Nourish MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Common
Type	Instant
Released	2004-02-06
Set symbol
Set name	Darksteel
Set code	DST
Number	78
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Scott M. Fischer

Key Takeaways

Nourish provides a substantial life boost, playing a central role in resource management and game longevity.
Instant speed capability of Nourish allows for tactical flexibility and surprise plays during critical game moments.
While potent, Nourish’s discard requirement and specific mana cost may limit its versatility in diverse decks.

Text of card

You gain 6 life.

Gelfruit grows abundantly wherever Sylvok druids live, as if the Tangle knows that humans are not as hardy as the beasts or as nimble as the elves.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Nourish offers a significant boost in life, which indirectly assists in prolonging the game and resource management. By gaining substantial life points, it can grant you time to draw into your critical cards, hence contributing to overall card advantage for your game plan.

Resource Acceleration: While Nourish itself is not a direct source of resource acceleration, the life gained can be a resource in itself. It can help in surviving long enough to deploy your key spells and in formats where life can be traded for other resources, it offers a buffer to utilize those mechanics more freely.

Instant Speed: The ability to cast Nourish at instant speed is a tactical asset. It allows you to wait until the last moment before deciding to increase your life total, giving you the flexibility to respond to your opponent’s actions or end-of-turn threats. This adaptability can lead to more informed and efficient plays.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: For a player to harness the benefit of the Nourish card, they may be compelled to discard another card. This could potentially lead them into a disadvantageous position, particularly during moments when they are holding a weak hand or when every card they possess is pivotal for ongoing strategies.

Specific Mana Cost: A key limitation of the Nourish card lies in its specific mana cost requirements. The reliance on particular colors to deploy this card can restrain its seamless integration into diverse deck builds, which might not always align with the mana color profile of Nourish.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: When we compare Nourish to other cards within the MTG universe, we notice that its mana cost is on the higher side for the benefits it imparts. Savvy players often seek out cards that optimize efficiency concerning mana expenditure, and in cases where Nourish’s cost is deemed excessive, these players might opt for alternatives that achieve similar results with less resource investment.

Reasons to Include Nourish in Your Collection

Versatility: Nourish offers instant speed life gain, making it a flexible sideboard option for decks combating aggressive strategies. It slots well into decks looking to stabilize against fast, damage-dealing opponents.

Combo Potential: This card can synergize with strategies that benefit from gaining life. In combos that capitalize on life changes, such as with Aetherflux Reservoir, Nourish can be a crucial piece to trigger significant effects or win conditions.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta teeming with burn decks or other aggressive archetypes, Nourish can be a timely response. Its potential to swing a race situation in your favor makes it particularly relevant in such environments.

How to beat

Nourish stands out as a unique life-gain instant in Magic: The Gathering with its potential for a sudden increase in a player’s life total. This card comes into play most effectively when dealing with heavy damage threats or in decks that capitalize on high life totals to win. Overcoming the advantage provided by Nourish requires a strategic approach, emphasizing the need to either win quickly before life-gain becomes overwhelming or to utilize alternative win conditions that circumvent life totals completely.

Aggressive strategies can outpace the life-gain by putting the opponent under pressure early on, making it difficult for them to stabilize even after a substantial life boost. On the other hand, including cards with effects that cause loss of life rather than dealing damage can bypass the buffer Nourish provides. Cards that offer win conditions through mill, poison counters, or cards like Thassa’s Oracle, which don’t rely on life totals, can also serve as efficient answers to a life-gain strategy incorporating Nourish. Therefore, adjusting your strategic plan to reduce the impact of massive life-gain is key to countering Nourish effectively.

Cards like Nourish

Nourish stands out in the wide array of life gain spells in the domain of Magic: The Gathering. It can be placed alongside cards such as Healing Salve, which also offers a health increase, granting three life points. However, Nourish ups the ante significantly, providing a considerable five life points without any additional requirements. Healing Salve does present an alternative mode of protection against damage, which Nourish lacks, giving it versatility but not the sheer life boost Nourish gives.

Analogously, we can look at Feed the Clan. While it provides a similar life gain effect, allowing five life points—or even ten under the ferocious condition—it requires you to have a creature with power 4 or greater. Nourish skips this conditional clause, giving you the life immediately. Then, there’s Rest for the Weary, another life gain spell to compare. It grants four life points or eight if you played a land this turn, making it conditionally stronger than Nourish but generally less reliable.

Assessing the strengths compared to related spells shows Nourish’s simplicity and immediate impact in any game where life points are the buffer keeping a player in the fight. Its unconditional and robust life gain is what makes it a noteworthy player in Magic: The Gathering’s life gain strata.

Cards similar to Nourish by color, type and mana cost

Might of the Nephilim - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Nourish MTG card by a specific set like Darksteel, 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 Nourish and other MTG cards: