As for Counterspells being oppressive, I totally disagree. Counters are the only way to stop Instants and Sorceries, and without that minimal interaction the fundamentals of the game fall apart.
I will say that older counterspells were undercosted, but its mostly due to the rules restrictions of the time. Back when counterspells were Interrupts, you only had a small 'Interrupt Window' during which you could counter a spell that was placed in the Batch. The elimination of Interrupts and subsequent errata making them Instants made counterspells as a class of cards even more powerful than before. I think this rules/game change has more to do with Counterspell being an aberration mana cost-wise than anthing else when viewed through a modern card design point of view.
The differences between instant and interrupt weren't particularly relevant. The main difference in play was that if you wanted to hold up a counterspell in the interrupt days, it had to be a counterspell: holding up an instant card draw spell with the aim of drawing into a counter wasn't good enough.
Then there are certain variations of counters, like overloaded Counterflux, that couldn't be done sensibly in the interrupt days at all.
The logical extension of part of the OP's original argument
Another problem I have with counters is that they don't make sense cost wise. For example, if I cast a 7 mana costing spell, why can you counter it with a 2 mana costing spell? If we both have 7 lands, that means you just nullified my ENTIRE turn with 2 mana, while on the same turn you actually got to play because you could use 5 of your 7 mana for stuff, then hold 2 back to counter ANYTHING I played. That doesn't make sense.
IMO, it would make more sense if a counter spell cost the same amount of mana as the spell you're countering. If you want to counter something that costs 7, you need to spend 7, or at the very least 1 fewer than the spell so 6 to counter a 7.
Red instant burn can only kill creatures with a cmc equal to the cmc of the creature.
In order to destroy a 7cmc creature you need a 7cmc black creature kill spell.
In order to destroy a 5cmc artifact or enchantment you need a 5cmc green naturalize-type spell.
In order to wipe a board with a 2cmc, 3cmc, and 4cmc creature you need a 9cmc white wrath-style spell.
Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
I'm going to reply again and this time in a different way, your problem is a fundamental misunderstanding of the game. It's not your fault either because it's how the game is marketed. The game is marketed as having infinite possibilities, you can make a deck you like, go play, and thanks to variance you will win at least some of the time.
As is typical for games however, what they claim and what they're like are often very different things. In Magic's case Magic is all about what can't be done, not what can be done.
You can't hold big creatures in your hand all game threatening to come down because Thoughtseize, Despise, Liliana of the Veil will take it and make you find another.
You can't start the game at turn 3 or 4 when your opponent plans to hit you for several damage on turn 1.
At any competitive or even casual competitive level 90% of all cards are unplayable, and in some formats that approaches 99%.
If you play a creature and it's not resilient in some form, it's only function is to die and get a card out of the opponents hand. You're not being aided by loyal minions... you're sending them on suicide missions over and over until they all die.
Lastly. Cards are supposed to trade and do nothing. My counter for your creature, now we're both down a card. My kill spell for your next creature, we're each down a card again. Next time maybe it's my creature for your removal spell, another trade. The whole point of Magic for most decks it to make 1:1 trades to wear down the opponents resources. You generate value by trading something worth less than what your opponent is making in the trade. Once the resources are gone, you generate card advantage (probably incrementally over several turns through those trades) and win with something that doesn't eat a trade.
Playing 7 drops in a format with real answers doesn't play into that strategy unless you're on Tron.
That is what Magic is, it's not a game with infinite possibilities. It's a game with very few possible outcomes because 1% of the cards invalidate the other 99%. Your problem isn't with counterspells, it's that you're playing part of that 99% of cards that doesn't give you any way to deal with them, and all colors can deal with them.
I'm going to reply again and this time in a different way, your problem is a fundamental misunderstanding of the game. It's not your fault either because it's how the game is marketed. The game is marketed as having infinite possibilities, you can make a deck you like, go play, and thanks to variance you will win at least some of the time.
As is typical for games however, what they claim and what they're like are often very different things. In Magic's case Magic is all about what can't be done, not what can be done.
You can't hold big creatures in your hand all game threatening to come down because Thoughtseize, Despise, Liliana of the Veil will take it and make you find another.
You can't start the game at turn 3 or 4 when your opponent plans to hit you for several damage on turn 1.
At any competitive or even casual competitive level 90% of all cards are unplayable, and in some formats that approaches 99%.
If you play a creature and it's not resilient in some form, it's only function is to die and get a card out of the opponents hand. You're not being aided by loyal minions... you're sending them on suicide missions over and over until they all die.
Lastly. Cards are supposed to trade and do nothing. My counter for your creature, now we're both down a card. My kill spell for your next creature, we're each down a card again. Next time maybe it's my creature for your removal spell, another trade. The whole point of Magic for most decks it to make 1:1 trades to wear down the opponents resources. You generate value by trading something worth less than what your opponent is making in the trade. Once the resources are gone, you generate card advantage (probably incrementally over several turns through those trades) and win with something that doesn't eat a trade.
