@Sparktrog @pharmacistjudge

The hobby has gotten more expensive but the main issue is that the average power level of some random EDH deck on the other side of the table is higher. Back in the early days of EDH you were basically playing a pile of random cards which were not good enough to make it into competitive decks.

Unfortunately in EDH the good threats cost (in dollars) way less than the good answers so it is tough to stop high power decks on a budget.