I've been playing MtG since around Theros block (so I am not one of those ancient players who got to experience 'Counterspell' in standard). That being said I have discovered I pretty much only enjoy formats with 'Counterspell' in them (Commander, Pauper, Legacy, Vintage and drafts like 'Eternal Masters'). Does anyone else miss 'Counterspell'?
*wishing for good counter magic and card draw*
Signed,
A Blue Wizard
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Modern:UB Taking Turns Modern:URW Madcap Experiment Pauper: MonoU Tempo Delver
I don't necessarily miss Counterspell exactly, I miss the sort of Wild West mentality that accompanied card design and the very near absence of an actual color pie. How cards were sometimes designed in such a way just to see what can stick.
Cards like Killer Bees were crap but they made for very flavorful additions to their respective colors. I liked the experimental complex nature of cards Norritt that no one played... ever. How some people need a flow chart to play Chains of Mephistopheles. Or when the Power 9 were all less than $100.
More importantly, Counterspell represented a time when Magic literally played differently. Try it sometime. Build a deck using the original 300+. Add the two necessary errata. Then play the game with the rules from '93. Proxy it if you must. It plays waaaay differently.
Is the game better or worse with all the changes? It's neither, it's simply... different
Do I miss Counterspell? No. I miss old Magic.
* Yes, I'm aware the cards I mentioned are not part of A/B. That's not really the point.
In current standard no, the format is to weak overall for that kind of effect. There were definitely some standards that could have really benefited from it. But who knows? Maybe blue would be to strong. Theres a lot of games now where you really have to decide between two things because your picking between holding up negate or cancel, maybe this was intentional on there part. Cards like counterspell do make for less decisions.
I think there could be a Standard format that could support Counterspell again, but I don't think it will happen anytime soon because it limits design options for counters pretty seriously whenever it shows up. A 1U counterspell with a drawback/limitation is a hard sell when the original is around, and U counters are risky because of how powerful they can be. And regardless of how you feel about the deck, I think time has shown that Wizards isn't keen on letting Mono-U Draw-Go Control be a thing in Standard again.
Do I miss it? Nope, but I play Commander almost exclusively these days, where it never left (and is much less dangerous).
ah yes good magic, where you had to interact with yoru opponent, bluffing was part of the game, holding extra lands in hand (both to prevent land and mass land destruction and counter bluff) yes I do. Would love to see counterspell reprinted (or better yet inproved apon I mean creatures keep getting power up after power up, would it be so hard to have UU1 counter target spell, return target permanent to its owners hand?)
There's actually a disconnect on what magic is supposed to be like among the players of different generations. People like Desolator Magic, who has successfully ticked me off ever since his moronic rant about how Mental Misstep is the answer modern needs, started the game in 2013 and have never seen or played magic during the transition years and earlier. They literally believe that Magic is supposed to play like it does in standard and that everything else, from Opt helping thin decks, free casting, fast mana, protection from X, and even hexproof, are anathema to the game itself. These are the people that WoTC is caving to right now and it's why modern keeps getting more expensive.
Then we have players who have played at least during 4th-8th edition that have seen the game at a point where they can make sense of why things like land destruction, fast mana, free casting, and the like are perfectly fine. From what I can tell this is the crowd that primarily plays Modern and if they can afford it, legacy. These are the players who want to play combo, toolbox, tempo-folk, control, sleigh / burn, dredge, timmy / elfball goodness, and what I like to call real mid-range decks. Take a quick guess which crowd Wizards of the Coast has been completely ignoring and abusing for about 3+ years now with wallet masters and you'll see where this is going.
So on the subject of Counterspell: It's sort of become the hallmark target representing how broken Wizards of the Coast's reprint policy is with standard and their set design, while also being representative of the ignorance of the company towards the older players. Also this is all very much a recent development because none of this animosity started until around the time they got through Kahns.
Also this is why I ended up picking up the Force of Will TCG. The set design is like old magic and the cards are generally printed with a turn earlier in mind. Case in point, Hell's Caretaker is a 4 mana card while the latest reanimator in FoW is Rachel, Nephilim Contract Maker, which is basically "tap: remove a creature you control from the game, return a creature from the graveyard to the battlefield". Also I think she's more of a 3/2 vs a 1/1. Also they have pre-cons that aren't a confused mish-mash that look like they got produced by someone who has never stepped out of playing limited / draft.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
I don't miss counterspell so much as I miss the era when interacting with spells on the stack was considered interesting gameplay. Everything having cannot be countered now and the like is really frustrating to me, because blue's wedge of the colour pie - interacting with stuff on the stack and drawing cards - are either considered to be not fun or are incredibly overpriced because they're afraid of breaking things.
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Well, I can saw a woman in two, but you won't wanna look in the box when I'm through.
I didn't play magic when counterspell was legal in standard. I do kind of miss Silumgar's scorn though :(. Oh! and mana leak, I did play while that was legal but not seriously yet.
I don't miss counterspell so much as I miss the era when interacting with spells on the stack was considered interesting gameplay. Everything having cannot be countered now and the like is really frustrating to me, because blue's wedge of the colour pie - interacting with stuff on the stack and drawing cards - are either considered to be not fun or are incredibly overpriced because they're afraid of breaking things.
