I agree, paying $10 for phantom untamed card (at least, give real cards) is too much when they are good for nothing. Player join for $10 find it require much more than $10 to be competitive will surely leave.
I also agree that adding more variable will only help the bots.
But I think adding more dynamics to game will attract more player and keep current one interested.
I agree, new accounts should be free. They should have enough cards to make a reasonable hand, just don't give them rewards until they buy enough of their own cards.