The 40 Best Lure Cards in Magic Ranked

Last updated on January 9, 2026

Deadly Allure | Illustration by Steve Argyle

Combat is one of the most important aspects of Magic: The Gathering, and while some creatures like Kytheon, Hero of Akros love to throw themselves into the fray, others like Dark Confidant or Deathrite Shaman just prefer to stay on the sidelines while they keep providing value to their controller.

That’s a nuisance, especially if you have no removal available, but what if there were a creature that could lure those pesky onlookers into combat? If you’re looking for those kinds of cards, today’s your lucky day as I’ll go over the best lure cards to catch your opponents off guard.

Intrigued by what these cards may be? Let’s dive right in!

What Is Lure in MTG?

Nessian Boar | Illustration by Zoltan Boros

Lure cards in Magic: The Gathering force your opponent to block your creatures, often leading to unfavorable outcomes for their own creatures. These cards can either make your opponent’s creatures block or ensure one of your creatures is blocked. In either case, the results usually aren't in the defender's favor.

#40. Lure

Lure reflects what these cards do: Force your opponent's creatures to block. This particular card is especially strong because it forces all of their creatures to block yours. If you've got a big army and just need your creatures to get through, this can work out great, especially when your opponent’s stuck blocking your 1/1 Rabbit token.

#39. Provoke

Provoke is a cool card that reflects its namesake mechanic, forcing a creature you don’t control to untap and block this turn if able. While it can also function as a cantrip, Provoke doesn’t perfectly emulate the ability since you can’t choose which attacking creature the defender blocks. Still, it’s a decent effect overall.

#38. You Look Upon the Tarrasque

Five mana is a bit expensive, especially if you consider that you’re using this card as a Fog with an upside. In theory, only your creatures will be able to deal damage. But the part that’s relevant to lure abilities is the second mode, which gives a creature +5/+5 and indestructible while forcing all your opponent's creatures to block it.

#37. Ace's Baseball Bat

While it’s a bit limiting because there are only five cards with the “Dalek” typing, Ace's Baseball Bat still acts as a solid lure effect and a way to pump your creature. The first strike ability it grants when it attacks is crucial for winning combat, especially since that +3/+0 boost is a huge advantage on any creature.

#36. Gift of the Deity

Gift of the Deity is part of the Eventide cycle of auras that grant abilities to enchanted creatures based on their colors. In this case, if the creature is both green and black, it gets +2/+2 and deathtouch, and it forces all creatures able to block it to do so.

#35. Deadly Allure

Like other lure effects, Deadly Allure forces your opponent to block one of your creatures while granting it deathtouch. In addition, this card has flashback, allowing you to use its effect multiple times throughout a game.

#34. Irresistible Prey

At sorcery speed for just 1 mana, Irresistible Prey makes it so your creature must be blocked, and it's also used as a cantrip. This is particularly useful in the early stages of the game when you need to clear the board and force blocks.

#33. Timely Interference

Timely Interference is a cheap instant that can foil combat, especially if your opponents are ready to trade creatures, only to realize theirs is the only one dying. Additionally, for 2 extra mana, you can force a creature to block yours while shrinking its power. At worst, this card serves as a cantrip.

#32. Shinen of Life’s Roar

Shinen of Life's Roar excels as a cheap creature that serves as fodder to lure blockers. Its channel ability adds versatility, allowing you to give its effect to another creature for 4 mana, bypassing regular counterspells.

#31. Mark for Death

Your opponents might tap their creatures to keep them out of combat, but Mark for Death turns the tables. It not only untaps an opposing creature but also forces it to block. Additionally, other creatures your opponents control can’t block for the rest of the turn. Essentially, this acts as a pseudo-Falter effect.

#30. Taunting Elf

I know, Taunting Elf looks awful as an 0/1 creature. Still, it has the innate ability that all others need to block it, which can turn out to be deadly if you manage to pump it with the likes of Timberwatch Elf. Otherwise, just use it as a decoy for 1 mana so your other creatures get through freely.

