Eland Umbra MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Common
Type	Enchantment — Aura
Abilities	Enchant,Totem armor
Released	2010-04-23
Set symbol
Set name	Rise of the Eldrazi
Set code	ROE
Number	19
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Howard Lyon

Key Takeaways

Eland Umbra offers totem armor for creature protection, acting like drawing an extra card.
Instant speed casting of Eland Umbra ensures flexibility and tactical advantage in play.
The card can be restrictive in multicolor decks due to its specific mana cost.

Text of card

Enchant creature Enchanted creature gets +0/+4. Totem armor (If enchanted creature would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and destroy this Aura.)

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Eland Umbra not only provides a boost in toughness but also equips your creatures with totem armor, potentially saving a valuable creature from destruction. This can be akin to drawing an extra card because you maintain board presence without losing a creature.

Resource Acceleration: Though Eland Umbra doesn’t directly increase your mana pool, the ability to preserve your creatures can accelerate your game plan by ensuring your key resources stay in play, allowing continued or increased pressure on your opponent.

Instant Speed: Eland Umbra’s aura spell can be cast at instant speed, offering flexibility and surprise factor. You can respond to threats or spells during your opponent’s turn, making it a tactical tool for protecting your creatures when they are most vulnerable.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While not applicable to Eland Umbra specifically, cards requiring a discard as a cost can deplete your hand, putting you at a potential disadvantage.

Specific Mana Cost: Eland Umbra requires both colorless and white mana to cast, potentially limiting its integration in multicolored decks that can’t reliably produce white mana.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost somewhat higher than other aura cards, players might opt for alternatives that provide a similar totem armor effect or power boost at a lower mana investment.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Eland Umbra offers an easy way to increase creatures’ toughness, making it a fine addition to decks that want to fortify their creatures against damage and removal.

Combo Potential: This card is a good fit for strategies that hinge on enhancing creatures, with the potential to combine with cards that capitalize on increased toughness or benefit from totem armor’s protection.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where removal is prevalent, Eland Umbra can serve as a defensive measure to protect key creatures, thereby ensuring your important assets remain on the board.

How to beat Eland Umbra

The Eland Umbra card plays a vital role in Magic: The Gathering, acting like a shield by giving creatures a toughness boost through its totem armor ability. Its real strength lies in its capacity to protect your valuable creatures from being destroyed, either in battle or by lethal damage from spells and abilities.

To outmaneuver Eland Umbra, it’s crucial to leverage effects that bypass the totem armor. Consider using exile or return-to-hand abilities, which can effectively neutralize the Umbra’s protective benefits without having to destroy the creature it’s attached to. Cards like Path to Exile or Unsummon allow you not only to bypass the totem armor but also disrupt your opponent’s board presence.

Sacrifice effects provide another avenue to combat the resilience offered by Eland Umbra. Compelling your opponent to sacrifice creatures circumvents the totem armor since it doesn’t count as destruction. In this way, cards such as Diabolic Edict can serve as a reliable strategy to clear the path of totem-armored obstacles and regain control of the battlefield.

Ultimately, understanding and having the right tools to undermine Eland Umbra’s protective capacity can shift the tides of the game in your favor, providing a strategic edge over opponents relying on enchantments for creature safety.

BurnMana Recommendations

Mastering the strategic nuances of MTG is an evolving journey, one that requires the savvy deployment of cards like Eland Umbra. When deck building, considering the pros, utlilizing instant speed protection, or amplifying creature resilience can be game-changing. Seeking cards with versatile combo possibilities or those that adapt to the shifting meta can critically bolster your line-up. We encourage you to expand your collection and explore the range of tactics available. Dive deeper into the realm of strategic enchantments and gather insights to enhance your gameplay prowess. For an enlightened approach to MTG deck optimization, continue this adventure with us.

