Baton of Morale
Artifact
: Target creature gains banding until end of turn. (Any creatures with banding, and up to one without, can attack in a band. Bands are blocked as a group. If any creatures with banding a player controls are blocking or being blocked by a creature, that player divides that creature's combat damage, not its controller, among any of the creatures it's being blocked by or is blocking.)
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Ice Age
- Price
- $0.69
- EDHREC rank
- #18452
Baton of Morale puts Lure on any creature for two mana at instant speed — a repeatable forced-block effect that doubles as a kill trigger for anything that cares about targeting. The catch is the three-mana activation cost, which limits how often you cash it in per turn, but in the right shell that barely matters.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Horobi, Death's Wail
Horobi, Death's Wail turns every targeting effect into a destroy effect, so Baton of Morale's activation doesn't just redirect attacks — it kills whatever you point it at, on demand, at instant speed, for three mana.
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 |
Baton of Morale is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but Legacy and Vintage have no interest in a five-mana artifact that asks for additional mana to activate when cheaper, permanent Lure effects exist. Commander is the only format where it sees real play, specifically in Horobi, Death's Wail decks that convert the targeting trigger into removal. Outside of that narrow engine, Baton of Morale is too slow and too conditional to earn a slot in competitive or even mid-power tables.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.69 bulk tier
At $0.69, Baton of Morale sits in bulk territory — easy to acquire, easy to cut if the Horobi shell isn't your angle. Demand is narrow enough that the price isn't going anywhere meaningful in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.