I'd advise against going for Masters.

Keep your sanity and don't do it. Last season I got to Diamond 3 and it was a nightmare. Everyone used meta decks and never made a mistake which got frustrating and rather boring real fast. Before Diamond you could just mess around with any deck and progress. But in Diamond everyone is tryharding to get to Masters. And for what? Apparently master players say the majority of people who get to masters just kinda relax after getting there and start building random decks to mess around with since the grind is gone.

So I ask you all, what is the point? You can still have that same experience by just sticking around in the lower ranks and not having to deal with the mind numbing grind through Diamond. I can't speak much for Iron, bronze, and silver, since I wasn't there for too long; but the best ranks I find are in gold and plat. You can still mess around and try new decks and not get face stomped by meta deck after meta deck while doing it. The worst rank is definitely Diamond by far. No creativity, super sweaty players, and worst of all, BORING!

So ladder is not for you, we get it.

I reached Masters during the season of plunder, and sure it was a grind but it was ok. The tier before masters is always meta decks and a few people trying to think outside the box. Either you like it or you don't. 

If you want to play janky decks and have fun then play Gauntlet/labs and normal. 

Quote From Hellcopter

So ladder is not for you, we get it.

In fairness to Vincent, the rewards for playing on ladder aren't that compelling - who really needs another token?

I got to gold with a Teemo / Hec combo I found it hilarious ( great karma killer oh you gonna draw 4 cards guess what you drew 24 mushrooms you dead you B and they ain’t jack you can do about it) Sadly the deck no longer works after the expansion. Personal best was 320 mushrooms. Once I made it gold I got more relaxed I’d like to make it to gold every season but I have no desire to climb higher 

For me, the real reward is too see how far i can go, but yeah, some extra comestics would not hurt ;)

Getting to the highest tier of ranked play in ANY card game will always involve seeing a lot of meta decks and opponents who do not make mistakes. I'm not sure how you could reasonably expect otherwise.

Some streamers just tell their viewers upfront that they care more about fun than rank and that they aren't going to worry about grinding to Master. In the end, no one but you will ever care whether you hit Master or not, so yes, it's correct to stop grinding if you don't think grinding is fun.

Quote From meisterz39

Quote From Hellcopter

So ladder is not for you, we get it.

In fairness to Vincent, the rewards for playing on ladder aren't that compelling - who really needs another token?

Honestly: I play Normal ~10x more often than Ranked. As pointed out there's no tangible reward for climbing ladder, and I find the opponents more congenial.

Oh boy, did i get it wrong or people here are asking for Skinner Boxes?

I mean, sure, an extra incentive reward would be nice, but isn't the challenge itself just good enough?
When i play other single player video games, i always set the dificulty to the hardest (with a few exceptions) because i find the challenge fun. But that doesn't mean you and me can't also have fun on easy mode.
Like i said in my previous post: ladder is suposed to be challenging and not necessarily everyone will find it enjoyable.

Now just imagine what would happen if they gave away an amazing cosmetic reward for each ladder rank. I believe a lot of people like OP who just want to have some fun would find themselves forced to play a game mode they don't enjoy just for the reward. That would be a stupid design if you ask me.