Certainly both of them will be relevant occasionally but they will be very hard to rely on for much
They simply come into play, do their thing, and then leave
Sometimes that extra counter pushes you into ultimate range immediately, or quicker enough to be worth it, and with Atraxa you'll never run out of counters to throw around
Why are boxes of this seta set that my favorite Limited podcasts describe as akin to a core setcost more than your typical Standard booster box
Its effect, loosely paraphrased, says that whenever an opponent casts a creature spell that doesnt share a color with creatures you control, counter that spell unless that player pays an additional cost
Patrick's brilliant deck, Next Level Blue, not only catapulted the phrase "next level" into the Title: Tom LaPille's Next Level Blue Format: Extended 4 Counterspell 1 Academy Ruins 1 Breeding Pool 4 Flooded Strand 1 Hallowed Fountain 8 Island 4 Polluted Delta 1 Steam Vents 1 Tree of Tales 4 Tarmogoyf 3 Trinket Mage 3 Spell Snare 4 Thirst for Knowledge 4 Chrome Mox 4 Counterbalance 1 Engineered Explosives 1 Pithing Needle 4 Sensei's Divining Top 3 Threads of Disloyalty 1 Tormod's Crypt 3 Vedalken Shackles *3 Ancient Grudge *1 Engineered Explosives *2 Global Ruin *2 Krosan Grip *3 Sower of Temptation *1 Threads of Disloyalty *3 Tormod's Crypt This is a blue control deck through and through, playing Counterspell and Spell Snare for early countermagic, the eternally potent Counterbalance and Sensei's Divining Top to lock your opponent out of the game, and Vedalken Shackles
