Am I understanding correctly that stickers don’t follow card into non-public zones because that wouldn’t work in Eternal Magic? So, in order to make stickers work in Eternal Magic, you changed the mechanic to disallow more Acorn design veins?

I think the change affected two cards, both of which we found work arounds for. There wasn’t a particularly large vein of design cut off. Remember, the eternal change came late in the design, so we made the sticker cards we wanted before that restriction existed.Also, the fact that going to a nonpublic zone puts the sticker back on the sticker sheet has opened up cool lines of play (I bounce my creature, so I can use it on a different creature), so there was also mechanical gain from the shift.

If Cancel is below rate for a non restricted counter spell why not use one of the 3 mana versions with a minor upside. Like Dissipate, Dissolve, Didn't Say Please, Dream Fracture, Sinister Sabotage or even Wizards Retort? I can understand Hinder, Disallow or even Archmage Charm being too influential for Standard but surely the others would make a better replacement for Cancel?

Every spell doesn’t have to be optimized for tournament play. There advantages to having some simple, straight forward spells.

I very much so agree with your statement of looking for similarities instead of differences. But is it not worthy to acknowledge that games have systems of agreements just as society's do that enable the game to play out or the society to function. For example i have a car i have a driver's license in both the United Kingdom and the United States, i prefer to drive on the right side of the road in left side drive car because I am right handed and prefer a standard transmission. I can't do that in the United Kingdom without causing absolute chaos. Is the UK guilty of gatekeeping or is there system of agreements different? Isn't seeing silver border, black border, commander and universes beyond for all theier similarity and still seeing them as Magic and yet acknowledging the differences in systems of agreements in humor, competitiveness, structure and flavor accepting? Or is not having them all together gatekeeping like how the UK won't let me drive on the right side of the road.

I’m not saying people need to buy Un-cards. I’m not saying people need to play with Un-cards. I’m not even saying people even need to like Un-cards. All I’m saying is that a person that’s not you who does enjoy playing with them is no less a Magic player than you are. Their games are no less Magic games than yours. Their cards are no less Magic cards than yours.I’m not against formats. It’s fine to play Magic in a way that doesn’t use all the Magic cards. You play Magic the way you enjoy playing it. My issue is with people saying that other people choosing to play the way they want to play isn’t “real Magic”. That’s where your metaphor falls down. Having a rule that you have to drive on the left side of the road isn’t gatekeeping. It’s like having a format that dictates what cards are legal. The parallel is making the statement that only people who drive on the left side of the road are real drivers. That driving on the right side of the road makes you less of a driver.Gatekeeping is making someone else feel bad because they don’t choose the same priorities as you in how they choose to enjoy something. It’s not about you making choices in what you enjoy. If you enjoy format X, play format X with other people that enjoy format X. It’s okay for Format X to set up rules that disallow certain things. Just don’t besmirch someone else for enjoying Format Y. Their playing of Format Y doesn’t make Format X any less.

"Blue can transform creatures, but it can’r prevent abilities." What about Disallow?

Countering abilities is different than preventing them.

When you say the rules don’t allow something, are you saying the rules disallow that something, or that no combination of existing rules permit it?

I’m saying the rules as written don’t allow it, and usually would be difficult to rewrite.

Blue is supposed to be reactive, as you've said. But Disallow is a counterspell that can be used on a creature any time its abilities are activated, at your leisure. I thought the idea was you had a limited window to use counterspells; this card's window is very wide.

It’s still reactive. You have to save up mana waiting for your opponent to activate the thing you want to counter.

Couldn't legendary instants/sorceries just disallow casting if there is a copy already in the graveyard? Would be pretty bad to get stuck with a copy, sure, but there possibly is a power-level at which this would be acceptable (whereabouts of Counterspell or Ancestral Recall).

The problem is that wouldn’t work the same as Legendary permanents. You *can* cast a Legendary creature if one is in your graveyard, for instance.

There exist cards which have been printed in both black and gold border, yet only one of those is legal in tournaments. Why not simply apply the same principle to silver bordered cards? Blast from the Past for Magic 2014!

The problem with printing a card in both black border and silver border is that you have to break a rule. Either you disallow people to play any version of a card with the same name or you allow silver-bordered cards in tournament legal games.
We’re not willing to break either rule.