Natural Balance MTG Card

Leverages significant land count changes, favoring decks that thrive on lands entering the battlefield. Equalizes playing field post-board clears or when behind, accelerating resource availability for big spells. Combines effectively with instant land manipulation, allowing strategic plays prior to Natural Balance.

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Rare
Type	Sorcery
Released	1996-10-08
Set symbol
Set name	Mirage
Set code	MIR
Number	231
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	John Malloy

Text of card

Each player controlling six or more lands sacrifices enough lands to reduce his or her land total to five. Each player controlling four or fewer lands may search his or her library for enough basic land to bring his or her land total to five and put those lands into play. Those players shuffle their libraries afterwards.

Cards like Natural Balance

Natural Balance is an intriguing green sorcery in Magic: The Gathering that shines in rapidly scaling Land cards on the battlefield. When comparing it to cards like Restore Balance, which is also a sorcery, we notice a different type of equilibrium. While Restore Balance affects cards on hand, creatures, and lands, Natural Balance specifically targets the land count, ensuring each player controls no more than five lands. This can be particularly beneficial in decks that aim to limit opponents’ land bases or recover from being behind on board.

Another card worth mentioning in this context is Balance, which is a powerful white spell that forces both players to match the number of lands, creatures, and cards in hand of the player with the fewest. Although it can dramatically alter the game state, Natural Balance offers a more focused and often less disruptive approach, centering the gameplay around land parity. By contrast, Splendid Reclamation, another green sorcery, takes a different route by returning all land cards from the graveyard to the battlefield, which can be a massive swing in right conditions but does not manipulate lands in play as directly as Natural Balance does.

Considering the mechanics and the potential to sculpt the game’s resources, Natural Balance provides a unique position within the realm of land-related spells, appealing to players who enjoy strategic manipulation of the battlefield.

Splendid Reclamation - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Natural Balance by color, type and mana cost

Card Pros

Card Advantage: With Natural Balance, you set the stage for a significant shift in land count that could skew the resource availability in your favor. It’s particularly potent in decks that benefit from having lands in play or those utilizing Landfall abilities, where each land entering the battlefield can trigger powerful effects.

Resource Acceleration: This spell can turbocharge your ramp if played strategically. After a board clear or when you’ve fallen behind on land drops, Natural Balance can catapult you to equal footing or even ahead in terms of available mana. This is essential for casting high-cost cards sooner and can be a game-changer in longer matches.

Instant Speed: While Natural Balance is a sorcery, it is important to note how well it pairs with instant-speed land destruction or land sacrifice effects. This allows you to tailor your strategy on the fly before your main phase, setting up a potentially advantageous board state that can be exploited with Natural Balance’s land-equalizing effect.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Natural Balance doesn’t require a discard, but keeping in mind that maintaining card advantage is vital, any card demanding specific field conditions might inadvertently cost you valuable resources to achieve those states.

Specific Mana Cost: For a card designed to even out lands, the requirement of both green mana and additional colors can be a hurdle in multi-colored decks, especially under tight mana situations.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of four mana, including two green, it might be considered steep for its effect, particularly when facing faster decks that optimize land use and don’t give you the time to set up.

Reasons to Include Natural Balance in Your Collection

Versatility: Natural Balance fits seamlessly into a variety of deck archetypes aiming to regulate land resources. It can be pivotal in strategies where controlling the number of lands on the battlefield gives you the upper hand.

Combo Potential: This card holds the potential to be part of intricate combos, particularly in decks that manipulate land counts or benefit from land entering or leaving the battlefield simultaneously.

Meta-Relevance: In metagames where ramp decks are prevalent, Natural Balance offers a way to level the playing field by equalizing the number of lands each player controls, making it a strategic asset.

How to beat

Natural Balance is a unique card that can dramatically influence the land ratio on the board in MTG. Players often use it to recover from mass land destruction or to limit opponents who ramp their mana base aggressively. To counter this card effectively, consider maintaining a balanced number of lands in play yourself. Adaptive strategies, such as landfall decks or those that can operate efficiently on fewer lands, can help minimize Natural Balance’s impact on your game plan.

In addition, cards that allow you to search for specific lands or those that replace themselves, like cycling lands, can ensure you still have access to mana even after Natural Balance has resolved. Instant-speed land destruction can be another avenue, disrupting the opponent’s Natural Balance play and leaving them at a disadvantage. It’s also beneficial to apply pressure to keep the opponent’s land count low, which makes Natural Balance less appealing for them to play. Keeping a countermagic backup plan to negate Natural Balance directly is another strong measure to ensure that the scales of mana don’t tip in your opponent’s favor.

Ultimately, understanding the ebb and flow of the MTG meta and adapting your deck to address potent cards like Natural Balance is key to maintaining a competitive edge and fostering a resilient gameplay approach.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Natural Balance MTG card by a specific set like Mirage, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Natural Balance and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Natural Balance has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Natural Balance card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2004-10-04	You are not required to find all the basic lands you are entitled to.