Recently, I discovered the combo of Sakura-Tribe Scout + Retreat to Coralhelm + Bounce Land + Payoff. At first, I completely dismissed the idea of that combo being even remotely modern playable. However, after a three hour drive, I thought the combo might actually fit in Knightfall. Let me elaborate.
Knightfall, traditionally, struggles against some aggro decks, but mostly big mana and fast combo decks. Having two, turn three combos should greatly shore up the combo and big mana matchups while a few Courser of Kruphix help against aggro.
Thus, I imagine the deck to play somewhat similar to Vizir Knightfall in that game one, the game plan is a little heavier on the combo plan to beat the unfair decks while games two and three, the deck can drop a few Retreat to Coralhelm to play more fair-deck cards. However, I think this list will, when tuned, be better than Vizir Knightfall because the overall quality of the cards is much higher while the combo plan seems somewhat comparable. Thus, without further ado, here's my initial attempt at a list: (See it on TappedOut)
I love all the instant speed shenanigans knightfall has, and Sakura-Tribe Scout adds another dimension to that with the ability to play lands on your opponent's turn.
The deck is running four Tireless Tracker. While it is entirely possible that it should only run three, four guarantees almost every grindy matchup.
So, if I think this deck is so great, why am I sharing it? Well, to be honest, the deck is a little rough around the edges and could be tuned a bit. Hence, I want help with it. There are a few awkward things about the deck that I'd like help with:
My biggest issue is the manabase. Sakura-Tribe Scout on paper sounds like a mana-dork, but it really isn't. It helps go from 1cmc to 3cmc, but it requires more lands. Honestly, I feel like I'm supposed to find room for one more land. However, if I bring in more lands, Collected Company will go from barely playable to not at all.
The bounce lands are huge anti-tempo plays. This deck is still a tempo deck and they don't play nicely with that. Also, I find myself playing them as a mana source, and then later needing them in my hand to combo.
Oboro, Palace in the Clouds is secretly one of the best cards in the deck. I want to try three but the legendary nature scares me a little.
The sideboard seems fine, but I don't know this decks matchups yet to know how it should be tuned.
With all that in mind, what do you guys think? Give the deck a few test tries and let me know.
Personally, if I was going to play in another tournament, I'd tweak the deck a little and take it. That said, I'm a value grind player and so I can't see myself playing vizir Knightfall to begin with.
In terms of G/W value town, Todd Stevens has started running Aven Mindcensor in the main. I bring this up as a way of saying that even he recognizes that the deck's primary way of beating combo is to Ghost Quarter them out (IE, he hopes for mostly fair matches).
I just went to my first modern SCG Open in Richmond with my trusty Knightfall and, well, I made 27th. I haven’t really been paying much attention to the competitive meta, and I think that hurt me a bit. That said, I think I did well enough. My list can be found here.
Round 1: Affinity (2-1)
This was my only game loss to affinity across four matches. I lost to double Signal Pest with Memnite and Ornithopter. I almost stabilized, but I didn't have enough health. Game two was close, but he top decked a Blinkmoth Nexus instead of three damage. Game three was over soon after it started.
Round 2: Jeskai Control (0-2)
I didn’t establish much of a clock before Elspeth, Sun's Champion.
Round 3: R/G Tron (2-1)
She played a Pyroclasm on turn two for my turn one birds game one. Thankfully, I had a two drop and, even though she established tron, didn’t really follow it up with much. Game two she Firespout on my bird into 3/3 knight. Game 3, I had all the fun of Eldritch Evolution a Reclamation Sage into a Manglehorn to blow up an Oblivion Stone. (You can't do that with a stony silence.) I also greatly enjoyed watching my opponent play a tapped star.
Round 4: U/W Control (1-2)
Hey look, Elspeth, Sun's Champion again... (at least this time I Kessig Wolf Run on a Kitchen Finks to kill it). I feel like the U/W/X control matchup isn't that bad, but these two rounds did not go well.
Round 5: G/W Valuetown (1-2)
See round 15. That said, after this matchup, I almost wanted to drop, but I kept going.
Round 6: Affinity (2-0)
Game one, I turn two Spell Queller, turn three Spell Queller, turn four Collected Company, turn five Collected Company. Also, I think I have a little too much hate in the sideboard for this matchup. It's already pretty good pre-board.
Round 7: R/B Burn (2-0)
Game one, I was had a fast hand. Game two, well, after company hit double Kitchen Finks, my opponent conceded.
