Yes because AST before ShB was designed around not needing the cards, they were added bonuses you played around and tried to maximise your output from a limited set of solutions. It’s like going to the doctor and having them try to maximise how much you enjoy the lolly they give after your checkup, it fundamentally doesn’t matter to the core check up but it’s fun to try to maximise enjoyment
You drew spire? Hmmm does anyone need TP? Nope nobody has made a mistake recently, TP is healthy. Hmm if I burn spire what benefit does royal road offer me? Double duration. Hmm there is no card that would really benefit from double duration given the current state of everyone’s stats so I guess I’ll redraw it.
That was how you played with RNG on old AST without actually locking you out of core functions, you never “relied” on any card to help you survive what would otherwise kill you, you maximised your output on what was ultimately a set of options that didn’t truly “matter”, it’s why when they made all the cards damage in ShB it didn’t affect AST’s healing output, because you didn’t need the cards to help your healing, the point was to maximise a set of fundamentally not needed options