TIL Will-o'Wisp is better than Lab.
It only increases handsize if the second card is cheap. Why is it better?
I suspect Awaclus means: "Trashing a card is like gaining a lab" so The Flame's Gift is like gaining a lab, whereas The Swamp's Gift is gaining a Wisp. To have Swamp higher than Flame is like saying Wisp is better than Lab.
This might be an excellent opportunity for Awaclus and others to reflect on all the ways in which trashing a card is not equivalent to gaining a Laboratory.
There's more than that. Even if trashing a card is 100% like gaining a lab, The Flame's Gift can miss if you don't have a card to trash when you get it.
But indeed there are other differences. Trashing an Estate is like gaining a lab but also losing a
token. Trashing a Copper is like gaining a lab but also taking your -
token. So both are slightly worse than gaining a lab.
On the other hand, trashing a Copper/Estate also has an advantage over gaining a lab. Say you have trashed 3 Coppers and 3 Estates and bought 1 Mountebank this game. Your next hand WILL contain the Mountebank. Say you have bought 1 Mountebank and 6 labs this game. Your next hand could still be dead.
Even so, I think his overall point is correct... trashing a card from your hand should, as a whole, be stronger than gaining a Will-o'-Wisp.