Glad you are playing the game. You can use DEC to buy a pack it cost 2000. I am sure it seems far away but once you get to even gold 3 you can earn that in a few days. That might be to slow. I agree. I do know that this game does require a lot of time or at least one big investment to play in the top leagues but I can get an account with level 5 cars to diamond 1 or champ 3 playing each day. At that level I earn 6k to 10k DEC and get a lot of cards from questing.
RE: Splinterlands first impressions from a Hearthstone player