@GoldFanPro Ha, there's always a flaw in the system. I also thought about choosing a villian, so the Demogrogon and Brenner are great picks. The Mind Flayer is too boss to eliminate without crumbling the deck of cards, but removing Brenner means that you still have Connie Fraizer, and removing the Demogorgon means that you've still got the Upside Down, The Mind Flayer and Demodogs.
Sure plots would have to be reworked slightly, but I still think we could wind up with a very similar show. Connie basically takes over Brenner's role and the Mind Flayer is subtly introduced from the start.
So in ST1, the first HNL lab technician we saw die in the intro, instead becomes wrapped in Upside Down vines and basically goes around kidnapping people like a puppet. However we and the character's don't know that and think it's just a monster. We find out that El made contact with a weaker version of the Mind Flayer, which opened the Gate, but we don't know anything about the Mind Flayer yet. Ell kills the vine monster, meaning that they and we don't find out that it was also the lab technician until ST3.
ST2 is pretty much the same, since the character's still think that El defeated a monster, and so we have the Mind Flayer reveal, the Demodogs and Will being turned into a host still happening. The Demodog plot would also make a whole lot more sense as to why Dustin would keep Dart, since they have never seen a Demogorgon before. El's trauma is related to Connie's abuse instead of Brenner, and she still closes the Gate.
ST3 is practically the same. I thought a lot more people would have said Kali, since there's a popular opinion that the The Lost Sister was unnecessary, even though it was Kali's training and advice that helped El to close the Gate.
