Rather like Manabond on Tuesday, Counterbalance
doesn't have much in the way of middle ground.
When you're depending only or mainly on the
random element, it's very inconsistent, puts you
at a disadvantage against decks that are
significantly slower or faster than your own,
and even in the best case scenario has a 40%
chance of showing you a land that can only
counter Ancestral Vision and Ornithopter (not
that you don't need to counter those sometimes).
When you have some sort of scry effect - and
heaven forbid a repeatable one like Crystal Ball
or the dreaded Sensei's Divining Top - it locks
out entire tables and destroys friendships. For
those reasons, it's hard to recommend this card
for most decks; but it is still an interesting
design, and seems to have been the inspiration
for interesting cards like Riddle of Lightning.