I do definitely agree that the creature keyword creep is super frustrating. I was playing UR control deck then Ixalan spoilers pop up and Carnage tyrant and I just had to throw the deck out because tyrant was unbeatable for me.
The indestructible and return from the grave keywords on the gods are also super frustrating for me even if they have the opposite issue in that they only counterable. But they give decks such a powerful late game they you are forced to go under them.
You can just down power everything and allow cancel to be good in standard that would be fine but they don't, they up power both creature and non creature (non counter)spells at the low cmc level.
If they would only accept that the stack is just as important place to interact as the combat zone the game would be better off.. I mean someone gets me with a blossoming defense I am not even mad, they play a Hydra with 9 energy I am frustrated.
I miss counterspell, but I miss not having to worry too much about haymaker after haymaker. You can't counter some of the threats you really want to and my removal isn't enough as that bomb already gave some value to the caster. I want magic in Magic back. Or just rename the game to Summoner the Gathering.
A supply of new players who have not been sheltered from the "evils" of combo, control, LD, and prison.
More "unfun" cards entering the cardpool. Legacy is (near) overrun with aggro-control decks (midrange and tempo). Pure control decks are rare, prison only exists in aggro or combo hybrid builds, and linear aggro has been reduced to only Burn.
*wishing for good counter magic and card draw*
Signed,
A Blue Wizard
Modern: URW Madcap Experiment
Pauper: MonoU Tempo Delver
My EDH Commanders:
Aminatou, The Fateshifter UBW
Azami, Lady of Scrolls U
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed B
Edric, Spymaster of Trest UG
Glissa, the Traitor BG
Arcum Dagsson U
Spirits
Cards like Killer Bees were crap but they made for very flavorful additions to their respective colors. I liked the experimental complex nature of cards Norritt that no one played... ever. How some people need a flow chart to play Chains of Mephistopheles. Or when the Power 9 were all less than $100.
More importantly, Counterspell represented a time when Magic literally played differently. Try it sometime. Build a deck using the original 300+. Add the two necessary errata. Then play the game with the rules from '93. Proxy it if you must. It plays waaaay differently.
Is the game better or worse with all the changes? It's neither, it's simply... different
Do I miss Counterspell? No. I miss old Magic.
* Yes, I'm aware the cards I mentioned are not part of A/B. That's not really the point.
Standard gets so many 'cannot counter me' type things, I would do nothing
Spirits
We will rebuild.
Do I miss it? Nope, but I play Commander almost exclusively these days, where it never left (and is much less dangerous).
Standard is a cesspool. Anything that happens there is unrelated to a game worth playing.
It wouldn't even be good in Modern.
It's not missing anywhere else.
I like Counterspell formats, so I play Counterspell formats. It's only missable if you self-select away from it.
Then we have players who have played at least during 4th-8th edition that have seen the game at a point where they can make sense of why things like land destruction, fast mana, free casting, and the like are perfectly fine. From what I can tell this is the crowd that primarily plays Modern and if they can afford it, legacy. These are the players who want to play combo, toolbox, tempo-folk, control, sleigh / burn, dredge, timmy / elfball goodness, and what I like to call real mid-range decks. Take a quick guess which crowd Wizards of the Coast has been completely ignoring and abusing for about 3+ years now with wallet masters and you'll see where this is going.
So on the subject of Counterspell: It's sort of become the hallmark target representing how broken Wizards of the Coast's reprint policy is with standard and their set design, while also being representative of the ignorance of the company towards the older players. Also this is all very much a recent development because none of this animosity started until around the time they got through Kahns.
Also this is why I ended up picking up the Force of Will TCG. The set design is like old magic and the cards are generally printed with a turn earlier in mind. Case in point, Hell's Caretaker is a 4 mana card while the latest reanimator in FoW is Rachel, Nephilim Contract Maker, which is basically "tap: remove a creature you control from the game, return a creature from the graveyard to the battlefield". Also I think she's more of a 3/2 vs a 1/1. Also they have pre-cons that aren't a confused mish-mash that look like they got produced by someone who has never stepped out of playing limited / draft.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)I do definitely agree that the creature keyword creep is super frustrating. I was playing UR control deck then Ixalan spoilers pop up and Carnage tyrant and I just had to throw the deck out because tyrant was unbeatable for me.
The indestructible and return from the grave keywords on the gods are also super frustrating for me even if they have the opposite issue in that they only counterable. But they give decks such a powerful late game they you are forced to go under them.
Sure standard just has cancel variants but then they put all these must counter 2 drops like glint-sleeve siphoner, search for azcanta, Heart of Kiran, longtusk cub(when attune was legal), copter when it was legal, etc.
You can just down power everything and allow cancel to be good in standard that would be fine but they don't, they up power both creature and non creature (non counter)spells at the low cmc level.
If they would only accept that the stack is just as important place to interact as the combat zone the game would be better off.. I mean someone gets me with a blossoming defense I am not even mad, they play a Hydra with 9 energy I am frustrated.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
But I do miss:
Yeah, I miss old design.
https://fieldmarshalshandbook.wordpress.com/
RUGLegacy Lands.dec
RUGBLegacy Lands.dec
RGLegacy Lands.dec
WUBRG EDH Lands.dec
UBR EDH Artificer Prodigy
B EDH Relentless Rats