Board Thread:Wiki Suggestions/@comment-172.56.33.158-20150519181708/@comment-6011882-20150520124855

The key phrase in your question is "they give you". If they simply "gave" all the best cards at a great drop rate to all players, why would anyone spend real money on gems for card packs to gain an edge over everyone else?

I remember when free players got virtually nothing as gifts except for the occasional LCP for junk rares and bound PWR 5 UR Samsara. They have been much better in recent years with giving loyal free players more useful gifts to try to stay comptitive, but in the end, it is their big money customers who pay the bills. Paying players will always be given an advantage with the exclusive card pack and event skill UR's that everyone in the game wants.

I only know of one 100% free player in the game who was able to compete effectively with the big paying players, and he devoted a lot of time and energy to the game and played incredibly strategically in order to keep up with the paying customers. But for the most part, the business model for LoC is "Pay to Win." As a free player, the best you can do is hope on the luck of the draw with the free things they do hand out to everyone.