I think the only real answer is to have Counterspell in Modern or some better counter. I just don't see that happening cause WoTC refuses to bring a card into Modern that hasn't passed through Standard first.
Many have said it, wotc dropped the ball for not having a revolt Counter variant. It's one of the most elegant mechanics for balancing a card in both standard and modern.
I think they could also just try reprinting counterspell in a standard set. Probably means blue card draw would take a hit, and color fixing might as well so you would have to commit toward monoblue to play it, and it would make it difficult to design other counterspells for a while, but it would hardly "break" standard, and they could let it rotate out and "reset" blue's counter levels after.
I don't think will get exactly Counterspell, but there are other ways of doing it than a Revolt card, too. I floated this one in one of the Modern Card Creation thread:
Contracharm UU
Instant (U)
Kicker: Discard a card
Counter target spell if its converted mana cost is 3 or less. If Contracharm was kicked, instead counter that spell.
I really like that one, I REALLY like that! A revolt counterspell or this would be equal to me, and if Wizards were to print this, I would stop yelling about actual Counterspell unless it becomes obvious that it isn't enough, but I think it would do wonders
Thank you, and agreed! (Obviously, I suppose; otherwise I would have made it differently!)
A lot of people are on the "Revolt Counterspell (or just Regular Counterspell) or Bust" train, so just wanted to point out that there are alternatives that walk the "Probably fine for Standard, probably good enough for Modern" line. I can even see reducing the unkicked ability to just 2 CMC or less, so you always need to trade card advantage if you want tempo advantage.
I also think a lot of people underestimate the UU in Counterspell or its variations. Countering turn 2 on the draw is so important in Modern; that's why Cancel and the like are so weak. But UU means you absolutely cannot do that with, say, IslandBlood Crypt, or Steam VentsSwamp, or Watery GraveGhost Quarter. That's a serious deckbuilding consideration in Modern, where the path of least resistance is usually 3 colors. Especially in Ux decks, given how important the other colors are in covering U's weaknesses.
I like Colt's bounce-kicker idea too, although one of my goals in the design was to give control decks their age-old (and presently [mostly] lacking) ability to trade card advantage for tempo advantage.
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Playing UX Mana Denial until Modern gets the answers it needs.
WUBRG Humans BRW Mardu Pyromancer UW UW "Control" UR Blue Moon
Jesus Christ, I took a look at the top 32, it's really diverse, but blue is really, REALLY, REALLLLLLY bad.
hey man Merfolk did super well. That's a blue deck. It even has Dispel and Unified Will in the side, those are reactive. A reactive blue deck made top 4. Blue is perfectly fine where it is and will never get any improvements for the next 3 years
I'm assuming this is sarcasm? Because if it's not I'm lost for words, because the T32 of SCG Dallas indicates that blue is by no means fine where it is.
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EDH GWSelvala and the Return to HumanityGW UWDragonlord Ojutai, Control's Elder DragonUW UBGTasigur, the God-Pharaoh's Gift to EDHUBG UBRNicol Bolas and his SuperfriendsPawnsUBR
Modern UWUW Control/Midrange/Bad JundUW WUBRGHumansWUBRG BGMidrangeBG
Jesus Christ, I took a look at the top 32, it's really diverse, but blue is really, REALLY, REALLLLLLY bad.
hey man Merfolk did super well. That's a blue deck. It even has Dispel and Unified Will in the side, those are reactive. A reactive blue deck made top 4. Blue is perfectly fine where it is and will never get any improvements for the next 3 years
I'm assuming this is sarcasm? Because if it's not I'm lost for words, because the T32 of SCG Dallas indicates that blue is by no means fine where it is.
Based on the top 32 of SCG Dallas what we need to buff is Tron. Unban Eye of Ugin!
How crazy would a Thoughtseize ban be? Not advocating one. I don't expect any changes tomorrow. I'm just curious as the discard spells keep getting brought up here.
.
I think the only real answer is to have Counterspell in Modern or some better counter. I just don't see that happening cause WoTC refuses to bring a card into Modern that hasn't passed through Standard first.
