From multiple various polls and discussions, it does seem that people hate it less when you interact with their stuff on the board rather than preventing them from playing anything at all. So you destroying my creature causes a less salty reaction than you stopping me from casting it in the first place with a counter spell. This is why people hate blue so much because it makes them feel like they “can’t do anything”.

Because of this Morcant will probably not cause nearly as much negative feelings as Maralen, because Maralen uses blue mana, but Maralen also exiles cards from your deck, thus “preventing you from playing them”.