In short: Alternative costs are a different price tag, but in general with the same timing rules unless the card or keyword explicitly says otherwise
It is a 2/2 with vigilance, so itll come down quickly and can attack and block without skipping a beat
Even when they could do it, we'd charge them more if they weren't paying in pure, solid gold
Creatures Inc., the Pokemon Pocket developer, shouldn't shy away from regular updates to balance though, as they now have that freedom whereas when the cards mimic their physical counterparts, that's much less viable
This card is usually seen with the likes of Viscera Seer or Village Rites so that you can retrieve the cards at will or avoid it getting exiled
It was just more efficient to pump out a big guy on turn three