Speaking purely from hardcore, the first couple of runs are harder, but once you see how they work (and have a skill pool that doesn't start at 1), they they're just different, and eventually actually become easier than regular HC.
For SC, I'm not really sure... I don't see things like Demand Sandwich having as much impact, but you you'll have the gear to actually run the ML song which HC really can't in most places.
If nothing else, it's definitely fun for a different kind of challenge.