#29. Roar of Challenge

While Roar of Challenge is a bit expensive at forcing your opponents’ creatures to block one of yours, its upside is that it gives that creature indestructible if you control a creature with power 4 or greater as it resolves to satisfy its ferocious text. This makes it a great tool for ensuring your key creatures stay safe while you push through.

#28. Noble Quarry

For 6 mana, Noble Quarry can be bestowed as an aura that lures your opponent creatures into blocking one of your choice. After the dust settles, you can repeat the process as the 1/1 is left behind if your creature dies.

#27. Breaker of Armies

Breaker of Armies is a very simple creature. It’s big, and all others need to block it.

#26. Riveteers Decoy

At 2 mana, Riveteers Decoy is a versatile 3/1 creature that demands attention in combat by forcing your opponent's creatures to block. What’s great about it is that when played for its blitz cost, you can almost always trade it for an opponent’s creature and draw a card in the process, making it an efficient and strategic play when used correctly.

#25. Fear of Being Hunted

For aggressive decks that also care about enchantments, Fear of Being Hunted is an oppressive creature that eats low-power ones in the early stages of the game. On top of that, it naturally pairs up with the likes of All That Glitters or Ethereal Armor.

#24. Fighter Class

Unlike other lure cards, Fighter Class‘s main objective isn’t to force creatures into combat. Instead, it acts as an equipment payoff, allowing you to tutor for equipments and reduce the cost to activate equip abilities. The lure effect is just a bonus, but it synergizes extremely well if you tutor for cards like Basilisk Collar and lure creatures to block the one equipped with it.

#23. Armed // Dangerous

Unlike other lure cards, you can use both parts of Armed / Dangerous if you pay the fuse cost. I highly recommend it: For 6 mana, your creature gets a soft boost, double strike, and others must block it if able. Of course, you can use just one half, but it works better when both are combined.

#22. Indrik Umbra

Six mana may seem a bit expensive, but given that the enchanted creature gets a massive +4/+4 boost, first strike, and umbra armor, Indrik Umbra‘s definitely worth the cost. On top of that, creatures are forced to block it, making it difficult for opponents to rebuild their board.

#21. Nemesis Mask

I like that the lure effect on Nemesis Mask can be transferred from one creature to another as games progress, making it excellent at disrupting your opponent's combat strategies and forcing them to block creatures they may not want to.

#20. Destined // Lead

I love cards like Destined // Lead, which are versatile and fill more than one role. Regularly, the plan with this is to make a creature indestructible and then use the Lead part of it to block your opponent's creatures, but, weirdly, one part is instant and the aftermath spell is not, even though I can imagine why.

#19. Academic Dispute

Academic Dispute has some clever uses if you get creative. For just 1 mana, you can force a creature to block yours, and if you have a large flier, you can ensure it gets blocked by giving the target creature reach. Additionally, you can use it on your own creature to grant reach at instant speed, allowing you to unexpectedly block an opponent's flier. As a bonus, you also get to learn, potentially adding a lesson from your sideboard, at the very least, looting a card.

#18. Goldenhide Ox

While Goldenhide Ox may need a bit of investment to set up, I like that constellation can give the lure ability to other creatures by simply playing enchantments.

#17. Joraga Invocation

Unlike Overrun, Joraga Invocation doesn't grant your creatures trample, which is a significant drawback. Instead, it forces your opponents to block your creatures. While mass pump effects like this are typically used to close out games, Joraga Invocation limits your opponent’s blocking options, preventing them from easily double or triple-blocking your bigger threats while leaving your smaller creatures unchecked.

#16. King Harald's Revenge

For just 3 mana, King Harald's Revenge gives a creature a serious boost, granting it +1/+1 for each creature you control, along with trample. This makes it a great way to power up a creature, especially in a creature-heavy deck. To top it off, the targeted creature must be blocked this turn if able, ensuring that your opponent has to deal with your biggest threat and likely lose a creature in the process.

