So what if the story revolves around actually getting the cards like for stores and stuff?  Was always curious to see how in a culture completely dedicated to a single card game, nobody could really duel and the most mundane cards seemed amazing.  Perhaps we could so something with that angel?

Either that or we'll start out as privates in a duel army, who are recruited to assist in a war against dimensional plains.
Just a few ideas.  

Also as far as dueling goes.  I'm for the two main parties discussing who'll win amongst themselves.  Then, have the GM generate the draw order.  
My main issue is visualization as its like playing chess over texts.  Yeah, you can see where everything is and go back to look but its going to get pretty inconvenient at some points.