[Article] Removal in the format

[Yarpus]

REMOVAL IN THE FORMAT by Yarpus

Note: I've skipped listing edicts (Devour Flesh, Far // Away, Celestial Flare) as they deal with either everything on nothing - depending on board state. I'm also not writing about most of X-spells (Aurelia's Fury, Clan Defiance) as they are reliant on your mana. Included Warped Physique as it's a pretty interesting spell to have in the list.

Current list of creatures:
- Boros Reckoner
- Chandra's Phoenix
- Master of Waves
- Obzedat, Ghost Council
- Blood Baron of Vizkopa
-
Desecration Demon
- Polukranos, World Eater
- Stormbreath Dragon
- Gods cycle

Current list of removal:
- TBD

Boros Reckoner
Aggresively costed 3/3 beater who also serves as amazing wall against Aggro/Midrange decks. Known for his 2-for-1 potential. Used mostly in Rx Aggro decks, especially those based on devotion.



Dies to: Doom Blade, Hero's Downfall, Warped Physique, Chained to the Rocks, Detention Sphere[/
color], Supreme Verdict, Glare of Heresy
Dies, but still deals damage: Lightning Strike, Mizzium Mortars, Annihilating Fire, Anger of the Gods

Chandra's Phoenix
Hasty, recursive and evasive beater often spotted in RDW decks. Insane synergy with Chandra, Pyromaster.



Dies to: Annihilating Fire, Anger of the Gods, Chained to the Rocks[/color:
gxms35sg], Detention Sphere, Last Breath
Dies, but still can come back: anything else minus Electrickery

Master of Waves
One of the backbones of Mono Blue Devotion deck. While not having the biggest body, he's capable of generating huge board presence but he pays the price of not leaving the tokens when he dies on his own.



Dies to: Doom Blade, Hero's Downfall, Dimir Charm, Warped Physique,
Chained to the Rocks, Detention Sphere, Supreme Verdict, Last Breath
He doesn't die but his tokens do: Anger of the Gods, Electrickery, Mizzium Mortars (overload)

Obzedat, Ghost Council
Incredibly brutal creature card that has strong and repetable ETB lifeswing, while it's aggresively costed 5/5 for 5. His blink ability allows him to dodge Sorcery-speed removal.



Dies to: Hero's Downfall, [color=#
000040]Warped Physique, Dark Betrayal
Dies to (if not Blinked): Chained to the Rocks, Detention Sphere, Supreme Verdict, Glare of Heresy

Blood Baron of Vizkopa
Another powerfull 5CMC Orzhov creature. This time instead of operating on strong ETB, Blood Baron has access to double-protection from the most relevant colors of removal (White and Black) - with decent 4/4 size, Lifelink and his capability of growing he puts immense pressure on many decks.



Dies to: [color=#FF0000:
gxms35sg]Mizzium Mortars

Desecration Demon
Undercosted 6/6 Flying creature with a downside. Classic black Demon card that continues the tradition of it's fathers like Abyssal Persecutor.



Dies to: Hero's Downfall, Warped Physique, Chained to the Rocks, Detention Sphere, Supreme Verdict, Dark Betrayal

Polukranos, World Eater
One of the biggest threats
Mono Green can put onto board state. Undercosted 5/5 with relevant mana sink that can wreck the "chumpblock" plan for opposing deck in an instant.



Dies to: Doom Blade, Hero's Downfall, Warped Physique, Chained to the Rocks, Detention Sphere, Supreme Verdict

Stormbreath Dragon
Fat, hasty and evasive beater with awesome mana sink strapped onto it. Curve topper for midrange and (maybe in the future) aggro decks.

[img]http://gatherer.wizards.
com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=373679&type=card[/img]

Dies to: Doom Blade, Hero's Downfall, Warped Physique, Supreme Verdict, Mizzium Mortars

Gods
Cycle of Legendary Enchantments with relevant effects that become creatures when your devotion to their colour is equal or higher than 5. They are all indestructible and when not in Creature-form they dodge nearly any removal.



Dies to (if Devotion < 5):[/b:
gxms35sg] Fade into Antiquity, Detention Sphere
Dies to (if Devotion > 4): Warped Physique, Chained to the Rocks
Heliod dies to: Glare of Heresy

Statistics
I think that's the actually important section of this article which finally I can write down. Here are some statistics about removal spells in the format.

Most versatile removal spells:
Detention Sphere: 6 (efficency - targets/cost: 2)
Hero's Downfall: 6 (efficency - targets/cost: 2)
Chained to the
Rocks: 5 (efficency - targets/cost: 5)

Most resillent creatures (except Gods/Aetherling):
Blood Baron of Vizkopa: 1 (efficency - [power / cost * removals] ) = 0.8
Obzedat, Ghost Council: 3 (efficency - [power / cost * removals] ) = 0.33
Chandra's Phoenix: 4 (efficency - [power / cost * removals] ) = 0.166

To be done:
- Removal's efficency (amounts of targets it can hit/mana cost).
- Full table of creatures and removal spells based on tournament's results (that include not only 'the superstars' but also creatures like Rakdos Cackler).

