That would be the case for 11 years until Link Monsters were added to the game in 2017, a card type where Monster Zones and card positioning was an extremely pivotal part of their design
We have so many different products, graded cards and loose Pokemon cards that we can fill enough mystery boxes in the coming years without having to buy anything ourselves
If you don't own a planar die, (or don't want to buy one) you can just use any six sided die
After that, leave China, and
booster boxes offer surprise, choose based on your collecting style
Even better, while you currently have some versatility in how you build your discard deck, a good deal of the staples will be the same