As far as the magic being less popular now than it was before, this is my impression:
Back when I started playing, magic was the king. There are a number of geek pastimes: Computers, Video games, Dungeons and Dragons, Live Action Role Playing, Goth, Music, comic books, ect... Back then, magic was #!, and there was no doubt about that. Magic was head and shoulders #1 until Pokemon became huge with the kids. Pokemon was a decent game, but some of the people playing it really gave it a bad name. At the same time, its popularity did give some challenge to the supremacy of magic which had never happened before. As the Pokemon fad faded, the bad name it deservedly or not gave CCGs didn't entirely fade, and playing magic has had a somewhat "less cool" image withing the geek community ever since, though still very popular.
In the intervening years, I've been active in the theater company at the local community college(we happen to be blessed with a fantastic director). Being on campus as much as I am, I keep in touch with the younger generations, as being 28 doesn't take away from being accepted by the geeks, especially at a community college packed with people 25+. All the geek pastimes are there, and even some new ones. Magic is no longer the undisputed king anymore. 8-10 years ago, every person there would play magic, and magic would be the main focus of our getting together. Nowadays half the people in our little group don't even play. To be perfectly honest, its not as easy to drop by the local gaming store to play a few games anymore either.
On top of the above, I think the evolution of the game has had something to do with the (perceived) drop in popularity. The game was a lot more accessible when I started playing. First off, people hadn't discovered the power of the net-game yet, and back before Tempest(what I would consider the first "modern" set) newbie decks and Tournament decks were a lot closer together in competitiveness than they are now. Back then there really wasn't the card base to build a 1-2 mana deck, or decks as fast as the ones we see today, even with the undercosted overpowered cards. Hell, the original Sligh often packed Shivan Dragons, can you imagine that today! On top of that, we still had disruptive cards like Swords to Plowshares, Hymn to Tourach, and others outside of the play balance that were powerful enough in their own right to give a weaker deck more of a chance. Between the proliferation of internet strategy and the evolved card base, a newbie coming into the game back then would not lose as badly as a newbie coming into the game today. The investment in cards and gameplay knowledge to actually compete(just to be able to win games against your friends and the local guys at the card store) today is a lot steeper than it was when I first started playing. I think the game doesn't get new players as easily because of this.