Round 9: Grishoalbrand (2-1)
Honestly, my opponent should have won this match. I kept a hand that relied vastly too much on a Noble Hierarch and my opponent Collective Brutality it and a Unified Will away. I didn't present much of a clock either. The thing is, Grishoalbrand can struggle with consistency and, well, that's what happened.
Round 11: Affinity (2-0) Spell Queller is a good magic card.
Round 12: Eldrazi Tron (2-1)
He cast All is Dust game one and I nearly recovered. Had I drawn a Path to Exile or a Reflector Mage over a few turns, the game would have ended (despite a few misplays on my part). So, I had to make up for it in games two and three.
Round 14: Jeskai Queller (2-1)
The use of Spell Queller typically hinders their ability to run wraths. To make up for this, they run bolts and paths. This highly favors knightfall as spot removal is, in a way, pretty bad against the deck.
Round 15: Todd Stevens with G/W Valuetown (0-2) (Agreed upon draw to guarantee top 32 as neither of us could be in the top 16)
After playing the matchup twice (once against Mr. Todd Stevens), I'm beginning to think that it and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle are the worst matchups for Knightfall. Both G/W Valuetown and Knightfall are very grindy and value based, but Knightfall trades a little long term value for immediate value. For example, most of Spell Queller's value is the fact that it has flash, flying and exiles a spell. Compare that to Ramunap Excavator which almost draws an extra card every turn. Needless to say, Knightfall is the aggro deck in the matchup and it has very little hope of aggroing well given that our opponent is on a similar plan, but with a better late-game strategy.
Final takeaways: I really like Manglehorn over Stony Silence. I never drew Nissa, Steward of Elements, but she seems to deserve her spot. I really like 5 counter spells in the side. Lastly, I never got the retreat combo. In all honesty though, I want to replace the two retreats with Trackers in such an open meta.
I know quoting myself is weird, but I worded why we play retreat well a few pages back.
Quote from SilverIronMan »
You ONLY leave retreat in against hard to interact with combo decks (IE ad nauseam, tron, sometimes elves, etc). Thereby, you definitely cut retreat against most modern decks.
The basic idea of retreat is that it enables you to get "lucky." Essentially, knightfall is a tempo, midrange deck. So, when we draw "bad" cards (like scavenging ooze vs tron), we can lose tempo. The combo let's us win even when we have lost tempo. However, post-board it should be cut as the greatest loss of tempo is drawing retreat without knight. Post-board, we side out the "bad" cards for good ones. We should only have live draws. The thing is, decks like tron are hard to interact with even post-board. In those matchups, the combo stays in.
Out of curiosity, is there a consensus that Stony Silence is better than Manglehorn? I ask because I run the latter for the obvious company hit with what I would argue is a moderately similar effect.
Tonight, I went 6-0-1 in two back-to-back tournaments. While there were some sweet moments, my favorite was definitely during game 2 against G/R Ponza. I cast Collected Company after he played an Inferno Titan and hit two Knight of the Reliquarys. Now, Ponza has a fair amount of Land Destruction and I had already fetched a few times, so knight was a 6/6. I swung and he didn't block (his ramp had been Utopia Sprawl this game and not the usual dorks). I cast Blessed Alliance and 20'd him.
At the first tournament, I had also played him and we went into turns. This time, however, I had turn 3 combo in game 1 and game 2 went almost as fast.
I have some basic questions for the combo lists. How many creatures should we have post board for optimal collected company hits? 26? Are we taking retreats out vs affinity and burn? I know burn will probably bring in revelry's so i could see cutting them there. I assume most lists are playing 28 creatures so i'm finding it hard to sideboard without taking the retreats out. Specifically against things like affinity where i'm bringing in 10 cards. 5 of them are creatures but my creature count falls to 24
You ONLY leave retreat in against hard to interact with combo decks (IE ad nauseam, tron, sometimes elves, etc). Thereby, you definitely cut retreat against burn and affinity.
The basic idea of retreat is that it enables you to get "lucky." Essentially, knightfall is a tempo, midrange deck. So, when we draw "bad" cards (like scavenging ooze vs tron), we can lose tempo. The combo let's us win even when we have lost tempo. However, post-board it should be cut as the greatest loss of tempo is drawing retreat without knight. Post-board, we side out the "bad" cards for good ones. We should only have live draws. The thing is, decks like tron are hard to interact with even post-board. In those matchups, the combo stays in.
