Thanks for tagging me here, Dave - yes, @sodom-lv, the stats are massive but as you may have noticed in the modern meta that damage output is also at an all-time high; making Gottem, in my opinion, a necessary counterbalance to that. And if you are expecting him, there are definitely ways to wipe him from the board in a hurry.
It's also important to note that we are largely entering uncharted territory. Gottem is one of the biggest cost mana monsters in the game and, aside from Rage, we've never explored the mid-double digit mana cost & stat balancing. I was convinced that, prior to his release, Rage was going to break things, but even putting up to 11 magic damage on the board with that card, it didn't happen.
Then who created a high damage meta then now needs to create another stronger one to counterbalance :)
@Splinterlands is moving in the wrong direction. Rich ones with stronger cards always win the game, that's what I mean by "money over skill". And it makes the new ones don't want to enter the game. Even the old players quit playing as well.
Looking at all the longlife game likes Fornite/PUBG/League of Legends, .... they are all the game with spirit of "skill over money". New players if they train hardly on their skill still can win the game with heavily investing players, cause they only can invest on the skin or rewards/bonuses, not the character - especially a too strong character makes the game unbalanced.
Another card game "God Unchained", player can invest to upgrade their cards to get more rewards instead of making the cards stronger. Bronze cards have the same stats with Diamond cards. Only skill players who knows how to combine a good deck can win the game, not rich players.
The higher damage / faster game meta was absolutely necessary in my opinion. We are a rapid strategy TCG - matches should not be lasting well into fatigue rounds and taking 10+ minutes to resolve.
That said, there should be some sustain available; enter Gottem.
As far as the mechanics of the game itself you are calling out, SPL has always had chase cards that were necessary to win in whatever the current meta is, so I'm unsure as to what here surprises you.
There are new game modes that seek to balance this - the impending Survival rework, as an example, where players can be very particular about where they compete and therefore everyone in said pool is on much more equal footing.
We, as a game, had gotten away from that for a good while, I agree (removal of leagues, Hall of Legends, Heloise the Hollow, just to name a few), but the pendulum is very much swinging back in the right direction here.