Good stuff Steve. I enjoy reading non-strategy articles every once in a while and really enjoyed this one. Like you, I hadn't put much trout into the designing of cards. You write about designing a card for eternal without making it too good in some of the more restricted formats, the bread and butter for Wizards, Standard and Modern, but is there a way to make a card playable in those formats and still playable in Vintage/Legacy? I can't recall if Crucible of Worlds was played in Standard when it debuted. From my limited understanding of the Standard format, I suppose that a Leyline of Mephistopheles would be playable. I'm not sure about some that you suggest removing cards from the stack would be any good in Standard or Modern; I don't think the formats currently have counter wars often enough to justify deck space. I know the sets have recently moved away from reprinting and designing super efficient counter magic. They won't reprint Counterspell!
It's definitely possible, but just more difficult
The approaches I canvass here are geared toward creating eternal playables that aren't over powered in other formats.
