It's already been said that if you give counterspells to every color you lower Blue's strength because it's one of its main removals, bounce being the other.
The other thing though, is that some colors don't need it. Counters could fit flavorfully with White and Black, but they are the two best removal colors. This is their strength, and it's a pretty good one. Why when they're the best at something really good do they also need a piece of what Blue is best at? This would not only weaken Blue but make White and Black even more powerful. Why play any other colors if you could get counters and removal in White and Black? Not having counterspells gives players a reason to choose between UW control, UB control, and WUB ("Esper").
As for card draw, Green and White have been getting card draw. Garruk Primal Hunter, Garruk's Packleader, Hunter's Insight, Viridian Revel, Rites of Flourishing, and Rot Wolf for Green; Mesa Enchantress, Frantic Salvage, Puresteel Paladin, and Mentor of the Meek for White; and Desperate Ravings for Red. From that list, it's clear Green's gotten the most love and Red the least, but there are still good draw spells there regardless. You can't say each color has flavorfull reasons for drawing spells so they deserve card draw spells and say that Wizards sucks for not doing this when there's this list of recent cards that do exactly what you're complaining about.
I like having a list like this, but it could use some editing. Adding Modern to the Eternal list is one, but also adding "See:" in some terms would be good as well. For instance, "CIP" / "CITP" is the old term for enters the battlefield, or "ETP." Saying this in the list would be useful. "EDH" should include the fact that it's official name is now Commander - if this list is supposed to include terms for people who don't know them, then it should include this even if it seems obvious to many. Finally, I suggest questioning some of the things in the list, e.g. "EOTFOFFTW" - does this really need to be included? End of Turn = EoT deserves to be on the list, Fact or Fiction = FoF perhaps, but the whole thing as it's own? Is this phrase used often enough by players to be included? I've never heard it before, but maybe it is. It sounds to me like the silly acronyms AOL put in a list for their users, half of which seemed made up by AOL but not actually used by people.
These are just suggestions to make a generally good list even better. Don't take the lengthiness of the preceding paragraph to conclude that I'm "hating" on it in any way. It's a great start, and could see constant improvement as long as the game remains popular.
Garruk in the comics suggested Black/Green far before the art here. Saying that "what has the character done to seem Black" ignores the fact that he hasn't done anything since those comics. There haven't been more comics with him, so unless he was in the Scars novels, he hasn't done anything to seem Black or to seem monoGreen. It just isn't a good use of "evidence." M12 doesn't count, because he had to be monoGreen there.
As for Sorin, I highly doubt he'd go Red/Black, because as people have said several times, Vampires in Innistrad have nothing to do with what Sorin would be unless Sorin happens to be from Innistrad. Personally, I could see Sorin be White/Black similar to Vish Kal. I have no evidence to say he will be, I just feel it's something that should be up for consideration by fellow speculators.
Huh. Well, forget what I said then. Unusual placement of the general in the decklist, but it is what it is.
I would guess something along the lines of removing a counter from him to put a saproling into play, and something like sacrificing a creature or at your upkeep to put a counter back on him. Needs a little activation cost or else you get recursive infinite death or etb triggers, but that would be my guess.
Well, Attrition is listed as an Instant, so take with that what you will when it comes to analyzing cards based on the lists.
Anyone else alittle miffed that he has yet to be spoiled? What gives wizards?
Very much so. Especially with today's Survey of "Which precon are you most excited for?" Well, without knowing what Ghave does, I can't say how excited I am for it.
I think Nin looks sweet. I don't usually play UR outside of Ravnica Block Constructed, but she makes me want to make a build, which speaks volume for good card constructed. I agree that the name sounds very UB, though the abilities are very UR.
Personally I look forward to seeing the WBR commanders. I'm hoping some sort of drain life creature, as RW has had damage combined with life gain in the past (Lightning Helix, Balefire Liege), which often act very similar to black's has its own drain life abilities. I for one would love to build a deck with those cards and Sanguine Bond, I would just prefer their to be a sweet in-theme Commander to lead the pack.
