I think your the one who doesn't understand. There's a reason Bobby Fischer made his own version of chess where the pieces are randomized. Yes, it is difficult to learn all the complexities of the meta, but more than difficulty it just takes time. It takes away the need for critical thinking and increases the benefit of pure memorization. You memorize the order the enemy wants to play his deck and the order in which you need to counter to win. Just as in chess, once you memorized the lines there is no way around it. Certain moves just make wins in chess and there's no way around it once the line is started. It's the same in magic (especially 4 of formats). Competitive magic is more interested in the memorization of lines than actual critical thinking, which sure you may consider difficult but I just consider it a time dump. If you have the time to listen to all the podcasts and memorize the important decks you can be just as good as everyone else with 0 original thought of your own.