Heheheh, I remember when the set was first being spoiled, and this was revealed alongside Rakdos's Return. When MagicTCGPlayer.com asked on Facebook which everyone thought was better, every damn reply was that this was trash compared to Return. Now? This is worth $20, while Return barely goes for $5. And it's all because this is instant speed.
People, I cannot stress enough how important that is for control decks! What we have here is a Swiss Army knife for Standard Azorius. If you don't need to respond to anything with a counter or a bounce, you can use this to rebuild your hand all at once. The lifegain is gravy, and helps you stay ahead of burn decks for another turn or two. It's all in one card too, and with a variable X cost at that. And if you're still not convinced just... see it in action. This card hitting the field is often the harbinger of tabled being turned or possible wins becoming certain.
Posted By:
Totema
(1/19/2013 1:16:45 AM)
Lol at the "inferior to inspiration" comment.
Posted By:
Formofbucket
(10/14/2012 12:15:39 AM)
Mindspring for one more, as an instant, that gains you life. Anyone who's ever played against this in a constructed format would rate it at least a 4.5. This card may not be sexy for Gatherer readers, but fewer things are worse than sitting across the table from your opponent casting one.
Posted By:
DeftMunky
(12/26/2012 6:10:13 PM)
So, I'm guessing garbage cards are worth more than $10? The price shot up when people realized how powerful this card is.
Posted By:
Gcrudaplaneswalker
(11/23/2012 7:52:50 PM)
The rating of this card really reflects the type of players on the gatherer. This thing is a control deck staple and control decks are very popular in standard right now. While the card does not directly win the game, it puts it out of reach for aggro and mid range decks when its cast for 5, 6, or 7 at the end of turn. The control player's hand is refilled and he gets a nice life cushion. Then he can wrath and sit there and mill or build board presence, or anything really. Its especially deadly if the control player chains the sphinx's revelations turn after turn late game generating massive card advantage and life gain.
In other words, if you don't think this card is good you need to play against it in a proper deck. Its not supposed to be cast on turn 3, 4, 5, or even 6. Its supposed to be a late game card that puts the game out of reach. Just look at its price on TCG. Its now hovering around $20. The 3.6 rating on here in no way reflects how good this card actually is.
Posted By:
MEanBOb
(12/16/2012 5:33:34 PM)
The people that question how good this is in standard must not play must standard. When this hits the board, it not only saves you but it gives you tons more options. If you resolve this for 3 or more in any standard game (which isn't that difficult for a control deck), you'll probably win easily. Card draw and buying yourself time are so important.
It has some modern applications as well so I don't see why everyone's complaining about it being a standard only card. I play both.
@Enpassant: You're clearly an idiot. The benefit of this card is that it is rarely a dead draw because if you're about to die, it will give you more options and it will save you. Even if you cast it for 1 or 2, if that lets you last another turn and gives you a few more options then that's great. You don't need to hold out and wait for ages. Clearly you're not much of a 'experienced, all-round' player, you don't play many tournaments and you don't understand the power of instant speed or having options(you cl... (see all)
Posted By:
Lifegainwithbite
(4/28/2013 2:01:38 AM)
Compare it to the other glorious X cost draw card instant Stroke of Genius. The colourless is replaced by 2W and the targetability is switched with lifegain. Even being on the same page as that ol' degenerate piece of card advantage should clue you off to how great this card really is.
Posted By:
TheManakinTransfer
(6/13/2013 4:15:32 PM)
@Totema
While the instant speed is certainly powerful, I personally think there are three just as important reason why Sphinx's Revelation sees more play than Rakdos's Return:
1. Draw X cards and Gain X life fit into the same strategy perfectly, namely control. Discard X and deal X damage don't mesh that well, since the deck which wants the discard X effect is the midrange/control deck, but the damage part does the most for aggro decks (which usually can't afford the X cost).
2. There is an upper bound to the card advantage you can generate with Return: your opponent's hand size. If you have 8 mana and a Revelation, you always get a +4 (that is, draw five cards). If you have 8 mana and a Return but they only have 2 cards, you can only get a +1. It was for this same reason why Mind Spring saw more play than Mind Shatter, despite both of them being sorceries and the discard on Mind Shatter was even random.
3. The current ... (see all)
Posted By:
sweetgab
(6/25/2013 7:07:42 PM)
this card doesn't feel mythic at all, but it looks fine for standard as a 1 or 2 of in control decks.
EDIT: So my first impressions were a little off on its power level, and that it's more a 3-of in control decks (sometimes 4-of, but this isn't usually something you want in an opening hand) and not a 1 or 2-of. The idea of "lifegain is weak" has been hammered into my head so much that I basically ignored that on this card, but it's actually the effect that pushes it over the edge. One of the big problems with the instant-speed X-draw spells (namely blue sun's zenith, as stroke of genius was powered by lolurzablock jokes where you could literally deck people with giant strokes) is that they're very bad against aggro decks because you almost never have the time to cast them for full value. But sphinx's revelation helps fix that by giving you enough life to spend 1-2 turns casting the spells you drew from your first revelation, which buys you time to fire off your second revelation to pu... (see all)
Posted By:
mdakw576
(8/20/2013 5:43:52 AM)
I really don't like this card - but then I'm not a Spike, and this is one of the most blatantly Spikey cards I've seen in recent sets. I get how powerful it is - it's advantage, pure and simple, both in terms of cards and life...it's just so... boring. I guess that's why it's an Azorius card; they are the guild of boring.
Posted By:
Ruaranicus
(11/11/2013 5:11:14 PM)