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By: CalmLittleBuddy, Christopher M. Dansereau
Mar 11 2015 1:00pm
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I like to stick my neck out. Sometimes I see a card I like that no one is playing and I wonder "Is this card any good?"  Harsh Sustenance is a 3 mana spell (1BW) that does damage to target creature or player equal to the number of creatures you control. I know on the surface this is 'not great'. In limited it can do some serious work. Is it any good in Standard?

I like BEATS

Why would we even care? Because one serious deficiency in White/Black decks (especially Abzan) is the lack of reach. The concept of reach is simple. Does your deck have a way of dealing damage directly to an opponent without attacking? If yes, you have 'reach'. If no, cast creatures. Technically, I don't count attack to do damage effect like Brutal Hordechief has, (do one point of damage to opponent for each attacking creature) to be reach. You still need to attack to do the damage. That's situational reach. You need creatures and they have to attack.

Harsh Sustenance also requires having creatures, but does not require an attack. So, if we have a deck that can get creatures on board, it can be used as a way to provide reach to our deck. I'll get to why this may be important later.

Another thing that is difficult to build into White/Black decks (again, Abzan I'm looking at you), is lifegain without loss of tempo. We always want our lifegain to be part of doing something else. Pure lifegain loses us time and mana. Most situations where we need lifegain, we also can't afford to spend extra mana on it or lose any turns casting pure lifegain effect. Ordeal of Heliod is an example of lifegain, plus useful effect.

Gray Merchant of Asphodel

You thought I was going to use Siege Rhino as an example. Admit it! You did! But our friend Merchant does the same thing. He gains us life while also providing a body when he comes into play. Much better that pure lifegain.

Harsh Sustenance provides targeted damage and lifegain. Not only targeted damage, but with the ability to go directly to the opponents face (or legs, or tummy). It's only 3 mana as well. If we have 3 creatures in play, I think that puts it at fair value for the cost. 3 damage and 3 life for us for 3 mana. Lightning Strike costs 2 mana and only gives the 3 damage. So, if we can be reasonably sure to have 3 creatures on the board most games, this card could be a good addition.

Do we want 4 of these in the main deck? Heck no. But perhaps one or two in the sideboard might be okay. Especially because it's unexpected.

Here's the rub. No one is playing this card so we have no information besides a less that perfect evaluation based on a lot of variables. So, we'll need to test it ourselves. In order to do this we need to create a deck that can support it, but is still close as possible to a known list as can be managed. Plus we need to be sure we can draw consistently for testing purposes.

So, I grabbed a list I know is good (okay, the first list, not so much), can toss down creatures, and stuffed 4 Harsh Sustenance in it. Then I played a bunch of games. Winning games is great, but I also kept focused on using the card appropriately when it was available. I did not cast it when I had better options, nor did I cast it when it was bad to do so. By the same token, I did cast it when appropriate over choosing safer known options. I wasn't just sitting on it waiting to make it look good just because I wanted it to look good.

I did a similar thing with Stain the Mind a while ago. I wanted to see what sort of games it actually could be cast, and how good it was versus other plays at that same mana cost. I'm still a fan of Stain the Mind, and would actually side board it if and when the meta shifts back to Jeskai Ascendancy style combo decks being popular.

Speaking of Jeskai Combo decks, boy that was a flash in the pan eh? Even the tokens deck has gone to bed early. Someone will get the bright idea to revive one or both of these decks, because the meta has swung away from folks playing 3 Bile Blights and 3 Drown in Sorrow in the same 75 (and whatever the Red equivalent of over compensating for tokens is). 

Side note: I write these articles well in advance of publishing them, and then make edits closer to the weekend before I submit them. So, sometimes my information is a bit dated. I just watched a Jeskai Tokens video by one of the pro players with initials for a name. He absolutely smoked 3 competitors with the new Tokens deck. I mean smoked them. I'd be extra ready with your enchantment removal and token killers over the next week.

Let's get back on track. Here is a list I was using during my testing:

Harsh Reality
Too Many Men
Creatures
4 Bloodsoaked Champion
4 Mardu Skullhunter
3 Mogis's Marauder
2 Oreskos Swiftclaw
2 Chief of the Edge
15 cards

Other Spells
2 Hero's Downfall
2 Mardu Strike Leader
4 Mardu Shadowspear
4 Brutal Hordechief
4 Harsh Sustenance
2 Spear of Heliod
2 Obelisk of Urd
2 Sultai Emissary
2 Aven Skirmisher
6 cards
Lands
4 Temple of Silence
3 Caves of Koilos
3 Mana Confluence
8 Swamp
3 Plains
21 cards

Sideboard
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Bile Blight
2 Thoughtseize
2 Hero's Downfall
2 Valorous Stance
2 Merciless Executioner
1 Abzan Advantage
1 Taco Taco Burrito 8 cards
Temple of Silence

 

Please get me wrong when I say this deck is no way near as good as it could be. I maximized the creatures, minimized utility and crammed 4 Harsh Sustenance into it. I played close to 100 practice matches with this before recording the following relatively useless demonstration videos in the two man queues.