As to creature count, the more the better. Rarely can you whiff on company and still win. Also, we're running 7-8 mana dorks which usually aren't "real" huts. That said, the lowest I'm willing to ever go is 24.
On a different note, your article (nice article, by the way) notes that Knightfall has a favorable matchup against Death's Shadow, and I've seen that suggestion elsewhere as well. However aside from speculation (my own speculation included), I've never really heard concrete arguments as to why.
Anyone care to comment on this point?
To oversimplify Death's Shadow, the deck is fairly comparable to traditional Jund. The big difference is that it runs 1 mana 8/8 which creates a much faster clock. This faster clock enables the deck to have a much lower curve. This lower curve trades some of the late game grindy cards for early game removal.
Usually what ends up happening is that we have enough of an early game that they can't kill everything/Thoughtseize it all away. Thereby, we can usually develop enough of a board at a fast enough pace to put a little pressure on them (especially since we are running so many fliers). Additionally, we can chump block their big threats fairly easily. Once we're in a semi-stable position, we just have better top decks.
New planeswalkers are always flashy and so people try them. For example, we saw Kassis play Gideon, Ally of Zendikar at Unified Modern.
However, in terms of Nissa, Steward of Elements, the question isn't, "Does she fit into Knightfall?". Obviously, she hits over 80% of the deck with her +0 at 3 loyalty. Simply said, she will be good in this deck. Thereby, the real questions are, "What role does she play in the deck and does she play that role better than what already plays that role?"
Nissa, Steward of Elements does not play the role of disruption, does not gain life or do anything to stall the game, and does not seem to speed up our clock in any meaningful way. I would say that all she does is help us grind. Thereby, I would argue that the answer to the first question is that she grinds.
The second question, on the other hand, is vastly more complex. If we look at our deck, the cards whose main purpose is to grind would be Gavony Township, Courser of Kruphix, and Tireless Tracker. Obviously, Gavony Township is worth its weight in gold and won't be replaced (enough said). As to if Nissa is better than Tracker or Courser, the answer to that is unknown right now. However, I have no intention of trying Nissa anytime soon. Nissa seems incredibly sub-par against aggro while Courser is quite strong there. As aggro decks are at least a third of the field, I can't imagine replacing Courser with a card that wouldn't help me beat them. On the other hand, Nissa and Tracker feel quite similar in power level and role. That said, Tracker is a creature. This means I can get it off Collected Company and it can attack/block.
I have a question, I noticed most of SB's play a split of counters (2 Negate and 2 Unified Will.
Why we don't just play 3 or 4 Unified Will? Aren't we already losing if we have less creatures than the opponent?
Aren't counters brought in only against combo, big mana and control?
For instance, against Tron sometimes they drop a big creature instead of a planeswalker, or against titanshift we need to counter the green Titan...
Hypothetically, yes. However, it's not that simple. There are matchups where you have the chance at having an even number of creatures (Burn) when you need to counter stuff. For example, I played against Tron and I had to flash in a Spell Queller (for no value) in order to counter Ugin, the Spirit Dragon because he had two Wurmcoil Engine tokens out.
Additionally, sometimes you don't have a mana-dork and need to counter something on turn 2. For example, I beat Tron in game 3 of the last round on Friday. However, I only won because I topdecked a Negate. I had a Unified Will in my hand, but as I didn't have a dork and he had a turn 3 Karn Liberated, he would have won if I didn't have that Negate. Instead, I combo killed him on turn 4.
As to Krallenhorde Howler, it's good but I can't imagine it fitting this deck. Frequently enough, I would imagine it to be slightly awkward. I say this because a little less than half the creatures we play wouldn't benefit from his effect (IE Voice of Resurgence). Even then though, imagine having a Birds of Paradise, a Forest, a Gavony Township, and Krallenhorde Howler out. In that example, you could cast Knight of the Reliquary for one less mana, but you still couldn't cast anything else. Our manabase and creatures simply aren't designed to support him.
If you are splashing red, there is no reason not to include an Izzet Staticaster. The card is vastly too flexible. It can (sometimes) kill 20 of the top 50 most played creatures in modern. Granted, I wouldn't bring it in against every deck where it can kill something, but, when I do bring it in, it is one of the best cards in my deck. For example, I don't think we can beat elves without it and I don't think they can beat us with it.
