Bring back chess

Somebody recently said that a better comparison for Arena than chess is poker. Poker has a random element and compensating for that random element requires skill. In poker, even very good players lose games with some frequency. But over the course of many games they tend to win more than they lose. The metaphor isn't perfect -- there isn't much split-second decision making or coordination with teammates in poker, but you can definitely make the right or wrong decision depending on what the other players are doing.

Analogies of any kind can only go so far, but they can be useful shorthand for communication.

Q u o t e:
There is a level of luck involved, but there is more strategy than luck. If you look at arena as being mostly luck then you've lost what the players were expecting to be the "show yer skillzzz" part of the game. While good players in poker get beat, so do chess players.

No, I am agreeing with you. There is a level of luck involved in Texas Hold 'Em, but there is more strategy than luck. I think people who are saying poker is simply random don't understand how poker is played these days, at least at an expert level.