At the beginning of the most recent lockdown in my city I had been introduced by a friend to magic (specifically commander), and I had played enough with him to have started to be annoyed at how often I was losing - so I went out and bought a couple of decks. My girlfriend and I were immediately hooked, and have been playing every other day since then (2-3 months now). Now that the lockdown has lifted I am able to play with my friend, as well as introduce the game to other friends. It's a lot of fun and I've only scratched the surface of the game; as an example we have only been playing with preconstructed decks, while most people will design a deck and purchase the required cards. I think the game design really lends itself to being enjoyed by programmers: building a deck is about looking for combos/synergy between cards, high level play requires knowing the exact way that turns resolve and how/when you can respond to other players actions. I think there has been a lot of stigma around tcg for a while, but the truth is it is just fun.

As an aside, my gf has been collecting Pokemon cards. The high premium for a Charizard is known as 'the lizard tax' by the community, which I think is hilarious.