Forethought Amulet
Artifact
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice this artifact unless you pay 
.
If an instant or sorcery source would deal 3 or more damage to you, it deals 2 damage to you instead.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Legends
- Price
- $21.28
- EDHREC rank
- #30850
Forethought Amulet locks your hand from spells that cost three or less, meaning your opponents can't counter you, bolt you, or pick apart your hand with cheap discard — all for five mana and zero ongoing cost. If your deck operates at four mana and above, this card is an asymmetric shield that demands an answer.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Forethought Amulet earns its slot — in multiplayer pods full of cheap counterspells, Swords to Plowshares effects, and hand disruption, a permanent that blanks all of that for the rest of the game is genuinely oppressive in the right shell. It's a niche piece, not a staple, so you'll find it mainly in high-curve control and stax lists that need to resolve expensive spells without getting stonewalled by two-mana interaction. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but essentially irrelevant — those formats move too fast and pack too many answers that don't care about mana cost thresholds for a five-mana artifact to matter. Oathbreaker shares enough of Commander's structure that the same logic applies: slow, expensive strategies can use it, everyone else ignores it.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Leyline of Sanctity covers a meaningful chunk of the same space — protecting you from discard and targeted hand disruption — for far less money, though it does nothing against counterspells. If the primary goal is protecting your spells on the stack, Vexing Shusher and充 Replication Specialist won't cut it, but Cavern of Souls handles creature spells specifically at a fraction of Forethought Amulet's footprint; for noncreature spells you're mostly paying the premium or going without.
Price Context
Current price
$21.28 premium tier
At $21.28, Forethought Amulet sits in premium territory — a price driven almost entirely by age and scarcity rather than broad demand. It holds value because supply is thin and it never got a meaningful reprint, but that same scarcity means you're paying a collector tax for a card that sees narrow play.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.