re: What is this card game Magic

The game is changing and MTG is figuring it out by changing to a quicker rotation in standard to make money. Modern sees to many people with a hand full of decks that dominate the tourneys and very rarely change unless a ban comes out for a card or two or something new pops up in standard that is viable in Modern.

Pre-release formats and drafts are easy way to go as they are cheap and if you get some high demand cards trade them in quick to get other cards you need or as others have mentioned can get very expensive. When including specific land cards a lot of competitive decks are well over $1000 including EDH decks.

My 8yo enjoys it as she will do 2 headed Giant pre-release and draft with me.

Other variations seem to be popular now like tiny leaders(EDH variant) and Frontier which is a newer variant of extended.