While there are counterplays to Venusaur ex, such as one-shotting it with cards Charizard ex Tera, forcing a retreat or getting lucky with the coin flip, Venusaur ex generally does not have to worry too much about being able to stay on the field
Back in June 2021, Gavin Verhey put out a Good Morning Magic video all about the history of Counterspell, including how it was omitted from 8th edition since it was deemed too efficient, particularly given the historical dominance of blue decks in Standard
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Modern Bans Before PT Philadelphia With the Modern formats formal creation in 2011, Wizards of the Coast released a preliminary Banned & Restricted list consisting largely of cards that had been dominant in the Extended format
Exiling an attacker mid-combat , creating surprise blockers, or suddenly boosting creatures turns combat math into guesswork for opponents
(I originally wanted to say Sephiroth as Atraxa since she's the most popular commander, but it's a reality already) The second is how they handle rarity distribution