Many have said it, wotc dropped the ball for not having a revolt Counter variant. It's one of the most elegant mechanics for balancing a card in both standard and modern.
I think they could also just try reprinting counterspell in a standard set. Probably means blue card draw would take a hit, and color fixing might as well so you would have to commit toward monoblue to play it, and it would make it difficult to design other counterspells for a while, but it would hardly "break" standard, and they could let it rotate out and "reset" blue's counter levels after.
Counterspell seems totally fine for Standard, Wizards of the Coast considering it so amazingly powerful is actually kind of baffling when you look at the history. When was Counterspell ever part of a particularly dominant deck? There was Psychatog, and... that's it. And even there it required a pretty specific suite of backup spells to be as powerful as it was and the deck would've been dead if Abrupt Decay had existed.
Am I forgetting some deck? Sure, there were good decks that played Counterspell, but, Psychatog aside, anytime in the 10 or so years of Standard it was legal, there was an actually dominant deck I don't think it ran Counterspell.
But, even if Counterspell is really that good... I agree it's pretty baffling they didn't make one with Revolt. UU, Instant, "counter target spell unless they pay 2 unless a permanent left the battlefield, in which case counter it outright." There. Done.
Really funny thing is that if the card I suggested (or Counterspell) had been legal, maybe this Standard wouldn't have gotten so many complaints because there would have been better answers.
Jesus Christ, I took a look at the top 32, it's really diverse, but blue is really, REALLY, REALLLLLLY bad.
hey man Merfolk did super well. That's a blue deck. It even has Dispel and Unified Will in the side, those are reactive. A reactive blue deck made top 4. Blue is perfectly fine where it is and will never get any improvements for the next 3 years
I'm assuming this is sarcasm? Because if it's not I'm lost for words, because the T32 of SCG Dallas indicates that blue is by no means fine where it is.
Based on the top 32 of SCG Dallas what we need to buff is Tron. Unban Eye of Ugin!
And return Eldrazi to it's Tier 0 status? No thank you. Tron already has the best piece of card selection available in the format, and still maintains a healthy level of inevitability without Eye.
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EDH GWSelvala and the Return to HumanityGW UWDragonlord Ojutai, Control's Elder DragonUW UBGTasigur, the God-Pharaoh's Gift to EDHUBG UBRNicol Bolas and his SuperfriendsPawnsUBR
Modern UWUW Control/Midrange/Bad JundUW WUBRGHumansWUBRG BGMidrangeBG
Am I forgetting some deck? Sure, there were good decks that played Counterspell, but, Psychatog aside, anytime in the 10 or so years of Standard it was legal, there was an actually dominant deck I don't think it ran Counterspell.
This might help give you a sense, there were plenty of decks that ran Counterspell. Every world Championship top 16 had Counterspell if it was legal. It has a long history or being the go-to card for blue decks. I'm not arguing that this is good or bad. Just that there were way more decks than just Psychoatog.
Lol...2 Snapcaster Mages in the entire top 32...TWO. Naw, folks, everything is fine.
How do people look at that top 32 and think the format is diverse?
Aggro decks represent 13 of 32 for 41% representation (ooh wow, you can play Burn..or Zoo..or Affinity or Fishies much diversity).
Mid-range decks represent 7 of the 32
Big mana decks represent 6 of the 32
Combo represents 3 of the 32
Control represent 2 of the 32 (Skred and UW)
The 1 I didn't classify - 8-rack, is sort of its own thing. So really, if you want success in the format you either play an aggro deck, or a DS/Eldrazi deck. Big mana/ramp decks are still pretty respectable. If, however, you want to play a combo or control deck, and you're doing it competitively, you're just a fool or an idiot. It's clear there is a huge problem in archetypical representation (actual diversity). If the format was 20 different shades of aggro would people call that diverse? Am I the only person who thinks diversity means diversity in play-style and archetype not in the names of the cards you play? The format is messed up.