I definitely understand your thinking that enchantments were created out of necessity, and not out of a strong flavor background. I also agree that some of the better enchantments (you mentioned the Leylines) are the ones with a grokkable flavor. Some of the weirder early enchantments are the ones that clearly would have been made as equipment had they been made after equipment was introduced. I love enchantments, so I do hope they get better at differentiating artifacts and enchantments. In fact, artifacts encroaching on enchantment territory is probably why I tend to dislike artifacts.
I also enjoyed some of your points against a 6th color. One thing I always think of is the intricacies of the color pie, though there are some Magic fans who somehow hate the thing. The latticework of protection, for instance - for the most part, a creature that has protection from a color or two has protection from its color's enemy colors, and a spell that hates on another color hates on its color's enemy colors. This latticework would be completely thrown off by a 6th color. However, I never thought of the randomness of packs being thrown off or the difficulties of drafting.
Though I agree with your points on these topics, I also agree with everyone else that your stream of consciousness writing style here was very distracting. Occasionally it works, but only very occasionally. It is difficult to write in a style that feels like stream of consciousness while keeping a flow of ideas that feels connected. Unfortunately it doesn't work here, and while you talk about enchantments interestingly enough, anything not about enchantments just feels out of place.
The other thing though, is that some colors don't need it. Counters could fit flavorfully with White and Black, but they are the two best removal colors. This is their strength, and it's a pretty good one. Why when they're the best at something really good do they also need a piece of what Blue is best at? This would not only weaken Blue but make White and Black even more powerful. Why play any other colors if you could get counters and removal in White and Black? Not having counterspells gives players a reason to choose between UW control, UB control, and WUB ("Esper").
As for card draw, Green and White have been getting card draw. Garruk Primal Hunter, Garruk's Packleader, Hunter's Insight, Viridian Revel, Rites of Flourishing, and Rot Wolf for Green; Mesa Enchantress, Frantic Salvage, Puresteel Paladin, and Mentor of the Meek for White; and Desperate Ravings for Red. From that list, it's clear Green's gotten the most love and Red the least, but there are still good draw spells there regardless. You can't say each color has flavorfull reasons for drawing spells so they deserve card draw spells and say that Wizards sucks for not doing this when there's this list of recent cards that do exactly what you're complaining about.
These are just suggestions to make a generally good list even better. Don't take the lengthiness of the preceding paragraph to conclude that I'm "hating" on it in any way. It's a great start, and could see constant improvement as long as the game remains popular.
As for Sorin, I highly doubt he'd go Red/Black, because as people have said several times, Vampires in Innistrad have nothing to do with what Sorin would be unless Sorin happens to be from Innistrad. Personally, I could see Sorin be White/Black similar to Vish Kal. I have no evidence to say he will be, I just feel it's something that should be up for consideration by fellow speculators.
Well, Attrition is listed as an Instant, so take with that what you will when it comes to analyzing cards based on the lists.
Very much so. Especially with today's Survey of "Which precon are you most excited for?" Well, without knowing what Ghave does, I can't say how excited I am for it.
Personally I look forward to seeing the WBR commanders. I'm hoping some sort of drain life creature, as RW has had damage combined with life gain in the past (Lightning Helix, Balefire Liege), which often act very similar to black's has its own drain life abilities. I for one would love to build a deck with those cards and Sanguine Bond, I would just prefer their to be a sweet in-theme Commander to lead the pack.
I also enjoyed some of your points against a 6th color. One thing I always think of is the intricacies of the color pie, though there are some Magic fans who somehow hate the thing. The latticework of protection, for instance - for the most part, a creature that has protection from a color or two has protection from its color's enemy colors, and a spell that hates on another color hates on its color's enemy colors. This latticework would be completely thrown off by a 6th color. However, I never thought of the randomness of packs being thrown off or the difficulties of drafting.
Though I agree with your points on these topics, I also agree with everyone else that your stream of consciousness writing style here was very distracting. Occasionally it works, but only very occasionally. It is difficult to write in a style that feels like stream of consciousness while keeping a flow of ideas that feels connected. Unfortunately it doesn't work here, and while you talk about enchantments interestingly enough, anything not about enchantments just feels out of place.