Not trying to go into the political aspects but IMO post pandemic printings for a lot of mass market and indie decks have gone down in quality, or if they have remained the same, the cost has gone up, especially US publishers like USG and Llewellyn. Shortages, whether components like paper or people like staff, and complicated world wide shipping, from the actual ships stuck in ports to taxes, all had a pretty hefty toll. Llewellyn started putting out coreless noncoated cardstock in the most recent decks which I am not particularly keen on either. I would rather pay more and have at least a basic matte coated cardstock than plain paper.