The tricky part was to do so while staying clear of the previous two cycles
Instead of attacking for 3, 4 and 5, it attacks for 2, 3 and 4, and a lot of the time a creature cant attack because it doesnt have the counter, so the nerf ends up costing eight or so damage in a game
It took a couple of MTG sets to be used effectively, and 20 years later lots of sets regularly use this feature like Throne of Eldraine , Streets of New Capenna , Shadowmoor , Modern Horizons 3 , as well as many Ravnica sets that came after
This is Commander, after all, where you end up running a 1/33 chance of hitting any of those in a game even if you run all three
(2/9/2017) If you cast a card "without paying its mana cost," you can't choose to cast it for any alternative costs, such as emerge costs