My friends and I never played, but collecting and trading was all we did for months until a lot of my friends parents put a stop to the madness, sadly, and stopped purchasing cards for their kids
Your child needs at least these 60 cards to get a game going (or a battle, as they like to call it.) The [easyazon_link identifier=B01BGLWIK6 locale=US tag=maminthenow0e-20]booster packs[/easyazon_link] cost around $5 (maybe a little less) and contain 10 random cards
LP sales register close to the $50 plateau, while you can expect to pay a premium for NM copies, to the tune of $60, or more for the nicest cards
Etrata, Deadly Fugitive Etrata, Deadly Fugitive is a tricky one, and yes it says without paying its mana cost, but you really still pay which is substantial
Right now, we are in the weirdest of in between times
These cards are unique because the Mewtwo is shining in foil instead of the box around the character