Magical Chase (US) was easily obtained in the $150-$300 range (not sealed, of course) for, like, 10 years. To say it's price has been rising steadily for years is misleading; it was at a virtual plateau forever with relatively minor fluctuations up and down from sale to sale (of course, you'll always have the odd sale way above or below the mean). Over the past year it's gone from said range to THOUSANDS of dollars. I'd argue the term "super spike" is understating the matter, even.
Back in those days, a $300 Magical Chase was the *worst* thing we had to worry about. Of course people will always complain about expensive shit, the only difference is back then our "expensive shit" was like $300 and not $3,000.
