I played a few rounds with free gauntlets and here are my thoughts:
There are 7 prizes for consecutive win steaks. If you lose a match you can opt to start over with the first prize (1 gauntlet) or spend 20 gems to continue your streak. Since there is no added reward for any wins over 7 consecutive, save your gems and just restart your streak.
There still seems to be the very likely probability of losing a match between your 7th or 8th match, and those losses are usually to "players"(which are probably EA bots) that use plants at a high mastery level and sometimes players with very low level versions of the same plants you are using. It still seems suspicious to me.
I have reported many cheaters to EA in support tickets. I usually get an email acknowledging the ticket and then a few days later see that the case has been closed on my account here. No explanation, no follow-up.... nothing.
I have kept track of the number of gems that I used to keep my streak alive (before the update) and asked for reimbursement in those cases that were obviously cheaters or bots. I have also asked for compensation for EA terminating my latest win streak (before update) as I had purchased gems to maintain it. I received no answer to that support ticket.
I will not return to the game until EA provides some public answers here.
It will be interesting to continue to watch EA stock drop since the update, and also how EA will be effected by a possible new law regarding "loot boxes" or pay to play video game incentives falling under online gambling...
I'll be waiting for you to step up and do the honorable thing EA.
