These are extreme outliers, but they show how illustrator connections can matter in the hobby
If youre looking to jump in to the format or at least want a good idea of what to expect, these decks are some of the best the format has to offer
The first release came out with just 36 cards (part 2 onwards had 151 for this generation (excluding the 2018 reprint)), so it wasnt a very weighty release and only developed into a massive, branded product line, over time (which it now is: with more than 300 million units sold over its lifespan (Japan has 126 million citizens))
In the old format , a cycle can be purchased as 7 separate products: a Deluxe Expansion that contains new investigators plus scenarios #1 and #2 of the campaign, and 6 Mythos Packs that contain scenarios #3 to #8 of the campaign along with new player cards
However, it does have the slight downside of the bottom of the library being where most players want to put stuff they don't want