I'm just laughing at this whole thing. Not the fact that any time a U deck doesn't perform well sends this thread into turmoil, but the fact that whatever
going to happen tomorrow has already been decided. Just wait a day to resume the U doom saying. Not like they are going to see two DSJ today and halt the presses.
Tomorrow should be interesting, either they do nothing and we get to hear this for another few months, or they unban Jace and we get a slight reprieve, then a few months later resume with more "blue isn't good enough."
Jace or Preordain will come off, I'll...not sure but I'm positive something is coming off the ban list for Modern to distract from the ***** show that will be Standard getting hit with another ban hammer.
I'm still stunned that Copy Cat is a boogeyman in that format, stunned.
Another T8 with no reactive blue. Let's see how many converted to T16 and T32?
Maybe Wizards saw this problem last week or the week before in time for an unban. It was certainly clear 1-2 weeks ago, but I don't know if they were looking for it. Unless we see that unban tomorrow, I'll be pushing for the major blue unban in the next update. Articles, including the full post-Twin blue breakdown, are pending!
Saying this is fine and all, but why is this a problem? I like blue as much as the next person. I have nothing against it. But exactly when in Modern's history has reactive blue put up consistent results? And again, Twin doesn't count as "reactive blue."
Another T8 with no reactive blue. Let's see how many converted to T16 and T32?
Maybe Wizards saw this problem last week or the week before in time for an unban. It was certainly clear 1-2 weeks ago, but I don't know if they were looking for it. Unless we see that unban tomorrow, I'll be pushing for the major blue unban in the next update. Articles, including the full post-Twin blue breakdown, are pending!
Saying this is fine and all, but why is this a problem? I like blue as much as the next person. I have nothing against it. But exactly when in Modern's history has reactive blue put up consistent results? And again, Twin doesn't count as "reactive blue."
You don't see a problem with a format that is 40-50% aggro decks, and the rest of the competitive decks made up of DS, Eldrazi/Tron, and Company? Look, the format has a problem. If the top 32 were 32 different aggro decks or 20 different aggro decks and 12 different mid-range decks would we say it is healthy? My money is a definite no. So, yeah, control & combo need a lot of help. There is a problem with you combine both of those major archetypes and it comes in at less than 10% lmao.
I'd like to state that personally, I don't think _blue_, even _reactive_ blue has a problem in Modern, at least not a huge one. Merfolk seems to be chugging along just fine, even if not T1, and we seem to see part-blue midrange, tempo and tempo-combo lists turning up on occasion, sometimes named as control even if they don't really play like such, they seem to turn up reliably enough that I'd consider them at least T2.
The problem is control. Tons of people assume control is reactive blue, but there are other kinds of control possible. Prison decks are technically control decks, as are turbo-fog decks, although they both have the problem of not fulfilling control's place in the metagame most of the time (which is partly to be strong against combo decks, and be weak to aggro and some kinds of big-mana decks). Control decks can work other ways as well, you don't need blue for them. In theory, non-combo triggered land destruction (red, green, or black) that only hits the opponent (rather than both players) could play a controlling role, although not against all kinds of threats, and Modern doesn't really have powerful of the right sort of land destruction to do it. Discard can do it even better than land destruction, although Modern typically doesn't use it that way, partially because some of the best discard strategies in Modern aren't control ones, most going better into Midrange and combo setups that want to get hellbent (where you eat the discard as well, rather than focusing it on the opponent) and being willing to play cards like Thoughtseize, which is more of a midrange card than a control card due to the life payment.
Unlike reactive blue, or merely blue decks, which it doesn't really matter what tier they are, a healthy metagame long term really does need a proper control deck. Blue is easier to design a proper fair control deck around for the following reasons:
Prison and Turbo fog aren't the right sort of control decks to solve meta problems
Black discard based non-creature answers (or answers for creatures with powerful ETB or protection) are too obviously overpowered if made more powerful and control oriented than what we already have, if a control deck hasn't already turned up based around the likes of Duress, Inquisition of Kozilek, Distress, Despise and Mind Rot I doubt black based control powerful enough to be viable would also be fair turning up in other decks, black also has the problem of supplying card advantage, which it usually only does efficiently with life payment, which usually isn't good for control.
