Balance-Rack Deck???
Pseudon
Does anyone out there have one of these "Rack-Balance"
decks...I
assume you'd use mainly artifacts so the balance won't affect you as
much?
Whatever, IF YOU HAVE A BALANCE-RACK deck, PLEASE E-Mail it to me,
I'm very interested in seeing one of these...
:) -Chris
Robert Hahn
: Does anyone out there have one of these "Rack-Balance"
: decks...I
: assume you'd use mainly artifacts so the balance won't affect you as
: much?
The core set of cards is:
4 Balance
4 Racks
4 Mishra's Factories
1-4 Jade Statues (sometimes, powering these guys up could be a pain)
Jewelry set (5 moxen, Lotus, Sol Ring)
Then there are two variants that are wildly popular: the
direct-damage/counterspell, and the big-creature/counterspell.
The former seems to be Lightning Bolts, Chain Lightning, and Psionic
Blasts, Fireballs, etc. along with Counterspell, Mana Drain, Power Sink,
etc. The latter seems to be Mahamoti Djinns, Serra Angels, etc. which are
brought out with Mana Drains, and protected via counter-magic.
There is also the black hand-discard/balance featuring 4 Hymns to Tourach
as well as Balance. There are Bazaar of Baghdad/Library of Leng/Balance
decks which destroy their own hand as quickly as possible while keeping the
key cards via Library of Leng.
All of them are extremely effective and successful. I suspect that Balance
will be restricted eventually, and it should be -- it is overpowering for
its cost, and it drags the games on forever.
-rsh
--
The truth is you're the weak. And I'm Robert S. Hahn
the tyranny of evil men. But I'm trying. ha...@panix.com
I'm trying real hard to be a shepherd. rsh...@is.nyu.edu
- Jules, _Pulp Fiction_
Robert S. Hahn
> : All of them are extremely effective and successful. I suspect that Balance
> : will be restricted eventually, and it should be -- it is overpowering for
> : its cost, and it drags the games on forever.
>
> Which of the 3 do you think the best is? I'm currently playing an
> entirely different concept, with 4 balances, 4 mishras, 4 jades, 2
> Sylvans, 4 Howling Mines, 2 Abysses... 3 Psionic Blasts... *thinking*...
> The usual spoilers... Disenchants...
> Even this is working amazingly well... Balance is really a great card.
> So, which of the three deck types you outlined do you think is the best?
> I have access to anything, although I don't have everything... So which
> do you think has the most overall tourney-winning potential? Thanks.
To be perfectly honest, against my deck, the one using the Bazaar of
Baghdad gave me the most trouble. But I've since modified my deck in
response. :) That Dust to Dust is _staying_ in there permanently.
I like the direct-damage/counter-magic/mishra decks only because it
empties the hand via damaging the opponent. I've seen some sick games
when it would go something like, "chain lightning, lightning bolt,
balance, rack, chain lightning, psionic blast, balance, mishra, mishra,
mishra" and be over in four or five turns.
To win a tournament today, I think you need to be able to neutralize that
Balance deck and the Millstone deck. Disenchant is going to be as
essential to the tourney deck as Ancestral Recall or Demonic Tutor, and I
suspect that Dust to Dust will become very popular -- removes those
annoying Racks from the game.
-rsh
David G Humpherys
>The core set of cards is:
>
>4 Balance
>4 Racks
>4 Mishra's Factories
>1-4 Jade Statues (sometimes, powering these guys up could be a pain)
>Jewelry set (5 moxen, Lotus, Sol Ring)
>
>Then there are two variants that are wildly popular: the
>direct-damage/counterspell, and the big-creature/counterspell.
>
>The former seems to be Lightning Bolts, Chain Lightning, and Psionic
>Blasts, Fireballs, etc. along with Counterspell, Mana Drain, Power Sink,
>etc. The latter seems to be Mahamoti Djinns, Serra Angels, etc. which are
>brought out with Mana Drains, and protected via counter-magic.
>
>There is also the black hand-discard/balance featuring 4 Hymns to Tourach
>as well as Balance. There are Bazaar of Baghdad/Library of Leng/Balance
>decks which destroy their own hand as quickly as possible while keeping the
>key cards via Library of Leng.
>
>All of them are extremely effective and successful. I suspect that Balance
>will be restricted eventually, and it should be -- it is overpowering for
>its cost, and it drags the games on forever.
>
>-rsh
>--
>The truth is you're the weak. And I'm Robert S. Hahn
>the tyranny of evil men. But I'm trying. ha...@panix.com
>I'm trying real hard to be a shepherd. rsh...@is.nyu.edu
> - Jules, _Pulp Fiction_
Balance/Rack decks certainly do seem to be emerging as the deck of choice in
the major tournaments I've been to recently. As noted, they can take a variety
of forms but with the exception of a few seem to be susceptible to a certain
batch of cards:
1) Hurkyl's Recall !!! Great way to keep your cards and maybe make them lose
theirs. Not the answer if you want to play creatures?
2) Moat..... Stops those factories...statues....and atogs present in some
3) CoP Red ....most have LB and red damage ...unfortunately they tend to have
disenchant too.
4) Racks .... works well if they don't play hymns/spectes/sceptres
Fight fire with fire?
5) Energy Flux .... but then can you really afford one in your deck
6) Jaeymdae Tome....if you get it out in time and have the mana to spare
7) Living Plane/Titania's Song....not sure these are feasible in tourney play
put might let you keep your real creatures out
8) Glasses of Urza.... at least you'll get it on the table...and you will know
when the next balance will hit
9) Light-B....critical agaist those factories...and you'll get to cast it
10) Disenchant ....by no means really least....but not too novel an idea.
Permission can also take its toll against them. Nevertheless, I know Bal/Rack
decks are reliable as any deck out there. Maybe these ideas will prove useful
for some of you ... I hope. After playing against two such decks in the semis
and finals at Encounters @NYC ...I went to my next tourney with a sideboard
"possessed" ready to nail those balance decks ...only to be knocked out by a
land-d deck....which likely met its match agaist a balance deck later on.
Sigh. Dave Humpherys
dhum...@mit.edu
mun...@newton.ccs.tuns.ca
<ha...@panix.com> writes:
>
> Pseudon (pse...@aol.com) wrote:
>
>
> Does anyone out there have one of these "Rack-Balance" decks...I
> assume you'd use mainly artifacts so the balance won't affect you as
> much?
>
is coming up).
Kirk out.
FreedomTwo
they will have to discard them or you won't lose all the cards in your
hand