I'm not a super reactive player. Counterspells allow you to be reactive. If you think about it though, that mean's you're waiting for your opponent to do something. Why not stop it beforehand? Granted, discard loses to topdecks but, counters lose to discard.
Don't believe me? Look at Eva Green or Rock vs Canadian Thresh. Both of their discard spells pretty much function as either removal or overmaster (aka, you get a creature or the counter). If they're forcing, you get a hymn from any spell they force.
"Those cards weren't random, they chose them."
You're right random person. Your opponent chooses to use his force of will and is allowed to select the card to remove but, you didn't know which card (unless you have more information) or that they even had a force. So, to you, those 2 cards are random.
But what about combo decks? I've got no complaints here. Counterspells are better in this match because you can stop a problematic card. There is an issue though. Excluding Belcher and Cheeri0s, every combo deck plays either discard or counters of their own. So, they'll be able to fight your counters. how long they have? That depends on your clock.
Instead of focusing on just the counters, let's look at "card-draw." Now you may be wondering why I put that in quotes but, there is little to no actual card draw played in legacy anymore (if you haven't noticed yet, I'm really focusing on legacy here).
"Ian, brainstorm draws 3 cards."
Correct random person, brainstorm does draw 3 cards... then you put 2 back. Now, if my math is correct here, +3 cards drawn, -2 cards put back, -1 card for the actual brainstorm = 0 cards gained (I've been complained to before so, if the words confused you 3-2-1 = 0). Oh, and Ps. This math works for ponder and preordain as well.
In short, you've filtered your hand/draw. If you have a shuffle effect, you're simply reducing the probability that you're going to draw the cards you put back.
Now, we're playing a strategy based card game that is based on resources. I won't argue that filtering a bad card(s) out isn't a good thing. If you can get better resources to use then by all means, go for it. I find that having to play using those filter styles of cards isn't as effective.
Now when I think of real blue card draw in the format, I think of Meditate. Meditate literally allows you to draw more than just a replacement card and is about the only one of these left in the format. I'm not saying that it's the only one legal, just that it's one of the few that are still being used.
So why do these things give blue the advantage over other? I can have real card advantage using other colors as well.
White - pretty S.O.L. (you'll have to look that up if you don't know what it means, use urban dictionary or slang terms) in the matter. White's limited to things like Land Tax and Stoneforge Mystic to tutor instead of draw.
Red - Faithless looting and Browbeat are the two most popular forms of drawing cards in the format. The later has been missing for some time... with good reason.
Green - Sylvan Library functions as your main Draw in the deck. Operating as both draw and filter, the advantage here? it's a permanent. That means reusable.
Black - probably the best suited to draw cards/put them into hand. Things like Dark Confidant (from now on will be Bob in this blog) and Phyrexian Arena keep you drawing with a little downside if you've designed your deck well. Even Sign in Blood actually draws a card.
So why is blue best? Black has the ability to do exactly what Blue does, preemptively. So why isn't black the best color in magic? Because some pro said it was. Why? Because some one put Belcher and other turn 1-3 combo decks together. Counters were needed to beat the decks that won the game before they were prepared.
So, what about now? We're not in the age where Pros-Bloom could do very well against the non-blue decks. Most of them have a way to completely run it into the ground. Solidarity is still a thing (evolved, but still a thing) and hates discard way more than a counterspell. Even TES and AnT aren't the bad match they use to be to the non-blue decks.
I mean come on, when the Green and White aggro deck is considered a threat to your combo deck, why is Blue still the best color? well, one current well listened to player promotes it...
... and some players will swear by anything he says (Pro and Joe). Get enough of these people with influence pushing and you have a little blue loving cult.
Anywho, it isn't simple to understand/explain but, it's a beginner color. Handicaps are great. Give a person a strong enough handicap and they can compete in any event. 5 byes at a GP. -10 strokes on you golf game. Start at 15 points in basketball or football. All of these things would allow for you to have a better chance at winning.
So, the "best color" is the one that will allow you a natural handicap. What happens when you're able to take that away from them? What if you're able to play at a level where their handicap, is turned against them? Suddenly, blue doesn't look too good. The question is how do you do that? That's a question you'll have to find your own answer.
Oh, and if you don't understand the handicap, brainstorm allows them to filter their hand. Something unique to it. That's it. Nothing spectacular.
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