I'd love for someone to crunch the statistics on this stuff but I totally agree. I'm always happy to be a barnacle and not a chump who spends money on such blatant psychological manipulation. Here's some things that SEEM to be true that you might find interesting.
-Your strongest card in your deck will be the one you see the least. Statistically improbable.
-Your enemy's strongest card will be the one you see the most. Statistically improbable.
-Your weakest cards in your deck will be the ones you see the most. Statistically improbable.
-You will often draw an entire hand of modifier cards, guaranteeing you can combo nothing. Statistically improbable.
Mix these together? The game is rigged against you to make you want to spend money. Playing free and riding out the bottom tier gives you a gameplay loop that would last for centuries before you could even be competitive. But you never will be.
Garbage in. Garbage out.