Cards like Eland Umbra

Eland Umbra is a unique aura that players can attach to their creatures in Magic: The Gathering. When we look at other cards that offer similar toughness-enhancing abilities, we often find comparable effects, such as those provided by Mammoth Umbra. While both auras grant a significant toughness boost, Mammoth Umbra offers the additional benefit of gifting the creature the vigilance ability, allowing for both attacking and defending within the same turn without tapping.

Another card worth mentioning is Felidar Umbra. Much like Eland Umbra, this aura offers a protective lifelink ability, potentially turning the tide of the game in your favor during combat exchanges. Both auras share the totem armor mechanic as well, which can save your creature from destruction. However, Felidar Umbra edges out with its lifelink ability, which is not present in the straightforward toughness boost provided by Eland Umbra.

Taking a step back to evaluate these options, Eland Umbra serves as a solid choice for players looking to fortify their creatures. Although it may not have the additional combat capabilities of Mammoth Umbra or the life-gaining qualities of Felidar Umbra, its place is ensured in strategies that prioritize resilience and endurance in creature-based combat.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Eland Umbra MTG card by a specific set like Rise of the Eldrazi, 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 Eland Umbra and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Eland Umbra has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2010-06-15	If a creature enchanted with an Aura that has totem armor would be destroyed by multiple state-based actions at the same time the totem armor’s effect will replace all of them and save the creature.
2010-06-15	If a permanent you control is enchanted with multiple Auras that have totem armor, and the enchanted permanent would be destroyed, one of those Auras is destroyed instead — but only one of them. You choose which one because you control the enchanted permanent.
2010-06-15	If a spell or ability (such as Planar Cleansing) would destroy both an Aura with totem armor and the permanent it’s enchanting at the same time, totem armor’s effect will save the enchanted permanent from being destroyed. Instead, the spell or ability will destroy the Aura in two different ways at the same time, but the result is the same as destroying it once.
2010-06-15	If a spell or ability says that it would “destroy” a permanent enchanted with an Aura that has totem armor, that spell or ability causes the Aura to be destroyed instead. (This matters for cards such as Karmic Justice.) Totem armor doesn’t destroy the Aura; rather, it changes the effects of the spell or ability. On the other hand, if a spell or ability deals lethal damage to a creature enchanted with an Aura that has totem armor, the game rules regarding lethal damage cause the Aura to be destroyed, not that spell or ability.
2010-06-15	Say you control a permanent enchanted with an Aura that has totem armor, and the enchanted permanent has gained a regeneration shield. The next time it would be destroyed, you choose whether to apply the regeneration effect or the totem armor effect. The other effect is unused and remains, in case the permanent would be destroyed again.
2010-06-15	Totem armor’s effect is applied no matter why the enchanted permanent would be destroyed: because it’s been dealt lethal damage, or because it’s being affected by an effect that says to “destroy” it (such as Doom Blade). In either case, all damage is removed from the permanent and the Aura is destroyed instead.
2010-06-15	Totem armor’s effect is mandatory. If the enchanted permanent would be destroyed, you must remove all damage from it and destroy the Aura that has totem armor instead.
2010-06-15	Totem armor’s effect is not regeneration. Specifically, if totem armor’s effect is applied, the enchanted permanent does not become tapped and is not removed from combat as a result. Effects that say the enchanted permanent can’t be regenerated (as Vendetta does) won’t prevent totem armor’s effect from being applied.
2013-07-01	If a creature enchanted with an Aura that has totem armor has indestructible, lethal damage and effects that try to destroy it simply have no effect. Totem armor won’t do anything because it won’t have to.
2013-07-01	Say you control a permanent enchanted with an Aura that has totem armor, and that Aura has gained a regeneration shield. The next time the enchanted permanent would be destroyed, the Aura would be destroyed instead — but it regenerates, so nothing is destroyed at all. Alternately, if that Aura somehow gains indestructible, the enchanted permanent is effectively indestructible as well.
2013-07-01	Totem armor has no effect if the enchanted permanent is put into a graveyard for any other reason, such as if it’s sacrificed, if it’s legendary and another legendary permanent with the same name is controlled by the same player, or if its toughness is 0 or less.