Hi Colin,
I have the playsheet. PM me your email address and I'll send it to you:
Before buying the game decks we just used a regular set of playing cards. All you need to do is remember which are the bonus cards (Queen of hearts heal a wound etc).
They are shown on the playsheet so when holding your hand of cards, just check the playsheet to see what you may have. After a couple of turns you'll start to remember which cards do what.
If you enjoy the game enough to buy the game deck they do add to the overall enjoyment.