It’s rare that we get instant speed spells that are big, but when we do, they sometimes end up doing some massive work. Magma Opus, for example, was lethal in combination with Torrential Gearhulk. Notably, however, that card could discard itself.
Sadly, that’s not an option for Jeskai Revelation, but the spell itself is stronger than Magma Opus and even costs slightly less. There is a real chance that the card could see some play.
Jeskai Revelation
Jeskai Revelation literally does everything you could want. In addition to bouncing a spell, Jeskai Revelation is removal, creates bodies, draws cards, and gains life. This is undeniably an absurdly powerful way to turn the game around, but you need to be able to cast it.
Similar to Magma Opus, Torrential Gearhulk is an easy way to create a ton of value with this card. The card casts any Instant in your graveyard for free, so Jeskai Revelation is an option. Since Revelation is a bounce spell, it synergizes with Torrential Gearhulk’s Flash ability, too.
Unfortunately, Torrential Gearhulk is not Standard legal. While this combo is a viable option in Commander and Pioneer, you’ll need a different set of tools for Standard. Thankfully, there are a few options within Standard right now.
Jeskai Revelation in Standard
If Jeskai Revelation has a shot of seeing play, it’ll be in a control deck. After all, this is a fantastic curve-topper to turn the game around in one fell swoop. Control decks are already alive and well in Standard following the latest Pro Tour. That said, seven mana is certainly a lot, and it’s uncertain if control will consistently go long enough to want an effect like this.
If you want to cast the card without paying its mana cost, the best ways to do that seem to be Capricious Hellraiser and Hidetsugu and Kairi in Standard. Yes, you can accomplish this easily in the Omniscience combo deck, but there’s no point in including Jeskai Revelation in that deck.
Capricious Hellraiser has a chance of casting Jeskai Revelation for free from the bin, while Hidetsugu and Kairi can cast it off the top of your library. Your opponent will even lose seven extra life if you manage to pull this off.
Notably, both strategies would require a lot of setup to pull off, likely making this a janky venture at best. Fortunately, both of these cards are Dragons, which could serve as a shell for the deck.
Combining strong interaction with ramping elements like Sarkhan, Dragon Ascendant could be a bizarre way to make this work. Our bet is that this won’t be a tier one Standard strategy, but it could be a fun combination of Tarkir: Dragonstorm cards to celebrate the new set.
A Weird Fit
At the end of the day, similar to many high-casting cost cards in recent MTG sets, Jeskai Revelation’s best home might be Commander, but it’s tough to say for sure. Unfortunately, this card really doesn’t do much there. Removing a threat, drawing some cards, delaying a spell, and creating some tokens is rather underwhelming.
That said, it’s much easier to cheat a casting cost of an instant or sorcery in that format, which could give Jeskai Revelation a place in specific strategies. All of the copy effects present in the new Jeskai Striker preconstructed deck could wreak massive havoc with Jeskai Revelation.
If someone manages to abuse this card, Jeskai Revelation could become the face of an entire archetype.