocobo cards are green rather than blue, there is notably a chocobo MTG commander - Choco, Seeker of Paradise - in the Bant color identity
This slow introduction increased anticipation for the Egyptian God cards and cemented their status as titans within Yu-Gi-Oh