According to PWCC, there are suspected to be only a few hundred of the 1999 Pokmon English Base Set Shadowless 1st Edition Booster Box left in circulation, further contributing to the booster boxs high value
Artifact decks have no issues making cheap tokens we can use as fodder to crew our Vehicles
The number of illustrators began to increase more illustrators meant more fantastic art styles, which meant more beautiful cards to collect
Thats not an insignificant ask
In Collect 151: Journey packs, about 90% of cards pulled are Commons or Uncommons, around 8% are Rares or Double Rares, and roughly 1.5 % or less are higher-tier cards like SR, SSR, or UR
Why waste cards ramping into a seven-mana monster when Questing Beast can get the job done