Open the Vaults MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 8 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost6
RarityRare
TypeSorcery

Key Takeaways

  1. Open the Vaults provides significant card advantage by reviving multiple artifacts and enchantments at once.
  2. It accelerates resources, enabling a quick rebound of mana rocks and key permanents.
  3. The card’s substantial impact mimics instant-speed effects, surprising opponents and shifting game dynamics.

Text of card

Return all artifact and enchantment cards from all graveyards to the battlefield under their owners' control. (Auras with nothing to enchant remain in graveyards.)

When the vaults are empty, everyone is rich.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Open the Vaults is a game-changing card that can turn the tide by returning numerous artifacts and enchantments from your graveyard to the battlefield. This potentially massive card advantage can swing momentum in your favor, setting up overwhelming board states that are difficult for your opponents to recover from.

Resource Acceleration: By retrieving key artifacts and enchantments, Open the Vaults can significantly accelerate your resources. It enables you to reestablish powerful mana rocks or accelerants that were previously removed, giving you a sudden surge in available mana to deploy the rest of your hand or activate abilities.

Instant Speed: While Open the Vaults itself is a sorcery, its impact on the game is comparable to instant-speed board impact. The immediate and comprehensive restoration of your artifacts and enchantments as soon as it resolves can catch opponents off guard, especially if played following a board wipe or in response to graveyard disruption.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Open the Vaults doesn’t require an upfront discard, it can indirectly lead to card disadvantage. The spell hinges on a strategy of self-milling or discarding valuable artifacts and enchantments, meaning you could be emptying your hand or library of other essential resources to set up a potent revival combo.

Specific Mana Cost: Sporting a demanding cost that includes both white and another mana, Open the Vaults may restrict deckbuilding to those colors. Players must carefully consider their mana base and the potential strain on their deck’s color versatility.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a conversion mana cost of six, Open the Vaults is a late-game play. Although its effect can be game-changing, assembling a substantial graveyard by this stage is a must, and faster-paced decks may find the six-mana threshold prohibitive for their strategy.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Open the Vaults is a dynamic card that can be slotted into various deck archetypes, particularly ones that rely on a hefty presence of artifacts and enchantments. It promises a sweeping effect that can turn the tide of the game by returning all such permanents from the graveyard to the battlefield.

Combo Potential: This card shines in combinations, potentially setting up explosive turns where numerous artifacts and enchantments are played from the graveyard. It’s the linchpin in strategies designed to assemble intricate combos or overwhelming board states in a single, game-changing turn.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta that’s heavy with artifact and enchantment destruction, Open the Vaults offers resilience, allowing you to recover and reinstate your board position rapidly. It’s a crucial answer to decks that employ mass removal, majorly impacting the game flow and your ability to bounce back.


How to beat

Open the Vaults holds a unique place in Magic: The Gathering, a powerful enchantment that has the potential to dramatically alter the board state in a single turn. This card brings back all artifacts and enchantment cards from the graveyard to the battlefield, often swinging the momentum in favor of the player casting it. To counter its potent effect, you’ll want to focus on graveyard management strategies.

Strategies include utilizing cards that exile or continuously remove artifacts and enchantments from the game. For example, cards like Bojuka Bog that can exile graveyards, Leyline of the Void which prevents cards from entering graveyards to begin with, or Rest in Peace which replaces all graveyard-involving actions with exile. These preventative measures can ensure that once artifacts and enchantments hit the graveyard, they stay out of reach from Open the Vaults’ recuperative powers.

Another effective method is direct countering. Blue spells like Negate or Counterspell can stop Open the Vaults before it even resolves, keeping the board clear of sudden threats. Control decks often pack these kinds of answers to manage similar wide-ranging effects. Understanding your opponent’s strategy and holding onto these trump cards until the pivotal moment is key.


BurnMana Recommendations

In-analysis, honing your Magic the Gathering deck with cards like Open the Vaults can be a masterstroke for those playing the long game. It brings an unparalleled ability to resurrect a multitude of valuable artifacts and enchantments, pivoting the game’s trajectory in your favor. For enthusiasts seeking to craft strategic plays or challenge opponents with surprise comebacks, this card is a prized addition. Ready to delve deeper into its strategic use and integrate it into your own winning decks? Explore further with us and enhance your gameplay as you master the art of magical retrieval with Open the Vaults and similar game-changing cards.


Understanding Open the Vaults

Exploring the depth of artifact and enchantment recovery in Magic the Gathering, Open the Vaults stands as a pivotal card in the realm of reclaiming these types of permanents from the graveyard. This singular card echoes the effect of classics in the resurrection category such as Replenish and Retether, with the primary difference lying in its scope. Open the Vaults doesn’t limit itself to enchantments; it brings back both artifacts and enchantments giving it a broader range of targets.

