returning player, how is the game doing in terms of playerbase/life right now?

I was actively paying attention to the game until shortly after set 3 released, then I unfortunately hit some harder financial times and had to sell my deck and small collection of rarer cards for some extra cash. However, I’m now in a spot where I’d like to jump back in, and I just wanted some input from the community of how the game is holding up? Does the game seem to be growing, shrinking, do a good amount of players come to your local events, etc?

Also as a side question, if I was to grab a box of any one set in a search for generally playable cards, I would imagine Spark of Rebellion is still my best bet? Or how is JTL looking in that regard?