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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Staffan" data-source="post: 8547550" data-attributes="member: 907">Yeah, I just didn't want to get too many levels deep on how Magic worked. Suffice to say that MtG counterspells have an opportunity cost, but it's one you can play around although doing so has other costs (e.g. if the opponent ends their turn without casting anything you want to counter, you can cast an instant spell that draws cards instead at the end of their turn, but that spell probably has less bang for its buck than a sorcery spell you'd cast on your own turn).The thing is that having counterspell prepared is a pretty small opportunity cost (one out of probably 11+ spells). If you do run into an opposing caster, preventing them from fireballing your party is probably one of the best things you can use a 4th level slot for. And if you don't, those slots are open for other things.I think counterspell would be a more interesting choice in a more traditionally Vancian magic system where you needed to prepare the exact spells you want to cast ahead of time. That makes it a much harder choice, and you probably won't be able to do it round after round. Mind you, I still think 5e's neo-Vancian casting is better in general, but counterspell in specific would have been a more interesting choice in previous editions. That would also mimic the Magic experience better, where you might use one spell to "bait" a counterspell, so you can cast the spell you really want to cast after that one.It should also be noted that in Magic, counterspells are one of the purest Blue magics there is. There are many things in Magic where different colors can do the same thing using different methods, or with different restrictions, but there are very few non-blue counterspells in Magic, and those that exist tend to have a lot of caveats (e.g. counter a spell that targets one of your creatures, or counter a spell unless its caster takes some amount of damage). Most "hard" counterspells (without conditions) even cost two blue mana, meaning a deck using a lot of them is pretty strongly into the Blue side of things, and that in turn means they aren't using all that much Red, Green, White, or Black magic which is stronger in other areas. In other words, if you want to be certain you can cast Cancel on the third turn, you probably aren't casting a non-Blue spell on your first or possibly even your second turn.</blockquote>

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