I would suggest running Darksteel Ingot over Manalith as it costs the same, does the same thing, but has that nice little indestructibility working for it.

Good idea! I never would have thought of that :P

i love this deck idea but how much would it cost altogether?

@irongiant77

Approximately 130 dollars. Its pretty budget for a well performing deck! I almost finished the paper version, and Im still making plenty of changes to it at the moment.

How successful have you found Vraska the Unseen to be? I'm running a similar deck. How about Anger of the Gods instead of Firespout?

@squarebear47:

I've found Vraska to work very well, but I am still undecided if I want Ajani Vengeant. She works well by blowing up creatures and enchantments my opponent may have, and giving me the assassins as an optional game ender. I also use it as an outlet to kill my own creatures before I cast restore balance, if I need to get rid of them with the absence of Greater Gargadon. I was recently considering Anger of the Gods over Firespout, but mainly because the double red can be a pain. Regardless of Darksteel Ingot and two red posts, its still a bit difficult. However, your comment made me re-consider my options :)

Thanks for commenting!

Restore Balance decks are so cool.

I'm not really feeling the black. It doesn't seem to be contributing much beyond excessive redundancy. I doubt the mana diversity is too much of an issue, but it feels like wasted space in the deck. I don't think the deck I played against ran black.

I don't like Riftwing Cloudskate, either. It doesn't feel like it does anything of consequence.

Hey @Destrian

thanks for commenting. The good thing about this deck is I rarely get mana screwed. The black mana is no problem, and still plays a major role in this deck. By running Nihilith, I can have a fast beater. Against decks like dredge, jund, or living end, he acts as a punishment. The black is also used for casting a valuable combo piece; Demonic Dread. I also run Darksteel Ingot which is a multi colored mana generator, allowing me to keep hands of different colors. Another thing is that Restore Balance decks are supposed to be all colored, giving the player a different options for control cards. Your point on Riftwing Cloudskate is also a good one. I was recently considering of getting rid of it for maybe some more controlo cards. but in case you dont see why I am running it in the first place, I will gladly explain. I use it as a sort of balancing card. Allowing me to bounceback permanents to the hands of owners allows me to keep control of both my board and the opponents. In some occasions, I found myself bouncing a land back with it, if a gargadon is not present. Unfortunately, it is not working the way I want it to. Thankyou for your input again!

So can you cascade into one of your suspend cards with no mana and pay for it with out triggering the suspend trigger? Is that why you include them in your deck?

@crazycreeper55

Thats right! There are a lot of things to pay attention to while building a deck like this. Often times I find myself including cards with CMC 2 or less. That way I can safely cascade into my combo without interruption. For a similar deck, go to GoblinBushwacker's page or look at it here

I'm surprised your not running Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas or Metalwork Colossus. They have incredible synergy and can close a game quickly.

I have a balance deck as well so I'm pretty partial to the archetype. So plus 1!

SeekerofSecrets wow Metalwork Colossus seems so solid in this deck. I'll be sure to give it a spin.

On the lack of Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas, I messed around with him in my private list and enjoyed him quite a bit. His first ability offers a nice dig for borderposts rather than a less efficient draw ability, and his second ability is super solid for wrapping up the game. I'm considering a two-of as a semi-potential win con.

I popped over and checked out your list, and I have to ask, how do you like the deck without Greater Gargadon?

Thanks for the +1!

I actually ran him but I switched him out for collusus and never looked back. With only 12 lands it's pretty rare that I miss the sacking affect but I also only run 5 basics.

How has this preformed for you at FNM? I normally just play delver but it would be fun to bring my balance list

SeekerofSecrets So it's been sometime since I've been to a tournament, about two years actually since I took a long hiatus. I brought a version of this deck to my local card shops tournament once, as well as a semi-casual tournament at my local library. The build back then was incredibly simple and didn't have as much character as this build, so I don't know how it would do in a more competitive scene. However, I found out about FNM's local to my college town which I'll be going to in about a month, and I just had to dig my cards back up. I will keep updating this deck as I acquire results from friendly deck-testing and when I get to test the brew in a competitive environment.