But are those Joker cards different, so that you can use this deck easily for your secret messages [1]?
I don't consider $10 expensive. If the cards are well-made they should last for years (at least that's how long the decks around me seem to exist, some are older than a decade).
$10 for a deck of cards (+$6 for shipping) is kinda expensive, though, particularly since I'd need two.