I know this card is known to be very powerful, and so I recently added it to my cube. However, since then it hasn't seen any play. Nobody in my playgroup has ever played with or against the card in any format. In a cube format, what archetype of deck wants this card the most? It's obviously a very powerful effect, but my playgroup just isn't sure how to utilize it.
Here are some good scenarios where balance is way in your favour:
1. You have a bunch of early artifact mana and no creatures. You cast balance to wrath their board and a couple of their lands, whilst you are up on mana, due to your artifacts.
2. You have a planeswalker out.
3. You play out your board really fast, particularly artifacts, enchantments, planeswalkers, thus causing Balance to be a brutal Mind Twist (and maybe armageddon).
NOTE: If you are using Balance just as a wrath, then you're doing it wrong. It's actually a pretty bad wrath in control, particularly as an aggro deck will usually play out their hand faster than you. If you have to use it to wrath their dudes, but still have to discard 2-3 cards, it loses a lot of its luster.
Balance is generally a really balanced card, but it's kind of everything you want it to be. A lot of the time you'll use it as a Wrath but discard cards, or even lose lands, but hey, even if you're getting a 3 for 3 in a scenario like that, you've basically cast 3 Doom Blades for the cost of 1W.
That being said there are tricks you can do to make it less balanced, such as Juju mentioned it's good with cards that it doesn't check, so drafting Artifact mana and Enchantments is very good with it. Another trick you can do is have a card like Greater Gargadon suspended and sacrifice all your lands with Balance on the stack to make it so that the board gets Armageddon'ed and you wind up with a 9/7 Haste guy that turn or the next while they have no lands or creatures, however it's advisable you watch out for counter magic in that scenario as you can really hurt yourself if you play into something bad.
All and all, Balance is very balanced, but it's strong as long as you know when to cast it as even making 1 for 1 trades can give you a massive advantage based on timing.
When a card has modes that are comparable to Wrath of God, Armageddon, and Mind Twist and only cost 2 ... Yea ... put it in your deck with white mana.
It is great insurance with some serious blowout potential.
As well as prioritising cards that Balance doesn't check, remember that it is sending cards to the graveyard. Balance can therefore work well in reanimation or Pox type strategies.
Balance is a good cube card because it requires some work and skill to be very powerful. There may be occasions where you cast it for little or no gain in terms of card advantage, but you need to keep yourself alive, similar to an emergency Upheaval. This can still be the correct play and still win the game for you (or at least allow you to stay alive while other cards win the game), even if it is less obviously powerful than when you wreck your opponent's hand, board and mana base.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
There are three ways that Balance can be really broken:
1. Build around it. Play an overload of cards that Balance doesn't check for. Planeswalkers, Artifacts, Enchantments, and even some effects like Suspend can help break the symmetry. If your opponent is playing creatures while you're playing support permanents, they're going to walk right into a 2-mana wrath. Maybe even better if they have an extra land out than you do.
2. Watch for timing windows. Every time you're behind in the game, Balance could be quite advantageous to cast. It's not hard to wind up behind on two of the three resources that Balance checks for. An example would be playing an artifact into a creature, and your opponent plays a creature into a Flametongue Kavu, killing your guy. You have an artifact and no creatures out, and your opponent has 2 creatures out. In this situation, your opponent is likely up a card in hand and two creatures on the board. If you're even in resources, than Balance is a smooth 3-for-1 that wiped their board and removed a card in their hand. For 1W. And these kinds of windows show up all the time. Additionally, there are times where despite all your best efforts, you're just being beaten down. They have cards in hand and creatures out, and you're in topdeck mode. Enter Balance. It can simply be a complete blow-out here, wiping their board and hand at the cost of a couple of lands.
3. Use it as a combo card. Play a Greater Gargadon. Sac permanents. Balance. Put out 'Gargadon. Win. Also applies with Zuran Orb to make a 2-mana 'Geddon, a Carrion Feeder or something to make a 2-mana Wrath, or a Wild Mongrel to make a 2-mana Mind Twist. Using any of these types of cards can leave both players with nothing (which is great when you're ahead), or leave you with the superior card in any situation you want.
Balance is clearly overpowered, but overall I think it adds to the fun of the cube. I've said before that every good story needs a villain, and I like having a few villain cards in the cube. Balance requires some skill to play well, but it can be a pretty powerful villain when done right. I like how it requires planning and foresight to maximize (in the non-build-around, non-combo uses).
Build around me cards that are good to decent even when you don't build around them are critical to the fun aspect of cube imo. Sometimes players just want to try drafting a deck they haven't before and build around me cards are critical for that.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
There are some decks that simply can't utilize Balance to the full, or packs where you pick something over Balance (Elspeth, Swords if you have no removal whatsoever so far, ...), ...
