is absolutely a large price to pay, but you don't have to take part in combat to attack their life pile, avoiding opposing triggers from life, and potentially closing out the game if you can guarantee a swing
There will, however, be an opportunity to get Booster Fun commons in this slot
Japanese cards are cheaper mostly because Japanese MSRP is set lower per pack (the cleanest same-set example: One Piece OP-17 at 240/pack in Japan vs $4.99/pack English MSRP), because a weaker yen has lowered the USD/EUR-equivalent cost in recent years, because buying at the source cuts out re-export middlemen , and because Japans reprint culture keeps street prices near MSRP on modern sets
I remember building a deck from just the starter deck in Duel Arena, there was no other option because there were initially no structure decks available
reduce its Pendulum Scale by 1 (min