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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jhaelen" data-source="post: 6404104" data-attributes="member: 46713">I think you are talking about two different kinds of balancing:1) There's balancing the different cards against each other, and2) there's trying to create a balanced game for two players by giving them equal access to the same options.Adding Chuck Norris clearly breaks 1), since no existing card can compete with Chuck Norris. You'd be a fool to play anything but Chuck Norris.2) Would only be broken if playing Chuck Norris (or only Chuck Norris) wasn't an option for all players. Since this is MtG, this could be broken by turning it into a super-ultra-mega-rare card, or simply just selling it 1 million dollars per card. Only players with a sufficient budget would be able to play the optimal deck, i.e. nothing but Chuck Norris.MtG is an interesting case, since card rarity is actually used as a balancing mechanism. I.e. type 1) balance could actually be achieved by breaking type 2) balance.Actually, there's similar balancing mechanisms at work in rpgs:- In Runequest, when creating a character you have to roll on a table to determine your vocation/background. So, to start play with some of the stronger options, like soldier or shaman, you have to be really lucky with your dice roll. With time every character can become whatever they want, but characters are not created equal.In other words: the available vocations/backgrounds are not balanced against each other (type 1) balance). Some are clearly better than others. But since you cannot freely choose your vocation/background, there's a kind of overall balance (type 2)), if each player created a hundred characters, it would be likely that everyone would have created a similar mix of weak and strong characters.Earlier editions of D&D have tried several different methods of balancing character classes:- requiring high base stats (which were determined by rolling dice)- requiring different amounts of xp to advance- weaker classes having an easier time to gain xp than stronger classes- having a high mortality at the start of their career to balance overpoweredness at high levelsI think 4e is the only edition of D&D that achieved a kind of perfect balance of type 1) while all editions are balanced in the sense of type 2).</blockquote>

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