Why is the card so damn expensive ;-;

technically it's been expensive from way back, we've been through this for years, they're just testing waters.  But in a nutshell , when there's demand for a product & you're the sole supplier of that product , you can price it anyway you want.

It looks like the cooling is gonna be more effective, but it looks wayyy worse than last gen's Founder's Edition cards. 

I like how the steel/aluminum shroud just curves around seamlessly merges to the back-plate giving it that clean solid piece look .

i wouldn't call it worse , it's just a way too sharp switch from a decent looking shroud to quickly looking like an aftermarket cooler.  kinda hard to believe it's a reference design .

Looks like a Sapphire cooler to me. 

i so badly wanna see oc3d's tear down lengthy review on this, the thing looks engineered & designed to be as simple in that tight frame when you look at it, it's in  the details up-close, it fits in & connects with the whole body of it. if you know what i mean.