Harvest Mage MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	1
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Human Spellshaper
Released	2000-02-14
Set symbol
Set name	Nemesis
Set code	NEM
Power	1
Toughness	1
Number	105
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Dan Frazier

Key Takeaways

Harvest Mage can draw multiple cards, offering substantial card advantage and game momentum.
Its instant speed and resource acceleration provide strategic depth and faster access to powerful plays.
Despite its high mana cost and specific color need, Harvest Mage’s versatility can be a deck’s pivot point.

Text of card

o G, oc T, Discard a card from your hand: Until end of turn, if you tap a land for mana, it produces one mana of any color instead of its normal type and amount.

"Why should one limit oneself to the resources at hand?"

Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Harvest Mage provides a unique mechanic allowing players to potentially draw multiple cards under certain conditions. This ability could significantly shift the momentum of the game by providing access to more options and strategies.

Resource Acceleration: By facilitating the conversion of unused resources into tangible benefits on the battlefield, Harvest Mage helps players reach critical mana thresholds faster, unlocking powerful spells and abilities sooner than their opponents might anticipate.

Instant Speed: The versatility of Harvest Mage extends to its casting time. With instant speed, the card can be played in response to an opponent’s actions, offering strategic depth and the element of surprise. This can disrupt an opponent’s game plan and allow you to make moves on your terms.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Harvest Mage mandates sacrificing a card from your hand to unleash its ability. This might backfire if your hand is already running on empty, constricting your strategic options and potentially setting you back.

Specific Mana Cost: With a necessity for green mana to cast Harvest Mage, it pigeonholes the card into green-themed decks or those with mana-fixing capabilities, thus not versatile for all deck builds.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Requiring a total of three mana, including two green, Harvest Mage comes at a steep price considering other options available. Players might find more cost-effective creatures or spells that provide similar or greater advantages without the hefty mana investment.

Reasons to Include Harvest Mage in Your Collection

Versatility: Harvest Mage offers a flexible role in decks that capitalize on mana-fixing and land interaction. Its ability to untap lands lets players ramp up quickly or reuse lands with powerful tap effects.

Combo Potential: This card can be a key component in combos that revolve around landfall abilities or other triggers that activate when you tap or untap lands. Its synergy with cards that benefit from such interactions can be game-changing.

Meta-Relevance: In a format where efficiency and resource acceleration are paramount, Harvest Mage finds its niche. Decks that aim to outpace opponents through superior mana availability will find this card particularly useful, adapting to various competitive environments.

How to Beat Harvest Mage

Confronting Harvest Mage in your MTG matches calls for strategic insight into its mechanics. Known for its ability to facilitate card advantage by drawing cards and playing additional lands, overcoming the Harvest Mage involves disruption and timing. Addressing its presence early in the game is crucial by leveraging removal spells or abilities that can target creatures. Efficient creature removals such as Path to Exile or Fatal Push can effectively deal with Harvest Mage before it can begin to generate that critical card advantage for your opponent.

Additionally, countering Harvest Mage is pivotal to prevent it from resolving in the first place. Counter spells like Negate or Mana Leak can serve this role efficiently, as they target noncreature and creature spells, respectively. It’s important to reserve such interactions for pivotal threats like Harvest Mage to maximize their impact on the game flow. Lastly, utilizing cards that strip resources from your opponent, such as Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek, can preemptively remove Harvest Mage from your opponent’s hand, ensuring that the threat never even hits the board. Playing smartly around Harvest Mage’s capabilities is essential to maintain advantage and secure victory.

Cards like Harvest Mage

Harvest Mage introduces a unique twist on resource manipulation within MTG’s vast array of spells. In the realm of card functionality, it shares similarities with cards that offer mana flexibility, such as Gemhide Sliver. Both allow players to convert creatures into sources of mana, yet Harvest Mage offers the added benefit of specifically targeting lands in your graveyard, thus retrieving and reutilizing those resources.

Comparatively, Market Festival enhances a land’s ability to produce extra mana, but it lacks the on-demand versatility of Harvest Mage. Another card to consider is Krosan Restorer, which also untaps lands but requires threshold to optimize its effect, unlike Harvest Mage that can be used at any time. There’s also Voyaging Satyr, which shares Harvest Mage’s core function of untapping lands, although without the capability to interact with the graveyard.

Ultimately, Harvest Mage’s distinct interaction with the graveyard and mana generation offers a modest yet potentially impactful advantage in games centered on resource efficiency and recursion, establishing it as a nuanced tool in a player’s MTG strategy arsenal.

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

Where to buy

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