#15. Courtly Provocateur

Some of these effects have either built-in lure effects or just give them to others one time. I really like Courtly Provocateur for this, as it’s a creature that can manage combat by forcing creatures to either attack or block.

#14. Treeshaker Chimera

While 7 mana to draw three cards may seem a bit too pricey, remember that in optimal conditions, you get to trade for at least a couple of creatures your opponent controls when you attack with Treeshaker Chimera. To improve its potential, run some cards that give your creatures haste like Anger or Fires of Yavimaya.

#13. Stone-Tongue Basilisk

Stone-Tongue Basilisk is a creature with a built-in deathtouch-like ability that forces all your opponent's creatures to block it as long as you meet the threshold requirement. Definitely one of the better creatures for luring opponents to block, but it’s not seeing much play nowadays.

#12. Revenge of the Hunted

Six mana may be a bit too much, despite Revenge of the Hunted giving an incredible boost to a creature and luring others to block it. That is, until you realize that you can miracle it for just 1 mana with a bit of luck or card manipulation with the likes of Sensei's Divining Top.

#11. Gorm the Great

Gorm the Great partners perfectly with Virtus the Veiled, as it forces your opponent's creatures to block Gorm while Virtus deals combat damage freely, halving their life total. This is the ideal scenario, but if your opponent has more than two creatures, the plan may not work as intended.

#10. Nessian Boar

Although it has a slight drawback, Nessian Boar is an incredibly powerful creature with 10 power for just 5 mana. Its high power makes it a serious threat, often too much for smaller creatures to handle, and if left unchecked, it can shrink your opponents’ life totals very quickly.

#9. Anzrag, the Quake-Mole

For just 4 mana, Anzrag, the Quake-Mole boasts an oversized body that can pierce through most defenses. Its unique ability to untap your creatures and grant an additional combat phase whenever it becomes blocked makes Anzrag a relentless commander. The activated ability, though costly at 7 mana, ensures that Anzrag must be blocked, letting you dictate combat and capitalize on its untap-and-attack mechanics.

#8. Torchling

Versatility is among the things I value the most in Magic cards, and Torchling has five different abilities that can be handy depending on the deck you’re trying to build. Among them, the second forces a creature to block Torchling when it attacks, which is incredibly useful to manage combat to your advantage.

#7. Enkira, Hostile Scavenger

One of the best abilities in the game is indestructible, especially if you force your opponent’s creatures to block. Enkira, Hostile Scavenger takes full advantage of this by gaining indestructible whenever it and at least two zombies attack, making it nearly impossible to deal with in combat.

Enkira must be blocked while equipped, allowing you to control combat and set up devastating attacks while keeping this warrior safe.

#6. Shessra, Death’s Whisper

On entering the battlefield, Shessra, Death's Whisper forces a creature to block this turn, and the expectation is that it’ll die. This triggers Shessra’s second ability, which rewards you with an extra card at the cost of 2 life points.

#5. Madame Vastra

Like many creatures on this list, Madame Vastra must be blocked whenever it attacks. The key to its power lies in the value it generates when it kills a creature—specifically, you get Clue or Food tokens. Additionally, because it partners with Jenny Flint, you not only gain access to red, but you also get extra benefits when you sacrifice the tokens that Vastra creates.

#4. Frodo Baggins

At first glance, Frodo Baggins‘s fragile body may not seem well-suited for combat, especially since it must be blocked whenever it attacks. That’s where the Ring tempts you mechanic comes into play. As a Ring-bearer, Frodo can’t be blocked by creatures with greater power. This makes Frodo’s low power an advantage, as it forces smaller creatures—often mana dorks—into combat where they’re likely to die, without the risk of Frodo being defeated by stronger creatures.

Once the Ring tempts you three times, The Ring gains a devastating ability: Any creature that blocks it is sacrificed at the end of the turn. Unlike deathtouch, Frodo doesn’t need to deal combat damage to destroy blockers—it just needs to force them to block. If you can grant Frodo indestructible, you’ll have a nearly unstoppable force in your arsenal, ready (or maybe not quite) to take on Sauron.

