The 40 Best Tappers in Magic Ranked

Last updated on April 25, 2024

T.A.P.P.E.R. | Illustration by David Sladek

Tappers are a classic part of Limited history. Creatures that tap opposing threats are often among the strongest creatures in the format because they play offensively and defensively against your opponent’s most threatening creatures.

Tapping creatures has much more utility outside of just Limited. It provides a powerful tempo play that destabilizes your opponent’s plan, giving aggressive decks a window to swing for the win.

But which tappers are the best?

What Are Tappers in MTG?

Glare of Subdual | Illustration by Zoltan Boros Gabor Szikszai

Tappers are cards that tap permanents. While the term often refers to creatures with activated abilities that tap creatures, like Benalish Trapper and Gideon's Lawmaker, it encompasses ETB triggers, instants, sorceries, and even planeswalkers that tap opposing permanents.

These effects often tap the permanent for a turn, though many iterations prevent the tapped card(s) from untapping the following turn. Blue dominates tap effects; it’s one of the color’s few ways to interact with resolved creatures, with the flavor often relating to ice magic “freezing” an opponent in place or some kind of bewilderment spell. Most other tap effects are in white, which thematically justifies them as traps or law magic.

Tappers need efficiency. Creatures with tapper abilities usually cost 1-2 mana, with about the same in activation cost. Creatures that tap opposing creatures through means other than activated abilities cost more.

This list looks at cards that tap creatures as a part of the spell or with an ability; it excludes cards that make permanents enter tapped, like Charismatic Conqueror and Urabrask, the Hidden. Those effects are strong, but slightly different than what we’re looking at today.

#40. Early Frost

Tapping lands can be a huge tempo swing. If you cast Early Frost in the first 3 or 4 turns of the game, it’s practically Time Walk! It has a critical weakness, which is that this card scales terribly.

#39. Auriok Transfixer

Auriok Transfixer attacks opposing artifacts rather than creatures. This human is especially potent at shutting down Grim Monolith and similar cards.

#38. Breath of the Sleepless

You won’t play Breath of the Sleepless outside of spirit typal decks, but it’s an excellent support piece for an archetype defined by its aggression and tempo-positive plays.

#37. Frost Lynx

Frost Lynx always comes to mind when I think of tappers. Locking down a creature for a turn works well in aggressive decks. Controlling decks can leverage this elemental kitten with cards like Soulherder or Thassa, Deep-Dwelling that flicker it each turn.

#36. Goldmeadow Lookout

I’m kind of cheating with Goldmeadow Lookout since it can’t tap creatures, but the tokens it produces do, and they’re a fantastic rate for tappers. Plus, the ability to convert useless cards into game pieces shouldn’t be overlooked.

#35. Binding Mummy

Binding Mummy only works in aggressive decks since it can’t tap creatures on your opponent’s turn without trickery. Thankfully, zombie decks tend to be aggressive and raise enough tokens to utilize this card.

#34. Feeling of Dread

Feeling of Dread exemplifies tempo. 4 mana to tap four creatures over two turns provides offensive and defensive measures that give many strategies an edge over the opposition.

#33. Frondland Felidar

Frondland Felidar has a powerful effect, but how many vigilance creatures will one deck have? It’s very good with Intangible Virtue and Ajani, the Greathearted.

#32. Hidden Strings

Let’s be honest: Most players use Hidden Strings as an untap effect. But repeatedly tapping creatures can be useful alongside effects like Royal Assassin.

#31. Curse of Marit Lage

Curse of Marit Lage finally gives blue players the… oh, I can’t say that here? Okay, okay. This enchantment is likely too narrow and expensive, but it’s funny.

#30. Bounding Krasis

Bounding Krasis does its best work alongside creatures like Prime Speaker Vannifar and Roon of the Hidden Realm that tap to activate powerful abilities.

#29. Braided Net

Braided Net intrigues me. You need to be an artifact-focused deck to get the full value, but a card that slows your opponents while refilling your hand has some legs.

#28. Phyrexian Gremlins

Phyrexian Gremlins shuts down artifacts that rely on tapping to activate their abilities. Most of its strength lies in being a unique effect for black.

#27. Elvish Mariner

Elvish Mariner works best in aggressively oriented blue decks. Don’t overlook the value of Opt, Glimmer of Genius, and other cards that scry at instant speed to maximize the flexibility of this elvish pilot.

