Ah, the removal spell. The perfect one-for-one that occasionally removes your opponent's enormous creature for only a few mana. Removal spells have been around since Alpha, when Terror, Lightning Bolt, and the occasional gigantic Fireball kept powerful creatures in line.
In 2022, removal spells are still an integral part of the game, and power creep has caused them to become convoluted and powerful. Let’s take a look at the five most powerful and game-changing removal spells printed this year.
5. Obliterating Bolt
Lava Coil has received an upgrade! Obliterating Bolt is a strictly better version of the previously powerful Lava Coil, now hitting creatures and planeswalkers. So far, Obliterating Bolt has only seen play in Standard and Pioneer and most likely won’t see any play in eternal formats, but that does not mean it isn’t mixing things up.
Seen primarily in Gruul and Izzet decks in Pioneer, Obliterating Bolt allows you to handle creatures without the fear of graveyard recursion and take care of planeswalkers that are out of reach of your creatures. This card is now a staple in almost all Gruul Vehicles decks and will continue to stay there until a better removal spell is printed into red.
4. Cut Down
Comparable to Fatal Push, Cut Down is just what decks need to take care of aggressive creatures. It can kill any creature with five or less total power, which is a lot of creatures. Mainly used by midrange decks, this instant can hold back aggressive decks like burn until you can get bigger creatures on the board and dominate.
So far, this is only seen in Standard and Pioneer and has yet to be touched by any eternal formats. However, this is well used in Pioneer Control and Midrange decks and a couple of Aggro decks. In Standard, Cut Down is used in every Midrange deck under the sun and a couple of control decks. This removal spell may not be powerful enough to replace Fatal Push, but this is close enough in formats without Fatal Push.
3. Overwhelming Remorse
Overwhelming Remorse is the upgrade to Murderous Cut we’ve all been waiting for. Simply have four creatures in your graveyard, and this is a one-drop instant that exiles a creature or planeswalker. Whether you need to get rid of a Greasefang at instant speed or remove a daunting Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, or even get rid of a Cityscape Leveler while avoiding the unearth ability, this removal spell takes care of it all.
In The Brothers’ War limited format, this is a mythic common and easily first-pickable, but it’s played in many more places than limited. Many standard decks, such as Mono Black, Mardu Angels, and a slew of Midrange decks, run it to great success. Only three Pioneer decks play it so far, Abzan Greasefang, Rakdos Sacrifice, and Rakdos Midrange, but in all three, it is almost always a one-drop unconditional removal spell. It is even starting to see play in Modern, with some Living End decks finding a slot for it. So far, it doesn’t seem like this is seen in many pauper decks, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this found a home there as well.
2. March of Otherworldly Light
March of Otherworldly Light is a powerful white removal spell that sees play in all formats, even Vintage! The flexibility of the spell is where it gets all of its power, removing an artifact, enchantment, or creature with mana value X or less and exiling white cards from your hand to make it cheaper to play.
This card is played in Control in almost all formats, and it has even started seeing play in Legacy’s new Mono-White Initiative deck that has dominated the format. In Vintage, this has seen play in several decks like Esper Tinker, Humans, and Jeskai Tempo decks.
This card is perfect for removing pesky sideboard cards that halt your game plan or remove cheap and powerful cards that allow your opponent to gain the advantage. While this card is played in formats like Standard and Pioneer, it usually gets more powerful when you play the more powerful eternal formats. In Modern, this can take care of Urza’s Saga, Ragavan, or even an annoying Pithing Needle or Chalice of the Void. In Legacy, this can remove your opponent's flipped Delver of Secrets or Dragon’s Rage Channelers. In Vintage, this is a one-drop shatter for all of your opponent’s Moxes.
While this spell is potent, it is not the most powerful white removal spell printed this year…
1. Leyline Binding
By far the most powerful and widely used removal spell printed in 2022, this instant-speed enchantment is played in everything from Standard to Legacy. Due to the printings of all ten Triomes, Leyline binding has become a turn-two unconditional removal spell for only one mana in four and five-color decks, which is just what they need to carry out their game plan effortlessly.
In Standard, this sees play in several control builds and five-color midrange decks. All of the Fires of Invention decks in Pioneer play Leyline Binding, whether it’s Keruga Fires, Enigmatic Fires, or 5-color Fires. Modern is where Binding sees the most diversity, being played in control decks, Crashing Footfalls, Indomitable Creativity, Bring to Light Scapeshift, Elementals, Tameshi Combo, Zoo, and Reanimator. In Legacy, it’s played in Cascade decks, control decks, and Enchantress.
The good news about Leyline Binding is that even though it is incredibly powerful, it can only be played in decks with many different basic land types, or else it’s just a bad Oblivion Ring. The bad news about Leyline Binding is that it's incredibly powerful when played in a deck with many different basic land types. Luckily the banning of Yorion, the Sky Nomad, has diminished Modern Money-Pile enough that it is no longer a contender in tier one. Still, the printing of Leyline Binding has now made many Domain-style decks very powerful.
Modern Rhinos and Domain Zoo decks have benefitted significantly from this printing since they now have access to a one-drop unconditional removal spell that can remove anything that prohibits their cascades or messes with their aggressive starts, pushing the decks up to the top of Modern tier lists.
Feel like something is missing from the list, or that the order is wrong? Feel free to leave a comment below!
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