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Neutralizing Avarice Amulet: Sideboard Tech That Shuts It Down

We’ve all felt that tingle of dread when a match pivots around a single, seemingly innocuous artifact. Avarice Amulet is one of those cards that quietly presses its advantage into the midgame, turning steady board presence into a card-drawing engine and a potential political pawn. In MTG terms, it’s a colorless Equipment that doesn’t just buff a creature; it hands you a steady stream of draws and vigilance while inviting your opponent to grab control of the piece if the equipped creature ever dies. That last bit—“Whenever equipped creature dies, target opponent gains control of this Equipment”—is the sort of clause that punishes reckless aggression and rewards patient play. If you’re piloting a plan to break open a sideboarded game, you’ll want a toolbox that can neutralize the Amulet without giving your own deck a headache. 🧙‍♂️🔥💎

Avarice Amulet in a Nutshell

• Mana cost: 4
• Type: Artifact — Equipment
• Equipped creature gets +2/+0 and has vigilance, and At the beginning of your upkeep, draw a card.
• Whenever equipped creature dies, target opponent gains control of this Equipment.
• Equip {2} (2: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.)

In the right shell, Avarice Amulet can outgrind a board by keeping the card draw rolling and by pressuring opponents with the threat of losing control of the very device that keeps their growing board alive. But that same engine is brittle in the face of targeted disruption, bounce, or a clean removal spell. The trick is to tilt the board state just enough to derail the Amulet’s uptime without derailing your own plan. That’s the essence of smart sideboarding against Avarice Amulet—deny the power, or reshuffle it so it doesn’t decide the game on a single trigger. ⚔️

Sideboard Concepts to Neutralize the Amulet

When you’re facing decks that lean on artifacts or a potential “drag-and-draw” engine like Avarice Amulet, you want a mix of tempo, disruption, and resilience. Here are practical angles you can bring to the table:

• Artifact removal on 1- or 2-mana tempo: White or colorless removal that can hit artifacts quickly is your first line. Cards like Disenchant or Naturalize-style effects remove Avarice Amulet before it becomes a problem, especially if your opponent has committed to a board that accelerates with a few threats.
• Bounce or flicker to reset the attachment: Avarice Amulet’s “death trigger” only fires when the equipped creature dies. If you can bounce or flicker the two permanents involved (the Amulet and its bearer) you prevent the death from ever happening, keeping the Amulet permanently in your opponent’s graveyard-free realm—while you reset the situation on your terms. This is particularly effective in slower blue or control shells that can blink or bounce at instant speed.
• Systematically weaken the payoff: Quietly dismantle the engine by destroying the draw cadence. The upkeep draw is a nice upside, but if you can remove the card draw incentive by eliminating the Amulet, you strip away the engine’s primary incentive to keep the equipment attached.
• Fight on the ground while you wait: Avarice Amulet is colorless and can ride along with many creature-based plans. Don’t let its presence dictate tempo. Instead, push early pressure with evasive threats or superior board presence, forcing your opponent to defend rather than rely on the Amulet’s long game.
• Targeted graveyard or exile strategies: Some builds lean into graveyard hate or exile to shore up artifacts that swing games late. If you expect the Amulet to stick, bringing in exile or graveyard-based answers can deny the engine a second life once it’s removed from the battlefield.

In practice, you’ll often swap in a mix of 1- and 2-mana artifact removals, plus a few bounce-dispel options. If you’re playing a tempo or aggro deck, prioritizing cheap ways to kill the Amulet on or before turn 3 can swing the game decisively. If you’re in a more control-heavy shell, you can afford to hold a bounce spell or a flicker outlet for a turn to dodge the death trigger entirely. The key is not just “how to answer it” but “when to answer it”—timing is everything, and a well-trammelled plan can neutralize the Amulet without derailing your own resource curve. 🧙‍♂️🎲

Concrete Cards and Gameplay Lines

Here are a few representative approaches you could implement in a sideboard, framed in real-world archetypes:

• Disenchant/Naturalize-style artifact removal to permanently remove Avarice Amulet from the battlefield. Use these in your postboard games when you expect a longer grind and you want to lock the Amulet out of the game.
• Shatter/Wear // Tear-style options for flexible artifact removal that can hit either in the main phase or midgame as needed. These are handy when your mana base is a bit more flexible and you want reliable artifact removal that scales with your color identity.
• Flicker effects such as a blink spell or creature-free flicker to reset the attachment. This approach is especially potent if you’re running blue in the matchup and can blink the Amulet away on your own turn or during your opponent’s end step for a clean reset.
• Bounce spells to remove the Amulet from the battlefield and reattach it to a new creature you control, thereby sidestepping the death-trigger consequences entirely. This line is popular in tempo-control matchups where you want to preserve your own infrastructure while dismantling the Amulet’s engine.

Design-wise, Avarice Amulet embodies a classic risk-versus-reward paradox: it rewards building a persistent threat on the board while nudging the game toward a vulnerable moment when the opponent controls the equipment. Its artwork by Steven Belledin and its status as a rare artifact in Magic 2015 add to its aura of “fair, powerful” design—one you want to treat with respect in a sideboard. The card is legal in Modern, Legacy, Vintage, and many casual formats, but Standard rotation removed it, which makes it a favorite playground for non-rotating formats where the Amulet’s deck-building signature can flourish. The elegance lies in how a single removable piece can ripple through every decision you make about tempo, card draw, and how you shepherd your battlefield into a winning arrangement. 🎨⚔️

Product Spotlight

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