Huge thanks for the detailed, yet efficient guide. I've got my first Splendor tournament in a week, and I'm looking forward to practicing Splendor now that I know what's going on.
Me and a few partners, play with all 3(core, and both expansions together) was fun and longer. We changed some of the rules, cause we had to. But we were addicted to the game. I'm even thinking about purchasing the Marvel Version for my nieces and nephews. I have no kids.
Thanks for answering this so fast! That's exactly right. It's impossible to save up enough gems to buy the expensive cards at the beginning of the game. But once you've bought some cheaper cards, those give you basically a discount for the rest of the game, that helps you buy the big stuff.