Aggressive decks have done very well so far in Amonkhet draft. When a format is aggressive, that tends to mean the removal is not very strong. The best way to stymie an aggressive deck is to kill their threats, especially if you can do it at instant speed after blocking in response to a combat trick. Amonkhet, however, does not have many ways to pull this off. The instant hard removal costs four or more mana and tends to be hard to come by during the draft. It can be done, but you have to get creative. I’m here to help.
Top Tier Removal
These are the obvious spells. Magma Spray, Compulsory Rest, Splendid Agony, Electrify, and Final Reward show up at common. Cast Out, Trial of Zeal, and Deem Worthy are the big uncommon ones. Note that black doesn’t have a strong uncommon removal spell. Some stuff comes up later, but this is a small collection of premium removal. Only Magma Spray really lets you blow someone out in combat, though if you have enough mana there are decent options.
Sweet Rares
Gideon of the Trials, Dusk // Dawn, Cut // Ribbons, Never // Return, Commit // Memory, Sweltering Suns, Heaven // Earth, Glorybringer, Archfiend of Ifnir, Angel of Sanctions, Cruel Reality, Heart-Piercer Manticore, Insult // Injury, Prepare // Fight, Rags // Riches, Sandwurm Convergence.
Some of those are straight up removal and the best cards in the set. Others take a bit more work but can kill or negate whole strategies. Not much to say here.
Strong Removal that Requires Work
There are a few cards that become premium removal if you build your deck within their archetype: Time to Reflect, Warfire Javelineer, Ruthless Sniper, and Trial of Ambition all fit this, and Lay Claim perhaps does as well. Cartouche of Strength and Cartouche of Ambition are premium but require a creature and the right situations to be good.
Fan Bearer and Edifice of Authority can shut down most anything, but require time and mana and can be destroyed. Neither is at its best against aggressive decks. Start // Finish is great in Orzhov decks and can still provide hard removal in slower black decks that can’t cast the front half. Destined // Lead does a lot of good stuff, mostly as combat trick that turns into finisher, but it can also be used as removal on both sides, making it worth mentioning among the second tier of removal.
Two more creatures also make it here: Soulstinger and Merciless Javelineer. Soulstinger is better for defense, though it is weak to Ahn-Crop Crasher, Cartouche of Zeal, and Merciless Javelineer when it can’t block and trade for two attackers. Merciless Javelineer is much more of an aggressive card, but it can kill small stuff if you really need to.
Overall, this second tier is small and situational. This is a big reason why aggressive decks do well in Amonkhet. After the premium removal, there’s not a lot of good stuff to pick up to play defense.
Awkward but Playable
Here are some other ways to answer creatures: Impeccable Timing, Illusory Wrappings, Fling, and Gideon’s Intervention. I like Timing in defensive decks, and Wrappings can do good work. Against creatures with negative counters, Illusory Wrappings can be hard removal, and it can also kill Grim Strider if your opponent ever draws up to two cards in hand. It isn’t as great against exert creatures that can still get stat bonuses or other effects, though it can slow down Emberhorn Minotaur pretty well. Fling isn’t really a removal spell—it mostly shows up as a finisher in aggressive decks with pump spells—but you can theoretically use it to kill a Glorybringer if you have to.
Gideon’s Intervention is almost better considered a sideboard card, but I think it is versatile enough to discuss as maindeck removal. It does good work against specific bombs like Glorybringer, Glyph Keeper, Scaled Behemoth, and even the aftermath side of Cut // Ribbons. If your opponent has four Gust Walkers, you could try that too.
Non-Lethal Interaction
This bascally means bounce, which is quite good. Amonkhet reminds me a bit of Theros draft, where a well-timed Voyage’s End could ruin an aggressive draw. Winds of Rebuke and Galestrike do a ton of work to make blue playable on defense, though you have to have some defense or finishers to back them up or else they merely prolong your agony. Galestrike is specifically weak to Ahn-Crop Crasher and Tah-Crop Elite, so keep that in mind. Vizier of Deferment can do some amazing work, especially against tokens, though it doesn’t block very well. Decision Paralysis has been pretty solid for me, especially in Izzet spell decks, and it deals with some cards that bounce does not. Floodwaters is mostly getting cycled against aggressive decks, but it can reset a board on occasion.
Counter Magic/Discard
You have a few proactive options for removing threats. Essence Scatter, Cancel, Censor, and Reduce // Rubble can all stop something if you line up your turns correctly, but don’t help much once you fall behind. Lay Bare the Heart can pick off a threat from hand, and Unburden can help too. If you don’t have much removal, all of these can help. Failure // Comply also technically fits here, but it seems awful in most situations.
Combat Tricks
Trying to block with comabt tricks is not the best plan,; but as you can see, Amonkhet is short on better plans. Djeru’s Resolve, Spidery Grasp, and Synchronized Strike are all great for ambushing attackers and resetting exert creatures. You can lean on them as removal when you need to. Supernatural Stamina can do good work on defense as well, though it doesn’t let you block if you save your creature from removal precombat. Hapatra’s Mark theoretically can do something similar if you have a creature with a bunch of negative counters, but it seems mostly unplayable to me.
The rest of the combat tricks are aggressive: In Oketra’s Name, Brute Strength, Pursue Glory, Shed Weakness, and Mighty Leap. You’d much rather be using them to eat opposing blockers than to build up a strong defense.
Sometimes Removal
Here’s a motley crew of amazing and okay cards that sometimes kill things. Angler Drake and Decimator Beetle are amazing, of course. Quarry Hauler sometimes can kill off something valuable, and I like its versatility in general. Stir the Sands and Vizier of Tumbling Sands can also provide surprise defense when you need it. Grasping Dunes and Festering Mummy provide a negative counter that can help, but you can’t rely on either very much. Combo with Quarry Hauler!
Samut, Voice of Dissent can ruin people if they forget about the white-mana untapping ability, or don’t realize you can make white mana. Mostly you just win when you play Samut, but you should keep this in mind.
Getting Desperate
Scraping the bottom of the barrel? Pouncing Cheetah can ambush an attacker, maybe. If you have Rhonas’s Monument, if can also give another blocker a pump. Don’t be too proud to leave that value on the table. Consuming Fervor can slowly eat a creature, if you are stuck in a board stall against Fan Bearer or something. That’s more of a Sealed corner case, but it’s not nothing.
Scarab Feast is almost always better when cycled, but you can take out some embalmers or aftermath cards if you have to. If one of them is a Glyph Keeper or Honored Hydra, you might get real value.
If you are totally hopeless, you can use Scribe of the Mindful to double up your good removal. The slowest Snapcaster Mage ever, it can chump block and sacrifice to pick up Final Reward or something. But you still have to play a bad creature and untap with it to do that. This is about the lowest you can stoop.
Sideboard Options
There are a few other useful cards. Stinging Shot and Blazing Volley and reasonable to play in the main deck and very strong when they are good. Forsake the Worldly, Dissenter’s Deliverance, and Violent Impact all cycle so they also can go in your starting forty if you’re short on better options. Haze of Pollen also can be “removal” for mass pump effects or big exert turns. Manglehorn comes in if you are facing Edifice of Authority or some other annoying artifact. By Force never makes the cut.
And I was wrong about Scribe of the Mindful. It isn’t the lowest you can stoop for removal. That honor belongs to Glorious End. Why lose this turn when you can lose next turn instead? It’s too bad Glorious End exiles itself when it resolves or else you could go super deep on awfulness. May your decks have much better options!
Carrie O’Hara is Editor-in-Chief of Hipsters of the Coast.