In Magic: The Gathering, menace is a combat keyword that makes a creature harder to block. The Comprehensive Rules define it in one line: "A creature with menace can't be blocked except by two or more creatures" (rule 702.111b). One blocker is not enough. The defending player either commits two of their creatures to stopping it or lets it through. Menace does not make the creature unblockable, it does not help the creature block, and it does nothing outside combat. The rule is short. The way it stacks with other evasion, and the way it plays at a four-player Commander table, is where the value lives.
This guide is part of our MTG keywords and mechanics glossary, the index of every mechanic guide on Mana Grove.
Below: the exact rule, how the defender's blocks actually work against menace, what menace does not do, the menace creatures Commander players run most and the cards that hand menace out, why menace is stronger in multiplayer than in a duel, and the questions players ask at the table, all read from our card database.
The rule, line by line
Menace is a keyword ability, and the Comprehensive Rules give it three short lines.
Rule 702.111a
Menace is an evasion ability.
Rule 702.111b
A creature with menace can't be blocked except by two or more creatures. (See rule 509, "Declare Blockers Step.")
Rule 702.111c
Multiple instances of menace on the same creature are redundant.
The phrase "evasion ability" is doing more work than it looks. Rule 509.1b defines one as "a static ability an attacking creature has that restricts what can block it", and the same rule adds two consequences that decide most menace arguments: the restriction is checked as blockers are declared, and "Different evasion abilities are cumulative."
How menace actually works
The defender chooses the blockers, and pays double for them
Rule 509.1a puts the choice with the defending player: they pick which of their untapped creatures block and what each one blocks. Menace does not take that choice away. It raises the price. To stop a menace attacker they must assign two creatures to it, both of which are then blocking and both of which take and deal damage. When two or more creatures block your menace attacker, you divide its combat damage among them as you choose (510.1c), so a menace creature with enough power can kill both.
Two or more means two, three or the whole team
Any number of blockers from two upward is legal. Menace never caps how many creatures can gang up on the attacker, which is why a small menace creature attacking into a board of tokens is not evasive at all. Sonorous Howlbonder is the one card that moves the number: each creature you control with menace "can't be blocked except by three or more creatures".
Evasion stacks, and that is where menace gets dangerous
Because different evasion abilities are cumulative (509.1b), a creature with menace and flying, such as Junji, the Midnight Sky, can only be blocked by two or more creatures that each have flying or reach (702.9b). Most tables cannot produce that. And menace plus an effect that says the creature "can't be blocked by more than one creature" is unblockable in practice: one creature is forbidden by menace, two or more are forbidden by the other effect, so no legal block exists. Alpha Authority and Vorrac Battlehorns grant that restriction, and Hungering Hydra carries it.
Menace is checked once, when blockers are declared
Rule 509.1b: "If an attacking creature gains or loses an evasion ability after a legal block has been declared, it doesn't affect that block." Giving a creature menace after it has been blocked by one creature changes nothing, and removing menace from a creature that was blocked by two does not unblock it. Rule 509.1h adds the other half: once blocked, a creature "remains blocked even if all the creatures blocking it are removed from combat". Kill one of the two blockers and the attacker is still blocked, it simply assigns all its damage to the survivor (510.1c).
Menace with deathtouch, trample and first strike
Two blockers means two bodies absorbing damage, which makes menace pair unusually well with the keywords that punish blockers. With deathtouch, one damage to each blocker is lethal (702.2c), so a menace creature with deathtouch blocked by two creatures kills both: Dire Fleet Ravager and Pestilent Spirit do exactly that. With trample you must assign lethal damage to every blocker before anything spills over to the player (702.19b), and deathtouch lowers "lethal" to one, which is why a creature with all three is nearly impossible to block well. Sire of Seven Deaths shows the pattern without deathtouch: menace and trample on a 7/7 that also has reach, first strike, vigilance, lifelink and ward, so the double block it forces still lets the excess through. Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh carries first strike, menace and trample for {0}, and becomes a serious attacker the moment anything raises its power.
What menace does not do
This is the list every dictionary definition leaves out.
- It does not make the creature unblockable. Two blockers stop it cold. Against a board of 1/1 tokens, menace is close to worthless on its own.
