Gold, purchases, treasures ... help please

[keybounce]

I am trying to understand what, or if, I understand or not.

Gold, as I understand, can be spent on treasure chests (unlocks cards), on a few specific treasure cards (instead of random chance, but very expensive), or on runes (time-sensitive bonuses) or charms (scrolls -- like one-time use of cards; others -- looks like ptw bonuses for a scenario that is too tough/characters too weak).

Runes -- one set of runes claims it increases the likelyness of unlocking better treasure, but does not indicate how much it improves. Other than that? Increasing gold payout for a time period sounds good, but if you're learning the game / the scenario, you're going slow, especially if you need to read text and plan; you're not getting the full benefit. Which would mean you either need to rush (and make mistakes, and increase stress), or you're doing legendary runs. Neither of those sound fun to me -- the stress effect makes one a non-starter. For me.

Is there anything I missed?

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Treasure: So buying a chest unlocks cards, adds them to the active cards, and gives you some to work with. 

In the physical game, how were these represented? Were there "locked cards" that had to be unlocked to use, or is this entire mechanism new to the digital game?

Also: Now that I understand how to use the card examination, I see that about half of the treasure cards are already unlocked; I did NOT buy any chests yet, and have a fresh install of the game from the steam sale last week. So what determines if a treasure card starts unlocked, and what makes a card treasure or not?

Sample of what I mean: