Design Space for Counters

I have a +1+1 counters deck in EDH but I'm not particularly a player who enjoys simple stompy decks. Because of this, I really like the cards that use counters as a resource, instead of just using them only to attack. To me this gives a really interesting dynamic where you have to evaluate whether you want to decrease your board power to gain something else (e.g. Retribution of the Ancients) However, the mechanic feels underused right now. Do you think there is more design space for this?

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There is some space for it, but it creates a lot of tension.