As for the whole discussion on Rhox War Monk, there is no denying that the card is good. I can easily see it being run in people's sideboard. In some metas, the card is justified. I just searched mtgtop8 and two knightfall decks were running it in their sideboard. Of course, those tournaments were small. I bring this up because I would be shocked to see the card at a major tournament event. Burn doesn't dominate the metagame and there are just more flexible cards. Of course, Rhox War Monk is powerful and good at what it does, but modern is too diverse a field to justify it at large events.
In terms of Kitchen Finks, I'm not a fan. I understand the card's power, your opponent has to kill it at least twice, but knightfall is full of must kill creatures. Frequently, Kitchen Finks feels like the least must-kill, non-dork, post-board creature in the deck. To further elaborate, I have only lost three matches in the past month (out of 30). I don't think drawing a Finks would have made much of a difference in those games.
There are quite a few different restore balance deck lists running around (as the deck currently sees next to no play, it is hard to standardize). As such, it's a little hard to talk about how to exactly beat it. That said, from the few times I've played them, I would say we are heavily favored (and that was before I was running Spell Queller). I say this because of our ability to play at instant speed, our artifact/enchantment removal, and our ability to put a fairly fast clock on our opponent. Simply said, they have to respect most of the creatures in our deck. This makes the matchup quite favorable and it only gets better post-board.
Do you need a more in-depth analysis? Do you have a specific restore balance deck in mind?
Round 3: UB Mill 1-2 Game 1: Turn 2 Mesmeric Orb, Turn 3 another Mesmeric Orb. I was able to get him to lethal range with an elemental token and Voice of Resurgence. He dropped Ensnaring Bridge with 4 cards in hands, I swing with Voice of Resurgence with Kessig Wolf Run dropping him to around 3 or 4. At my upkeep, he activated his Shelldock Isle and casted glimpse the unthinkable, we moved to game 2. Game 2: I was able to counter his Mesmeric Orb with Negate and just beat him down with a lot of cards remaining in my library. Game 3: I kept a hand with 2 KotR, 1 Dork, and 1 Retreat thinking I could win this easliy but Turn 1 and 2 Hedron Crab was just to much. When I played the KotR, he bounced it, delaying me. When I got to play the Retreat, I had 4 Cards in my deck. Despite the Knight being 20/20, I could not end the game because he had chump blockers and I was only able to tap 1.
Afterthoughts: This deck is fun as hell, having a fighting chance against all the decks is great. Also not being completely blowed out by Anger of the Gods feels nice. I did not put in Selfless Spirit because I don't think it is that good in this deck. It is a lot more suited in a deck that can tutor for it than trying to get lucky with Cocoing into it when the enemy uses a board wipe
I would recommend cutting the retreats vs mill. An early combo helps won the matchup, but their deck pretty much combos for us. Also, Scavenging Ooze is quite potent in this matchup. He easily becomes quite large and he removes creatures from you're graveyard before your opponent casts crypt incursion.
Also, selfless spirit serves a purpose in knightfall. I bring this up to say try it before you drop it. There is a reason it's there.
1x Breeding Pool
3x Forest
4x Windswept Heath
1x Gavony Township
1x Stomping Ground
1x Temple Garden
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Horizon Canopy
1x Kessig Wolf Run
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Plains
Bounce Lands
2x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
2x Selesnya Sanctuary
1x Simic Growth Chamber
3x Courser of Kruphix
4x Knight of the Reliquary
2x Lotus Cobra
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Sakura-Tribe Scout
2x Scavenging Ooze
4x Tireless Tracker
2x Voice of Resurgence
Other (10)
4x Collected Company
2x Path to Exile
4x Retreat to Coralhelm
1x Bojuka Bog
2x Kitchen Finks
1x Manglehorn
2x Path to Exile
2x Qasali Pridemage
4x Spell Queller
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Now, let’s talk about some of the cool things this deck can do:
So, if I think this deck is so great, why am I sharing it? Well, to be honest, the deck is a little rough around the edges and could be tuned a bit. Hence, I want help with it. There are a few awkward things about the deck that I'd like help with:
With all that in mind, what do you guys think? Give the deck a few test tries and let me know.
In terms of G/W value town, Todd Stevens has started running Aven Mindcensor in the main. I bring this up as a way of saying that even he recognizes that the deck's primary way of beating combo is to Ghost Quarter them out (IE, he hopes for mostly fair matches).