#26. Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset

Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset works best alongside mana rocks so you can ramp while tapping opposing threats. It’s also handy at stopping things like Basalt Monolith for a turn or two.

#25. Ballynock Trapper

4 mana is more than I’d want to pay for a typical tapper, but Ballynock Trapper doesn’t require additional mana to activate its ability, and this soldier can get multiple creatures in one turn to enable aggressive strategies.

#24. Blustersquall

Blustersquall should generally be cast for its overload cost to make it a worthwhile effect. Tapping all creatures can save you from a lethal attack while opening a path to victory on your next turn.

#23. Forensic Researcher

While I’ve touched on many cards that are great against Basalt Monolith, Mana Vault, and similar effects, Forensic Researcher works great with them! You’ll often use this creature as a mana dork that occasionally taps opposing threats, which is good utility from a 3-drop.

#22. Paralyze

Paralyze punches well above its mana value, which is especially surprising considering it’s a black card. Locking down a creature unless your opponent pays 4 mana is a crazy good rate for a 1-mana enchantment.

#21. Giant Killer

Throne of Eldraine might have had some egregious card designs (looking at you, Oko, Thief of Crowns), but it packed tons of flavor into its Arthurian/fairy-tale world. Giant Killer combines flavor and power into a tight package green players hate.

#20. Juvenile Mist Dragon

This one’s for the Commander players! Juvenile Mist Dragon does work when it taps multiple creatures. You’ll want plenty of ways to flicker this each turn to lock creatures down (it’s especially lethal with Displacer Kitten).

#19. Court Street Denizen

Court Street Denizen finishes games for token decks. If you cast something like March of the Multitudes or Secure the Wastes the turn before yours, you can tap an entire pod’s worth of blockers and waltz towards lethal next combat.

#18. Icy Blast

Icy Blast needs some chunky creatures to function, but it does work! When cast on an opponent’s turn, you get peace of mind from their best threats for two turns. That’s plenty of time to find some answers or get aggressive yourself.

#17. Fatestitcher

Fatestitcher sees frequent play as a combo piece alongside the likes of Freed from the Real and Pemmin's Aura, but it has value as a tapper. Staving off the biggest threat buys you the time needed to assemble that infinite loop.

#16. Hammers of Moradin

Hammers of Moradin enables plenty of aggressive decks thanks to its ability to pressure multiple opponents at once with the tap ability and myriad. This dwarven cleric is amazing alongside token doublers or Impact Tremors effects.

#15. Hylda’s Crown of Winter

Wilds of Eldraine gave the “tap creatures” archetype lots of new tools. Hylda's Crown of Winter stands out among them. Even when you pay full price for the tap ability, it’s efficient. Creatures clutter Commander tables, so you shouldn’t have an issue refilling your hand later.

#14. Illithid Harvester

Illithid Harvester provides more value than a simple tap effect. Turning opposing creatures into 2/2s deals with most dangerous threats, especially commanders; flipping a card face-down doesn’t cause it to change zones, so it doesn’t go back to the command zone unless somebody trades for it.

#13. Time of Ice

Time of Ice pulls double duty as a tap effect and payoff for other tapper cards that keep creatures locked down. Tapping creatures down then bouncing them is the ultimate tempo play, wasting tons of time and mana for your opponents. You can also pair this with cards like Goldberry, River-Daughter to continually tap down creatures.

#12. Tamiyo, the Moon Sage

While most versions of Tamiyo tap permanents, Tamiyo, the Moon Sage is my favorite. Preventing lands from untapping can hobble opponents and drawing cards with the other abilities gives you something to do with the time that tap ability buys.

#11. Niblis of Frost

Niblis of Frost gives aggressive spellslinger decks the edge needed to attack their opponents. It pairs best with payoffs like Balmor, Battlemage Captain and Narset, Enlightened Exile.

#10. Gideon’s Lawkeeper

Magic has a variety of creatures you can pay a bit of mana into to tap creatures. Gideon's Lawkeeper represents the most efficient form as a 1-mana creature whose ability only costs 1 mana, but even more expensive versions are effective disruptive pieces. Try to avoid ones that restrict what cards the ability can target.