- It does nothing on defence. Evasion abilities restrict what can block an attacking creature (509.1b). A menace creature blocks like any other creature, and it can be part of a double block against someone else's menace attacker.
- It does not change how much damage the creature deals, and it does not let the creature choose its blockers. The defender decides which two.
- It does not protect the creature. Menace is not hexproof, ward or indestructible. Removal, fight effects and burn work normally.
- It does not stack with itself. A second instance is redundant (702.111c). Goblin War Drums on a creature that already has menace changes nothing for that creature.
- It does not react after blocks. Menace gained or lost after blockers are declared has no effect on that combat (509.1b).
- It does not beat a "must be blocked" requirement by itself. Rule 509.1c makes the defender obey as many requirements as they can without breaking a restriction. If they control two untapped creatures, both must block your creature that says it must be blocked if able. If they control one, that one cannot legally block alone, so the requirement is ignored.
The best menace cards in Commander
Our card database holds 374 Commander-legal cards with menace printed on them, 358 of them creatures, plus 249 more that grant menace or refer to it. These are the ones Commander players run most, ordered by how often they appear in Commander decks, with mana cost and size as printed.
| Card | Cost | Size | What it is doing in the deck |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professional Face-Breaker | {2}{R} | 2/3 | A Treasure whenever your creatures connect, and Treasures turn into impulse draws. Menace makes the first connection likely |
| Noxious Gearhulk | {4}{B}{B} | 5/4 | Destroys a creature on entry and gains you its toughness in life, then attacks as a 5/4 that needs two blockers |
| Junji, the Midnight Sky | {3}{B}{B} | 5/5 | Flying and menace together: two fliers or reach creatures to block it, and a brutal death trigger either way |
| Kozilek, the Great Distortion | {8}{C}{C} | 12/12 | Refills your hand on cast and counters spells by discarding. Two blockers for a 12/12 is a lot to ask |
| Massacre Girl | {3}{B}{B} | 4/4 | A board wipe on legs. Once the small creatures are gone, nobody has two blockers left for it |
| Stormfist Crusader | {B}{R} | 2/2 | Every player draws and loses a life each upkeep. A cheap menace body that pressures early |
| Sire of Seven Deaths | {7} | 7/7 | Reach, first strike, vigilance, menace, trample, lifelink and ward for 7 life. The menace and trample halves are what make it lethal |
| Generous Plunderer | {1}{R} | 2/2 | Hands out Treasures, then hits the defending player for each artifact they control when it attacks |
| Lathril, Blade of the Elves | {2}{B}{G} | 2/3 | Every point of combat damage to a player becomes an Elf token. Menace is what gets the first hit in |
| Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh | {0} | 0/1 | First strike, menace and trample for free, with partner. The best equipment carrier in the format |
| Sedgemoor Witch | {2}{B} | 3/2 | Menace plus ward, pay 3 life, on a Pest token engine: hard to block and hard to target |
| The Lord of Pain | {3}{B}{R} | 5/5 | Stops your opponents gaining life and punishes every player's first spell each turn, while attacking as a 5/5 with menace |
| Rampaging Ferocidon | {2}{R} | 3/3 | A three-mana 3/3 with menace that shuts off life gain and pings whoever plays creatures |
| Camellia, the Seedmiser | {1}{B}{G} | 3/3 | Gives every other Squirrel you control menace, and makes more Squirrels whenever you sacrifice Food |
The cards that hand out menace
Menace on one creature asks for two blockers. Menace on every creature you control asks for two blockers each, which no table can supply, and that is the version that ends games.
| Card | Cost | Who gets menace |
|---|---|---|
| Goblin War Drums | {2}{R} | Creatures you control |
| Iroas, God of Victory | {2}{R}{W} | Creatures you control, and all damage to your attackers is prevented |
| Urza, Chief Artificer | {3}{W}{U}{B} | Artifact creatures you control |
| Gisa, the Hellraiser | {3}{B}{B} | Skeletons and Zombies you control, with +1/+1 |
| Piper of the Swarm | {1}{B} | Rats you control |
| Sticky Fingers | {R} | The enchanted creature, which also makes a Treasure when it connects |
| Beamtown Beatstick | {R} | The equipped creature, with +1/+0 and a Treasure on combat damage |
| Sonorous Howlbonder | {1}{B/R}{B/R} | Itself, and it raises every menace creature you control to three or more blockers |
Want the full list rather than the top of it? Ask Scry for creatures that need two blockers, or for cards that make your whole team hard to block, and it will search on what the card does rather than on the word menace, so the "can't be blocked by more than one creature" cards surface alongside it.
