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Vigor

Creature — Elemental Incarnation

Trample
If damage would be dealt to another creature you control, prevent that damage. Put a +1/+1 counter on that creature for each 1 damage prevented this way.
When Vigor is put into a graveyard from anywhere, shuffle it into its owner's library.

CMC
6
Mana cost
{3}{G}{G}{G}
Color identity
G
Rarity
rare
Set
Duels of the Planeswalkers
Price
$16.21
EDHREC rank
#1349
Buy on TCGplayer
Vigor card art
Vigor turns every Lightning Bolt and Pyroclasm aimed at your board into a pump spell, making it nearly impossible to trade into your creatures without handing you a board full of threats. At six mana it's a late-play, but the replacement-into-library clause means opponents can't even answer it cleanly — and in counters shells running Hardened Scales, each redirected damage trigger snowballs fast enough to end games, a synergy Leonardo, the Balance // Michelangelo, the Heart exploits better than almost any other commander.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Leonardo, the BalanceMichelangelo, the Heart

Leonardo, the Balance // Michelangelo, the Heart

65.8% of decks · synergy 0.64

Leonardo, the Balance // Michelangelo, the Heart deals damage to its own creatures as part of its engine, and Vigor flips every point of that self-inflicted damage into +1/+1 counters — the same triggers that would shrink your board instead grow it.

02
Neyith of the Dire Hunt

Neyith of the Dire Hunt

52.1% of decks · synergy 0.46

Neyith of the Dire Hunt pushes creatures into combat and rewards winning fights, and Vigor ensures that blocking into your team doesn't whittle them down — combat damage redirects into growth, so your biggest threats come out of every exchange larger than they entered.

03
Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider

Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider

55.5% of decks · synergy 0.44

Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider doubles every counter that lands on your permanents, so each point of damage redirected by Vigor becomes two counters — the two cards form a multiplicative loop that scales creatures out of removal range within a few attack steps.

04
Wolverine, Best There Is

Wolverine, Best There Is

32.2% of decks · synergy 0.26

Wolverine, Best There Is is built to take damage and convert it into counters, and Vigor adds a second layer: any damage dealt to your other creatures also redirects into counters rather than falling off, protecting the supporting cast that keeps Wolverine swinging.

05
Anzrag, the Quake-Mole

Anzrag, the Quake-Mole

31.6% of decks · synergy 0.26

Anzrag, the Quake-Mole forces opponents to block, and Vigor makes that mandatory blocking completely one-sided — blockers deal their damage, it redirects to counters, and Anzrag's team walks away from every combat bigger than before.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is where Vigor earns its slot, full stop — the singleton format's slower clock gives it time to land, and multiplayer combat creates a constant stream of damage triggers to redirect. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but essentially absent; six mana is unreachable in those formats before the game is over, and neither format is looking for this effect. Modern is technically legal but practically the same story: the format's interaction density and speed mean Vigor will rarely resolve and matter. Oathbreaker shares Commander's pace and counter-synergy shells, so it sees occasional play there, but the smaller deck size makes the library-replacement clause less relevant.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

Raking Claws and Boros Charm offer narrow protection but don't replace the continuous damage-redirection engine Vigor provides — the honest answer is that nothing fully replicates it at a lower price. Heroic Intervention at around $3 covers indestructibility for a turn, and Blossoming Defense handles targeted removal, but both are reactive shields rather than the proactive counter-generation that makes Vigor worth six mana.

Price Context

Current price

$16.21 mid tier

At $16.21, Vigor sits in the mid tier — expensive enough to feel like a real commitment, but not so scarce that the price is likely to spike without warning. It's a staple-level inclusion in enough counter and combat-heavy builds that the price has staying power, and for the right deck it's clearly worth it.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

← All cards

Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.