Standard is the main format and you only have a limited pool of cards. That eliminates the need for constant power creep. The power creep in Magic is a lot different than just having creatures getting bigger. Early sets had cards that were truly broken good but also loads that were utter trash.
Sure, you can look at Iceage or Homelands and you'll see almost nothing but cards that by today's standards are shit and point out how much better cards today in general are.
Compare
Ashnod's Cylix with
Sensei's Divining Top.
Both let you look at the top three cards of your deck.
Ashnod's is more expensive to play, more expensive to use, has to be tapped to peek, you have to throw two of the three cards away and you can't draw cards with it.
Sensei's is cheaper to play, cheaper to use and can be used multiple times a round to peek, you get to arrange the cards and don't have to put any in the graveyard and it even lets you draw the top card you just put there in the same turn. Since it's put on top after that you can even prevent artifact destruction that way.
The newer card shits all over the older card in every way. But the point is that the older card has always been shit. It was never good. The whole Iceage block almost killed Magic because the cards were so shitty.
The whole game is balanced differently than just sheer power. Much of the power lies in seemingly benign cards.
Tarmogoyf has been format defining for a long time. Not because it's such a straight up face basher but because it was just one of the best two drops ever. It is efficient as fuck. There are loads of cards that don't seem so crazy at first but prove themselves to be ultra strong just by sheer worth of utility. And you can bet that when something like Tarmogoyf comes along, Wizards is never going to print a card just like that again and certainly not a stronger version of it. It would kill the game. Magic isn't flawless but Wizards aren't retarded.
The other main difference is that Magic has colours and for a good while now the colours have had their characteristics defined really well. You don't get to have fantastic card draw, counter spells, direct damage, creature destruction, buffing enchantments, massive creatures, mana ramp, creature synergy, graveyard usage and so on all in one deck. You are limited by mana and splashing all colours isn't feasable.
Finally, there are loads of formats and enough players in each that you'll find enough players of them. And even the tournaments have rounds of drafting. Draft is a genius format. It forces people to buy booster packs if they play it officially and completely eliminates the need for power creep.
Everyone brings along a couple of boosters. How many depends on how many players you have. The first one is opened, you pick a card and pass the cards to your neighbour to the right. You pick a card from the cards you get from your neighbour on the left, pick a card and pass it along. When the first booster is empty, you open the next one and so on until all cards are drafted. Then you build a deck out of those cards on the spot.
That way, how powerful any single one card is compared to all cards doesn't matter. You'll pick mediocre cards, good cards, even shit cards if that's all you're handed. You'll have to figure out what colours to play, usually no more than two, and to make a playable deck. That way Wizards doesn't have to make the cards more and more powerful with each set. It's brilliant and actually fun.
People put together a big box of cards to draft from casually and that's then called Cube. You'll just not open boxes but get stacks of cards and do the same as you would with a booster. People are usually awfully proud of their Cube and spend a lot of time assorting them to make for fun and interesting games.
Constructed not being the be all end all and even Constructed being a lot different between formats is what sets Magic apart from pretty much all other TGCs and is the sole reason why it's even still around.