Penn

So the "unwritten rules" are...

1. Collect the shiny things that are sitting on the track begging to be collected (that used to unlock karts but NOW unlock karts, which is different)

2. Wait to use items when they actually do something, don't just throw them away

And

3. Actually use the new movement abilities introduced in the game.

How are these unwritten, exactly?

If the innovations on gameplay is "one step forward" and the lack of non-mario playable characters, a matter of aesthetic that was only added for Mario kart 8, is "two steps back"

What is your measure for a step?

It sounds like you're not paying attention to the point. A powerful card with an extremely low chance of appearing in packs, garenteed for paying players, is quite literally paying, to win. It's stronger cards for paying players how is that not getting through

Yes, but you're not connecting the dots that as an EX pokemon that's competitively viable, this is a hard-to-get card for a free player. You have to get very, very lucky with card openings to pull one, or now just pay $20 and get one garenteed.

This is literally pay to win. It's an older card, sure, so people have had longer to try and pull it before now, but that does not change that it's a rare-rare-rare drop turned into a prize for paying players.

If it was only a resking treatment and required you to pull a regular version to play it you might have a point but it's a legal card, able to be played immediately.