There are many.
Counterspell is way more interesting, for the reasons listed above and more.
The levels of success thing means if you crit, you can counter spells up to three levels higher than the spell slot you spent to cast counterspell.
Plus, it's mechanically different based on which class you learned it under, and then you can customize the heck out of it with feats. The one that interested me the most out of the latter was one that lets you spend thematically opposing spells that you've prepared instead of one that's identical to the spell you're countering, like a water spell to counter a fire spell (comes down to GM's decision to prevent game slowdown due to bickering).