Report: 2026 Lobstercon Unchained *3rd*
Bringing Balance to the Force
After going 5-4 in the Lobstercon main event with Enchantress, I packed up my Windswept Heaths and Mirri’s Guiles and headed for greener pastures: the Unchained side event. For the second consecutive year the Rochester Royals hosted Unchained - and this year over 120 people “unchained” any one card from the Premodern ban list for their deck, making it bigger than the 2022 Lobstercon main event! Last year I won this event by jamming Force of Will into Dreadnought (boring, I know) and this year hoped to redeem myself with something more interesting: Balance
Bringing Balance to the Force
In building the deck, I started with Sam Black’s Unchained Balance list from Moxfield. It started as a green white control deck content to loop Balance with Gaea’s Blessing until the opponent was out of resources, leaning on Abeyance to protect Balance and Tithe to recover. I goldfished for hours and changed it to suit my own play style:
Faster wins: I valued time between rounds. Rather than rely solely on Blessing loops or Treetop Villages, I added additional win conditions in The Rack and Mishra’s Factory. I also expected to face others on Sam’s list and thought The Rack would give me an edge
Balance early and often: Instead of main deck Abeyance, I chose Orim’s Chant for both mana efficiency and to avoid the card draw. Avoiding card draw may sound strange, but I wanted to be empty-handed when Balance resolved, and I wanted to cast it ASAP - ideally in the first three turns of the game
Make it easier to dump opening hand: I maxed out on Mirri’s Guile and cut the Tutor package for additional copies of key tutor targets Zuran Orb and Gustha’s Scepter (Tutor out of the board was great and should be main). Swords to Plowshares is one of the few cards that could get stuck in hand without a Scepter, and I expected to face creatureless decks, so I trimmed down to two copies maindeck
More Force protection: I expected Force of Will to be the most commonly unbanned card. When I arrived in Boston, I showed the deck to Lan and his immediate response was “looks weak to countermagic.” Going all-in on a Balance only to meet a Force is a non-starter, so I supplemented Orim’s Chant with Defense Grid
Without a Balance in the opener, the deck could struggle to do anything powerful. Fortunately, it mulliganed aggressively well to a Balance — being down on cards was a fine because soon the opponent would also be down on cards. If the deck couldn’t draw a functional opener, it could still mulligan as low as 3 for a powerful turn 1 balance to reduce both hands to zero
Matches
Round 1 Mind Twist Black
James played mono black with four Mind Twist. Each game I deployed an early Mirri’s Guile and floated a Balance on top of the deck while he ripped my hand apart with Hippie and Twist until the time was right to sac all of my lands to Zuran Orb and reduce his hand and board to zero. The Rack finished each game. Balance did the better job of Mind Twisting that round
1-0
Round 2 FOW DN
Jon traveled with the NYC crew and played Dreadnought with Force of Will. He practiced against BK’s Balance brew the night before and felt good about the matchup, but my deck was better suited to beat FoW. Game 1 I had Grid and Chant into Balance + Zuran Orb for the Armageddon effect followed by The Rack and Factories. Game 2 he got me with a fast Dreadnought and Vision Charm to protect it from Balance. Game 3 he connected with Dreadnought once but I stabilized, took everything from him, and stuck Racks and Factories again
2-0
Round 3 Bargain Combo
Brandon had brewer’s advantage and I misevaluated my threat of dying in each game
In game 1 I cast Balance early but it left him with lands and two cards. Notably it put Cabal Therapy and Illusions of Grandeur into his graveyard. He cast Dark Ritual into Academy Rector. I looked at the Orim’s Chant in my hand and realized I’d made a horrible mistake — I should have responded to Dark Ritual. Instead I responded to Rector, failed to find a Plowshares in the top 3 cards of my library, and died the next turn. He Rectored into Bargain, drew 19 cards, pieced together LED into Burning Wish for Replenish, gained 20 life and drew 20 more cards and killed me with another Rector into Cadaverous Bloom into Burning Wish for Drain Life
Game 2 I was on the play and kept a fine-but-not-broken 7. I made a turn 1 Guile and played Lotus Petal to represent Chant which I did not have, setting up for a big turn 2 Balance. He went Ritual + Ritual + Petal + Bargain, drew 19, and sat there thinking. Eventually he found the line of Petal, Petal, LED, Burning Wish + crack LED, Exhume the Rector, flashback Therapy to get Illusions, draw 20 more, Wish to Donate the Illusions
I learned to mulligan more aggressively… I could have mulliganed to turn 1 Sphere but chose not to and it cost me
2-1
Round 4 Tide Replenish
Vasu and I chatted earlier so I knew he was “keeping nonsense in check” with Parallax Tide in Replenish. I made it my mission to prevent him from ever producing four mana in the same turn.
