Long championships are rarely a good experience for someone who is not into the competitive nature of mtg. It's actually why I completely dropped paper magic 3 years ago and I've never regreated it. Leagues are way more fun, we play as much as we want (and can), whenever we want. And that's what makes it awesome. And also that's not how challenges work. Challenges are like paper magic, which is bad.
It's good that you held yourself back. Sometimes we go with the flow and set ourselves up for a bad experience. Specially given how loud your complaints about the current state of vintage are. I've taken a time out, got an upgrade to my PC to play some better game and I'm playing from times to times. Makes the experience a lot better when I get to play.
Vintage or mtg isn't worse. It's just that we end up growing tired eventually. If someone doesn't grow tired of doing the same things everyday, something is wrong with that person.