Questions about Card Combination and Ingame Currency

[TheChatotMaestro]

I've been tinkering around with Lackey for a while now, and everything I need to make the plugin I have an idea for seems to be available, except for two major functions that will be a big drawback to the initial concept. I can work around them, but it'll make the game a lot more complicated. 

This plugin is based around the 'Idol Games' genre of apps, in which you collect cards with pretty pictures of your favorite characters, and then you repeatedly smash their faces with your thumbs to the beat of a song they sing. (Of course, this won't be a rhythm game, it'll be a card game, but you get the gist.)

One of the most iconic features of that genre is when you collect two of the same card, you have the opportunity to combine the two cards and get what is technically the same card, but slightly better stats and a different picture. Depending on the game you play, this is called something like Idolization or Awakening. Is there any way to implement this out of game, like when you are managing your decks and card booster backs and whatnot, or will I have to make it some kind of Pokemon GX or YuGiOh Fusion sort of mechanic activated in gameplay?

The other feature I'm wondering about is some kind of in-game tokens that you use to get more packs. I'm surprised this isn't in the plugins as a standard feature (or at least, it's not something that you're told how to do in the tutorial)- for example, you win a game, you get some gold, you use that gold to buy more packs of cards. (Referred to as 'Scouting' in Idol Games, and usually there are two currencies- one used to get standard cards, and a more sparce currency used to get higher odds of better ones.) Is this possible in the game, or are all the card packs free to open whenever you want as many as you want up to the maximum?

Again, there are definitely ways to circumvent the lack of these features- as stated, 'Idolization' could be done in a method similar to evolving pokemon cards; and I could turn 'Scouting' into its own special card-drawing method- but if there was any way to implement these two things, it would be a lot more authentic and a lot better for the experience. 

Edit: If anyone knows how to make a general function only available when a certain playerstat reaches a certain value, that would be awesome info to share as well. Thx!