Cards like Open the Vaults

Open the Vaults is a potent card when it comes to restoring resources, akin to its younger relative, Roar of Reclamation. Both cards recover artifacts from the graveyard, yet Open the Vaults includes enchantments as part of its salvage operation, making it more versatile in mixed strategies. Then we have Faith’s Reward, another parallel, which retrieves all permanents that went to the graveyard this turn. While more restrictive in terms of timing, Faith’s Reward can act as a swift response to mass removal. Lastly, consider Remembrance, which grants a continuous, but specific, recovery of creatures. However, it lacks the sweeping, one-time board impact of Open the Vaults.

When studying their utility and strategic complexity, it’s clear Open the Vaults offers a broad and dynamic approach to recycling valuable cards, making it a strong contender in the revivification aspect of Magic the Gathering.

Replenish - MTG Card versions
Retether - MTG Card versions
Roar of Reclamation - MTG Card versions
Faith's Reward - MTG Card versions
Remembrance - MTG Card versions
Replenish - Urza's Destiny (UDS)
Retether - Planar Chaos (PLC)
Roar of Reclamation - Fifth Dawn (5DN)
Faith's Reward - Magic 2013 (M13)
Remembrance - Urza's Saga (USG)

Cards similar to Open the Vaults by color, type and mana cost

Icatian Town - MTG Card versions
Righteous Fury - MTG Card versions
Catastrophe - MTG Card versions
Guan Yu's 1,000-Li March - MTG Card versions
Kirtar's Wrath - MTG Card versions
Devastating Mastery - MTG Card versions
Austere Command - MTG Card versions
Akroma's Vengeance - MTG Card versions
Solar Tide - MTG Card versions
Final Judgment - MTG Card versions
Chronomantic Escape - MTG Card versions
Spectral Procession - MTG Card versions
Planar Cleansing - MTG Card versions
Nomads' Assembly - MTG Card versions
Phyrexian Rebirth - MTG Card versions
Sudden Disappearance - MTG Card versions
Terminus - MTG Card versions
Vanquish the Foul - MTG Card versions
Plea for Guidance - MTG Card versions
Triplicate Spirits - MTG Card versions
Icatian Town - Masters Edition (ME1)
Righteous Fury - Starter 1999 (S99)
Catastrophe - The List (PLST)
Guan Yu's 1,000-Li March - Masters Edition III (ME3)
Kirtar's Wrath - Crimson Vow Commander (VOC)
Devastating Mastery - Strixhaven: School of Mages Promos (PSTX)
Austere Command - Fallout (PIP)
Akroma's Vengeance - Commander 2020 (C20)
Solar Tide - Mirrodin (MRD)
Final Judgment - The List (PLST)
Chronomantic Escape - Future Sight (FUT)
Spectral Procession - Commander 2014 (C14)
Planar Cleansing - Core Set 2020 (M20)
Nomads' Assembly - Commander 2014 (C14)
Phyrexian Rebirth - March of the Machine Commander (MOC)
Sudden Disappearance - Dark Ascension (DKA)
Terminus - From the Vault: Annihilation (V14)
Vanquish the Foul - Theros (THS)
Plea for Guidance - Born of the Gods (BNG)
Triplicate Spirits - Jumpstart 2022 (J22)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Open the Vaults MTG card by a specific set like Magic 2010 and Commander 2015, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Open the Vaults and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Open the Vaults Magic the Gathering card was released in 5 different sets between 2009-07-17 and 2024-03-08. Illustrated by 2 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12009-07-17Magic 2010M10 212003normalblackBrian Despain
22015-11-13Commander 2015C15 772015normalblackBrian Despain
32016-11-11Commander 2016C16 722015normalblackBrian Despain
42020-08-07Double Masters2XM 242015normalblackBrian Despain
52024-03-08FalloutPIP 4552015normalblackIlker Yildiz
62024-03-08FalloutPIP 6962015normalblackIlker Yildiz
72024-03-08FalloutPIP 1682015normalblackIlker Yildiz
82024-03-08FalloutPIP 9832015normalblackIlker Yildiz

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Open the Vaults has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Open the Vaults card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2020-08-07 An Aura put onto the battlefield this way can't enchant an artifact or enchantment that's also being put onto the battlefield with Open the Vaults.
2020-08-07 If an Aura can be returned to the battlefield with Open the Vaults, it must be, even if its owner doesn't like what it would enchant.
2020-08-07 If an Aura is put onto the battlefield without being cast, the Aura's controller-to-be chooses what it will enchant as it enters the battlefield. An Aura put onto the battlefield this way doesn't target anything (so it could be attached to an opponent's permanent with hexproof, for example), but the Aura's enchant ability restricts what it can be attached to. If the Aura can't legally be attached to anything, it remains in its current zone.
2020-08-07 If multiple players have Auras in their graveyards, the player whose turn it is announces what their Auras will enchant, then each other player in turn order does the same, then all artifacts and enchantments (including both Auras and non-Auras) enter the battlefield at the same time.

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