Reviving this topic again, I'm not sure what to make of Gitaxian Probe. Most of my experience has been with Legacy. Based on that experience and just common sense, the card seems like a perfect card for Storm. It reveals what disruption the opponent has in-hand, ticks the storm count up by one, and draws a card, all for no mana. I really liked what it did for Cabal Therapy in Vintage and thought that the "strategy" objection based on "perfect information" was the worst kind of pomposity. I've seen this sentiment among players of older formats, but especially Vintage, that blue-based control decks are "skill-testing" and that any situation in which they seem to be disadvantaged is a sign that the game is diseased, that some card or cards should not be and that this affront to the healthy, cerebral nature of the right and proper way to play Magic: the Gathering. And so if you manage to execute a fast combo finish to defeat me, well, you're just doing what any moron could do. You're basically a troglodyte, using your wicked, sinister, deviant, and disgustingly free Gitaxian Probe to steal my most closely guarded secrets. In contrast, if I counter your spells so that I can win, this is a sagacious masterstroke that beautifully illustrates my genius and superiority. Because control is the thinking man's archetype, and combo is exclusively the purview of base simpletons. And that is why we need the free Force of Will. It is the glue that holds the format together, and using it to stop the same spells over and over, rather than being easy, is a strategic symphony of intellect, a task to which only the most acute of minds are equal. Also, that is why the free Gitaxian Probe is an affront: it lets you see my hand for free. And that's just wrong. See also Gush and anything that is making Shops too good. Basically, anything that puts the countermagic control master race at a disadvantage against the gutter trash that is anything else in the format whatsoever. It's all bad and wrong.
Note: my point right now isn't that Probe should not have been restricted (and I definitely don't think that Force of Will is a problem) or that control deserves to be sidelined. In fact, I think it would be kind of cool if Mana Drain decks could make a comeback. But the whole attitude, probably coming from a vocal minority, of some kinds of decks being smart people decks and other kinds of decks being easy to play and so we need to restrict cards so that the smart people decks perform better, is just too much. Anyway...
I fully expected that losing Gitaxian Probe would hurt Storm. The top Storm decks in Vintage were using Gush and Gitaxian Probe (both now restricted) to support big Paradoxical Outcome plays, while the DPS/TPS Dark Ritual decks were already relegated to the sidelines and had just lost their strong opener of Gitaxian Probe into Cabal Therapy. But while data trickles in slowly for Vintage, so far it seems like, if anything, Storm became slightly stronger following the restriction of Gitaxian Probe. And now Storm is also experiencing a bit of a resurgence in Modern, where Gitaxian Probe was banned earlier this year. It's premature to say that anything is really going on here. The change is minor and could be ephemeral. But I do find it interesting because it's so counterintuitive. If this resurgence, even a small one, does turn out to be real, I don't think that the reason has anything to do with Gitaxian Probe being a suboptimal choice. The card is just too clearly good for that. Best guess in the case of Vintage is that in the fallout from the restrictions, with a less firmly established balance between Null Rod, Mishra's Workshop, Monastery Mentor, etc., Storm has been able to claim more of a niche, even if it ultimately turns out to be temporary.