A stiff cover isnt enough if it wears away and allows other damages to find their way in to ruin your precious cardboard
Like most Pokmon cards, the value of Ducklett depends on a few consistent factors: its rarity, the printing and finish (regular or foil), its physical condition, and the set it was printed in (White Flare)
If you want to play a longer more mid-to-lategame style deck in Mono Red that interacts more with the table, well, it gets more challenging because it makes Mono Red's inherent weaknesses more glaring: subpar card draw and ramp, subpar answers to creatures, minimal options for enchantment removal, commander protection, and recursion, things that get more pronounced as the game progresses
Phyrexian Fleshgorger $20 With the prevalence of Infernal Grasp, killing this and being down 5 life is an intimidating thought
But this makes sense for a couple of reasons, and if its maybe 10 or so staples, were fine with it