Is Revolt a failed mechanic in Standard?

Standard forum

Posted on Feb. 4, 2017, 12:15 p.m. by Argy

I haven't played against many Standard decks that try to deliberately facilitate Revolt.

Fatal Push gets run by most Players but I rarely see them make it get rid of something 3CMC or 4CMC.

Have you seen many people trigger Revolt in Standard?

DrLitebur says... #2

Revolt is not a bad mechanic, it just hasn't been exploited to the extent that others like Improvise have. It almost requires your foe to either help you by blocking/killing something of yours before you trigger it), or a combo play on your part to make it work (such as Greenbelt Rampager into something else with Revolt). Relying on your opponent to aid you is not a recipe for success. Now, that being said, there is always a way to bump something back into your own hand to trigger it, but the payoff for a lot of the Revolt mechanics are not that high. If you look at Metallic Rebuke, with two artifacts you can cast a Mana Leak for U. That can surprise the hell out of an unwary opponent, and is great value. Honestly, Improvise beats the hell out of it.

February 4, 2017 12:24 p.m.

MollyMab says... #3

Question is. What is the pay off?

February 4, 2017 12:40 p.m.

joshuaizac says... #4

WotC is absolutely renowned for making mechanics that are fantastic in theory...then printing them on cards that are underpowered, overcosted or otherwise just total crap. The Revolt mechanic is just another in a long, long, long line of such things....

Fatal Push is an obvious all-star, I think Solemn Recruit, Renegade Rallier and Aid from the Cowl could do some cool things in the right decks but mostly the cards they printed weren't great outside of limited....as usual.

February 4, 2017 2 p.m.

mathimus55 says... #5

We also only have 2 weeks of real play to decide if it's a failed mechanic or not...so this whole conversation feels super rushed. Fatal Push is already seeing play in all 3 of the main constructed formats, Renegade Rallier has shown up really well in modern as well too. Saying revolt is a failed standard mechanic seems super premature at this point because we've barely seen it. If at this point next year it hasn't made a meaningful impact then this conversation might be relevant.

February 4, 2017 2:58 p.m.

abby315 says... #6

Revolt is fine. I'd totally disagree with joshuaizac; compared to things like Fabricate, Radiance, Outlast, etc, where the only cards that had it were limited playable at best, Revolt is some SERIOUS value on playable creatures: Vengeful Rebel, Renegade Rallier, Deadeye Harpooner, Narnam Renegade, and even things like Hidden Herbalists and Greenwheel Liberator are absolutely value cards.

What's NOT value about Revolt, and why it's not played much in standard, is that there's not many good ways to trigger it right now, AND we're not playing in a standard where fair value decks are playable because of combo (Snek + Rishkar) and infinite combo decks. If we had fetchlands in this set, or some other imminently playable things where you aren't 2-for-1ing yourself, it would be a different story by FAR.

I just want to really stress that Wizards did not do what they usually do with potentially powerful effects: putting them on unplayable cards. These cards are all playable bodies with a super upside if you can get the ability off.

This means I basically agree with above: it's way too early to judge.

February 4, 2017 7:25 p.m.

We have a decent way to trigger it in flicker. Felidar Guardian clearly, but also things like Eerie Interlude.

And even junk like Terrarion allows you to cast any 2-drop revolt creatures of any color turn 2, draw a card, and add artifact type to delerium. For example that's a Hidden Herbalists into an Unbridled Growth and a Narnam Renegade, netting a 2/2, 2/3 deathtouch, and a color-fix next turn that you can then sac after tapping to draw and trigger another revolt, and add to delerium if that's your thing. Busted, just hasn't been given the attention of the pros and the eternal web of net-deckers. Throw in some Traverse the Ulvenwald and maybe some Blossoming Defense and you got a decent little budget FNM deck. Add for the Felidar Guardian and Renegade Rallier and some Deadeye Harpooner and Eerie Interlude out the side.

February 8, 2017 12:12 a.m.

Argy says... #8

Jimmy_Chinchila please build the deck you are describing.

February 8, 2017 5:55 a.m.

pumpkinwavy says... #9

No, the mechanic was intended for limited where it is a major player. Most set mechanics don't make big splashes in constructed, and revolt actually has some pretty powerful cards. Sure, there's no "revolt deck" to maximize revolt, but that was never the intention.

February 8, 2017 1:38 p.m.

pumpkinwavy says... #10

No, the mechanic was intended for limited where it is a major player. Most set mechanics don't make big splashes in constructed, and revolt actually has some pretty powerful cards. Sure, there's no "revolt deck" to maximize revolt, but that was never the intention.

February 8, 2017 1:38 p.m.

KB2187 says... #11

I have an odd feeling that revolt will especially be a thing if we get enemy fetches in a future release. :)

February 13, 2017 6:22 p.m.

Argy says... #12

KB2187 a lot of people have added Evolving Wilds to their deck at the moment to enable it.

Revolt plays VERY well with Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet.

February 13, 2017 9:58 p.m.

HobbitFeet796 says... #13

I would be tempted to run some revolt cards in something like an emerge deck or one that builds around Eldritch Evolution but other than that, Its pretty hard to guarantee. Orzhov is revolting!! is my attempt at building around this mechanic, however in testing it was never 100% guaranteed to trigger revolt. It does promise to be good though if only it was possible to guarantee revolt, but without sacrificing board presence, card advantage, or speed, its hard!

March 3, 2017 12:34 p.m.

whompkin says... #14

I have been having fun playing an orzhov revolt deck too (Revolting Servo Aggro). My favourite card is Hidden Stockpile, allowing you to create servos, trigger revolt, scry and make spells that target your creatures fizzle by sacing the target. In a deck that can reliably hit revolt triggers Countless Gears Renegade offers great value. I'd imagine it would work well with Renegade Rallier in GW too. Call for Unity has won me games against control decks, but I found it a bit too slow against aggro/tempo/midrange, so I may take that out of my mainboard. Aethergeode Miner is great for triggering revolt - my 2c.

March 5, 2017 1:21 p.m.

whompkin says... #15

Oh and in my experience, revolt seems to work better in limited. While my standard deck isn't really all that powerful, I came first in my draft pod playing a BW deck built around revolt Aether Revolt First Draft 3/0. The guy who came second was playing GW revolt.

March 5, 2017 1:30 p.m.

Iffy says... #16

There arent really that many good revolt cards if were being honest just a handful, the reason this mechanic isn't a major widespread success on top of the payoffs not being that good the enablers aren't good either, and on top of that they aren't very synergistic, i understand wizards probably intended it that way but i still dont like it

March 7, 2017 1:04 a.m.

Iffy says... #17

There arent really that many good revolt cards if were being honest just a handful, the reason this mechanic isn't a major widespread success on top of the payoffs not being that good the enablers aren't good either, and on top of that they aren't very synergistic, i understand wizards probably intended it that way but i still dont like it

March 7, 2017 1:06 a.m.

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