The quality has actually improved. Meta has always been broken, and if you wanted to have actual fun you'd have to go casual, wich is where YGO really shines. It was always like that. So not much changed. If you want to use old stuff you still can, especially since there have been a few old school sets wich really give crazy power-ups to the classic decks. Not to mention all the stuff that has only come out in the OCG...
Not enough for them to beat the Meta, but enough to give the old decks enough juice to keep them going.
As for the popularity, well it varies from place to place. I myself live in a town in wich YGO has never been alive at all. This doesn't mean it's dead on a global scale tough, as there are a LOT of players on the regular tournaments in cities actually fortunate enough to hold them. Though, in an age of free MMOs, TCG and board games in general don't have a bright future.
Where do you live tough? Magic is only more popular in North America and even there its a close call. Rest of the world is dominated by YGO.
