If I saw someone else make this, I would make this face: o_0

Preemptive creature destruction could conceivably be black, in a ridiculous set that wouldn't be printed, like this or Future Sight.

I think it should be "Counter target nonblack creature spell" to feel more in line with black's slice of the pie.

I love how you called Future Sight a ridiculous set that wouldn't be printed. I also like your suggestion. Changing.

­Withering Boon has been around long before Future Sight.

I'm aware. I saw it when I did a Gatherer search while making this.

That's a pretty damn good description of future sight. "Hey! What happens if we turn the colour pie inside out? That won't haunt casual for years to come, nosiree!"

Somehow I want to word this as "Destroy target nonblack creature spell" to make it even more clear why black gets to do Remove Soul/Essence Scatter but I don't think that's legal wording.

I agree with moving things out of blue, but I wonder if you could fill the holes blue left with things like Cradle to Grave that fill the same holes as counterspells, but in a less-blue way? I think you can move counterspells into W or B, but I'd be interested to see what alternatives might present themselves :)

I do like Jack's suggestion here. It could work to put countermagic in white and black, sure, but there are probably ways of accomplishing similar things without actually putting the words "Counter" and "spell" on there.

But this is one of those philosophy-of-the-set questions that'll ultimately just be up to Link to decide.

While I agree that Cradle to Grave is a more black way of doing this, and I do think it's a sort of black counterspell, I disagree with the thought that it fills the same hole as a counterspell. Countering Primeval Titan and destroying it just after it hits the battlefield are woefully different things. Personally, I think the game needs counterspells for this reason.

@Vitenka: I think it would be fun to phrase this as "Put target nonblack creature spell into its owner's graveyard," in parallel to Mindbreak Trap, but that would 1) be weird just for being weird, 2) turn too many heads, and 3) be more powerful.

I agree Cradle to Grave isn't an answer to Titans all by itself, but I thought several different nearly-counterspells may together cover the same necessary niches.

I think "put target spell into its owner's graveyard" is very interesting: I think you're right it shouldn't say that straight out, but I think that it's a good idea to look at similar effects that don't say "counter" straight out, even if the difference is only superficial (although non-superficial differences are better :)).

For instance (similar to an idea I had in Gentlemen Magicians) perhaps a white flash enchantment with "Exile target spell. When ~ leaves the battlefield, its controller may cast it without paying its mana cost."

I've made that enchantment, too, and called it Icebind. Thanks for pointing out that it probably has a place here. :)

Doh, sorry :) I talk too fast. But yeah, if we both thought of it without prompting, it's probably in the right set :)

On nonblue countermagic, Bind may be an interesting alternative to Squelch. Green could probably be a good colour for a Stifle, too.

­Voidslime leans in that direction, too, Alex. I never would have though of green countering activated abilities, and it's nice to realize that there is a precedent. If anything, I would have put it in white, but that's bad because I should endeavor to spread the blue abilities throughout the other colors. Because white and black are closer to blue, it's going to be tempting to put all of blue's abilities there.

The set that brought Withering Boon also gave us Illumination, for what that's worth.