Has it ever been legal to simply play with a proxy of a card you do not own? That would be a terrible buissiness decision if so, but great for players.
For the record, "bad for the business" is usually also "bad for the player", at least if we're honest. Remember, actual crimes or even poor (but legal) business practices are usually only going to lead to
short term gain, while in the long term, end up being bad for
both the business and its customers.
"Hey! The Organized Play we've spent a good chunk of change on running to give
you the customer a reason to buy our stuff? We're going to allow you to access all of it so long as you pick up 60 basic Energy cards... which you can buy used for probably under $1.00 USD. Oh, and this will be the last year of Organized Play or new expansions because, after this, we'll be going bankrupt!"