#9. Rishadan Port

A staple of Legacy Death and Taxes decks and one of the best colorless lands in the game, Rishadan Port hampers your opponent’s ability to deploy their game plan. Keep this out of your Commander decks, though; it doesn’t scale well with multiple players. It’s best alongside plenty of pressure to beat your opponents while they’re off-kilter.

#8. Diversionary Tactics

Investing two creatures instead of mana makes Diversionary Tactics a pretty efficient tapper. You’ll only want this in decks capable of flooding the board, but its surprisingly annoying (in the best way). Sandsower provides a similar ability.

#7. Glare of Subdual

But what if you only needed to invest a single creature? Glare of Subdual does work in many EDH token lists. Tapping your creatures to tap your opponents’ does a fantastic job setting up lethal attacks; tapping artifacts allows you to attack the mana of players relying on Talismans and such for ramp.

#6. Dreamshackle Geist + Timin, Youthful Geist

Timin, Youthful Geist trumps Dreamshackle Geist since it taps creatures each combat, but both spirits are exactly what a tappers deck wants: evasive threats that apply pressure to maximize the tempo of their repeated tap effects, which are incredibly efficient since they don’t require additional mana.

#5. Elite Scaleguard

I didn’t think much of Elite Scaleguard at first. Then it slaughtered me several times. You need to play some +1/+1 counter synergies for this to be effective, but that’s hardly a high bar to clear, and this human soldier is one of the best +1/+1 cards for those decks.

#4. Gadwick, the Wizened

Gadwick, the Wizened does lots of tapping in the color known for instants. Getting to cast a massive draw spell that provides continuous value is pretty good. You need to be heavy in blue for this legendary wizard to work, but it’s not Magic’s best color for nothing.

#3. Cryptic Command

Many cards are powerful because of their flexibility; Cryptic Command might be the best example of this principle. None of these modes are ever that bad. It’s another blue-intensive card, but it feels hard to lose when you can cast Cryptic Command.

#2. Derevi, Empyrial Tactician

Derevi, Empyrial Tactician ranks among the most imposing commanders you can play, largely for its ability to skirt the commander tax and countermagic. With enough creatures dealing combat damage to a player, Derevi can effectively double your mana or prevent opposing threats from doing much, making it an excellent stax commander.

#1. Opposition

Opposition is one of those Magic cards that’s so good it makes you wonder what the designers were thinking when they made it. Tapping a creature to tap a land is hardly an equivalent exchange. Once this card resolves, somebody stops participating.

Best Tapper Payoffs

The first and most prominent payoff for playing with tappers is pressure. Tapping creatures is offensively and defensively powerful as it effectively removes opposing threats from combat for a turn or two. That lets you win the race or attack for lethal.

You can also build a deck specifically to benefit from the act of tapping opposing creatures. It’s been a popular archetype for a while, but Wilds of Eldraine kicked things up a notch with the stellar Hylda of the Icy Crown as a commander and Sharae of Numbing Depths and Solitary Sanctuary adding additional support.

You can also exploit cards that interact with tapped creatures. Royal Assassin and Sunblast Angel are just a few examples of cards that destroy or damage tapped creatures. Cards like Theft of Dreams and Scroll of Isildur can draw cards.

Can You Just Tap a Creature In MTG?

To tap an untapped creature in Magic, you need to perform an action that taps it, i.e. attacking or activating an ability the requires tapping the creature as part of the activation cost, or target it with a spell or ability that taps a creature. You can’t tap a creature because you feel like it.

When Do I Tap a Creature to Prevent It from Attacking?

You should tap the offending creature right before the beginning of the combat phase on your opponent’s turn. It’s best to perform game actions at the last possible moment so your opponent has the least possible time to react, and you can act with the most information possible.

When Do I Tap a Creature So It Can’t Block?

The answer here depends on whether you care about the creature you don’t want to block attacking you. If you don’t want it to attack or block, tap it at the beginning of combat on your opponent’s turn. If you’re okay with their creatures attacking, wait until the end step of their turn; they might attack with the creature that you don't want to block on your turn, so you can tap an additional creature!

Wrap Up

Bounding Krasis | Illustration by Jack Wang

Tapping creatures has many uses in Magic, mostly related to making powerful tempo plays for aggressive or midrange decks. Though tappers are just useful cards to have around, a recent surge in support has made it into a legitimate, supported archetype to build decks around.

What’s your favorite tapper in Magic? Do you enjoy playing the archetype? Let me know in the comments or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe, and keep tapping!