Long story short: I have a friend who plays the game, and as someone who used to play CCGs I'm considering joining him, but I'm on a budget.

I understand the idea of formats, where only certain sets are legal, and how this shifts over time.

My question: Are the Two-Player Starter cards, with their own icon and everything, always going to be legal? Is that the idea? Or will they one day phase into Infinite and a new two-player starter be released?

In other words: As a new player, would it make a lot of sense to get the Two-Player set, not just because it'll teach the basics but also because the cards will be usable long-term?

Thanks!

The two-player starter set is officially a part of the Legacies set block. This means it will rotate out of standard play when that block does. We just got the Convergence set block base set and starters. Spark of Hope is the next announced set, and then the Convergence block will have one more unannounced set after that. The two-player starter will be legal in standard throughout all of those next two and will not drop off until three sets from now, when the next block starts. You probably have about a year or so before it won't be legal.

If worried about longevity, the Convergence starters are really good. Though, it is going to cost more because you would need two of each to field two decks and they have not dropped in price like the two-player starter has.