It's essentially the same mechanic as entwine, the only difference being that escalate lets you pick individual modes, whereas entwine is all-or-nothing (see Kaya's Guile as an example of an entwine spell with more than two modes)
Being a Radiant Pokemon meaning you can only have a single copy of it in your deck hasnt stopped this card from becoming the most played in PTCG Live history, and I doubt anything will put an end to its effectiveness until it rotates out!
For all intents and purposes, the main experience appears very similar to Red and Blue, as you take on the role of a budding champion who collects badges to challenge the final Elite Four, but exploration is stripped down to a bare minimum
However, keeping every card ban after introducing a more threatening adversary only keeps the cycle going.
Interest fades, the supply of graded cards continues growing, and Charizards value slides back under $1,000
Why Are There No Cheat Codes For Yu-Gi-Oh