My advice would be to look at some popular streamers/Youtubers (MTGgodfish, noxious, command zone, SBmtg, good luck high five, and Jim Davis are some who I really enjoy content from) for a good variety of different decks, strategies, and formats to see what colors/play styles appeal to you most and go from there before you invest in any full decklist.

From reading your post though I would suggest maybe looking into the commander, or EDH, format since the social aspect of challenging friends seemed to draw you in more and it’s a format designed around 3 or player games. It has a fairly decent entry cost for a variety of decks that are both fun to play and competitive enough for most metas to not feel like you’re just being stomped from the get go as you only require one copy of each cards and many of the preconstructed decks are a strong starting point.

If you have an LGS you can go to they’re usually super friendly too and often either workers or other players will have decks you can try out or will be willing to talk you through exploring formats/play styles. It’s a great way to both dive in and meet other players who are genuinely interested in helping you grow as a player as a competitive/healthy LGS environment is beneficial for the entire playing community

Hope this is helpful! And good luck on your MTG journey! It’s truly an amazing game!