Is there a point in trying to play clash Royale competitive without spending money?

I’ve been an active clash Royale player hitting top 100 in Canada twice in my five or so years of playing. I know this doesn’t come as a shock but there’s really no space in clash Royale for f2p players. I’ve spent hundreds of dollars on clash Royale over the years but I feel like the gap is too big and they want us to spend so much money that it’s almost no longer viable for f2p players. I’ve barely played since they introduced evos and level 15 but it seems like it eliminates any f2p players from having a chance at being on the leaderboard. Am I missing something or is this really just how the game is now? It seems like you can only get 2 guaranteed evos a year while new and better evos are constantly being added. How is any f2p player able to keep up? This may sound like a rant but that’s really not what I’m trying to do. I really want to see if this game is as exclusive as I think it is or how f2p players can even survive at all.