Land destruction would be too powerful for Modern to handle in a control viable form
There is also an option that isn't exactly normal control, but can potentially serve the same metagame purpose, and that is a _much_ better form of hatebears, but to make it work, WotC would have to print much stronger hate bears much faster, and make sure there always exists one that turns up in Standard whenever a new one is needed at the very least by the next set after a new combo is discovered, and WotC's design and printing schedules doens't allow for that kind of last-minute set design tweaks
That leaves blue counterspells as the only thing that we can really test for control's metagame position setup, but we don't have the right ones in the format, nor do we really have the right card advantage in the format, the tools are mostly better for combo, tempo, or midrange out of what we currently have, and often having serious drawbacks for control, but while we don't have such currently, unlike the discard or land destruction options, it doesn't really look like Counterspell itself would be OP in Modern, at least not to me right now, testing could prove otherwise
Right now, Modern is coping with using midrange and tempo to help fight combo, and using the banned list for combos that turn out too strong for that to handle, but that isn't a healthy strategy in the long run, IMO, and I think a true control metagame presence would let them be looser on the ban list in regards to combo safely.
Jace or Preordain will come off, I'll...not sure but I'm positive something is coming off the ban list for Modern to distract from the ***** show that will be Standard getting hit with another ban hammer.
I'm still stunned that Copy Cat is a boogeyman in that format, stunned.
Stunned in what way? There's at least 4 different interpretations I can take of that line.
I dont think blue is in too bad a spot, either. Maybe you can't make Tier 1, but you can definitly play a tempo-oriented blue deck. Or an agrro oriented blue deck. If you just want to play 4snapcasters.dec, then maybe you'll have a little trouble. But nothing is stopping you from playing a deck full of threats and removal and counters. I play it weekly online and paper, and still maintain a win rate above 60%. The thing with most blue decks is that you can't just pick one up and win with it (like the DSJ guy did today at SCG). It actually takes practice, and skill, to win. Which may also lead to why we see so little blue decks take a good piece of meta share
That a combo as slow as that is not contained. They have removed nearly any way to answer cards efficiently, to the point where a sorcery speed combo that cannot happen before Turn 4 and requires a permanent to remain on the field unanswered for that time, is wrecking havoc.
I know people say 'well its Modern viable' but I really dont think it is, and people are clamoring for it to be banned out of Standard.
Snapcaster mage is the most powerful card in the entire modern format and it's not particularly close except possibly for goyf.
The fact that there is not a modern deck that plays snapcaster mages and is in tier 1 indicates a problem with blue cards in general. The problems are two fold:
1) There are not any particularly good blue 1 CMC spells, and the format's speed indicates 7 to 11 turn 1 plays or get out. Serum visions is barely passable and is not really exactly what a control deck wants to be doing.
(This is why you see that over time the best "blue" control deck in the format is Scapeshift which can manage to play green 1cmc spells)
2) Blue's interactive spells tend strongly toward countermagic and countermagic is bad. Bounce spells are card disadvantage and don't support a control strategy in general.
Counterspell is probably not good enough, but would make a difference. A 2cmc blue hard removal spell such as UU, put target creature on the bottom of its owner's library, would go a long way.
White core decks have similar issues that are worse in a lot of ways--white removal spells are terribad except for path, and Path is even pretty poor the types of decks modern cards encourage white to play. A reprint of Armageddon or Cataclysm would probably go a long way to making a core white deck feasible, or unbanning Stoneforge. The color is short of removal and efficient beaters.
A bunch of scrubs don't just show up to all these tournaments and just then consistently fail to make top 32 on a daily basis since July.
If those scrubs are not trying to innovate and instead trying the old tried lists, then yea, they might keep failing to make day 2.
Im not saying blue is Tier 1. Im just saying blue can and is still competitive. Not enough people are trying it. Id like to see day 1 stats on the decks that actually show up.
