I looked into MtG and found the pay-to-win aspect unappealing. I don't mind paying for a game but paying to increase chances of winning is a deal breaker. Is there a fixed budget option to get into MtG?
In terms of costs for the real world version, its easy to pick up a somewhat competitive deck on a budget.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/thirty-casual-decks-und...
Also it really depends on who you're playing. If you go into a tournament you might be expected to spend several hundred on a deck. However at the kitchen table and playing with friends you can just grab a few of those budget decks and have a blast.
Don't decide to "get into Magic", figure out what part of Magic you want to get into. The game is so big most players who make it past the kitchen table specialize in one or two formats, and inside that format they have a few decks. This is definitely a tricky thing to do when you don't really know the game that well, but if you put in some research it's not too bad.
This is the best way to mitigate feeling like the game is Pay to Win. It turns the game into Pay to Play. You're not losing because your buddy spent $300 on new cards, you're losing because he's basically playing Legacy, and you've just got a Sealed deck from the latest expansion (Sealed is where you build a deck out of 6 packs).
Magic is a hobby that will go as deep as you are willing to go. If you want to play once a month with friends at the kitchen table, or twice a week at a store and try earn a spot into the next Invitational, you can do it with Magic. Figure out limits though, they don't call it Cardboard Crack for nothing.
It can feel a bit like a lottery in some sets (where a certain OP card and a semi-competent deck builder can beat a more highly skilled player who got hosed for powerful cards) but that's a core aspect of CCGs. If you don't want variance, a perfect information board game would probably be better.