The videos are (thankfully) shorter than usual, and relatively entertaining, but not enlightening at all. If you are looking to improve your magic game by watching high level competition videos, you should probably stay away from these. BUT, watch them and get a laugh. I always show you the actual videos I record, except when they are insanely boring last some from last week. I do not cherry pick only the games I win or play flawlessly in, so if you see some questionable plays, you're damn right they're mistakes. I do not claim that watching what I do and copying my style of play will make you better, but watching my games and seeing the mistakes can teach you a lot. Or at least make you more confident. Because hey, if I can win games in the event queues, so can you!

Okay, enough. Here's the first test deck and the matches it lost. Or did I win one? I certainly didn't win the first two, that's for sure. Mono Red is a beating on this deck of BW Clown Warriors:

Here comes Mono Red. There go my two tickets. My deck is aggressive but not fast enough to match wits with Red.

This opponent is playing what seems to be the old Rabble Red list. Three Goblin Rabblemasters in a row, plus a Stormbreath Dragon equals me, bleeding out on the kitchen tiles.

I thought I won this match until I went back and watched it and realized that I had, in fact, lost handily. Naw, I'm just messing with you! I knew I lost! ha ha ha ha ha. Oh you are so gullible. Silly bees!

Uhuh. About what's expected ya? I do draw Harsh Sustenance, but rarely in a situation where it is relevant. Some of you may be starting to suspect that playing "Is This Card Any Good?" is just an excuse for me to record games and post them. So not true! Okay, maybe a bit.  They problem with recording games when testing a card is there is no guarantee that in the games you record that you will draw the card and be able to use it. And the problem gets worse when you toss it in a deck that can't stand up against certain archetypes, and you play those archetypes in the matches you record.

So, after that debacle cakes of a recording session, I decided to go back to the other deck I tested with, an Abzan Aggro/Manifest deck.

Abzan Manifesto
I Can't Spell Sustenance
Creatures
4 Siege Rhino
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4 Fleecemane Lion
4 Rakshasa Deathdealer
14 cards

Other Spells
3 Hero's Downfall
4 Abzan Charm
3 Bile Blight
4 Warden of the First Tree
3 Brutal Hordechief
2 Mastery of the Unseen
2 Whisperwood Elemental
10 cards
Lands
2 Caves of Koilos
2 Llanowar Wastes
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Temple of Silence
4 Windswept Heath
4 Temple of Malady
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
1 Temple of Plenty
1 Mana Confluence
2 Forest
2 Plains
25 cards

Sideboard
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Nissa, Worldwaker
2 Drown in Sorrow
4 Thoughtseize
1 Back to Nature
1 Abzan Advantage
1 Harsh Susstineince
1 Spelling Error
13 cards
Caves of Koilos

 

 

The card did prove useful in a let of the test matches, but many games it was Pharika's Cure for 3 mana. Not exactly the value we were looking for out of a card we've slated to be out test subject. Here's three matches with this deck in various states of Harshness. I don't believe the card even gets played except for one brick where it gets Gods Willing slapped on its target.  Again, the entertainment value of the matches is high, especially the one versus RG, where I totally blow through my first turn in one game, and then get spooked by a weird in game message in the final game.

This first one my opponent is terminally mana screwed for both games. I blame poor deck design and crown myself a superior player for winning with my skill at drawing enough lands.

I don't remember much about this game. I had a deep sea diving helmet on, and had eated the bright red berries off the front porch again. Okay, it wasn't that weird, but it was odd. Still trying to figure out what the glitch was that made me freak in game 3.

UB Heroic. I have a lot to say about UB heroic. I say a lot of what I have to say about UB Heroic in this video, but not some of the things I really want to say about UB Heroic and the people who play it at a competitive level. Game one, our ingenious opponent wins by drawing the correct seven cards. BARELY wins with the nut draw. It's the opposite of how I felt bad for mana screw guy from match 4. I feel horrible when I win because a guy (or girl) gets mana screwed. Winning with UB Heroic, if I were to play the deck, would feel almost as unfulfilling as beating a guy who's mana screwed.

Don't get me wrong, I've faced some great players who were on UB Heroic and they could win with less than average hands because they could play all the mind games, and save their protection for when the opponent needed to kill their creature or lose. But turn 2 gain ten life, draw two cards, do seven damage, and end up with 5 cards in hand, one of which is probably a protection spell for turn 3 when I finally have 3 mana to play removal, is not skill intensive. It's not even assembling a combo, or playing the cards in the right order. Even Boggles has an element of craftiness to it.

I'm not saying players who choose to play UB Heroic are all 11 year old, freckle faced, Call of Duty crybabies, but I am saying that the deck does appeal to those types of players. So, many times when I play against UBH, it turns out that the person across the table is smirking at their free win, and enjoying being a jerk more than enjoying playing a game of Magic.  Nothing makes me happier than when they quit after one game when their trick deck doesn't work.

