I get your perspective however you have to balance things in the game. We can’t cater to new players constantly in the form of lots of things up front. That would incentivize people to just create lots of accounts to take advantage of the better rewards for lower leagues.
As with anything, scarcity will drive up the cost. I could have sold my gold foil Kron for 250$ back when I got it but I kept it knowing that it would go up in value. If you see short term gains over long term gains you will most often lose out.
The other aspect of this is that you can’t give too many things out for free. It is a pay to play and play to earn game. That is not at all hidden. You can join and enjoy it, knowing that up front or you can stop. There are a lot of people who joined at a time of very significant change and if they stick around, it will get better. The changes to reward card drops will improve that.