Episode pass devalued?

When they communicated that 5* is required for era level 80, which translates to r2 and bypasses g12 and kyrotech completely. I thought doing what I usually do to get 5*—buy episode pass, buy 5 card crystal pack—would be able to let me get lvl80. I’m not seeing a path for that to be possible. Happy to be wrong and find out there is some math I’m overlooking, but if indeed the episode pass does nothing to help you achieve a higher era level, man, what’s the point? I won’t be buying it at all anymore.