In game 1 he was on the play and I had the turn 2 nut draw involving Guile, Mox, Rack, Zuran Orb, Chant, and Balance. He was left with no hand and no board and conceded to The Rack
My game 2 notes tell me that I cast Balance four times, used Blessing to shuffle his discarded enchantments away, then stuck an Aura of Silence and a Tormod’s Crypt before the fourth Balance drew the concession
3-1
Round 5 FOW Merfolk Gro
Nick showed me cards such as Quirion Dryad, Merfolk Looter, Lord of Atlantis, Gush, and Force of Will. Each game he’d develop threats and try to protect them with countermagic but Balance backed by Grid and Chant was too powerful
4-1
Round 6 Entomb Rock
Lan and D Tao tagged along to bird the match as they both knew Brian (Lan from the Austin music scene, D Tao from Vintage) and I knew Brian from Romancing the Stones’s Middle School webcam leagues which I played during lockdown. In those Middle School events, Brian played Necro Rock with Entomb. For Unchained, he chose Entomb (for flashback cards and Nether Spirits)
Game 1 I mulliganed all the way down to 4: Gustha’s Scepter, Balance, Land, Guile. I cast Guile and Scepter and hid the Balance when he cast Duress. After a couple turns I found the other land and Balanced his hand away. He discarded Roar of the Wurm, which he cast a few turns later! I fell to 4 but managed to find a Plowshares thanks to Guile and shuffle effects, then manlands ended the game
Game 2 was so long that it took multiple columns to track the life in my notes. I vaguely remember needing to Plowshares a Nether Spirit before setting up Zuran Orb + Balance with double The Rack ftw
5-1
Round 7 FOW DN
I remembered Nate from two years ago when he knocked Andy Levine out of the main event top 8. I was excited to finally play him — and we had a great match. He played a couple copies of Telepathy and I had to play all of games 2 and 3 with my hand revealed!
In game 1 I had Chant + Balance lined up, but he made a turn 2 Dreadnought phased with Vision Charm. I had to eat 12 damage before I could Chant, at which point he cast a second Vision Charm and I knew I was dead so I scooped
For game 2 I loaded up on removal and Auras of Silence and cut The Rack — it seemed underwhelming against Gush. Eventually I set up a prison of Auras, Spheres, and Grids and he scooped to move to game 3
Going into game 3, neither of us had yet revealed a banned card. We had a long, intricate game in which I made life difficult for him via stax pieces and chipped away with manlands until he stuck a Powder Keg. Once time was called in the round, he went for broke on a Dreadnought into my face-up hand of Chant, Chant, Plow, Plow, Balance, Balance. It stuck but was phased out. I looked at the top 3 with Guile, fetched to shuffle, looked at the next top 3 with my second Guile, and found an Aura of Silence to remove his Powder Keg and unlock a lethal attack with manlands before the Shrimp returned
6-1
Quarterfinals: Necro Pit Rack
Going into this, I had no idea what Harlan was doing. Game 1 I kept a fine but not great 7 with Guile and he mulliganed to 5, then Ritualed out a turn 1 Necropotence. Oh no. I found a multiple manlands and a Seal of Cleansing. He had The Rack, Ivory Tower, and Neropotence — I chose to Seal the Ivory Tower. He then Deployed a Bottomless Pit and second The Rack. I applied pressure with Treetop and Factory but he had double Diabolic Edict! At this point he Necro-locked himself out of additional draws but I still had to find lethal before his double The Rack killed me. I cast Balance, taking him off of Dust Bowl. This led to one of the funniest moments of the day: I passed the turn and (because of Bottomless Pit and Necropotence) without hestitation, he tossed the only card from his hand into the graveyard and passed back with a shrug and a smile, and Lan let out a huge laugh. I drew Gaea’s Blessing, shuffled three manlands from my graveyard into the library, immediately drew and played a Treetop Village, and it dealt lethal the next turn
Game 2 was a very tight race and he beat down with a Skittering Skirge. I assembled Thawing Glaciers + Sylvan for three fresh looks every other turn, then added Zuran Orb to stabilize against the Skirge. Eventually I emptied his hand and board with Balance, and two Racks finished the job
Semifinals: FOW Slowking
I waited over an hour between my QF match ending and my SF opponent being decided. By the time our SF match started, it was after 10PM and we’d been playing Magic for twelve hours!
