Counterspell (Ice Age/Alliances, Tempest/Stronghold/Exodus, Masques/Nemesis/Prophecy) Counterspells are decent in limited, but by no means the be-all, end-all of the universe
Just two mana for three shield counters is excellent, and in counter-centric decks you're likely also going to be running things like Doubling Season to make those shields last even longer
It builds on the Yu-Gi-Oh
Because you are trying to create some variety with creature size, tribute is limiting in how many cards you can include in a single set
This leaves them with "dead stock" if one starter deck sells better than another
(This is a bit different from classic Archenemy, where the turn is still shared but each player on the team of three has their own individual life total.) As you might expect, only one of our two teams can win