I replayed it once again and beat a run. (I didn't before)
For all these thoughts and suggestions I made the game would of course need completely different game balance and effects.
If you did make it random it would need a complete rebalance haha. I was more suggesting maybe having full control but I can understand keeping it like this.
"it’s rare to really mess up" I think that's what I meant with the "barrier of entry". You've passed it so it's trivial but new players haven't so they're playing on random with the game balance for "choose perfectly"
But honestly the barrier isn't as high as I initially thought. Falls a little closer to the "It's easy enough that it's a choice"
I'd still take a look at completely new players trying it of course. I initially gave up quite early so there's something that could be improved in the new player experience I'm sure.
Thanks for the discussion and good luck with your game!