[hoeiberg]

I feel like Turn//Burn should be in most of the "Dies to:" since it will kill almost anything.

[salmonman78]

Master of Waves "He doesn't die but his tokens do: Anger of the Gods, Electrickery, Mizzium Mortars (overload)" Doesn't he die as well to these spells as they don't target him so it render's his protection null?

[Keftenk]

Protection = DEBT
Damage
Enchanted
Blocked
Targeted

Seeing as Anger of the Gods, Mizzium, and Electrickery do red damage, then yes, it is protected. The damage lands, its just turned into nothing.

[Elricity]

You might need to play with the white color and find one that fits a bit better on the background. Only criticism.

[Yarpus]

- Yeah, I should add Turn // Burn. Still, Mistcutter Hydra casted for more than 3 doesn't die to it. Kalonian Hydra as well (it's already 0/0).
- Protection nullifies the damage dealt. So only effects like "destroy each" help there.
- Yeah, this color sucks. I should probably just skip the whole color thingies but I like my data being colorfull. :<

[Shardoon]

baron dies to supreme verdict

[Elricity]

Also dies to renounce the guilds.

[Khaospawn]

And planar cleansing.

[Elricity]

About Ghost Council, I need to ask. Who *doesn't* blink him? It just doesn't seem worth even considering sorcery speed removal of him.

[Zooligan]

About Ghost Council, I need to ask. Who *doesn't* blink him? It just doesn't seem worth even considering sorcery speed removal of him.

Someone who wants a 5/5 blocker? Maybe someone who needs the WW or BB pips for devotion or something? IDK.

[Yarpus]

baron dies to supreme verdict

Sorry!

About Ghost Council, I need to ask. Who *doesn't* blink him? It just doesn't seem worth even considering sorcery speed removal of him.

There are some clearly theoretical situations when someone doesn't want to blink him.

Also dies to renounce the guilds.

Everything multi-colored dies to Renounce the Guild. But card is not:
a) targetable
b) sweeper
Which is why I've decided to not write about it, just like about Celestial Flare and Devour Flesh.

And planar cleansing.

I kinda considered is as unplayable. I could on the other hand mention Merciless Eviction as it was acually played in Esper Deck's sb as 1-off.

[Khaospawn]

And planar cleansing.

I kinda considered is as unplayable.

You're unplayable!

[Yarpus]

If we assume that I'm the true incarnation of Terribald...

...
...
...

Fuck you. :<

[Khaospawn]

Terribald the Defiler

[Elricity]

Also dies to renounce the guilds.

Everything multi-colored dies to Renounce the Guild. But card is not:
a) targetable
b) sweeper
Which is why I've decided to not write about it, just like about Celestial Flare and Devour Flesh.

A & B are why those cards can be good. Seems an odd reason to discount them unless the cards are commonly played beside other cards that make them less good. Particularly for cards where the amount of feasible removal can be quite small.

[Yarpus]

I'm not discounting those cards as removal spells. I'd say I'm actually a fan of both of these. But they are much more reliant on opponent's board state than on what kind of creature you want to get rid off. That is why I didn't included them in the list.
Doom Blade is - I want to kill X.
Devour Flesh is - I want to reduce the amount of creature my opponents play OR deal with nearly-unkillable creature if my opponent relies just on it to win.
This is why it's hard to say if DF can actually hit Blood Baron of Vizkopa.

I could include Renounce the Guilds as it has very specific amount of targets it hits - but most of decks that play those, also tend to play other cards that make RtG fizzle. I was here probably the first guy to tell you that RtG is good - but testing proved otherwise.

[LaZerBurn]

Excellent article and I like the colours I think Dreadbore should be on the list too; it kills 6 of the 9, 7 if you count an unblinked Obzedat

[Yarpus]

Dreadbore doesn't deal with Master of Waves. Still, yeah, I should include it.
I could also note that Putrefy hits all the targets Hero's Downfall does.

Also, little question. Is there a tournament I could use as "The Meta" in terms of both creatures and removals commonly used?

[LaZerBurn]

This gives a good breakdown of the MTGO metagame http://www.mtggoldfish.com/metagame/standard

It includes a complete spell by spell breakdown of the decks with %'s and will enable you to build an awesome table if you're still intending to do that

[Yarpus]

Thanks! Yeah, will do that sooner or later as time will let me. It's awesome.
Also, if anyone with a bit of graphic talent would lend me a hand - instead of shitty spreadshit I could make an infographic about that.

Rx Aggro:
Lightning Strike X
Shock X
Magma Jet X
Mizzium Mortars X
Flames of the Firebrand

Mono Blue Devotion:
Rapid Hybridization
Domestication

Mono Black Devotion:
Hero's Downfall X
Doom Blade X
Ultimate Price
Pharika's Curse

GW Midrange:
Selesnya Charm
Glare of Heresy X
Hunt the Hunter
Pacifism

UW Control:
Azorius Charm
Detention Sphere X
Last Breath

Dega Midrange:
Dreadbore
Anger of the Gods X
Warleader's Helix
Chained to the Rocks X

Junk Midrange:
Abrupt Decay
Golgari Charm
Shadowborn
Demon
Fade into Antiquity X

'X' is for cards I've already included.