Necklet, I feel for you. Don't worry, I will always contribute to your points when we meet in ladder
Seriously, I really hope for a better ver 1.8... in fact I am now holding back my 1000+ diamonds and 20,000 + coins hoping against hope that they would somehow lower the cost of rubies or even make rubies available for purchase using coins.
The dev just need to look at other TCG card games out there, the current popular ones like Heartstone, Ubisoft Duel of Champions do have some pay to win elements, but I don't recall I need to fork out in excess of $400 and still stuck in mid tier within the ladder...
I admire players like Smoki2Vu who are truly free to play players, but if you look at the top 50 ladder players rite now, the number of players like them can be counted with one hand.
So Necklet, you are not alone ...
P.S. Don't know whether its just luck but I managed to beat Catty twice in Pro Mode Coins Bet, maybe she showed mercy during non ladder matches. How I wished those were ladder matches...haha