Round 1: Affinity (2-1)
This was my only game loss to affinity across four matches. I lost to double Signal Pest with Memnite and Ornithopter. I almost stabilized, but I didn't have enough health. Game two was close, but he top decked a Blinkmoth Nexus instead of three damage. Game three was over soon after it started.
Round 2: Jeskai Control (0-2)
I didn’t establish much of a clock before Elspeth, Sun's Champion.
Round 3: R/G Tron (2-1)
She played a Pyroclasm on turn two for my turn one birds game one. Thankfully, I had a two drop and, even though she established tron, didn’t really follow it up with much. Game two she Firespout on my bird into 3/3 knight. Game 3, I had all the fun of Eldritch Evolution a Reclamation Sage into a Manglehorn to blow up an Oblivion Stone. (You can't do that with a stony silence.) I also greatly enjoyed watching my opponent play a tapped star.
Round 4: U/W Control (1-2)
Hey look, Elspeth, Sun's Champion again... (at least this time I Kessig Wolf Run on a Kitchen Finks to kill it). I feel like the U/W/X control matchup isn't that bad, but these two rounds did not go well.
Round 5: G/W Valuetown (1-2)
See round 15. That said, after this matchup, I almost wanted to drop, but I kept going.
Round 6: Affinity (2-0)
Game one, I turn two Spell Queller, turn three Spell Queller, turn four Collected Company, turn five Collected Company. Also, I think I have a little too much hate in the sideboard for this matchup. It's already pretty good pre-board.
Round 7: R/B Burn (2-0)
Game one, I was had a fast hand. Game two, well, after company hit double Kitchen Finks, my opponent conceded.
Round 8: Affinity (2-0)
Game one we both mulled to 5. The issue is, he kept an iffy 5 while I kept 2 lands, a Noble Hierarch, a Scavenging Ooze, and a Spell Queller before top-decking Collected Company and another land.
Round 9: Grishoalbrand (2-1)
Honestly, my opponent should have won this match. I kept a hand that relied vastly too much on a Noble Hierarch and my opponent Collective Brutality it and a Unified Will away. I didn't present much of a clock either. The thing is, Grishoalbrand can struggle with consistency and, well, that's what happened.
Round 10: Boros Burn (2-0)
Game one, I was just fast. Game two, he Searing Blaze my dork before Searing Blood on my Scavenging Ooze. Thankfully, I followed it up with a Kitchen Finks and he proceeded to flood while I played a Courser of Kruphix and Eldritch Evolution into another Kitchen Finks.
Round 11: Affinity (2-0)
Spell Queller is a good magic card.
Round 12: Eldrazi Tron (2-1)
He cast All is Dust game one and I nearly recovered. Had I drawn a Path to Exile or a Reflector Mage over a few turns, the game would have ended (despite a few misplays on my part). So, I had to make up for it in games two and three.
Round 13: Storm (0-2)
Well, Kazu did win the entire open... Game one, I mulled to four, and, well, enough said. Game two, let's just say that two Spell Queller, two Scavenging Ooze, an Izzet Staticaster and a Reflector Mage on his turn two Baral, Chief of Compliance weren't enough.
Round 14: Jeskai Queller (2-1)
The use of Spell Queller typically hinders their ability to run wraths. To make up for this, they run bolts and paths. This highly favors knightfall as spot removal is, in a way, pretty bad against the deck.
Round 15: Todd Stevens with G/W Valuetown (0-2) (Agreed upon draw to guarantee top 32 as neither of us could be in the top 16)
After playing the matchup twice (once against Mr. Todd Stevens), I'm beginning to think that it and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle are the worst matchups for Knightfall. Both G/W Valuetown and Knightfall are very grindy and value based, but Knightfall trades a little long term value for immediate value. For example, most of Spell Queller's value is the fact that it has flash, flying and exiles a spell. Compare that to Ramunap Excavator which almost draws an extra card every turn. Needless to say, Knightfall is the aggro deck in the matchup and it has very little hope of aggroing well given that our opponent is on a similar plan, but with a better late-game strategy.
Final takeaways: I really like Manglehorn over Stony Silence. I never drew Nissa, Steward of Elements, but she seems to deserve her spot. I really like 5 counter spells in the side. Lastly, I never got the retreat combo. In all honesty though, I want to replace the two retreats with Trackers in such an open meta.
All in all, it was fun. Any Questions?
At the first tournament, I had also played him and we went into turns. This time, however, I had turn 3 combo in game 1 and game 2 went almost as fast.
