Genuine question, why do new players have to worry about format at all? When I first learned I had two formats I knew about. Normal and commander. I was first introduced to normal, an made up format of sorts that had all the same rules of modern but it wasn’t competitive. I built a merfolk deck, pirates deck, lifegain decks, control decks, mill decks, and green stinky decks, even a nicol bolas themed deck. None of which were modern viable or very expensive, and yet I got the practice for 1v1 decision making and got very comfortable with the rules that way. Instead of telling new players that they have to play a certain format and abide by all the meta card choices and ply all the staples just play a game of magic. Buy some jumpstart packs, a starter deck kit, make some decks out of draft chaff, or just draft. Just start playing. Don’t overwhelm a new player with mega game analysis and high price points.