#3. Neyith of the Dire Hunt

Neyith of the Dire Hunt might seem like a straightforward combat-focused card, but its abilities bring significant value to any creature-heavy deck. Whenever one or more of your creatures fight or become blocked, you draw a card, turning combat into a consistent way to refill your hand.

Its second ability is where it truly shines. For just 3 mana, you can double a creature’s power and force it to be blocked, creating incredible synergy with creatures that are already large and have trample—like Elder Gargaroth, which also excels on defense. This ability not only pressures opponents but also turns your biggest threats into unstoppable forces on the battlefield.

#2. Sisters of Stone Death

I'm not sure about you, but I find it odd that a gorgon doesn't have deathtouch. Anyway, Sisters of Stone Death‘s second ability almost resembles it, as it lets you exile creatures that are blocking or being blocked by them. Still, it's the first ability, costing just 1 mana, that’s really scary. It lures a creature into blocking, only for it to be removed and reappear on the other side of the field due to the Sisters' third ability.

#1. Holga, Relentless Rager

Holga, Relentless Rager is a unique commander that gains more strength the more creatures your opponent controls. Not only does it force your opponents to block if they can, but when Holga attacks, each of your attacking creatures gets +1/+0 until end of turn for each creature your opponent controls. This ability can significantly boost your offensive power, especially against opponents with large boards, turning unfavorable board states in your favor.

Best Lure Payoffs

Big creatures like Nova Chaser or Ghalta, Primal Hunger are some of the best options for luring creatures into blocking, as they’re powerful enough to handle almost any threat and have trample to push damage through. Additionally, as seen on some of the cards I've mentioned, abilities like deathtouch, lifelink, first strike, and double strike are among the best ones to give a creature when it engages in combat, making them great payoffs when using lure effects. 

Creatures with abilities that help them survive combat, like indestructible on Blightsteel Colossus or regeneration on Thrun, the Last Troll, are also excellent at engaging in combat without dying.

How Do Lure Effects Work with Menace?

Lure effects require an opponent to block a creature, but when paired with menace, the interaction changes. While the specifics may vary depending on the effect, the result is that at least two creatures must block yours. This can be especially useful if you want your larger creature to get through or create unfavorable situations for your opponents. It becomes even more powerful when combined with other impactful keyword abilities like double strike or deathtouch, especially with cards like Kaya's Onslaught or Toxin Analysis.

How Does Lure Interact with Unblockable?

While lure effects force an opponent to block a creature, they don’t work if that creature is unblockable. This might seem counterintuitive, but if your opponent has forced your creature to block with a card like Timely Interference, you can still save your creature by making their creature unblockable. Abilities like protection or landwalk are effective ways to accomplish this.

Can You Lure a Tapped Creature?

In theory, you can lure a tapped creature, but it’s generally not a good idea unless you have a way to untap it or if your lure forces it to untap. For example, Sisters of Stone Death can target a creature and force it to block, but if the target is tapped, it won’t be able to block unless you use something like Pestermite to untap the creature first.

Lure vs. Provoke

Unlike standard lure effects, which compel an opponent to block a specific creature, provoke lets you choose one of their creatures and force it to block your attacking creature. Creatures with provoke can untap an opponent's creature and make it block once it’s declared as an attacker. The lure abilities limit the opponent's blocking options rather than specifying which creature will block. Additionally, provoke doesn't rely on the target being untapped, while lure may be less effective if the creature is tapped unless certain conditions are in place.

Wrap Up

Sisters of Stone Death | Illustration by Donata Giancola

As you see, lure is a powerful tool in Magic: The Gathering that can completely disrupt your opponent’s plans, forcing them to sacrifice their best creatures against their will.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this strategy! Have you used lures in your decks before, or was there any I've missed from the list? Let us know in the comments!

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As always, take care, and see you next time.