If he starts playing when the cards are being earned in ranked play then he will get them on his own like everyone else that plays.

If he starts play after the cards do out of print, he WILL be able to buy them.

So either way a player can get them if they work hard enough or spend enough when they go out of print. I don't think the cards are even 1 season old yet. So that is not even 1% of the total time they will have to earn these.

I can't think of anything more fair myself, and the fact that you and I want these is validation that its good to play and earn them each day. That's what we all should want, people to be excited about playing every day.