Bryson brought his signature WUB control deck from vanilla Premodern and added Force of Will
Game 1 on the play I couldn’t find a good hand so I mulliganed to Land, Petal, Balance, Guile and jammed a turn 1 Balance. It resolved, and Bryson’s cantrips helped him recover faster than me and he finished me with Psychatogs
I boarded out Racks vs the Gush + Wayfarer deck. In game 2 I mulled to 6 and landed an early Defense Grid. Bryson deployed a Meddling Mage, but I cast a protected Cursed Scroll and immediately killed it. He found a Powder Keg to clean up the Scroll, but couldn’t find another for my creature lands or Sphere of Resistance. This game was a long grind and I wish I remembered more. My deck didn’t truly “do its thing” but it still did a great job of controlling the board and manland beatdown was good enough
For game 3 I had a hard mulligan to 5. I might’ve made good plays this match but I only remember the mistakes — it’s funny how the brain works like that. Mistake one was letting Wayfarer stick around and draw lands. I could’ve Plowed it on sight but reserved the Plow for a Mage on Balance. The second mistake was allowing Wayfarer to continue to activate. I literally miscounted lands. Bryson tutored up two Wastelands and cashed them in on manlands. I squandered a Zuran Orb by playing it out too early where it was Disenchanted. Wayfarer continued to draw a card every turn, eventually finding Cephalid Coliseum to convert extra lands into real cards. We must’ve been over twenty turns into the game at this point. I had a Sphere in play and Balance, Chant and Plow in hand. I had Guile going but wasn’t finding sufficient action to make a move into his seven card hand
🎬 Before I continue, I must share a quick backstory. As we played this match, Bryan Gulotta played the Replenish mirror in the finals of Lobstercon. Bryan is a good friend and we get together for kitchen table games every week. One week he attacked me with Psychatog on turn 4 and I said “WHO CARES” and then that Psychatog dealt me twenty damage. It seemed out of nowhere. It involved FoF and Gush. That moment left a scar on my psyche, and it clouded my judgment against Bryson's Psychatog on the critical turn that follows
Back to the game: Bryson cast Psychatog. On my next turn I sequenced Chant (countered), Tormod’s Crypt (resolved), and Balance (countered) through my Sphere of Resistance. I exiled his enormous graveyard. At this point I knew I had a second Balance on top of my deck. I had only a Factory and Windswept Heath as untapped lands. I was at 20 and he was at 9. He untapped and drew his sixth card and attacked with Psychatog. If the aforementioned story with Bryan had never occurred, I would have said “WHO CARES” and taken the damage. However, I misevaluated the threat posed by the Psychatog and fetched away the Balance to activate the Factory to block. That decision probably cost me the match. I should have said “if you have it, you have it” and done nothing. The next turn, Guile revealed a bunch of garbage, no Balance or Plow in sight. If instead I’d drawn and cast Balance and then attacked with Factory five times, things might’ve ended with a W. Later, I asked Bryson what was in his hand at that moment and learned it was Plowshares and a bunch of lands — far from the gasoline hand of FoF & Gush & countermagic I’d imagined. Bryson played well and psyched me out and went on to win the event, triumphing over Food Chain Goblins in the finals. I cannot imagine a better matchup for Balance than Goblins
Metagame
After the event, I vibe-coded a website to help visualize the event’s metagame. You can filter decklists by banned card or archetype. I encourage you to check it out!
Closing Thoughts
The deck was a blast, and it saddened me to realize I’ll have so few opportunities to play it. Balance is a truly messed up Magic card, and any chance to jam four copies into one deck is special. What I liked most about this deck is that it is not an existing Premodern archetype. Opponents often had no clue what was going on until it was too late.
If I ran it back, I’d do a few things differently:
Fit more Cursed Scroll into the 75. It’s amazing vs Meddling Mage and is easy to dump from hand for a fast Balance
Consider finding room for Urza’s Bauble. Balance turns it into a 2-for-1 and helps the deck recover
Go up on Sylvan Library. It’s my favorite Premodern card. It may cost twice as much as Mirri’s Guile, but the lifegain from Zuran Orb pairs well with Sylvan post-Balance
The Bridge and Brushhopper in the sideboard seemed kind of useless. I’d rather have another Cursed Scroll. And maybe another Thaw
Huge props to the Rochester Royals for running Unchained again. The Unchained format remains under-explored and ripe for innovation. Earthcraft, Memory Jar, Mind’s Desire, Demonic Consultation, Yawgmoth’s Bargain, and Land Tax each only had one pilot. And nobody combined Brainstorm with Gush! Or Necropotence with Dreadnought. I look forward to seeing what people cook up next year!
Props to Bryan on an incredible run all the way to the final of the main event!
Props to Duress Crew for organizing Lobstercon! It’s a highlight of my year
Lastly, props to the entire NYC crew as a whole — we rolled over thirty deep this year and it was incredible to have so many familiar faces at an event out of town. Combined with the relationships built through years of Premodern and Lobstercons past, it seemed as though I found a friend in every direction I faced. It was a truly special weekend
Lan, Bill, Edward, Lanny, Mike, Taylor, Luis, Dave, Dave, David, Sunny, Jeff, BK, Peter, Rich, Chris, Byer, Andy, Andy, Ben, Simon, Jon, John, Johnny, Jonathan, every single Matt, Billy, Brad, Nick, Bryce, Jay, Sam, Nate, Brian, Phil - thank you all!
Great article. I never heard of this format before, sounds like fun. Except for Force of Will - I hate that card! 😀