Using menace in a deck: why it is stronger in multiplayer
In a two-player game, menace is a modest ability. Your single opponent knows exactly what is attacking them, and a pair of cheap tokens blocks a menace creature for the rest of the game. In Commander it is a different keyword, for three reasons.
- Every defender has fewer creatures to spare. A player facing three opponents has to keep blockers back for all of them. Spending two on your one attacker leaves them open to the other two players, so they usually take the hit instead. Menace does not stop the block, it makes the block a bad deal.
- Two blockers is a real cost in a long game. Commander boards are wide but the creatures on them are doing jobs: mana, card draw, combo pieces. Nobody wants to throw two engines in front of a 4/4.
- Menace picks the fight for you. Because the defender must double up or take it, a menace attacker is the easiest way to pressure the player who is ahead without committing your whole board. That is a political tool as much as a combat one.
Pair it with the keywords that punish blocking: deathtouch (both blockers die), trample (the excess still gets through), first strike (your attacker survives the double block). Pair it with combat damage triggers, since menace is the cheapest way to make the first connection likely. And respect its weakness: the token deck at the table blocks menace all day, so a menace plan wants a wipe or a way to give the whole team menace rather than one creature.
Building around a menace commander? Open the deck builder, add your commander, and the Suggestions tab, powered by Tutor, will surface the combat-damage payoffs and the anthem effects that fit.
Related keywords
- Vigilance: attack with menace, and still have the body back to block.
- Ward: the protection half of Sedgemoor Witch and Sire of Seven Deaths.
- Indestructible: survives the double block that menace invites.
- Trample and deathtouch: the two keywords that turn a double block into two dead blockers.
- Every MTG keyword and mechanic, explained: the full glossary.
Frequently asked questions
Can a creature with menace be blocked by one creature?
No. Rule 702.111b says it "can't be blocked except by two or more creatures", so a single blocker is an illegal declaration. The defending player either assigns two or more creatures to it or does not block it at all.
Does menace do anything when the creature blocks?
No. Menace is an evasion ability, and rule 509.1b defines those as abilities of an attacking creature that restrict what can block it. On defence it is a blank line.
How do menace and flying work together?
The restrictions add up (509.1b). A creature with both can be blocked only by two or more creatures that each have flying or reach (702.9b). Junji, the Midnight Sky is the most-played example in our data.
What happens if one of the two blockers is removed?
The attacker stays blocked. Rule 509.1h says a creature "remains blocked even if all the creatures blocking it are removed from combat", and it then assigns its combat damage to the blocker that is left (510.1c). Killing one blocker does not get the damage through to the player unless the attacker also has trample.
Is menace the same as intimidate or fear?
No. Intimidate (702.13b) and fear (702.36b) restrict which creatures can block, by colour or by being an artifact. Menace restricts how many. All three are evasion abilities and all three are cumulative with each other.
Build a deck that attacks where nobody can double up
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Sources
- Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules, effective August 7, 2026: https://magic.wizards.com/en/rules. Read on September 20, 2026. Rule 702.111 (Menace), 509.1a, 509.1b, 509.1c and 509.1h (Declare Blockers Step), 510.1c (combat damage assignment), 702.9 (Flying), 702.2c (Deathtouch), 702.19b (Trample), 702.13 (Intimidate) and 702.36 (Fear) are quoted above.
- Mana Grove card database, MTGJSON build of September 14, 2026: the menace keyword, the Commander legality, the mana cost, the power and toughness and the rules text of every card named above, the count of 374 Commander-legal cards with menace printed on them (358 creatures; each card name counted once and a double-faced card by its front face) and of 249 further cards that grant or refer to it. Commander play frequency is the deck-inclusion popularity rank carried in the same data.
This article is updated when the Comprehensive Rules change the menace entry or when a set adds a menace card worth listing. The date at the top is the last revision.