I started getting invested in a TCG (Digimon) for the first time ever a couple months ago (magic, YGO, pokemon etc. never did it for me before).
One of the selling points (at least currently) is that most decks are fairly affordable (less than 50 bucks affordable) and viable and even the very competitive decks shouldn't set you back much (with less than 100 bucks you can easily make a top tier tournament-viable deck) .
Problem is I really started digging lots of different decks and discovering new favorite digimon and how they play and now I'm several hundreds of dollars of investment in both in cards and accessories (not even counting merch...).
I regret nothing though. It has helped me get out of the house (I work remote) and interact with people which has been very good for my mental health, and it gave me a way to revive some of my childhood nostalgia.
I've never been into TCG's, but just wanted to say how back when the Pokemon and Digimon TV shows were first out, I was way more into Digimon. I do have some cards from back then but not sure if they're even legit game cards. I only ever met two other people that watched Digimon (one was kind enough to lend me the first movie on VHS) but basically everyone has seen Pokemon in some form.
If your cards look like this then they are legit game cards but from the old Digimon TCG that was discontinued several years ago. The current TCG was released in 2020 along with the reboot of the Digimon Adventure anime.
I was also more of a Digimon kid than a Pokémon kid growing up, so it brings me much joy that the current TCG is actually picking up steam internationally. Hopefully the franchise keeps flourishing because it really deserves it.