100% is impossible in any kind of "real" environment.
Specialities about the cube: U tempo, B aggro, R slow-ish are supported. G aggro is not.
Currently trying to support tokens in all colors but blue, in different ways: W pumps them, B sacrifices them, R suicides them, G has decent-sized ones.
cube list outdated
*literal C/U definition according to gatherer
**some cards are banned. Library of Alexandria, Land Tax, Sol Ring.
But thanks for differentiating between your "real" environment and the way others play. But for arguments sake I'll change my stance to 99.99999%
I didn't mean to make a statement about Magic or Balance or even your playstyle; instead, I wanted to make a statement about statistics. 100% means every. single. effing. time. in. a. million. million. million. million. tries. Not even Balance achieves that. And you playing multiplayer most of the time kinda explains a lot as well.
Specialities about the cube: U tempo, B aggro, R slow-ish are supported. G aggro is not.
Currently trying to support tokens in all colors but blue, in different ways: W pumps them, B sacrifices them, R suicides them, G has decent-sized ones.
cube list outdated
*literal C/U definition according to gatherer
**some cards are banned. Library of Alexandria, Land Tax, Sol Ring.
I think it probably sees play in about 3/4 of the white decks we play. It goes into everything that's not really hard aggro, but white plays those kinds of aggro decks, and they may pass on using a Balance, even if they drafted it early.
How would anybody ever not play balance if you have it in the cube? It's splashable and crazy broken. At worst it's a 1W wrath and maybe you discard a card or sack a land. At best, it's 1W "You win."
Agreed. Balance is one of those cards I try to splash in any deck I draft. Same with Mind Twist.
I agree with this post to the word. Both cards are very early, even p1p1 picks, and I will splash just for them. They range from "real gud" to your opponent's "I concede, again".
To make a point, yesterday I didn't splash black into my otherwise solely Green/White Deck for Mind Twist, although I had Expanse, City of Brass, City of Ass, Llanowar Wastes and Verdant Catacombs.
And I always play Mind Twist.
(The deck I had was 3man FFA Survival//Birthing Pod and except those 2 cards the only noncreatures I played were Swords of Body and Mind and War and Peace and the Jitte.
Yeah I know... but then I could just as well have played Pack Rat too etc... we did a Tenchester Draft so my pool was completely broken, also, it was my first time with Birthing Pod and I really wanted to have a ladder of utility in my deck : (
I would have played Pack Rat and Mind Twist as a splash but I understand. If you give a mouse a cookie...
Powered or not, planeswalkers or not, Balance will be the best white spell in the cube. It's up to your playgroup to decide if it's too powerful for your liking.
I am curious to try balance in my unpowered list since white has so few build around cards atm.
With only 2 planeswalkers per colors and about 10 mana rocks at 450 do you guys think balance will be a playmaker?
I run 1 Planeswalker per color and 11 mana rocks at 360 unpowered. Balance is fantastic here.
Updated 11/01/13
-->Standard:
:symwg::symwg::symwg: Aggressive Midrange
:symu::symu::symu: Devotion
-->Modern:
:symwg::symrg::symug: Kiki-Jiki Pod
:0mana::symur::0mana: Affinity
1. You have a bunch of early artifact mana and no creatures. You cast balance to wrath their board and a couple of their lands, whilst you are up on mana, due to your artifacts.
2. You have a planeswalker out.
3. You play out your board really fast, particularly artifacts, enchantments, planeswalkers, thus causing Balance to be a brutal Mind Twist (and maybe armageddon).
NOTE: If you are using Balance just as a wrath, then you're doing it wrong. It's actually a pretty bad wrath in control, particularly as an aggro deck will usually play out their hand faster than you. If you have to use it to wrath their dudes, but still have to discard 2-3 cards, it loses a lot of its luster.
Juju Alters - Altered MTG Cards
That being said there are tricks you can do to make it less balanced, such as Juju mentioned it's good with cards that it doesn't check, so drafting Artifact mana and Enchantments is very good with it. Another trick you can do is have a card like Greater Gargadon suspended and sacrifice all your lands with Balance on the stack to make it so that the board gets Armageddon'ed and you wind up with a 9/7 Haste guy that turn or the next while they have no lands or creatures, however it's advisable you watch out for counter magic in that scenario as you can really hurt yourself if you play into something bad.
All and all, Balance is very balanced, but it's strong as long as you know when to cast it as even making 1 for 1 trades can give you a massive advantage based on timing.
