[SCD] Harm's Way

[tescrin]

I was building casual stuff the other day and ran into this card Harm's Way again and started thinking it's actually quite good; possibly good enough for legacy. Combat tricks are a rare thing in legacy but when most creatures are small and the spell doubles as a life-gain and burn spell at instant speed; it seems like it could be maybe Plow #5 or 6.

Application in regular games:
-Delver hits you for 1, you kill the Delver. (yes this is worse than getting hit for 0; but 1 mana is a reasonable argument I think)
-You attack with Spirit of the Labyrinth. They block with a DRS, you point his 1-damage at Bob.
-They flash in Snapcaster to Ambush Viper you, you redirect his damage at the opponent while your creature eats the chump
-They swing a Tarmogoyf into your Batterskull, you effectively give it -2/-2
-You're attempting to swing for lethal and they chump something to barely survive; 2 damage can get you there sometimes.

I realize it's conditional; but I feel like the comparison to Disfigure is fair: pretty conditional but sometimes you just need some 1-mana removal.
I'll admit that it seems super-obnoxious you can't kill an SFM before it equips or a DRS until they attack with something, but you can't burn someone with Disfigure nor can you 2-for-1; which are strong points in this goofy-cards' favor IMO.

Any thoughts?

[thecrav]

Application in regular games:
-Delver hits you for 1, you kill the Delver. (yes this is worse than getting hit for 0; but 1 mana is a reasonable argument I think)
...
-You're attempting to swing for lethal and they chump something to barely survive; 2 damage can get you there sometimes.


In these two instances, I'm pretty sure I'd rather just have Shock, which has applications outside of combat.

[tescrin]

In these two instances, I'm pretty sure I'd rather just have Shock, which has applications outside of combat.

That's true; but you could say the same thing about having Abrupt Decay in your hand when they have an Angler and you could've been running Go for the Throat.

I think it's more comparable to Forked Bolt (which is all-around-better in 90+% of cases) in that it kills x/2's or occasionally hits an opponent, but can also occasionally get a 2-for-1. The other issue is you're looking at a card in another color. If you're in Esper or Bant (or Junk, Maverick, D&T, etc..) it's not an option. If we were going that route we would just be running Lightning Bolt, after all.

[Wilkin]

I would also say in terms of sideboarding, you'd compare it to path to exile or disfigure. I didn't mention plow as I assume a white deck would play 4.

Some instances I'd rather have the path but I can see the potential of harms way. Lol, living the dream. He has a 4 toughness creature, u have 2 mystics. He casts pyroclasm. You cast harms way to prevent 1 damage to each mystic and redirect to his dude killing it. I had to look up ruling on harms way. Didn't realize that was possible before I read it.

But at same time you won't be able to kill a turn 1 deathrite with harms way. For the potential 2 for 1 card advantage for 1 mana I'd say it's worth a look though.

[Infinitium]

Shining Shoal is generally superior. Not requiring you to keep mana open in what is most likely a weenie deck is a big deal, and lategame it can redirect more damage.

[tescrin]

@Wilikin
That's an awesome ruling; I hadn't seen that you could save more than one x/2 from a Clasm.


Shining Shoal is generally superior. Not requiring you to keep mana open in what is most likely a weenie deck is a big deal, and lategame it can redirect more damage.

That's pretty interesting. Though D&T's lack of CA (depending what deck we're looking at, them being the most obvious if in MonoW) may make problems for this line of thinking. May be interesting in Junk/Bant/Esper though.



I'll try it a bit in casual to get a better feel for it before I start losing locals by testing 'meh' cards; but it looks promising on paper as the "white forked bolt" or some such. Also, interestingly enough, it does counter forked bolt and probably kill a dude of theirs in response preventing their 2-for-1 and giving you a 2-for-1 instead.

EDIT:
And to clarify; I too am assuming they have 4 plows and am looking at options that seem interesting in place of Path to Exile or similar. Esper, for example, may want to either be 4-color or Decay or run Disfigure; but both of these options are pretty meh (weak manabase or weak card) so I'm just seeing if other cards are more attractive or not. I like this a little bit more than Disfigure since it has the potential to be a crappy lightning helix when it's a dead card.

[rufus]

The targeted damage redirection has some potential with self-damage, but the number of good cards that do that are pretty limited. It would be funny to redirect off ancient tomb.

[Warr]

I've gotten people with this in Modern (included more as a way for Zoo to dodge sweepers) and it's always gotten a "WTF does that card do?" and required 2 readings to confirm the blowout, which made it worth it by itself.

In Legacy though, unless I'm DnT, I don't think I have room for that effect in any of my white-based decks, since I need to cover other bases like combo, control, grave hate, etc. DnT probably has room though and would appreciate this effect.

[TsumiBand]

The targeted damage redirection has some potential with self-damage, but the number of good cards that do that are pretty limited. It would be funny to redirect off ancient tomb.

Harm's Way has Kicker with Ancient Tomb? Excellent.

I too wonder about White's damage redirection spells often as some of them seem subjectively potent -- such as Shining Shoal as a freebie with spells that have alternative costs or purposes (Spectral Procession, Exalted Angel, an Evoke creature, some random cycling thing with an effect that matters somehow, etc). I think the biggest problem is that they fall into the "fool me once" camp and get they just get played around or otherwise neutralized.

[tescrin]

Harm's Way has Kicker with Ancient Tomb? Excellent.
lol... those kicker cards are still making me laugh.



I think the biggest problem is that they fall into the "fool me once" camp and get they just get played around or otherwise neutralized.
I think you're right. The more I think on it, the more I may actually like Disfigure or other mediocre cards better. I may even be the type to splash a 4th color before using this just because having conditionals in legacy like "your opponent has to swing at you" is actually going to come up.

I keep considering all of the obnoxious critters like Dark Confidant and SFM that you may have to prevent your own damage from creatures just so you can redirect damage. At that rate, I'd probably rather just lose.