Refibrillator MTG Card

Rarity	Rare
Type	Artifact — Contraption
Released	2017-12-08
Set symbol
Set name	Unstable
Set code	UST
Number	202
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Borderless
Illustred by	Chuck Lukacs
Un-set :-)	This card is part of an Un-set

Key Takeaways

Refibrillator swings momentum by reviving high-value creatures, disrupting opponent strategies effectively.
Mana efficiency is achieved as it enables significant plays without the casting cost of creatures.
The card’s instant speed allows for unpredictable and strategically advantageous plays.

Text of card

Whenever you crank Refibrillator, return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Refibrillator provides a strategic advantage by potentially bringing a high-value creature back from the graveyard. This not only disrupts your opponent’s previous efforts to manage your threats but also swings the momentum in your favor by reintroducing powerful abilities and board presence.

Resource Acceleration: By returning a creature directly to the battlefield, Refibrillator effectively bypasses mana costs associated with casting creatures. This acceleration allows players to use their mana resources for other actions within the same turn, creating significant pressure and tempo against the opponent.

Instant Speed: The strength of Refibrillator is amplified by its instant speed, enabling surprise plays during your opponent’s end step or in response to actions that would otherwise result in unfavorable outcomes. The tactical flexibility offered by this timing can shift the tide of the game, catching opponents off guard and allowing for savvy play sequencing.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Casting Refibrillator necessitates the sacrifice of another card from your hand which can be a tough pill to swallow when your options are already dwindling.

Specific Mana Cost: With its specific mana alignment, Refibrillator requires a combination of colors that may not seamlessly fit into every player’s deck framework, potentially causing consistency issues.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Although Refibrillator offers a significant power boost, its mana demands are steep when compared to other spells or creatures that could be played for similar or lower resource investments.

Reasons to Include Refibrillator in Your Collection

Versatility: Refibrillator offers a unique dynamic to a diverse range of deck builds. Its ability to recur creatures from the graveyard gives players an edge in longer games, ensuring that your pivotal creatures return for another round.

Combo Potential: This card has significant synergy in decks that capitalize on enter-the-battlefield triggers or those that strategically utilize the graveyard. Refibrillator can be the key piece in a finely-tuned combo chain, multiplying the effectiveness of your other card interactions.

Meta-Relevance: With a constantly shifting MTG meta, Refibrillator maintains relevance by adapting to various playstyles. Whether it’s through its standalone revive capability or integration into larger combo plays, it stands as an essential tool against a variety of opposing tactics.

How to beat

Refibrillator is a unique card in the MTG arsenal, known for its dynamic capability to disrupt graveyard strategies. When facing this artifact, it’s crucial to contemplate strategies that minimize its impact. A straightforward tactic is to incorporate artifact removal within your deck. Cards such as Abrade or Nature’s Claim can directly target and eliminate Refibrillator from play. Another approach is to adopt cards that limit an opponent’s graveyard access, such as Grafdigger’s Cage or Leyline of the Void, which can neutralize Refibrillator’s effectiveness before it becomes a threat.

Additionally, you could outpace Refibrillator by focusing on an aggressive game plan, thereby reducing the timeframe in which Refibrillator can be leveraged effectively. Lastly, using instant-speed interaction that allows you to respond to the activation of Refibrillator can prevent your opponent from obtaining the desired advantage. With these insights, players can craft a deck that either neutralizes or overshadows the potential influence of Refibrillator, keeping them one step ahead in the game.

Cards like Refibrillator

The Refibrillator card presents a unique entry in the MTG landscape, similar to others that focus on creature revivals. Like Unearth, Refibrillator offers a way to bring creatures back from the graveyard to the battlefield. While Unearth can only revive creatures with converted mana cost three or less, Refibrillator doesn’t have this restriction, allowing for more strategic versatility in casting larger creatures for a comeback.

Another card in this category is Animate Dead. Though both Refibrillator and Animate Dead channel the concept of reanimation, Animate Dead is an enchantment with a persistent effect that locks onto a single creature. Refibrillator’s inherent flexibility permits the revival of different creatures over time, granting dynamic adaptability throughout the game. Lastly, we look at Zombify, a straightforward spell with similar revival capabilities. The main distinction is that Zombify is a single-use sorcery, whereas Refibrillator provides repeated reanimation, albeit with additional costs attached.

Assessing each card’s strengths and limitations reveals Refibrillator’s potential for multiple, flexible creature returns, solidifying its place among MTG’s intriguing suite of resurrection spells, especially for players who favor recurring strategies over one-time effects.

Cards similar to Refibrillator by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Refibrillator MTG card by a specific set like Unstable, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Refibrillator and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See MTG Products

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Refibrillator card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2018-01-19	Any Contraption that’s on the battlefield and wasn’t assembled immediately heads to the scrapyard. However, if it’s a not an actual Contraption card (like Copy Artifact isn’t), it goes to your graveyard as normal. Non-Contraption cards can’t be in the scrapyard.
2018-01-19	At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control any Contraptions, move the CRANK! counter to the next sprocket. You may then crank any number of Contraptions on that sprocket, causing their abilities to trigger. Cranking a Contraption is always optional.
2018-01-19	Contraptions are artifacts. Anything that interacts with artifacts will interact with Contraptions.
2018-01-19	Contraptions aren’t put into your main deck. They go into a separate deck called the Contraption deck.
2018-01-19	If a Contraption would leave the battlefield and go to any zone other than exile, it instead goes to the scrapyard, the Contraption deck’s version of the graveyard. Things that affect the graveyard do not affect the scrapyard. You can exile Contraptions just fine.
2018-01-19	If you crank multiple Contraptions, their abilities can be put onto the stack in any order. The ability put onto the stack will resolve first.
2018-01-19	If you or a permanent you control are instructed to assemble a Contraption, reveal the top card of your Contraption deck. Put it onto the battlefield on one of the three sprockets.
2018-01-19	If you or a permanent you control assembles a Contraption and your Contraption deck is empty, nothing happens. You don’t lose the game.
2018-01-19	In Constructed formats, a Contraption deck must have at least fifteen different Contraption cards and no more than one of each.
2018-01-19	In Limited formats, a Contraption deck may include any number of Contraption cards in your card pool. You don’t have to include every Contraption card you draft or open in sealed deck. In those formats, your Contraption deck may include duplicates.
2018-01-19	In silver-bordered games using Contraptions, you have three sprockets, illustrated on the back of Contraption cards. At the start of the game, put a CRANK! counter on sprocket 3.
2018-01-19	While Contraptions you control are on the battlefield, the Contraption deck is not, even if you are using it to signify the three sprockets.