Pointed Discussion

This is an extremely efficient aura, which is something auras do not have a history of being. It saves your creature from a lot of removal, and also gives it +1/+1 and first strike in the mean time!

This is probably the best totem armor. It turn an Elite Vanguard into a t2 3/2 first strike beater that survives a killspell.

This + Basilisk Collar = WIN

By far the best totem armor. If you're playing WW or any aggro deck, this is a godsend for 1 white mana. Grants first strike and protection from removal for 1 mana, not to mention the buff...wow, just wow

Best? No, the blue ones have a lot of Johnny to them that could push them over.

Still, this one is pretty strong!

I'm getting the feeling that totem armor as an ability is pretty damn good. And it's even scaring some people (greg2367).

Best Totems are the ones that cost 1CMC

A cheap and efficient totem armor, and probably the best in the set. Protection, first strike, and a p/t buff for only one mana? Magnificent.

My only complaint is that it should have been called Wolf UmbraWolf Umbra...;D

It's not quite as good as Rancor in terms of playable auras, but this is still good, and will see play. It prevents 2 for 1's in a lot of situations, but they will still happen fairly often because so much of the removal in Standard is exiling. It's arguable as to which boost is better, +1/+1 and first strike or +2/+0 and trample, would depend on the type of deck you are using if anything; the thing that makes Rancor better is that it is basically impossible to 2 for 1 Rancor, where as it is very easy to do it if you run white against Hyena Umbra.

Forget about Lance, here comes the playable version you've been waiting for!

These one-drop totem armors are simply awesome!
Besides Crab Umbra and Spider Umbra, this appears to be the most amazing one by itself.

Tallowisp just found a new best friend...or aura.

This card is so ridiculously good, enchants are finally decent for the first time in a long time. Primarily because day of judgement is no longer a major threat for creature decks, and because its a 1 mana enchantment that saves your creature, makes it bigger, and smacks first strike on top of that. There are very few times that doing all that for only one mana is ever going to be a bad thing (in the sense that it doesn't save cards from exiling).

Play with emerge unscathed and vines of vastwood for seriously hard to remove creatures. You can also use aura finesse to swap the auras around, or eel umbra.

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Definitely the best umbra. I would love to see Totem Armor, making auras playable, hit the core sets.

Yes, this one is good, because it's cheap and the bonus it grants besides "super-regeneration" is very relevant. Well no wonder, it's white after all. Are Wizards of the Coast, in fact, white supremacists?

this is bloody ridiculous, how the hell is this 1 manna? how is this a common? WTF.
it's like the anti aura, protect your creatures so ur opponent doesn't pull one over on u.
and it makes it bigger with a relevant ability! For 1 manna! i'm sry this is messed up, power creep went thru the roof, im leaving, gimme like 20 for all my decks

I will now show you how this is such powercreep
back in ravnica we had an aura that was designed to protect your creature and all the aura's on it so you didn't get 2 for oned. Flickerform, now that cost more, had no extra ability, required 4 open mana to activate, and exiled ur creature so it couldn't effect the board at all.
Enter hyena umbra at common that fills all those roles perfectly.

I want to put this on a Vampire Nighthawk! 3/4 flying, deathtouch, first strike, lifelink, totem aura for 4 manas... just have to find what else to put around this bone in a deck.

HaHa Hyenas Are Awesome Great Card Too. Totem Aura Is Killer

Makes reflexes useless.

Yeah it's shocking how good this is. In Standard, and in Draft.

Love it! Hate the power creep, but the again auras needed the boost!

this is as good as 1mana enchant creatures get nowadays.

Second favorite umbra behind eel umbra, and it only loses due to not having flash. giving a creature first strike and super regen for a single measly white mana is a real battering ram in the early game.

Wearing this, Cystbearer can attack into a titan! Infectious hyenas - Rawr!

This card blows except in limited. Why?
- You play this on a creature of yours, in response, your opponent kills your creature. Your opponent spent one card to kill two of yours.
- Your opponent steals, pacifisms, exiles, forces you to sacrifice your creature. Or your creature is dealt damage by a creature with wither, or infect. Or, if it's legendary, by a clone. Or whatever. You always lose two cards, and your opponent spends only one. Or if the creature is returned to your hand: you not only lose tempo (having to replay the creature), you also lose the aura.
- Another example: you put this on a 2/2 creature of yours, now it's 3/3 first strike. You block or attack into a 3/3 creature your opponent controls. After blockers are declared, before damaged is dealt, your opponent destroys this aura. Your creature dies to the 3/3. Again: your opponent spent one card to kill two of yours.
- Your opponent makes you discard your hand, and wipes the board. You draw a card. It's this aura, and thus totally useless, because you got no creature.
- Your opponent is at two life and has a large wall in play. You got a small creature in play. If you'd draw a small creature, and play it, you could kill your opponent, because he couldn't block both your creatures with his wall. If instead you play this armor, your opponent can keep blocking all day long and live.

This card is not completly horrible and useless. But it's that bad, that I'd never play it in constructed, even casual. First strike and a single point of power and toughness, with the risk of losing two cards at once, and in addition this helps only under certain conditions... nah... Oh, and the totem part obviously doesn't help vs creatures with wither or infect, or -x/-x effects in general.

I think the idea behind a one drop enchantment like this is an early game advantage. Yes things could go horribly wrong if you draw this card turn 12 but so what? Like things couldn't go horribly wrong if you draw baneslayer turn 2? This keeps your mana curve low which is important because no-one playing this game can honestly say they've haven't played at least one game where they didn't have enough mana.

This is the best creature enchantment white has for 1 mana. For a casting cost of 1, it gets +1/+1, first strike, and regeneration (of sorts). Excellent. Is it as great as Rancor? Nope, but it is the 2nd best 1 CMC creature enchantment in Magic.

Best 1 CMC Enchantments:
1) Rancor
2) Hyena Umbra
3) Clout of Dominus
All the rest...

Nice ability for 1 mana. Great card.

+1/+1 for W is good
+1/+1 and first strike for W is great
+1/+1 and first strike and Totem armor for W is just broken

If you have That Which Was Taken out and you put a Divinity Counter on Hyena Umbra, and the creature it is attached to would be destroyed, what would happen? The rulings say the effect is mandatory, in that you must remove all damage from the creature and destroy the enchantment. However, the enchantment is indestructible, and it specifically tells you to destroy it. Therefore, would the enchantment just continue to exist?

+1/+1, first strike, totem armour...all for just for ?

This is great with or against infect; it can be used aggressively for your attacker or defensively for your really important creatures; it even saves them from board wipes like day of judgment.

@ majinara

that's why you don't just fling your enchantment on any old card you want. Try killing or bouncing my Ledgewalker before I pump it up to extreme levels with chumps to sac in case you try. And did you luck out and put out a Nighthawk or other flying deathtoucher? Well your card dies and all I lost was 1p/1, first strike, totem armor. I still got a huge evader and probably creature advantage now.

Or how about saving this card for late game when it's down to top-decking and you throw this on your biggest creature? Or using this as a draw engine with your Spiritdancer and Mesa Enchantress, having you draw two cards at the same time? Some enchantments you just stick to something and hope for the best, others require specific targets to be effective. In the right deck cheap totem armors basically mean 'you gotta kill my creatures (at least) twice.'

Dat ARt.

@Igniteice: Pretty sure the Aura would just survive. If you're indestructible, you just aren't destroyed, the wording is fairly simply. It's not a Sacrifice effect.