Umbilicus
Artifact
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player may pay 2 life. If they don't, they return a permanent they control to its owner's hand.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Urza's Saga
- Price
- $0.82
- EDHREC rank
- #15072
Umbilicus forces every player to return a permanent to hand at their upkeep or pay 2 life — a punishing symmetrical tax that your deck is built to exploit while opponents bleed. The catch is that it punishes you too, so you need creatures that want to bounce, like Wormfang Manta for extra turns or God-Eternal Oketra to recast and flood the board with tokens. Run it in a deck that turns the downside into a feature, not a bug.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
God-Eternal Oketra
God-Eternal Oketra turns Umbilicus into a token engine: bounce Oketra at your upkeep, recast her, and each creature you play after that generates a 4/4 Zombie — all while opponents either hemorrhage life or lose board presence.
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 |
Umbilicus sees essentially zero play in Legacy or Vintage — symmetrical enchantments that tax your own permanents can't compete with the raw power density of those formats. Commander is where it lives, specifically in bounce-and-recast strategies that convert the forced return into card advantage or enter-the-battlefield value. The life payment gives opponents an out, but in a four-player game that drain adds up fast, and opponents who are already managing combat damage often can't afford to ignore it. Oathbreaker is a legal home too, though the smaller life totals make the 2-life drain sharper and shorter games reduce how many upkeep triggers you collect.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.82 bulk tier
At $0.82, Umbilicus is firmly bulk — easy to pick up without a second thought. It's a narrow card with a small target audience, so don't expect the price to move unless a high-profile commander build puts it in the spotlight.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.