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This Space For Rent
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Pojo's Magic The Gathering Card of the Day
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Image from Wizards.com |
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Balance
Beta
Reviewed May 12, 2005
Constructed: 4.75
Casual: 3.75
Limited: 4.00
Ratings are
based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ...
average.
5 is the highest rating
Click here to see all
our
Card of the Day Reviews
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Jeff Zandi
5
Time Pro Tour
Veteran
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Balance
I remember playing in this big Type II
tournament in 1995 when an announcement was made
before the tournament that Balance and Fork were
now officially restricted. At the time, I
remember wondering who would be crazy enough to
run three or four copies of Balance in their
deck anyway? Just like all my Magic buddies back
then, I had NO IDEA how powerful Balance was.
When Balance was restricted, it was a perfect
case of not appreciating what you have until
it's gone. If you went back in time to the time
before that restriction, you would CLEARLY play
three or four Balance in every deck even
splashing white. It's just this simple: if you
are losing, playing Balance will probably fix
it. Getting overrun by opponent's creatures?
Balance will fix it. Control player beating you
with card advantage? Balance will fix it.
Land destruction deck keeping you down by
destroying most of your land?
Balance will fix it. The funniest combo was when
both players had Zuran Orb in play and one
player would play Balance. Each player would
jockey to respond to Balance with some number of
lands sacrificed to Zuran Orb. Often, both
players would end up with no land in play.
Balance was also great in limited play, but much
less effective than in constructed.
CONSTRUCTED: 5.0
CASUAL: 5.0
LIMITED: 4.0 |
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DeQuan
Watson
* Game Store Owner |
Balance -
Thursday
Wow. I just don't know what to say about this
card. It's just good enough that you need to
play it in most Type 1 decks. It's so unfair.
There is nothing balanced about this card at
all. The caster can usually get whatever
situation they want if they time it right.
Constructed: 5
Casual: 3
Limited: 4 |
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Paul Hagan |
Balance --
Wow, so earlier in the week, we had Swords to
Plowshares, which was the first time I had given
a 5.0 rating in months. Now, just two days
later, I find another 5.0 rating. I'm not sure
what I can say about this card that won't be
said by the other reviewers. It equalizes the
game, and if you play your cards right, then you
can cause your opponent some serious harm for
your 1W mana cost. For added fun, try this thing
out in a big multiplayer game and watch all the
chaos that ensues.
As with Swords to Plowshares, if you are playing
white in a format that allows you to play
Balance, it should absolutely be in your deck.
Constructed Rating: 5.0
Casual Rating: 5.0
Limited Rating: 5.0 |
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Christine
Gerhardt |
A nice
card, especially against swarm decks. If you are
going creature light or not at all, Balance is a
nice way to wipe an opponent's board of their
creatures. Lands and cards in hand are fairly
inconsequetial. It's the beatings that you're
concerned with, and Balance is an answer. I
definitely see a few of these fly past our order
desk.
In casual, an excellent resource if you're going
creatureless. In limited, it can be used as a
semi-reset button, but it doesn't work quite as
well as Wrath, etc., as you can't store up
creatures for post Balance in your hand since
that gets equalized too.
Constructed - 4
Casual - 4
Limited - 3 |
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