3UU
Delve
Counter Target Spell
Too good? What do you cost this spell so that its' actually powerful and constructed playable but not problematic (in Standard at least). I feel like I could have sworn Maro said they had Logic Knot at some point in the Khans file but like Death Rattle scrapped it for a better card that is to come later in the block. I'd have to go through his recent articles to make sure I'm not imagining things though. Maybe they just mean something like:
XU
Delve
Counter Target Spell unless its controller pays X
Could someone explain the difference between standard and modern to me? Is modern just what you start playing once your expensive deck gets rotated out? Why play one over the other? Do people overwhelmingly play one over the other?
The difference is the number of cards that are legal in tournament play which in turn influences which decks get played.
Modern includes every card released in a normal card set created or reprinted in 8th edition (2003) forward to the present. It is an non-rotaing, Eternal formats - Cards enter with every set release and none ever leave unless they are banned (I think about 30 cards are banned in
Modern currently).
Standard includes only the most recent card sets (within the past 18-24 months) and is a rotating format so at regular intervals, cards will leave the format and no longer be legal to play. Even at its largest sizes,
Standard is a MUCH smaller format with fewer cards played and an overall lower power level than
Modern. They recently changed the size of
Standard and how it rotates so I'll just link you to the
article that explains it.
On a overall, worldwide scale,
Standard is more popular due to lower barriers to entry and less complexity due to fewer weird card interactions. On a local scale, it will vary though
Standard will win out more often than not.