Best starting point: Pokemon 151 (Scarlet & Violet era) or Base Set Unlimited singles
partner and former staffer, Jen Brazas (aka NeoQueenJen back in the day) has built a rather large fan art empire as Savage Sparrow, selling a ton of t-shirts and other merch based on various nerd/geekdom properties, and her experience has basically been that of the above
If youre pulling a gun on someone over trading cards, you should probably have access to neither one of those things
Skull Rock, Island Fortress is one of the payoffs for this, giving you passive lore just for having Pirates on it
Hope's effect turns that lifegain into mill, so even though you're not actively playing cards that mill, you're still making progress on draining your opponents of their libraries
Please note this is isn't on your turn or more than once, like some commentators and reviewers think, just once and on their turn only