MagicTheGathering.fyi

Bear Umbra

Enchantment — Aura

Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has "Whenever this creature attacks, untap all lands you control."
Umbra armor (If enchanted creature would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and destroy this Aura.)

CMC
4
Mana cost
{2}{G}{G}
Color identity
G
Rarity
rare
Set
Commander 2018
Price
$9.24
EDHREC rank
#863
Buy on TCGplayer
Bear Umbra card art
Bear Umbra untaps all your lands when the enchanted creature attacks, which effectively pays for itself and then some on the first swing — the mana you float going into combat is yours to spend on combat tricks, activations, or extra-combat spells. Pair it with Aggravated Assault and any creature that attacks profitably and you have an infinite-combat engine; even without the combo, it pulls serious weight in any deck running Chishiro, the Shattered Blade.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Chishiro, the Shattered Blade

Chishiro, the Shattered Blade

79.1% of decks · synergy 0.70

Chishiro, the Shattered Blade creates a 2/2 Spirit token every time an Aura or Equipment enters attached to a creature you control, so Bear Umbra immediately generates a body on cast — then the untap trigger makes sure you have mana left to cast the next Aura in hand.

02
Uril, the Miststalker

Uril, the Miststalker

63.8% of decks · synergy 0.60

Uril, the Miststalker grows by +2/+2 for each Aura it wears, turning Bear Umbra into both a substantial power boost and a mana engine; the totem armor clause also means one removal spell aimed at Uril destroys the Umbra instead of your voltron threat.

03
Kosei, Penitent Warlord

Kosei, Penitent Warlord

65.6% of decks · synergy 0.56

Kosei, Penitent Warlord needs multiple enchantments, equipment, or counters to trigger its copy-damage ability, and Bear Umbra checks that box while simultaneously funding the extra pump spells needed to make Kosei's one-shot damage stack lethal.

04
Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief

Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief

57.3% of decks · synergy 0.55

Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief copies any spell that targets only a single creature opponent controls, so casting Bear Umbra on Ivy while an opponent has a targetable creature hands you a second free Umbra — doubling the untap trigger and the totem armor shield.

05
Thrun, Breaker of Silence

Thrun, Breaker of Silence

61.9% of decks · synergy 0.52

Thrun, Breaker of Silence is hexproof and can't be countered, which makes Bear Umbra effectively permanent once it resolves — opponents have almost no clean answer to the enchanted creature, and the mana untap lets Thrun's controller keep interaction up through every attack step.

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

Bear Umbra is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but it only sees meaningful play in Commander. In Legacy and Vintage the four-mana enchantment is far too slow for formats where games end on turns one through three, and Modern has better things to do at that mana cost without a critical mass of attack-trigger payoffs. Commander is where Bear Umbra earns its slot: the slower pace rewards sustained mana advantage, voltron and go-wide strategies both want the untap trigger, and the Aggravated Assault combo is a well-known enough win condition to justify the slot on its own.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

Sword of the Animist ramps by fetching a basic land rather than untapping everything, which is slower but permanent and harder to interact with — it's typically under $4 and fits most of the same creature-attack shells. Sword of Feast and Famine untaps all your lands on combat damage to a player, which is closer to what Bear Umbra does at a higher price point but without totem armor; if you're primarily after the untap-for-extra-combats line and not the aura synergies, Sword of Feast and Famine is the natural comparison, though it competes on price rather than undercutting it.

Price Context

Current price

$9.24 mid tier

At $9.24, Bear Umbra sits in the mid tier — not a throwaway inclusion, but well within budget for any deck that actively wants it. It's a unique effect with no direct functional reprint, which has kept the price stable; it's not a card that's likely to crater, but buy it because your deck needs the untap trigger, not as a hedge.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

← All cards

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