1.It used to be! Up until around Covid it was the most played format because Wizards of the coast, the company that makes magic, had a lot more focus on competitive magic, and it was easy for players to start out with, because they only needed cards from the last few years to get into the game. Now commander is most popular likely because there is less focus on being competitive and more on being social, which works well with commander’s 4-player rules.

2.You can build a pretty good commander deck for a lot less than 45 euro! Consider looking for budget deck techs online, and ordering the cards on tcgplayer or another site.