[Standard] Revitalize

[Hina's Simp 96]

Revitalize ( 1 )( W )

Instant

You gain 3 life.

Draw a card.

In recent discourse with Standard, the idea of playing Lifegain is almost vital to the archetype due to the longevity of a game and how much life becomes a resource. This was almost dismissed before Reid Duke mentioned it in his article, "Contol Decks Need Life Gain". Lifegain that did nothing else was almost a do-nothing, even if it meant extending the length of the game because it does not gain any form of advantage. At least with external formats or non-rotating ones, the threats still existed. Those threats need to be dealt with above extending the game, as they close out the game faster than the opposing player is gaining life and become harder to deal with the longer the game goes due to resources being used up and the lack of card advantage being relevant. However, Standard is not the same as external formats. The Standard format plays on a more balanced playing field where Control is just as good as Aggro, and the tools match up against each other more often than not. In this case, Revitalize is one of the best tools to be playing as a control deck which many people are not taking advantage of.

Gaining three life against BR and Mono-Red Aggro usually means gaining two-to-three turns, rather than just being a counterspell against Lightning Bolt.dek in Modern or Legacy. Their creatures lack the amount of pressure that can keep up with Revitalize and Absorb. The card also helps to alleviate some of the dead space in the deck which would be used by cards like Opt, as there is not much deck filtering or shuffling. Opt, while being one-mana, is almost the antithesis of Standard Control, for the point that each card matters and each card has use in a game. Opt empowers the momentary opportunity of a card rather than the actual power level of it, when the bottom half a deck does not find consistent use. Revitalize, however, gains more turns per game and keeps individual power level in mind. It is not as good on Turn 1 since it cannot be cast, but that is unnecessary when most lands are coming into play tapped on that turn anyways.

Part of the argument in Reid's article is that Lifegain should be added to the structure of the deck, basically saying that lifegain should be supplemental to the components of the archetype, if it is necessary. In this case, Revitalize gains life and draws a card. The cantrip aspect of the card is integral to the Control archetype, with how many lands are played and the ability to flood. The card is already apart of the structure of the deck, negating being manaflooded as an option (in most scenarios) while also voiding the ability to be mana screwed. It helps mulligan decisions by giving more relevant tools in the early game, while being able to draw into the deck rather than relying on top decks to smooth out a questionable keep. 

Control should play Revitalize more often. It is a four-of in my Esper Control deck in Standard. Discuss.

Edited January 29, 2019 by Daemon

[(o ×) 228]

I think what's so great about it is that it prevents you from falling back on tempo. Sure, it is just a cantrip, but the situations in which you would cast this, you would otherwise be casting nothing.

[Hina's Simp 96]

23 hours ago, (youknowwhoiam) said:

I think what's so great about it is that it prevents you from falling back on tempo. Sure, it is just a cantrip, but the situations in which you would cast this, you would otherwise be casting nothing.

I mean, that is just the cantrip part of the card. I think that it is a tag for both tempo and for game longevity, which helps to make it stand out above other options. 

[(o ×) 228]

13 hours ago, Daemon said:

I mean, that is just the cantrip part of the card. I think that it is a tag for both tempo and for game longevity, which helps to make it stand out above other options. 

Basically my point. Neither part would be remarkable without the other. Life gain that doesn't serve another purpose really has no place in constructed, unless that card gave incredibly powerful life gain (feed the clan comes to mind).

Rev and Timely Reinforcements both provide card advantage, allowing one to stabilize. Radiant fountain had basically zero opportunity cost, along with some outside synergies. Creatures with lifelink have the advantage of, well, being creatures.

I think revitalize does well to demonstrate exactly what it takes for life gain to be useful. It either does something else to advance your game state, or in this case it has benefits that prevent it from taking away from your game plan.

Thinking about it in terms of other cards, I think this reminds me more of radiant fountain than anything.

Edited January 31, 2019 by (youknowwhoiam)
Added literally one sentence at the end

[Hina's Simp 96]

On 1/31/2019 at 7:40 AM, (youknowwhoiam) said:

Basically my point. Neither part would be remarkable without the other. Life gain that doesn't serve another purpose really has no place in constructed, unless that card gave incredibly powerful life gain (feed the clan comes to mind).

Rev and Timely Reinforcements both provide card advantage, allowing one to stabilize. Radiant fountain had basically zero opportunity cost, along with some outside synergies. Creatures with lifelink have the advantage of, well, being creatures.

I think revitalize does well to demonstrate exactly what it takes for life gain to be useful. It either does something else to advance your game state, or in this case it has benefits that prevent it from taking away from your game plan.

Thinking about it in terms of other cards, I think this reminds me more of radiant fountain than anything.

These kind of cards are highly impactful to a strategy, especially when the strategy (such as Control) is notorious for stabilizing games. Most cases, it was through card advantage or threats like Sphinx's Revelation or Lyra Dawnbringer, but aggressive decks are just faster than the rate of those cards. So it becomes necessary to play Revitalize, Moments of Craving, etc, due to the impact it has when end-game stabliziers are often too slow.