The dev team learned their lesson from the earlier days[1] and do strict evaluations of cards and interactions before releasing them. The most popular format, "Standard", is played with the last 2 "blocks" (3 sets of card "sets"), and 1 "Core Set". So basically the last 1.5—2 years worth of cards. Those interactions are studied carefully before being released. Very infrequently do you run into something truly overpowered and needing to be banned from the competitive scene.
Not to mention, in the most basic sense, cards like Counterspell[2] will probably never be printed in a Standard playable set, but cards like Cancel[3] will. One being too cheap to cast and being almost game breaking, while the other has its power balanced just right for the cost.
Yeah, after the hellish Tempest/Urza block they really cut back, Mercadian Masques was almost critically under-powered, and they've gotten so much better since that time at providing balance.
If you haven't played in a while, you should check it out again. There's a game[1] now for Steam/Xbox/PS3/Android/iOS to get you back into the swing of things and show you many of the current cards.
The dev team learned their lesson from the earlier days[1] and do strict evaluations of cards and interactions before releasing them. The most popular format, "Standard", is played with the last 2 "blocks" (3 sets of card "sets"), and 1 "Core Set". So basically the last 1.5—2 years worth of cards. Those interactions are studied carefully before being released. Very infrequently do you run into something truly overpowered and needing to be banned from the competitive scene.
Not to mention, in the most basic sense, cards like Counterspell[2] will probably never be printed in a Standard playable set, but cards like Cancel[3] will. One being too cheap to cast and being almost game breaking, while the other has its power balanced just right for the cost.
[1]: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/dai...
[2]: http://magiccards.info/jvc/en/24.html
[3]: http://magiccards.info/m14/en/45.html