In the first round, because there are no special action buttons. I actually thought this is the mechanic for whole game. But then i see those special action buttons in second round ,and the game starts getting interesting. Maybe it should skip the first round? However, even with special actions, the game is still fully based on luck.
To make it more strategtic, I would suggest that, the player should see his own next card (and the cards throw out when tie). "Shuffle" is a special action. And there is a "neutralize" action just to neutralize the opponent's special action. (yes, the AI should have special actions too) With the suggested mechanic, i would expect player may has this strategic.
1. if the card is low, use "equal" action to trigger a tie (for luck), or "exchange" to trick the enemy
2. if the card is mid, player may use "+3" to boost his chance
3. if the card is high, and AI has some special move in hand, player may use "shuffle" to keep the high card, or "neutralize" to make sure nothing changes.
4. if not have enough cards, use the "neutralize" to avoid opponent use "equal" to trigger a tie forcing you to throw out your last cards
5. if opponent wants to use "equal", use "+3" to win the cards( "+3" effect is after the "equal" effect)
Ah, maybe each characters can have their own set of special actions
Just some random ideas.