Playing 7 drops in a format with real answers doesn't play into that strategy unless you're on Tron.
That is what Magic is, it's not a game with infinite possibilities. It's a game with very few possible outcomes because 1% of the cards invalidate the other 99%. Your problem isn't with counterspells, it's that you're playing part of that 99% of cards that doesn't give you any way to deal with them, and all colors can deal with them.
To summarize your points:
99% of MTG cards shouldn't exist because you "can't use them" and that's great.
You can't do things like wait until you have enough land to play expensive cards (see first point) and that's great.
MTG cards are meant to be played 1:1 like the mindless card game "War" and that's great.
And finally, because the game should be mindless like War, it becomes a strategy of wearing down opponent resources so the 1:1 trades are great for you.
Now we are ready to read OP's post and consider his complaint. Counter control decks are stupid because it's incredibly easy and obvious to spend 2 mana in order to nullify 7 of your opponent's mana. WoTC enables counter control decks by having SO MANY cheap counter spell cards, and this is a terrible way to design a game.
To everyone else that thinks they have a way to justify this moronic design flaw by sharing a link to a card that could frustrate a counter control deck, see the first point about 99% of MTG cards being printed for the sake of creating trash for you to buy and send to the landfill. If you still think you're good at MTG for creating and playing your counter control deck just because someone frustrated you with ONE card, that's even worse than throwing away 99% of the cards because you now are saying every competitive deck needs to have these 3 cards (12 of your 60 -- 12 of your ~35 non-land cards) in order to "play" the game.
You are all buffoons supporting a terrible design idea that proves everybody's point that quits playing. This game is an arms race and nothing else. Spend more real money than the other guy to make a deck with that 0.01% of the cards, forcing you to watch you deck happen since we've engineered a deck that can only play 1 way or else you're making a mistake, and not play. That's not fun and the "fun is subjective" guy can go on a long walk down a short peer.
OP is right, the rest of you are wearing counter control fanboy goggles.
I'm not a control player, and I've countered fewer spells than I've had of mine countered. But we need counterspells for the health of the game, and Cancel isn't good enough. Try playing that card and you'll see why counterspells need to be more efficient than that.
Or maybe we're all buffoons. I dunno.
You should try playing the best format: cube. Not an arms race about acquiring better cards than your opponent.
I read this article that makes counterspells look less powerful now than before:
http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/bb27
Interrupt seems far more powerful card type than instant.
Then there are certain variations of counters, like overloaded Counterflux, that couldn't be done sensibly in the interrupt days at all.
Red instant burn can only kill creatures with a cmc equal to the cmc of the creature.
In order to destroy a 7cmc creature you need a 7cmc black creature kill spell.
In order to destroy a 5cmc artifact or enchantment you need a 5cmc green naturalize-type spell.
In order to wipe a board with a 2cmc, 3cmc, and 4cmc creature you need a 9cmc white wrath-style spell.
Or is this reductio ad absurdum?
They can also have been legal in a Core Set after that point.
Back when the terms were actually put on boxes, the convention was
Beginner: Portal
Intermediate: Core Sets
Expert: Blocks
On phasing:
This was a very helpful post, thanks.
To summarize your points:
99% of MTG cards shouldn't exist because you "can't use them" and that's great.
You can't do things like wait until you have enough land to play expensive cards (see first point) and that's great.
MTG cards are meant to be played 1:1 like the mindless card game "War" and that's great.
And finally, because the game should be mindless like War, it becomes a strategy of wearing down opponent resources so the 1:1 trades are great for you.
Now we are ready to read OP's post and consider his complaint. Counter control decks are stupid because it's incredibly easy and obvious to spend 2 mana in order to nullify 7 of your opponent's mana. WoTC enables counter control decks by having SO MANY cheap counter spell cards, and this is a terrible way to design a game.
To everyone else that thinks they have a way to justify this moronic design flaw by sharing a link to a card that could frustrate a counter control deck, see the first point about 99% of MTG cards being printed for the sake of creating trash for you to buy and send to the landfill. If you still think you're good at MTG for creating and playing your counter control deck just because someone frustrated you with ONE card, that's even worse than throwing away 99% of the cards because you now are saying every competitive deck needs to have these 3 cards (12 of your 60 -- 12 of your ~35 non-land cards) in order to "play" the game.
You are all buffoons supporting a terrible design idea that proves everybody's point that quits playing. This game is an arms race and nothing else. Spend more real money than the other guy to make a deck with that 0.01% of the cards, forcing you to watch you deck happen since we've engineered a deck that can only play 1 way or else you're making a mistake, and not play. That's not fun and the "fun is subjective" guy can go on a long walk down a short peer.
OP is right, the rest of you are wearing counter control fanboy goggles.
Or maybe we're all buffoons. I dunno.
You should try playing the best format: cube. Not an arms race about acquiring better cards than your opponent.
My 1570 card cube
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube