Should probably have cycling or some modal aspect due to its narrow nature unless the set has a ton of counter-magic.

Narrow cards should be tailored to their limited environments. Most limited decks will play few instants, however if a set has a lot of good instant speed removal or instant speed token generation, Dispel is a slightly less narrow card.

­Annul showed up in Theros and Saga which were both enchantment heavy sets and in Mirrodin which was very artifact heavy, meaning they would frequently have targets. In other sets, it would have been far worse.

Narrow cards should have a payoff as an insensitive to playing them.

­Ancient Grudge is extremely efficient despite only destroying artifacts. Cards like Bant Charm, Dimir Charm], and Urgent Exorcism are narrow but still playable due to their versatile nature. One of their modes are likely to find a target. ­Appetite for the Unnatural and Artisan's Sorrow are wider but provide a lesser payoff, gaining life and scrying respectively. They were also both in sets with a lot of artifacts and enchantments respectively, making them good in limited.

Not sure what this was referencing anymore. Turn Aside seems like it would be an acceptable white counterspell. (Note this originally only protected spells, not permanents.)