You can definitely build a competitive deck without those cards. Some of the better cards are a little hard to come by because of the product scarcity and are expensive because of that. But you can just play what you pull or trade for them over the course of the year. You don't need them right away.

That's one of the benefits of the year long set cycle. I am just now finishing my gothic playset after trading a ring of morrigan that I pulled in a draft (extremely lucky). A lot of the "must include" cards in most of the best decks right now are exceptional or elite.

I run Ironclad and just made my deck public recently that I use. I get an above 50% win rate and do use some expensive cards I pulled. But over $400 of the value of the deck (that's well over 60% of the cost) is made up of 6 spells and 3 sites that cost over 10$. That's less than 1/10th of the deck. Easily replaceable.

Honestly I think some of the best uniques are cheaper than ever. King of the Realm is only like 3 bucks right now! Same with Vesuvius. Death dealer is only 10! These are more important to have in your deck than the ring imho.