My opponent in this match seems to be of a decent sort, so I try my best not to corpse dance when I win games 2 and 3. The fact that we both make a few mistakes makes me not as completely angry at having to play against UV heroic with a less than ideal deck. Had I lost the match, my vocabulary would have changed considerably. 

AGAIN nothing against players of UB heroic or this particular opponent. It's a subset of folks who enjoy winning without a fight who always pilot decks like this that get my dander up and ruffled. How do I turn this thing off? /rant

To recap the three results with Abzan Aggrifesto: Better results for the man, still no results for the card.

So, it seems that it sits in the hand a lot, waiting to be cast, but hardly ever do we find a spot to cast it profitable. At least not in these decks. I think most games it is tough getting a critical mass of creatures. What I want the card for is those gummed up board stall games where there's 4 to 8 creatures on the table and I need to rip face or remove a dude. It has huge upside. Let me show you a situation from a testing game that brought the power of this card into focus for me.

The card is powerful. Some cards are just bad. Some are meh. Harsh Sustenance is situationally bad/meh, but can be a bomb in the right spot. So, what's the verdict? So glad you asked!

I definitely feel this card has potential. When it works it's anything from cheap removal with lifegain to an absolute blowout. The problem is that it's too situational, which means it's at best a sideboard option, a one or two of at most. Maybe there's a home for it in a dedicated tokens deck, like Mardu Tokens. Maybe.

Why are we even bothering? Aren't we supposed to be preparing for a tournament or something?

Lesson Twenty-One of Tournament Preparation: Blow Off Steam.

Anything we do for a prolonged period of time will eventually become tedious, tiresome and frustrating. I've played a lot of competitive games in my life. Chess. Football (the American kind). High stakes PvP. Poison Tipped Shuttlecock. I tend to be a competitive extremist. I dive in and learn everything, practice hours a day, learn to be the best I can be and generally reach burn out in a year or two. I've learned to tone it down and take breaks. With 50 cards from the new set Dragons of Tarkir being spoiled, I didn't want to run end onto end without a break and a little fun. Dragons is going to be a make or break set for Standard. Something is going to be printed that will propel one deck above the rest, and I've got a feeling that deck will not be Abzan. That means I'm going to have some long hours ahead, tinkering and doing all the boring stuff like testing 3 Hero's Downfalls versus 4 Hero's Downfalls for long periods of time.

Plus, it's always good to learn to play with a card no one expects. I can guarantee you will get some cross eyed looks playing Harsh Sustenance at your next FNM. I'm thinking it's the type of card that I want to make my opponent pay attention to and account for, then remove it for a final game. If they're thinking I have the reach, plus mana up, they may play more conservative. It's not exactly a White Black Crater's Claws, but you know some folks will read it but forget I need creatures to fuel it in the next game. They'll just be thinking there's damage coming from nowhere.

Okay, so the new spoiled cards.

mmm

This card is a big deal. Two mana white removal that hits multicolored creatures and enchantments. As narrow as this card sounds, 2 mana to remove some of the best creatures, no wait, exile those creatures? I'm not saying it's perfect, but I'm going to play it out of my sideboard for sure. RW will probably do so as well. More cheap removal for an already killer deck?

whoa

Wow. Is this correct? I sac a creature when he drops and get to tutor any card I want to my hand? Plus, it's a 'may' ability, and so I don't have to use it if I don't want to sac a creature. It can block Siege Rhino, doesn't die to red removal, and has deathtouch? Sick.

yes

It's my favorite, and it goes perfect with the White removal from above. Is Doom Blade next? lol Love it! And the art is better than last time.

yokes

I just stopped laughing. RW is now unbeatable. I quit.

oooo

I quit even more.

aasassaasa

Still quitting.

huh

Not sure if better or worse than first Sarkhan....

Can you see it? Power creep. Cheaper removal, crazier abilities, insane Planeswalkers, freaking rebound for freak sake! You cast a spell, then exile it and cast it again for free during your next upkeep? What the heck is that? Then there's Mega Morph. It's like morph, but you throw a +1/1 counter on top of the creature when it flips to boot. Kinda... stupid. But, with manifest, some of the costs are pretty cheap. You manifest a card, pay its super cheap morph cost and save the three initial mana to play if face down, then get mega-morph to boot. Hey, it's going to be fun, at least!

Still no Zendikar fetch lands. And I don't think they're coming. I wished too hard upon a star and broke it. uhhhhhhhhh... broken..... star...

I can't get into much more because unless they are planning on spoiling more gold cards, I don't see anything in Abzan colors worth playing except some way off the deep end costed Dragons. There's so much more to talk about but there will be time for that next week. For now, I'm going to put my Abzan pj's on and cry myself to sleep.

Until next time.

CLB