Harvest Pyre MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Common
Type	Instant
Released	2011-09-30
Set symbol
Set name	Innistrad
Set code	ISD
Number	146
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Ryan Yee

Key Takeaways

Harvest Pyre offers card advantage by utilizing graveyard as removal fuel, maintaining hand resources.
Provides gameplay acceleration and versatility in decks designed for rapid graveyard filling.
Instant speed allows for reactive play and strategic depth, enhancing turn-by-turn decisions.

Text of card

As an additional cost to cast Harvest Pyre, exile X cards from your graveyard. Harvest Pyre deals X damage to target creature.

Corpses destroyed by fire form the most destructive geists.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Harvest Pyre provides an effective way to deal with creatures while preserving the cards in your hand. Instead of depleting your hand of valuable spells, you can use the cards in your graveyard as fuel for this removal spell. This aspect of the card keeps your hand resourceful for forthcoming turns.

Resource Acceleration: By using your graveyard as a resource, Harvest Pyre accelerates your gameplay, essentially turning a non-resource into a decisive advantage. This allows players to leverage their graveyard in a manner that can prove more efficient than traditional mana usage, and gives an edge especially in decks that fill the graveyard rapidly.

Instant Speed: The ability to cast Harvest Pyre at instant speed grants players the flexibility to react during the opponent’s turn. Whether thwarting an imminent attack, disrupting an opponent’s combo, or simply making optimum use of mana at the end of a turn, Harvest Pyre’s instantaneous nature allows for strategic play that can significantly influence the course of a game.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Harvest Pyre necessitates exiling cards from your graveyard to fuel its effect, which can be a double-edged sword. This requirement may deplete valuable graveyard resources, potentially undermining strategies reliant on graveyard synergy.

Specific Mana Cost: While not exclusively demanding in color, Harvest Pyre does require at least one red mana to cast. This restricts its integration to decks that can produce red mana, potentially sidelining it in multicolored or colorless strategies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Depending on the situation, the combined cost of both mana and graveyard resources for Harvest Pyre might be seen as steep when compared to other instant damage spells. Finding the right balance between maintaining a stocked graveyard and using it as fuel can be challenging, affecting the card’s overall efficiency.

Reasons to Include Harvest Pyre in Your Collection

Versatility: Harvest Pyre offers a flexible removal option, able to adjust its damage output based on the number of cards in your graveyard. This makes it a useful inclusion in decks that rapidly fill the graveyard, thus ensuring its utility in various stages of the game.

Combo Potential: This instant pairs well with graveyard-centric strategies. Players can use it in combination with cards that benefit from cards being in the graveyard or from the act of removing cards, such as leveraging the delirium or threshold mechanics. It becomes not just removal, but a strategic enabler.

Meta-Relevance: With the ever-fluctuating nature of the meta, having solid removal spells is crucial. Harvest Pyre can be particularly potent in environments where large creatures or indestructible threats are common, providing a cost-effective method to deal with them, provided you’ve managed your graveyard resources wisely.

How to beat

Harvest Pyre, a spell in the realm of MTG, offers players the ability to turn their graveyard into a source of damage. To surpass this card’s challenge, the key lies in managing your graveyard effectively. One approach is using graveyard hate cards, like Rest in Peace or Scavenging Ooze, which can limit or remove the fuel Harvest Pyre depends on. Another strategy is to lean on counter spells such as Negate or Dispel to prevent the spell from resolving in the first place, thus maintaining the strategic balance of the battlefield.

It’s also beneficial to anticipate the timing of this removal card. Since Harvest Pyre requires the player to exile cards from their graveyard as a cost, playing creatures with undying or persist can ensure they return to the battlefield even after being targeted. By maintaining a vigilant eye and predicting when your opponent might utilize their Harvest Pyre, you can smartly navigate around it, preserving your board presence and pushing towards victory.

In essence, overcoming Harvest Pyre involves insight into graveyard mechanics, a willingness to adapt play style, and a strategic use of counter measures, enabling players to keep it from hindering their path to triumph in the vast universe of MTG.

Cards like Harvest Pyre

Harvest Pyre stands out in the pantheon of instant-speed removal spells in Magic: The Gathering. When you stack it against other cards like Lavaspike or Lightning Bolt, you notice some strategic differences. Unlike Lavaspike, which delivers a straightforward three damage to any target, Harvest Pyre requires the user to delve into their graveyard, converting those resting cards into fuel for destruction. This can be more powerful but demands a careful graveyard management.

Considering Lightning Bolt, it can be seen as the gold standard of direct damage due to its one mana cost for three damage. Harvest Pyre doesn’t have this level of efficiency, but it has the potential to deal significantly more damage depending on the state of your graveyard. It’s an interesting trade-off, especially in decks that operate with a high card turnover.

Lastly, we can look at Fiery Temper, which also deals three damage, but can cost less through its Madness mechanic if a card is discarded as part of another cost. Harvest Pyre makes no concessions on mana cost; instead, it leverages an abundant graveyard for a potentially massive payoff.

Overall, Harvest Pyre holds its own within the realm of red removal spells by offering a unique angle of play, appealing to players who strategically stock their graveyard.

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

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Harvest Pyre MTG card by a specific set like Innistrad, 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 Harvest Pyre and other MTG cards: