You can also find solid card box options and sleeves on Amazon, for less
There were only two LEGENDS that when defeated meant opponents would only take 1 Prize card, these were Lugia LEGEND #113 & Ho-Oh LEGEND #112 because the cards only have one Pokemon
BGS/CGC are tougher on centering usually, and the 10-sub grades for any of the 4 categories is usually really hard on most cards
First strike is a marginal ability that requires blocking to begin with (on one side or the other) and requires that you have more power than the opponent has toughness to even matter (give or take the stray dealing of first strike damage followed by a removal spell)
The combination of aggressive pirates, strong removal, and a large number of card draw effects keeps the heat up and can quickly overwhelm and attack for victory
Theoretically, you could make a really good deck early on and win against the League, which is why the game doesnt let you do that and artificially gates your progress