Balance
Balance: Sorcery, Eternal Masters. MTG card details, printings, market prices, official rulings, and format legality, all in one place on Mana Grove.
- Mana cost
- {1}{W}
- Mana value
- 2
- Type
- Sorcery
- Colour identity
- White (W)
- Rarity
- Mythic
- Set
- Eternal Masters (EMA)
- Released
- 2016-06-10
- Collector number
- 2
- Artist
- Kev Walker
Build around this card with Grover
About Balance
Balance is a Magic: The Gathering card, a mythic rare white sorcery from Eternal Masters (EMA), a Masters set released in June 2016. It is collector number 2 in that set, with art by Kev Walker. It costs {1}{W} (one generic and one white mana) to cast, for a mana value of 2. Its colour identity is white. It is banned in Legacy, Premodern, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker and PreDH. It is restricted in Vintage. It has been printed in 21 sets, from Limited Edition Alpha (1993) to The List (2020). The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $1.74 (normal finish, as of 2026-11-03).
Card text
Each player chooses a number of lands they control equal to the number of lands controlled by the player who controls the fewest, then sacrifices the rest. Players discard cards and sacrifice creatures the same way.
Market price
Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $1.74 (as of 2026-11-03).
The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.
Format legality
Legality of Balance by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.
| Legacy | Banned |
|---|---|
| Vintage | Restricted |
| Premodern | Banned |
| Commander | Banned |
| Duel Commander | Banned |
| Oathbreaker | Banned |
| PreDH | Banned |
Other printings of Balance
Balance has been printed in 21 sets. The 12 most recent other printings are listed here, newest first, with the rarity and release year of each.
| Printing | Rarity | Year |
|---|---|---|
| The List (PLST) #EMA-2 | Mythic | 2024 |
| 30th Anniversary Edition (30A) #3 | Rare | 2022 |
| 30th Anniversary Edition (30A) #300 | Rare | 2022 |
| Secret Lair Drop (SLD) #173 | Mythic | 2021 |
| Vintage Masters (VMA) #14 | Mythic | 2014 |
| Masters Edition IV (ME4) #6 | Rare | 2011 |
| Magic Online Promos (PRM) #36278 | Rare | 2011 |
| From the Vault: Exiled (V09) #1 | Mythic | 2009 |
| Judge Gift Cards 2004 (G04) #2 | Rare | 2004 |
| Oversized League Prizes (OLEP) #17 | Rare | 1997 |
| Pro Tour Collector Set (PTC) #bl6 | Rare | 1996 |
| Pro Tour Collector Set (PTC) #et6 | Rare | 1996 |
Official rulings
Three official rulings apply to Balance, newest first.
- Balance doesn't have targets, so permanents that can't be targeted, such as a creature with shroud or protection from white, are valid choices to be sacrificed.
- Each type of object is counted during the corresponding part of the process. Cards in hand are counted after lands have been sacrificed, and creatures on the battlefield are counted after cards have been discarded. Thus, a land creature sacrificed to the first part of the spell would not be counted when determining how many creatures are on the battlefield for the last part.
- First the player whose turn it is chooses which lands (if any) to keep, then each other player in turn order does the same. Each player will know the choices made by the players who chose before them. All of the unchosen lands are then sacrificed simultaneously. Then the process is repeated for cards in hand, except that no cards are revealed until all players have chosen what to discard, at which point those cards are all discarded simultaneously. Lastly, the process is repeated for creatures, and players will again know earlier choices made when deciding what to sacrifice. All of the unchosen creatures are then sacrificed simultaneously.
Similar cards
Other sorcery cards with a white colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.
Mentioned in these guides
These guides mention Balance.