You used to have a bunch of things happen in Modern because card types meant things
Card x 30 This product also includes alternative art and parallel design cards from the above types
Dark Ritual into Specter was good games unless they had the one mana burn or the Swords to Plowshares in hand
There are some permutations that get a little weird Remand, for example, which kicks the spell back into the owners hand, and Delay, and Memory Lapse, which stop the card (and the mana your opponent invested in it and the opportunity for that card to have the impact they wanted) but dont necessarily get rid of it
To think there is no pop control is just thinking everyone is honest
The fact that Excruciator represented such a powerful and unique angle of attack for relatively minor commitment (meaning greater flexibility in building and playing, which we value especially highly) made it the focus of a lot of my deckbuilding efforts