Off Balance MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	1
Rarity	Common
Type	Instant
Released	2000-02-14
Set symbol
Set name	Nemesis
Set code	NEM
Number	15
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Jeff Miracola

Key Takeaways

Off Balance offers card advantage by compelling opponents to discard, essentially tilting the match in your favor.
Its instant speed function allows swift strategy interference, crucial in disrupting opponents’ crucial plays.
While powerful, the card demands a discard and a specific white mana, affecting its deck versatility.

Text of card

Target creature can't attack or block this turn.

A heavy weapon deals plenty of damage—but it does have to hit.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Off Balance excels in offsetting your opponent’s hand by strategically forcing them to discard, indirectly contributing to your card advantage. This nuanced balance can tilt the game in your favor as it deprives opponents of crucial resources.

Resource Acceleration: When played effectively, Off Balance can act as a resource acceleration tool by disrupting your opponent’s mana curve. This can give you a substantial lead in the race to deploy game-changing spells and summon powerful creatures.

Instant Speed: The ability to cast Off Balance at instant speed is an ace up your sleeve, enabling you to react swiftly to your opponent’s actions. It provides the flexibility to interfere with their strategy at the most opportune moment, potentially right before they execute a pivotal play.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Off Balance demands you discard a card to activate its effect, a trade-off that could deplete your hand, potentially leaving you vulnerable with fewer options.

Specific Mana Cost: This card’s mana cost is strictly white, making it less flexible and hardest to integrate into multicolored decks that don’t heavily feature white mana or have a reliable mana base.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: While Off Balance can upset your opponent’s strategy, its mana investment is sizeable when compared to other control spells. Savvy players might find alternative cards with lower mana requirements to maintain tempo.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Off Balance offers flexibility to disrupt opponents in different formats. This card easily fits into sideboard strategies against creature-heavy decks or combos that rely on summoning key creatures at critical moments.

Combo Potential: With this card, players can deftly manipulate the timing of their opponent’s plays. It aligns well with strategies focused on denying resources or those setups that aim to achieve victory through attrition.

Meta-Relevance: As metagames periodically shift towards creature-centric decks, having Off Balance in your arsenal ensures you have a preemptive answer to such threats, maintaining its relevance in diverse competitive environments.

How to beat

Off Balance, a unique spell in the Magic: The Gathering arsenal, can disrupt opponents by nullifying the combat capabilities of their creatures. Unlike creature removal spells that out-rightly destroy a target, Off Balance temporarily sidelines the most immediate threats without incurring card loss. It’s a twist on the traditional pacifism effects but notably requires strategic timing due to its temporary nature.

To effectively counter Off Balance, it’s crucial to have a diverse set of tactics. Instant-speed creature abilities can be activated in response to the spell, circumventing the impending lockdown. The key to maintaining your aggressive stance lies in redundancy; cultiviating a board presence with multiple threats diminishes the impact of Off Balance on your overall strategy. Additionally, incorporating cards that offer hexproof can prevent Off Balance from targeting your key creatures in the first place. Lastly, consider spells that grant indestructibility or regeneration abilities – they don’t directly counter Off Balance, but they fortify your creatures against other control strategies that often accompany such spells.

In summary, while Off Balance offers a unique form of combat control, a well-rounded deck with protective measures and a diverse lineup of threats can often render it less of a setback and more of a minor hurdle in the path to victory.

Cards like Off Balance

Off Balance, known in the circles of MTG enthusiasts for its tactical supremacy, finds a niche in the realm of single-target removal spells. Like other classics such as Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile, Off Balance offers a low-cost method to disrupt your opponent’s strategies by removing their creatures from the battlefield. What sets Off Balance apart is its limitation to nonattacking creatures, an attribute that can shape strategic plays during an opponent’s turn. Swords to Plowshares exiles any creature at any time without such constraints but compensates the opponent with life points, while Path to Exile gives them land advantage.

Temporal Isolation is another spell that parallels Off Balance, imposing restrictions on creatures without outright destroying them, although this Aura card goes further by hindering all abilities and combat damage as well. It’s slightly more versatile than Off Balance, as it can target any creature regardless of its status. Comparatively, Off Balance’s focus on nonattacking creatures encourages preemptive plays, giving players a tactical edge before adversaries can declare attackers.

When analyzing utility and flexibility within MTG, Off Balance aligns itself as a strategic choice for players who prefer to control the game tempo and make preemptive decisions, distinguishing its role among creature interference cards.

Swords to Plowshares - MTG Card versions

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

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Off Balance MTG card by a specific set like Nemesis, 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 Off Balance and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Off Balance has restrictions

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

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Off 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	The ability only does something if used before attackers or blockers (as appropriate) are declared during a turn. If used after the creature is declared as an attacker or blocker, nothing happens.