This deck is weird. Not weird like your uncle that you only ever see at Thanksgiving that always asks creepy questions about your girlfriend, no. This weird is the opposite.
It's a slow play, really. You start the game with your evolving wilds and your borderposts. "What is this scrub thinking?" Your opponents wonder. If only they knew. Soon the veneer of casual scrub gives way. Turn three, you cascade into restore balance. "What?" Your opponents are taken aback. "How many lands do you have? One? None?"
Crush their board state, crush their spirit.
You didn't come here to play an easy game, you came here for the thrill of watching your opponent crumple as you deny them every resource they hold so dear.
I'm currently experimenting with a 66-card mainboard right now, inspired by Travis Woo's 90-card Living End. The hope is to lower the risk of drawing into your restore balances while still keeping on the gas. The 60-card version cuts a Forest, a Fieldmist and a Mistvein Borderpost, the Demonic Dread, a Greater Gargadon or a Geist, and moves the fourth Restore Balance to the sideboard in place of the second Beast Within.
So here's how it plays:
Game one, never play the borderpost T1. Play your land (preferably an Evolving Wilds) and pass. If you have red mana, suspend your Gargadon now. Give them nothing. T2, two borderposts, and pass. You're usually not doing anything until T3, don't sweat it. From here on out, it's a judgement call. If you can wait the extra turn to get to 0 lands in play, do it. Leaving them with even a single land is so much worse than denying them everything. Once you're satisfied you need to wipe the board, do it. If you have a Gargadon suspended, maintain priority with Restore Balance on the stack and sac lands to Gargadon's ability until you only have 3 mana left. If you need to keep them off all mana, sometimes it's ok to sac all your lands. It'll hurt you, but it will hurt them more. Right now I'm testing running 1 Geist in place of a Gargadon. Let me know if you try it out.
Value Violent Outburst higher than Ardent Plea in almost any situation. The exalted is nice late game when you're trying to get in with Gargadon, but the Instant speed of Outburst is so much more relevant, both for waiting until the last moment to eat as much as possible and to get around potential counterspells.
When you're sideboarding, always pull out two Thieves' Fortune and two Gargadons. They're mostly just in there for stability game 1.
Scapeshift is one of your best matchups. Make them hurt. Side out your Ghostly Prison and your March of the Machines for the 3 Leylines and 3 Ricochet Traps. Play around any control they have and if they're about to get Cryptic mana, keep them off it. This will be a slow and grindy matchup, but you will have the advantage as long as you keep them off 7 lands. Wield the balance wisely. If they tap out for Scapeshift, wait until they play their lands and the triggers go on the stack. Then Restore Balance. There are two sets of triggers for Valakut - once when it goes on the stack and once when it resolves. On resolution, you will take no damage. Appeal this to the head judge if you have to and be very clear when explaining the situation. You're in the right on this one. You can take your time on killing them once you balance once or twice. It's likely they don't have many lands left in their deck. They will probably side in Ancient Grudge against you. Don't worry - they only side in 2 and often they'll tap out to do it twice in a turn. That's when you get them. You'll usually still have enough resources to build up to another cascade before they go off.
If you think you're playing against a control deck, wait for them to tap out, or until you can pay for Mana Leak. If they have a remand, you're stuck. When you cast a cascade spell, announce "Trigger?" and wait. Sometimes they'll counter the cascade spell because they don't know how Cascade works. Use this to your advantage. Sideboard in your the Ricochet Traps. Side out the Detention Sphere and depending on what you're playing against, Ghostly Prison, Leyline, or March of the Machines. If you're playing against Twin, pull out the March and the Leyline for Krosan Grips and/or Dismembers. Against UWR, side out Prison and Leyline for the second Blood Moon and the fourth Restore Balance (If you're running the 60-card version). They may side in Stony Silence against you. If they do, bring in Krosan Grips game 3.
Junk, 8rack, jund, and rock are tough matchups. Try to keep hands that don't give away what you're doing if they Thoughtseize or Clique - remember that most people will have no clue what you're doing. The easiest way to get around hand disruption is to have something in hand they'll take instinctively. You don't need that Ajani, let it go. Keep them from casting Lilianas and try to get a Leyline out. Once you stabilize, they can't really come back. Post-board, the leylines are your friend. Depending on what they're playing, bring in Dismembers (for creature-based decks), the Beast Within for Liliana, and maybe the second Blood Moon if their mana is really greedy (Jund, I'm looking at you).
Against storm and Burn, leylines. Use any other advice from other matchups as it makes sense.
Aggro decks are usually pretty bad for you. Side in the extra balance, dismembers, and grips against white aggro decks (Stony Silence) or affinity. You can usually stabilize against most versions of zoo. Affinity? Screw affinity. Go into those matchups expecting to lose, give them a run for their money, and pat yourself on the back if you can pull the match out of your ass. You will lose almost every match you play against affinity - it's the problem with not doing anything until turn 3. Also, Affinity is going to side in Wear//Tear, Thoughtseize, and Spell Pierce against you. You can't sideboard in every direction at once. If anyone has an idea of how to improve this deck's Affinity matchup, please let me know.
Also, on a side note, you lose every game you play against Ad Naus post-board. If you can't keep them off Ad Naus mana, they will bounce every Leyline you desperately plant with Echoing Truth. Just scoop if they go off (er, well, don't - maybe they don't know you had Leylines and didn't grab Echoing Truth - you might catch them on their heels).
That's about it - have fun reveling in the misery of your opponents!
