Proactive vs. Reactive Counters

[eaglgenes101]

You probably know about counters being hard and soft. Hard counters basically bypass or screw over the card they counter. Soft counters simply give you the upper hand against the card.

But there's another, just as important aspect of counters: whether they are proactive or reactive.

Proactive counters are played before the card they counter.
Reactive counters are played after the card they counter.

Analysis of this aspect will follow soon. Stay tuned! (EDIT: Change of plans, not planning analysis anytime soon. If analysis begins to pile up on this thread I might compile it here.)

[dragonsdemesne]

I'd like to see a few more proactive counters.  Right now, it usually feels like everything is reactive in Elements.  There are a few proactive counters, like playing Sanctuary before black hole or silence, or playing a reflective shield before a firebolt, or protect artifact/quint vs PC/CC, for instance, but in general, it feels more like you have to respond to threats rather than have something in advance.  For instance, basically all PC/CC right now is reactive, although you can count shields as a sort of proactive CC.  An example of proactive CC would be something like a permanent that deals 2 damage to the next creature that comes into play and is then destroyed.

[Higurashi]

I don't quite agree on account of being of the opinion that creatures and perms with CC/PC are proactive. The two reasons for this are summoning sickness and the fact that they do damage (usually). Because of this, it's normally beneficial to play them before a threat emerges.

That said, proactive spells would include counters or triggers, I suppose. Traps, in other words. As much of a cliche that is thanks to Yu-Gi-Oh!, there's a reason it's a cliche. It's hella fun :>

[eljoemo]

Did somebody say Traps?

Looking at some ideas for proactive counters other than traps, possibly a creature that hurts the opponent when it dies as a form of CC protection/prevention, like this card. Or a creature or permanent that affects new cards or cards that use their abilities, like this one. These are more soft counters, like a Keep Out sign that can just be ignored. Its hard to not go to close to traps when thinking of proactive measures.