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In fairness, you can still get high quality cards in a matter of days from Three Lions, but I felt that in order for Redemption to get a larger player base it had to be able to be affordable since it is likely to be a players second or third game they play. With the high investment many make in other games it made sense to lower prices to hopefully garner more interest from those players.
Now I just have too correct the "imbedded" prices and values of cards in my head, and cut them in half...