Another T8 with no reactive blue. Let's see how many converted to T16 and T32?
Maybe Wizards saw this problem last week or the week before in time for an unban. It was certainly clear 1-2 weeks ago, but I don't know if they were looking for it. Unless we see that unban tomorrow, I'll be pushing for the major blue unban in the next update. Articles, including the full post-Twin blue breakdown, are pending!
Saying this is fine and all, but why is this a problem? I like blue as much as the next person. I have nothing against it. But exactly when in Modern's history has reactive blue put up consistent results? And again, Twin doesn't count as "reactive blue."
Whoa there. Why is Twin not reactive blue? I don't think I've ever heard a reputable or Wizards-based source make that argument before.
A bunch of scrubs don't just show up to all these tournaments and just then consistently fail to make top 32 on a daily basis since July.
If those scrubs are not trying to innovate and instead trying the old tried lists, then yea, they might keep failing to make day 2.
Im not saying blue is Tier 1. Im just saying blue can and is still competitive. Not enough people are trying it. Id like to see day 1 stats on the decks that actually show up.
They aren't playing it because it's bad. People rapidly adopt good decks when they are actually good. See DS Jund. See Bant Eldrazi. See Dredge. See Jeskai Nahiri for about 2 months before the metagame turned against it and people realized it wasn't good. If a deck is good and on the radar, people play it and win with it. Grixis is totally on the radar but just isn't very good so we don't see it.
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I could then do my EDH tunnel vision trick reliably in modern (not really)
MTG Legacy and Vintage extraordinaire (jokes), if it doesn't play blue I most likely don't play it.
Thank you, and agreed! (Obviously, I suppose; otherwise I would have made it differently!)
A lot of people are on the "Revolt Counterspell (or just Regular Counterspell) or Bust" train, so just wanted to point out that there are alternatives that walk the "Probably fine for Standard, probably good enough for Modern" line. I can even see reducing the unkicked ability to just 2 CMC or less, so you always need to trade card advantage if you want tempo advantage.
I also think a lot of people underestimate the UU in Counterspell or its variations. Countering turn 2 on the draw is so important in Modern; that's why Cancel and the like are so weak. But UU means you absolutely cannot do that with, say, Island Blood Crypt, or Steam Vents Swamp, or Watery Grave Ghost Quarter. That's a serious deckbuilding consideration in Modern, where the path of least resistance is usually 3 colors. Especially in Ux decks, given how important the other colors are in covering U's weaknesses.
I like Colt's bounce-kicker idea too, although one of my goals in the design was to give control decks their age-old (and presently [mostly] lacking) ability to trade card advantage for tempo advantage.
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
I'm assuming this is sarcasm? Because if it's not I'm lost for words, because the T32 of SCG Dallas indicates that blue is by no means fine where it is.
GWSelvala and the Return to HumanityGW
UWDragonlord Ojutai, Control's Elder DragonUW
UBGTasigur, the God-Pharaoh's Gift to EDHUBG
UBRNicol Bolas and his Super
friendsPawnsUBRModern
UWUW Control/Midrange/Bad JundUW
WUBRGHumansWUBRG
BGMidrangeBG
Based on the top 32 of SCG Dallas what we need to buff is Tron. Unban Eye of Ugin!
Counterspell seems totally fine for Standard, Wizards of the Coast considering it so amazingly powerful is actually kind of baffling when you look at the history. When was Counterspell ever part of a particularly dominant deck? There was Psychatog, and... that's it. And even there it required a pretty specific suite of backup spells to be as powerful as it was and the deck would've been dead if Abrupt Decay had existed.
Am I forgetting some deck? Sure, there were good decks that played Counterspell, but, Psychatog aside, anytime in the 10 or so years of Standard it was legal, there was an actually dominant deck I don't think it ran Counterspell.
But, even if Counterspell is really that good... I agree it's pretty baffling they didn't make one with Revolt. UU, Instant, "counter target spell unless they pay 2 unless a permanent left the battlefield, in which case counter it outright." There. Done.
