You should you be putting Amulet of Vigor in all of your decks?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on July 18, 2022, 2:18 p.m. by griffstick
Amulet of Vigor is in 13724 decks, that's 1% of 1374339 decks according to edhrec.com
Amulet of Vigor is 1 mana. If a permanent comes in tapped under your control, Amulet of Vigor untaps it. Boros Garrison? Untap it, Reshape the Earth? Untap them, Cultivator Colossus? Untap them, Army of the Damned? Untap them, Karametra, God of Harvests? untap them, Scapeshift? Kodama of the West Tree? Vesuva? Boundless Realms? Zombie Apocalypse? Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant? Traverse the Outlands? Splendid Reclamation? Do I need to keep going? Are there other things I need to mention?
By its self, it's worth it, to make your lands come in untapped. It's ramp no matter what. Do you disagree? Or do you think we should be putting this in every deck? Of course there is a few exceptions. So put it in 90% of decks.
Amulet of Vigor’a biggest problem is that it makes bad cards better… which still means you have a deck full of bad cards and are relying on one, single card to make those bad cards playable. Manage to find your Amulet and not get it countered? Enjoy playing with a bunch of mediocre enters tapped cards when your Amulet gets exiled.
July 18, 2022 7:06 p.m.
Necrosis24 says... #4
It is also $25, for your average deck the price isn’t really worth it unless you really get good use out of it.
July 18, 2022 7:09 p.m.
griffstick says... #5
I suppose it's a hard card to get in the first place. It has 1 printing as a rare. And It's high price makes it hard to get. If the card was more available and affordable then that 1 percent would go to 2 percent. But I stand by what I said but perhaps I should have said it goes in 90% of my own decks and my friends decks
July 18, 2022 11:29 p.m.
I heavily disagree with that. In decks that don't run a single tapped-ETB effect, would you still run it? I would say the only decks that could properly run it run a myriad of effects not limited to lands, such as Scapeshift, Splendid Reclamation, and other land tutors such as Springbloom Druid. Would you still run Amulet of Vigor in a stax/prison deck where the only piece of things etb'ing tapped is Root Maze? I don't think so, because you have one card trying to interact with one card in a deck of 100 cards. I've cut Amulet of Vigor from too many decks I've brewed because it just does nothing if you aren't playing things that etb tapped.
July 19, 2022 8:38 a.m.
Grubbernaut says... #7
I don't think I play literally a single card in any of my decks that unconditionally enters tapped.
July 19, 2022 5:34 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #8
From the perspective of someone who is me, it sounds really cool and clean at first. But that's because newer, younger, or more casual players are okay with longer, low-competitve games where if something ETB tapped, that's alright.
Means when I fetch a Triome, I don't have to wait a turn for it to be used.
It would come in useful for my Ur-Dragon deck... if I can get it out and keep it there
Here's the issue though, as EDH grows older as a format and more people enter, my particular style of play fades away. Newer players enter, but they tend to have budget restrictions and are likely unable to afford a single $25 card. Likewise, they probably rely on low-price non-ETB cards from drafts, booster packs and precons. This means AoV isn't really helping them, anyway.
Then you move toward the players who have been around a few years and have a decent collection. These players might have a few shocks and fetches, but generally understand that ETB tapped is bad and will attempt to avoid that if possible. They may have a rogue land or creature from time to time that does, but what this means is AoV serves little purpose as they are actively avoiding ETB tapped. Likely it'll only be their shock lands and possibly some cheaper ones, such as triomes and scry lands. And with being a few years into the game, they are looking to upgrade those lands - not circumvent them.
Then you approach experienced players who will never be caught dead in the water with ETB tapped permanents, including lands. This makes AoV complete hot worthless garbage, to their style of play.
And so as you see, in all three scenarios, while AoV arguably has some utility, it is generally considered bad by all accounts. Likely the only players who may find use for it are fringe decks with some sort of mass-ETB they want to circumvent. But even then, one card ever so slightly boosting one other card is not exactly a game-winning combo, nor true synergy. It's just a cool little "ah-ha, I finally did it!" moment that'll last all but one turn, once on a blue moon.
