Wasteful Harvest MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Common
Type	Instant
Abilities	Mill
Released	2022-11-18
Set symbol
Set name	The Brothers' War
Set code	BRO
Number	196
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Alex Stone

Key Takeaways

Wasteful Harvest promotes deck efficiency, aiding players in finding critical threats or answers swiftly.
The card’s ability for instant-speed play introduces dynamic reactiveness and strategic depth to games.
Though powerful, it requires careful hand management and consideration of deck color composition.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Wasteful Harvest MTG card by a specific set like The Brothers' War, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Wasteful Harvest and other MTG cards:

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Text of card

Mill five cards. You may put a permanent card from among the cards milled this way into your hand. (To mill a card, put the top card of your library into your graveyard.)

Once the brothers discovered the pristine island of Argoth, the war came down to who could plunder it faster.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Wasteful Harvest excels at cycling through your deck, as it enables you to sift through your library quickly, giving you the opportunity to grab the specific answers or threats you need to maintain control over the game.

Resource Acceleration: This card offers a significant boost in resource acceleration. By potentially turning any number of lands into valuable resources, you’re not just ramping but also adapting to your mana needs according to the game’s progression.

Instant Speed: The utility of Wasteful Harvest at instant speed cannot be overstated. This allows for flexible play, enabling you to react to your opponent’s actions and decisions, and potentially capitalize on end-of-turn plays, maintaining momentum and surprise in your favor.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The need to discard a card can be a hindrance with Wasteful Harvest if your hand is already depleted or if each card in hand is pivotal for your strategy moving forward.

Specific Mana Cost: Wasteful Harvest comes with a green mana cost which could be restrictive for decks not centered around green mana or multi-colored decks with a tight mana base.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Wasteful Harvest asks for a considerable amount of mana. Given its cost, other cards at similar mana values could potentially offer more immediate impact or value to a player’s game state.

Reasons to Include Wasteful Harvest in Your Collection

Versatility: Wasteful Harvest offers flexibility as it’s designed to fit into a variety of decks that thrive on land acceleration and generation of additional resources for large late-game payoffs.

Combo Potential: This card can synergize exceptionally well with landfall mechanics and abilities that trigger when lands enter the battlefield, making it a valuable component in various combo setups.

Meta-Relevance: In an environment that favors ramp decks or those that utilize numerous land-based strategies, Wasteful Harvest’s capacity to manipulate land resources quickly makes it a strategically advantageous addition.

How to beat

Wasteful Harvest presents itself as a formidable challenge in Magic: The Gathering gameplay scenarios. This card can potentially turn the tide by creating massive card advantage for your opponent while siphoning resources away. However, successful strategies against Wasteful Harvest often involve preemptive actions such as utilizing counter spells the moment it hits the stack. Cards like Negate or Dispel, which specifically target non-creature spells, can effectively neutralize Wasteful Harvest before it exerts its influence on the board.

Managing your own resources effectively is also key against Wasteful Harvest. Cards that allow you to recycle your graveyard, like Eternal Witness, or library manipulation spells that let you prepare for the next draw, such as Brainstorm, can mitigate the impact of Wasteful Harvest by ensuring that you have a plan regardless of the resources you lose. Lastly, applying continuous pressure and keeping your opponent’s mana tapped down with cards like Rishadan Port discourages them from ever reaching the optimal conditions to play Wasteful Harvest, securing your position on the battlefield.

A thoughtful approach and strategic deck composition emphasize the importance of foresight and resource management when dealing with powerful spells like Wasteful Harvest in MTG matches.

Cards like Wasteful Harvest

Wasteful Harvest joins the ranks of green sorcery spells in Magic: The Gathering that manipulate land resources. It shares similarities with cards like Crop Rotation, which also focuses on land interaction by allowing you to find and play a land card from your deck. However, Wasteful Harvest stands out with its potential to fetch a higher count of lands directly into your hand, offering a greater advantage for future turns.

Another comparable card is Harvest Season, which similarly scales its effect with the number of tapped creatures you control. Wasteful Harvest doesn’t rely on creatures but does cost more in terms of mana. Also, Nissa’s Pilgrimage offers a straightforward approach by fetching Forest cards, but lacks the scalability and surprise element provided by Wasteful Harvest.

To sum up, Wasteful Harvest provides a unique utility for players looking to capitalize on land count, maintaining the delicate balance of consistency and the element of surprise that can shift the tides in a player’s favor within MTG’s strategic play.

Cards similar to Wasteful Harvest by color, type and mana cost

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Wasteful Harvest has restrictions

Format	Legality
Standard	Legal
Historicbrawl	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Commander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Future	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Brawl	Legal
Penny	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Wasteful Harvest card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2022-10-14	If a replacement effect causes the milled cards to be exiled instead of going to the graveyard, this effect can still apply to the cards "milled this way" in exile.