Really funny thing is that if the card I suggested (or Counterspell) had been legal, maybe this Standard wouldn't have gotten so many complaints because there would have been better answers.
Spirits
And return Eldrazi to it's Tier 0 status? No thank you. Tron already has the best piece of card selection available in the format, and still maintains a healthy level of inevitability without Eye.
GWSelvala and the Return to HumanityGW
UWDragonlord Ojutai, Control's Elder DragonUW
UBGTasigur, the God-Pharaoh's Gift to EDHUBG
UBRNicol Bolas and his Super
friendsPawnsUBRModern
UWUW Control/Midrange/Bad JundUW
WUBRGHumansWUBRG
BGMidrangeBG
http://mtg.gamepedia.com/World_Championship_Decks
This might help give you a sense, there were plenty of decks that ran Counterspell. Every world Championship top 16 had Counterspell if it was legal. It has a long history or being the go-to card for blue decks. I'm not arguing that this is good or bad. Just that there were way more decks than just Psychoatog.
How do people look at that top 32 and think the format is diverse?
Aggro decks represent 13 of 32 for 41% representation (ooh wow, you can play Burn..or Zoo..or Affinity or Fishies much diversity).
Mid-range decks represent 7 of the 32
Big mana decks represent 6 of the 32
Combo represents 3 of the 32
Control represent 2 of the 32 (Skred and UW)
The 1 I didn't classify - 8-rack, is sort of its own thing. So really, if you want success in the format you either play an aggro deck, or a DS/Eldrazi deck. Big mana/ramp decks are still pretty respectable. If, however, you want to play a combo or control deck, and you're doing it competitively, you're just a fool or an idiot. It's clear there is a huge problem in archetypical representation (actual diversity). If the format was 20 different shades of aggro would people call that diverse? Am I the only person who thinks diversity means diversity in play-style and archetype not in the names of the cards you play? The format is messed up.
going to happen tomorrow has already been decided. Just wait a day to resume the U doom saying. Not like they are going to see two DSJ today and halt the presses.
Tomorrow should be interesting, either they do nothing and we get to hear this for another few months, or they unban Jace and we get a slight reprieve, then a few months later resume with more "blue isn't good enough."
I'm still stunned that Copy Cat is a boogeyman in that format, stunned.
Spirits
Standard: lol no
Modern: BG/x, UR/x, Burn, Merfolk, Zoo, Storm
Legacy: Shardless BUG, Delver (BUG, RUG, Grixis), Landstill, Depths Combo, Merfolk
Vintage: Dark Times, BUG Fish, Merfolk
EDH: Teysa, Orzhov Scion / Krenko, Mob Boss / Stonebrow, Krosan Hero
Saying Twin doesnt count is splitting hairs to me.
Spirits
You don't see a problem with a format that is 40-50% aggro decks, and the rest of the competitive decks made up of DS, Eldrazi/Tron, and Company? Look, the format has a problem. If the top 32 were 32 different aggro decks or 20 different aggro decks and 12 different mid-range decks would we say it is healthy? My money is a definite no. So, yeah, control & combo need a lot of help. There is a problem with you combine both of those major archetypes and it comes in at less than 10% lmao.
The problem is control. Tons of people assume control is reactive blue, but there are other kinds of control possible. Prison decks are technically control decks, as are turbo-fog decks, although they both have the problem of not fulfilling control's place in the metagame most of the time (which is partly to be strong against combo decks, and be weak to aggro and some kinds of big-mana decks). Control decks can work other ways as well, you don't need blue for them. In theory, non-combo triggered land destruction (red, green, or black) that only hits the opponent (rather than both players) could play a controlling role, although not against all kinds of threats, and Modern doesn't really have powerful of the right sort of land destruction to do it. Discard can do it even better than land destruction, although Modern typically doesn't use it that way, partially because some of the best discard strategies in Modern aren't control ones, most going better into Midrange and combo setups that want to get hellbent (where you eat the discard as well, rather than focusing it on the opponent) and being willing to play cards like Thoughtseize, which is more of a midrange card than a control card due to the life payment.