It is great insurance with some serious blowout potential.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=385729
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=416113
Best regards,
bonda
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Balance is a good cube card because it requires some work and skill to be very powerful. There may be occasions where you cast it for little or no gain in terms of card advantage, but you need to keep yourself alive, similar to an emergency Upheaval. This can still be the correct play and still win the game for you (or at least allow you to stay alive while other cards win the game), even if it is less obviously powerful than when you wreck your opponent's hand, board and mana base.
My 380 Beginners’ Cube on Cube Tutor
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
1. Build around it. Play an overload of cards that Balance doesn't check for. Planeswalkers, Artifacts, Enchantments, and even some effects like Suspend can help break the symmetry. If your opponent is playing creatures while you're playing support permanents, they're going to walk right into a 2-mana wrath. Maybe even better if they have an extra land out than you do.
2. Watch for timing windows. Every time you're behind in the game, Balance could be quite advantageous to cast. It's not hard to wind up behind on two of the three resources that Balance checks for. An example would be playing an artifact into a creature, and your opponent plays a creature into a Flametongue Kavu, killing your guy. You have an artifact and no creatures out, and your opponent has 2 creatures out. In this situation, your opponent is likely up a card in hand and two creatures on the board. If you're even in resources, than Balance is a smooth 3-for-1 that wiped their board and removed a card in their hand. For 1W. And these kinds of windows show up all the time. Additionally, there are times where despite all your best efforts, you're just being beaten down. They have cards in hand and creatures out, and you're in topdeck mode. Enter Balance. It can simply be a complete blow-out here, wiping their board and hand at the cost of a couple of lands.
3. Use it as a combo card. Play a Greater Gargadon. Sac permanents. Balance. Put out 'Gargadon. Win. Also applies with Zuran Orb to make a 2-mana 'Geddon, a Carrion Feeder or something to make a 2-mana Wrath, or a Wild Mongrel to make a 2-mana Mind Twist. Using any of these types of cards can leave both players with nothing (which is great when you're ahead), or leave you with the superior card in any situation you want.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Also, I hear it's real good in mulligan.dec
Sounds like a perfect Cube card.
My 380 Beginners’ Cube on Cube Tutor
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
Agreed. Balance is one of those cards I try to splash in any deck I draft. Same with Mind Twist.
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There are some decks that simply can't utilize Balance to the full, or packs where you pick something over Balance (Elspeth, Swords if you have no removal whatsoever so far, ...), ...
100% is impossible in any kind of "real" environment.
450, Peasant*, unpowered**
Specialities about the cube:
U tempo, B aggro, R slow-ish are supported. G aggro is not.
Currently trying to support tokens in all colors but blue, in different ways: W pumps them, B sacrifices them, R suicides them, G has decent-sized ones.
cube list outdated
*literal C/U definition according to gatherer
**some cards are banned. Library of Alexandria, Land Tax, Sol Ring.
I didn't mean to make a statement about Magic or Balance or even your playstyle; instead, I wanted to make a statement about statistics. 100% means every. single. effing. time. in. a. million. million. million. million. tries. Not even Balance achieves that. And you playing multiplayer most of the time kinda explains a lot as well.
450, Peasant*, unpowered**
Specialities about the cube:
U tempo, B aggro, R slow-ish are supported. G aggro is not.
Currently trying to support tokens in all colors but blue, in different ways: W pumps them, B sacrifices them, R suicides them, G has decent-sized ones.
cube list outdated
*literal C/U definition according to gatherer
**some cards are banned. Library of Alexandria, Land Tax, Sol Ring.
Very few (if any) cards see 100% maindeck play.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
I've also used it against control after they wrath the board to balance them down to 1-2 cards and 3-5 lands when I'm playing aggro/midrange.
I agree with this post to the word. Both cards are very early, even p1p1 picks, and I will splash just for them. They range from "real gud" to your opponent's "I concede, again".
Old school group, sometimes more beer than cards. Revised thru Tempest block (and a little of Urza), sorry if I don't know all the new cards
Ye' Olde Schoole Casual Decks: BUReanimate -- GRAggro -- BWPestilence -- G10-land Stompy -- GRElfball -- GWEnchantress -- RAnkh Sligh -- BDiscard -- MUC "Draw-go" -- BRSuicide -- UWSkies -- UHigh Tide Mill -- WWeenie -- UMutated Bombers -- URThe great land-toss -- UB Molasass
You should have played Mind Twist, though.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
I would have played Pack Rat and Mind Twist as a splash but I understand. If you give a mouse a cookie...
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My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
I run 1 Planeswalker per color and 11 mana rocks at 360 unpowered. Balance is fantastic here.
[180 classic cube]
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