For those of u who play/played Pokemon TCG , can i ask u a few questions please?

I am a huge pokemon fan, and played X and Y for like 800 hours until i lost my save 1 year after release( not the topic here), and just after Pokemon GO i sort of miss pokemon....like A LOT!

So i have been thinking about getting Pokemon TCG cards and using them for the online game. The thing is nobody in my country plays that game, and the cards cost a lot to import, so my question is: is it worth it?

Like is the Pokemon TCG game worth it? Does it have leveling up? Will i need to buy packs frequently to keep up with players? Is there like ranking and stuff? 

Thanks in advance.

P.S Where is the cheapest place I could get the cards, Amazon for example or what? And what packs should i get?

This would definitely be best answered on a competitive Pokemon forum. We have fans here but I don't know if anyone here plays competitively.