These arguments could get heated, but all in all it was a much safer, calmer time
On the other hand, for products like Secret Lair drops, Commander decks, or other preconstructed / box-set supplemental products, we used the cost of buying the sealed product (which is generally lower than the cost of buying all of the cards in the product individually) from around the time the set was released (for sealed product, you'll often pay much more if you wait until the set goes out of print to try to buy it)
Through pinging for just one or two damage each turn, you end up with a fistful of cards and enough life to survive being hit back
Cast your permanent spell, upon entering you exile something and it effectively becomes "imprinted" onto your permanent, and your permanent's rules text tells you how the imprinted card impacts what the card does
Now they have both of the top two