It gives you mana to play creatures, has decent removal, and can even be played earlier if youre willing to sacrifice some loyalty
It shuts down combos, which makes it one of the best keywords in the whole game
Simply put, the best way to deal with a threat in Magic is to remove it before it's a threat, and Counterspell rips spells right out of the stack and into the graveyard
If a card or token would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, exile it instead
For now, it holds in the range of $15-17 a card, but it has been at the $20-21 mark recently, indicating there is a chance that the price will return to its previous level if Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor performs as expected
Beginning Phase : He untaps his cards, his upkeep comes and goes without any action, and then he draws his card (Shock)