Embargo
Enchantment
Nonland permanents don't untap during their controllers' untap steps.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 2 life.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Mercadian Masques
- Price
- $1.20
- EDHREC rank
- #20220
Embargo shuts down all artifacts the moment it resolves — every Mana Vault, every Sword, every Signets sit dormant for as long as the enchantment stays in play. Three mana for a global artifact lockdown is efficient, and in any blue deck with a reason to hate the artifact ecosystem, Embargo earns its slot.
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 Embargo does its best work: artifact ramp is everywhere, and a resolved Embargo turns off Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, and every mana rock at the table simultaneously, which can swing a game on the spot. Legacy and Vintage have it legal but almost no competitive homes — those formats move too fast for a three-mana enchantment that doesn't win the game. Oathbreaker is legal and mirrors the Commander logic at a smaller table scale, where artifact lockout hits proportionally harder per player.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$1.20 cheap tier
At $1.20, Embargo sits in budget-pickup territory — cheap enough to throw in a cart without deliberation. That price reflects its narrow application; it holds value only if artifact-heavy metas stay common, which in Commander they reliably do.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.