Meh idk
Like I got starter packs and bought the deal they do plus bought one $50 pack.
Been playing for like 6 weeks and have 4 decent working decks. Admittedly I did massively luck out with some of the packs I got.
That plus playing for quests and doing ok in drafts I have some decent decks already.
Izzet drakes, golgari midrange, budget dimir surrveil and mono blue.
I guess I am coming from HS which is very expensive to keep up. Think keeping cards from drafts really accelerates of new players compared to that game. Plus the gold quests are decent and u can go infinite fairly easily.
To be fair your opinion is going to carry greater weight than mine since u have experience of both. All I can say is that I would never have touched magic via mtgo and the arena beta is great. I don't think it's that expensive compared to other games out there (but maybe to start with compared to mtgo).
Also how u doing we used to talk on Skype back in the sng days