Reverse Polarity
Instant
You gain X life, where X is twice the damage dealt to you so far this turn by artifacts.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Antiquities
- Price
- $0.44
- EDHREC rank
- #28772
Reverse Polarity gains you life equal to the damage dealt to you by artifacts this turn — in the right deck, that's a massive swing that doubles as a survival tool against artifact-heavy opponents. Two white mana for a potentially game-saving life total reset is the kind of efficiency that earns a slot.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Reverse Polarity is a niche card in Commander, where artifact strategies — Breya, Esper Sentinel chains, Darksteel Forge shells — are common enough that its ceiling is real, but the effect is too conditional to run in most white decks. In Vintage and Legacy, artifacts are ubiquitous, but instant-speed lifegain rarely makes the cut when those formats are decided by tempo and card advantage, not life totals. Pauper is its most plausible competitive home: artifact decks like Affinity apply enough damage pressure that a two-mana life refill can actually close the gap against aggro.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.44 bulk tier
At $0.44, Reverse Polarity sits firmly in bulk territory — it costs almost nothing to pick up and almost nothing to replace. Bulk lifegain instants don't appreciate unless a synergy breaks them out, and nothing on the horizon does that here.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.