Unlike reactive blue, or merely blue decks, which it doesn't really matter what tier they are, a healthy metagame long term really does need a proper control deck. Blue is easier to design a proper fair control deck around for the following reasons:
Prison and Turbo fog aren't the right sort of control decks to solve meta problems
Black discard based non-creature answers (or answers for creatures with powerful ETB or protection) are too obviously overpowered if made more powerful and control oriented than what we already have, if a control deck hasn't already turned up based around the likes of Duress, Inquisition of Kozilek, Distress, Despise and Mind Rot I doubt black based control powerful enough to be viable would also be fair turning up in other decks, black also has the problem of supplying card advantage, which it usually only does efficiently with life payment, which usually isn't good for control.
Land destruction would be too powerful for Modern to handle in a control viable form
There is also an option that isn't exactly normal control, but can potentially serve the same metagame purpose, and that is a _much_ better form of hatebears, but to make it work, WotC would have to print much stronger hate bears much faster, and make sure there always exists one that turns up in Standard whenever a new one is needed at the very least by the next set after a new combo is discovered, and WotC's design and printing schedules doens't allow for that kind of last-minute set design tweaks
That leaves blue counterspells as the only thing that we can really test for control's metagame position setup, but we don't have the right ones in the format, nor do we really have the right card advantage in the format, the tools are mostly better for combo, tempo, or midrange out of what we currently have, and often having serious drawbacks for control, but while we don't have such currently, unlike the discard or land destruction options, it doesn't really look like Counterspell itself would be OP in Modern, at least not to me right now, testing could prove otherwise
Right now, Modern is coping with using midrange and tempo to help fight combo, and using the banned list for combos that turn out too strong for that to handle, but that isn't a healthy strategy in the long run, IMO, and I think a true control metagame presence would let them be looser on the ban list in regards to combo safely.
RUG Temur Deprive Delver
BUG Sultai Deprive Delver
A bunch of scrubs don't just show up to all these tournaments and just then consistently fail to make top 32 on a daily basis since July.
I know people say 'well its Modern viable' but I really dont think it is, and people are clamoring for it to be banned out of Standard.
Spirits
The fact that there is not a modern deck that plays snapcaster mages and is in tier 1 indicates a problem with blue cards in general. The problems are two fold:
1) There are not any particularly good blue 1 CMC spells, and the format's speed indicates 7 to 11 turn 1 plays or get out. Serum visions is barely passable and is not really exactly what a control deck wants to be doing.
(This is why you see that over time the best "blue" control deck in the format is Scapeshift which can manage to play green 1cmc spells)
2) Blue's interactive spells tend strongly toward countermagic and countermagic is bad. Bounce spells are card disadvantage and don't support a control strategy in general.
Counterspell is probably not good enough, but would make a difference. A 2cmc blue hard removal spell such as UU, put target creature on the bottom of its owner's library, would go a long way.
White core decks have similar issues that are worse in a lot of ways--white removal spells are terribad except for path, and Path is even pretty poor the types of decks modern cards encourage white to play. A reprint of Armageddon or Cataclysm would probably go a long way to making a core white deck feasible, or unbanning Stoneforge. The color is short of removal and efficient beaters.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
If those scrubs are not trying to innovate and instead trying the old tried lists, then yea, they might keep failing to make day 2.
Im not saying blue is Tier 1. Im just saying blue can and is still competitive. Not enough people are trying it. Id like to see day 1 stats on the decks that actually show up.
RUG Temur Deprive Delver
BUG Sultai Deprive Delver
Spirits
Whoa there. Why is Twin not reactive blue? I don't think I've ever heard a reputable or Wizards-based source make that argument before.
They aren't playing it because it's bad. People rapidly adopt good decks when they are actually good. See DS Jund. See Bant Eldrazi. See Dredge. See Jeskai Nahiri for about 2 months before the metagame turned against it and people realized it wasn't good. If a deck is good and on the radar, people play it and win with it. Grixis is totally on the radar but just isn't very good so we don't see it.