The basic idea of retreat is that it enables you to get "lucky." Essentially, knightfall is a tempo, midrange deck. So, when we draw "bad" cards (like scavenging ooze vs tron), we can lose tempo. The combo let's us win even when we have lost tempo. However, post-board it should be cut as the greatest loss of tempo is drawing retreat without knight. Post-board, we side out the "bad" cards for good ones. We should only have live draws. The thing is, decks like tron are hard to interact with even post-board. In those matchups, the combo stays in.
As to creature count, the more the better. Rarely can you whiff on company and still win. Also, we're running 7-8 mana dorks which usually aren't "real" huts. That said, the lowest I'm willing to ever go is 24.
Usually what ends up happening is that we have enough of an early game that they can't kill everything/Thoughtseize it all away. Thereby, we can usually develop enough of a board at a fast enough pace to put a little pressure on them (especially since we are running so many fliers). Additionally, we can chump block their big threats fairly easily. Once we're in a semi-stable position, we just have better top decks.
However, in terms of Nissa, Steward of Elements, the question isn't, "Does she fit into Knightfall?". Obviously, she hits over 80% of the deck with her +0 at 3 loyalty. Simply said, she will be good in this deck. Thereby, the real questions are, "What role does she play in the deck and does she play that role better than what already plays that role?"
Nissa, Steward of Elements does not play the role of disruption, does not gain life or do anything to stall the game, and does not seem to speed up our clock in any meaningful way. I would say that all she does is help us grind. Thereby, I would argue that the answer to the first question is that she grinds.
The second question, on the other hand, is vastly more complex. If we look at our deck, the cards whose main purpose is to grind would be Gavony Township, Courser of Kruphix, and Tireless Tracker. Obviously, Gavony Township is worth its weight in gold and won't be replaced (enough said). As to if Nissa is better than Tracker or Courser, the answer to that is unknown right now. However, I have no intention of trying Nissa anytime soon. Nissa seems incredibly sub-par against aggro while Courser is quite strong there. As aggro decks are at least a third of the field, I can't imagine replacing Courser with a card that wouldn't help me beat them. On the other hand, Nissa and Tracker feel quite similar in power level and role. That said, Tracker is a creature. This means I can get it off Collected Company and it can attack/block.
Additionally, sometimes you don't have a mana-dork and need to counter something on turn 2. For example, I beat Tron in game 3 of the last round on Friday. However, I only won because I topdecked a Negate. I had a Unified Will in my hand, but as I didn't have a dork and he had a turn 3 Karn Liberated, he would have won if I didn't have that Negate. Instead, I combo killed him on turn 4.
Frequently enough, Unified Will is a worse version of Negate.
As to Krallenhorde Howler, it's good but I can't imagine it fitting this deck. Frequently enough, I would imagine it to be slightly awkward. I say this because a little less than half the creatures we play wouldn't benefit from his effect (IE Voice of Resurgence). Even then though, imagine having a Birds of Paradise, a Forest, a Gavony Township, and Krallenhorde Howler out. In that example, you could cast Knight of the Reliquary for one less mana, but you still couldn't cast anything else. Our manabase and creatures simply aren't designed to support him.
I'll agree that Tireless Tracker is also a good card, but I don't think it and Izzet Staticaster serve the same role. Rather, I think Tireless Tracker, Vendilion Clique, and Courser of Kruphix all server similar roles.
As for the whole discussion on Rhox War Monk, there is no denying that the card is good. I can easily see it being run in people's sideboard. In some metas, the card is justified. I just searched mtgtop8 and two knightfall decks were running it in their sideboard. Of course, those tournaments were small. I bring this up because I would be shocked to see the card at a major tournament event. Burn doesn't dominate the metagame and there are just more flexible cards. Of course, Rhox War Monk is powerful and good at what it does, but modern is too diverse a field to justify it at large events.
In terms of Kitchen Finks, I'm not a fan. I understand the card's power, your opponent has to kill it at least twice, but knightfall is full of must kill creatures. Frequently, Kitchen Finks feels like the least must-kill, non-dork, post-board creature in the deck. To further elaborate, I have only lost three matches in the past month (out of 30). I don't think drawing a Finks would have made much of a difference in those games.
Do you need a more in-depth analysis? Do you have a specific restore balance deck in mind?
Also, selfless spirit serves a purpose in knightfall. I bring this up to say try it before you drop it. There is a reason it's there.