Why Does WotC Dislike "Lure" Effects?
General forum
Posted on July 5, 2025, 7:33 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
In this post, Mark Rosewater stated that WotC is not fond of "Lure" effects, so I wonder why that is, since I do not see any reason to not use effects such as that.
What does everyone else say, about this? Why is WotC not fond of Lure or similar effects?
plakjekaas says... #3
"Must be blocked if able" is a phrase they still do use. That one does not take all agency away from the opponent's combat math. Combat is a big part of winning in most games, and removing too much choice for interacting, people enjoy playing less. It's similar to why Landwalk and Shadow are used so sparingly as abilities.
July 6, 2025 5:42 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #4
SaberTech, that makes sense, to me, so I thank you, for that explanation.
SaberTech says... #2
Well, here are some things gameplay-wise that Lure can do:
Render all of the opponent's creatures useless for defence for a turn. It's almost a one-turn one-sided board wipe in regards to how it can enable an alpha strike against an opponent.
Lure on a creature larger than any that your opponent has makes it pretty pointless for them to even play creatures unless they can deploy enough in one turn that their combined power can kill your creature. Even then, green has plenty of instant speed pump effects.
Lure on a creature with deathtouch lets you kill at least one of your opponent's untapped creatures when you attack. If the Deathtouch creature has more than one power then it gets to kill multiple.
My guess is that effects like Lure rob opponents of opportunities to make calculated decisions with the resources that they have on board and that leads to more "feel bad" moments in a game. In a way, it's a bit more of a slap in the face than just killing their creature outright. Sure, you risk getting two-for-oned if the opponent destroys your enchanted creature before it can force blocks, but there will also be games where a large creature with hexproof or something gets the effect and prevents the opponent from ever building up a big enough board state to retaliate.
I assume that WotC sees Fight and Punch effect cards as a cleaner form of removal for green that is still creature dependent. They've tried to get creative though. I laughed the first time I saw the spoiler for Disturbed Slumber because whoever designed that card tried so hard to make a 2 mana, instant-speed, deal 4 damage spell while being constrained by Green's colour pie limitations. It's such a weird bundle of different effects in one card to try to get the desired outcome.
July 5, 2025 11:26 p.m.