Imbalanced Balance

It was round 1 of Thursdaddy 112, and Ryon Wilson was on the play against Clayton Long. Clayton is on mono red, as usual, and Ryon is piloting a Worldknit deck. For those of you unfamiliar with Worldknit, Ryon is forced to include every card he drafted in his maindeck, but all of his lands tap for any color of mana.

Before we get to the blowout, let's see how things played out during the first few turns.

Ryon's turn 1: Land. Pass.

Clayton's turn 1: Mountain. Stromkirk Noble. Pass.

Ryon's turn 2: Land. Pass.

Clayton's turn 2: Attack with Stromkirk Noble. Ryon drops to 19, and Stromkirk Noble gets a +1/+1 counter. Rishadan Port. Pass.

Ryon's turn 3: During the Upkeep step, Clayton activates Rishadan Port targeting one of Ryon's lands. It resolves, and Ryon draws his card for turn. Land. Pass.

Clayton's turn 3: Attack with Stromkirk Noble. Ryon takes 2 down to 17, and Stromkirk Noble gets a +1/+1 counter. Mountain. Pass.

Ryon's turn 4: During the Upkeep step, Clayton activates Rishadan Port targeting one of Ryon's lands. It resolves, and Ryon draws his card for turn. Ryon taps his two available lands to cast Balance.

Let's pause here to look at the boardstate with Balance on the stack.

Now, if Balance resolves here, Clayton would sacrifice his creature, and Ryon would discard 3 cards. While not a great outcome for Ryon, it at least buys a bunch of time. Unfortunately for him, Clayton had a response...

In response to Ryon casting Balance, Clayton sacrifices two Mountains to cast Fireblast targeting Ryon. It resolves, dealing 4 damage and leaving Ryon at 13. Balance resolves, except now it forces Ryon to sacrifice two lands and discard an additional card, leaving him with one land on the field and two cards in hand.

On the next turn, Clayton untaps and plays a Mountain, turning on Rishadan Port again. Ryon is essentially locked out of casting any spells for the foreseeable future, and with Clayton's deck full of one- and two-drops, he manages to play some threats and go on to win from there.

With that Fireblast, Clayton managed to turn an already-favorable Balance into a gross combination of Armageddon and Rakdos's Return in exchange for a Doom Blade on his guy. It was nearly the first half of Cruel Ultimatum! I don't know about you guys, but that doesn't seem very balanced.