I'm not entirely sure what it is that you want us to think about, Keyser. I'm also not sure why you put 'free' within quotation marks under your (1).
The game is advertised as free to play. You find that stated on the website where it says "Play now for Free!". If people play for free and legitimately participate in in-game events that give you gold if you are good (and lucky) enough, then I can't see why there is anything wrong with that. In fact, I think that is positively intended since it sends a message to new players along the lines of 'You can be good at this game and get good cards without paying any real money for it'.
There are countless games out there offering the same kind of model: Free to play with an in-game store. An essential part of that model is obviously that there is an incentive to buy stuff from the store for real money so that the developers can make a living out of their product. In TFW this model is probably not working as of yet since there are not enough players. It is, perhaps, too easy to gain gold from EC, ladder and leagues. Imagine that there were, say, 100 people online at all times. It is unlikely that the same people would be at the top of the ladder each week (unless, of course, they abuse the system, as so many have done and still continue to do). Thus they would not be able to make great decks from just playing ladder. At any rate, they would not be able to do so within a fairly short space of time.
What I am trying to say, I guess, is that I don't think that there is anything special or awkward or weird that we have to think about when it comes to a player who does great without spending any money. The problem lies elsewhere and, I believe, once again comes down to the small player base.
Now, I do have a feeling that I've missed something here and maybe my post is off the mark. Sorry in advance if that is the case.
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