Holy moly, trying to get my hands on Riftbound cards these days feels like wrestling a yeti in a snowstorm! Ever since this League of Legends TCG dropped globally last October, it's been pure pandemonium. Riot straight up admitted demand "surpassed our wildest expectations" – translation: they printed about as many cards as there are polite Yasuo mains. As a competitive player, I'm caught between FOMO and bankruptcy. My local game store? More like a ghost town for boosters unless you're competing in their tournaments. The shelves are emptier than my soul after a 10-game losing streak.

🔥 Proving Grounds: The Unicorn Box

Let's talk about the starter kit situation – it's wackier than a Teemo shroom fiesta. Proving Grounds contains exclusive bangers like Master Yi and Annie, who dominate the meta harder than a fed Darius. But try finding this $30 MSRP box? Pfft. I've had better luck finding Bigfoot's Spotify playlist. Scalpers are flipping these like hotcakes at a Yordle breakfast club.

Here's the kicker: cards from this starter DON'T appear in boosters! So meta slaves like yours truly need multiple copies of Flash ($34 each!) just to compete. Let me break down this financial nightmare:

Card	Price	Copies Needed	Total Cost
Flash	$34	3	$102
Annie, Dark Child	$20	1	$20
Master Yi	$19	1	$19
Proving Grounds MSRP			$30

See that insanity? Buying singles costs 4x more than the whole dang box! My wallet's weeping louder than a support main with no vision control.

💸 Legendary Card Lunacy

The secondary market's wilder than a PvP ARAM match. Check these eye-watering prices:

• Time Warp ($100): Taking two turns? Worth it for the salt alone!

• Kai'Sa, Survivor ($94): More expensive than her actual Void survival kit

• Deadbloom Predator ($93): Costs more than my weekly grocery run

Building a meta deck? That'll be three mortgages please! Three Kai'Sas alone run you $282 – that's enough dough to buy every Star Guardian skin twice! Meanwhile, my LGS owner just cackles while rationing boosters like they're health potions in a team fight.

🤔 The TCG Paradox

Here's the real kick in the nexus: we KNOW these cards will tank in value when Riot finally prints enough product. But with Spiritforged dropping in February, FOMO's hitting harder than a Malphite ult. We've got maybe three local tournaments before the meta gets Thanos-snapped by new cards. It's like watching my collection value slowly bleed out while shouting "WORTH!" like a madman.

Riot better fix this printer jam before the next set, or we'll be replaying this tragedy like a bad ranked promo series. But hey, at least my empty booster pack collection looks pretty... right? RIGHT?! 😭

So I've got to ask: when the meta shifts in February, will you still be grinding for these overpriced cardboard rectangles or moving onto the next shiny set like a magpie chasing glitter?