Tor Wauki the Younger makes for a fine replacement
Disrupt Decorum [Vampire deck]: Another very tricky play
The artifact decks were often the best at this, because they brought out their mana so fast that they could shrug off losing two lands while they crippled their opponent's development, and decks with green mana creatures like Birds of Paradise often used the same plan
Set sizes have grown: Base Set had 102 cards, Jungle had 64, while modern sets like Fusion Strike reached 284 and Crown Zenith hit 230
Did you feel like there was more freedom to define your own look for those characters, or did you try to stick as closely to what was out there as possible
Instead, they turned it into a lose-lose for the opponent, as they can either let the spell resolve at the cost of five life or let the spell be countered