July 20, 2022 11:59 a.m.
ZendikariWol says... #9
The card is like 25$, it's cool and it untaps my guildgates but honestly I think you're overshooting this card's value in non-green decks.
July 21, 2022 3:28 a.m.
golgarigirl says... #10
I wouldn't put Amulet in any of my decks...
In cute stax-y builds, karoo-based combos, and some other interesting places, sure. But I'm really confused on OP's 'it's ramp no matter what' comment. It's not...it's a do-nothing artifact no matter what that needs other cards to have an application. It has more applications than perhaps it's 1% belies, but still.
Note: I am not saying it's a bad card. In the right circumstance, it's a very good card. But I'd shove Crucible of Worlds into every one of my decks before I'd look twice at Amulet.
July 21, 2022 8:22 p.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #11
I would strongly push back on the notion that Amulet of Vigor a) should be played in most decks, and b) can be considered "ramp"
a) Amulet is a pretty narrow card when you think about it. Only a few strategies can really benefit from it's ability. Decks that are making a conscious decision to play a lot of tapped lands (i.e. guildgates) will want it, heavy budget decks who are forced to play tapped lands want it (those decks would quite honestly be better off just running a lot more basics), and it has combo applications in Toggo/Kodama partner decks and Omnath, Locus of Rage decks. That's about it. It's going to be a dead card in most decks.
b) Amulet of Vigor is not ramp, full stop. It doesn't tutor out lands to the battlefield like Rampant Growth, nor accelerate your mana like Birds of Paradise, nor enable additional land drops like Oracle of Mul Daya. Hell, it doesn't even give you burst mana like Dark Ritual (also not ramp). All Amulet does is make it so tapped lands are usable the turn they come down. In no way does it ramp.
July 22, 2022 12:59 a.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #12
I can understand the sentiment that it "is ramp", but I also recognize why this statement is false.
It is not so much "ramp", as it is more comparable to "mana fixing"
Which, again, it's not. But a closer analogy is mana fixing, over ramp.
If I crack a fetch for a Naya Triome because I really need G and W can also be useful, I need to wait a full then as the Triome ETB tapped. Amulet makes it untapped, giving me immediate access to that sweet, sweet G mana.
But Amulet ITSELF isn't producing any mana - hence NOT being ramp.
But it IS allowing me access to the mana of my choice a turn faster. So if I need G, I can use it.
And that is why I would argue that, if you had to pick a direction to compare it to, mana fixing is far more appropriate than ramp.
- Again, recognizing that it is neither. I'm just saying. It's closer to one, than the other.
July 22, 2022 1:12 a.m.
AngelicNighthawk says... #13
Amulet of Vigor is too narrow. It is only in 1% of decks because it only works on cards entering the battlefield.
It might crack 50% of decks if it also would untap one permanent per turn, like Instill Energy does for creatures, (which is in all my green decks), or Voltaic Key for artifacts, etc.
Even though I play a lot of three colour decks, I don't use it because I am luckily allowed to use proxies in my play groups. Amulet of Vigour is just a Pauper work-around to make up for Pain Lands being $50.
July 23, 2022 9:56 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #14
What pain lands are you running that cost $50? I thought the most expensive was Adarkar Wastes and it is $11.
July 24, 2022 6:51 a.m.
rshistorysmuf says... #16
I like that it pairs with Patron of the Moon as in my Mill Squirt Grinder
Gidgetimer says... #2
1% may be a little underplayed, but it is no where near "all" or "90%". I'd say that amulet of vigor belongs in at most 3-4% of decks. Looking at my decks I'd say that I have at most 3 ramp spells and 3 lands that would benefit from it and to "net" any mana it would have to make 2 things untap. Assuming that most "average" commander decks are close to mine and 3 extra draws, you would have a 35% chance to see at least 2 things that would benefit from Amulet of Vigor and a 20% chance to see Amulet of Vigor in 20 cards for a final probability of 7% to do anything in 10 turns. For this you are proposing using up a card slot.
Amulet of Vigor only belongs in decks where Amulet would be a major tutor target because the density of things that come in tapped is high.
July 18, 2022 4:54 p.m.