Removal Spells
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Dec. 2, 2016, 3:03 p.m. by JaceTheSwagSculptor
How would you rank the following removal spells in EDH: Council's Judgment, Oblation, and Unexpectedly Absent?
rockleemyhero says... #3
Ehhh tbh i dont run any of them. I'd play Oblation and Council's Judgment before Unexpectedly Absent, and before those I would play Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Grasp of Fate, and Austere Command. Oblation is very meta and deck dependent, council's obviously being more political dependent.
December 2, 2016 3:49 p.m. Edited.
avrgeboy123 says... #4
Oblation < Unexpectedly Absent < Council's Judgement < Other Cards.
Oblation allows your opponent to draw cards = bad times
Unexpected is color intensive and doesn't deal with the problem permanently. You are not trading cards for opponent's cards, but rather delaying a problem at the cost of one of your cards.
Council's Judgement is ok, but again, color intensive and equatable to other cards in the format.
December 2, 2016 4:16 p.m.
DrukenReaps says... #5
answers will vary depending on what the deck they are in can do.
many decks Unexpectedly Absent is meh but if the deck can shit out mana like a paper factory shits out paper then it sends target to the bottom of a deck. bye bye eldrazi... on the other hand useless if that person can just tutor it back out.
Oblation is fine but there are better cards. if you run it with black discard and something like Waste Not it becomes much nicer.
Council's Judgment is funny and potentially huge advantage for you but to really get the most out of it you have to play it at an opportune time and politic like the devil to get rid of the things you want gone.
if forced to choose between them for just general deck building and not a more specific deck id order them this way: Council's Judgment, Oblation, Unexpectedly Absent.
December 2, 2016 4:24 p.m.
UpsetYoMama says... #6
One thing to note is that Unexpectedly Absent used to be much better because you could tuck commanders. Since the ruling change, the card is a lot less effective.
Oblation also has versatility that no one is mentioned, because it can actually be used on one of your own permanents to draw cards in the late game. For example, shuffling away a mana rock to draw cards. Or, it can be used almost like a sac outlet. Say they try to gain control of one of your creatures with Dragonlord Silumgar. You could target your own creature, their trigger fizzles, and you draw twice.
Council's Judgment is more of a fun card than anything, although it can get rid of the most hated thing on the table.
December 2, 2016 4:40 p.m.
JaceTheSwagSculptor says... #7
Ugh...why can't we just have more Beast Within's.
As of right now, I guess the suggestions are tied between Council's Judgment and Oblation. I can't say I'm a huge fan of either but I guess this is the price you pay with a generic removal spell. I would agree with rockleemyhero and go with Grasp of Fate, but that card seems like asking to be blown out 3x over.
December 2, 2016 4:46 p.m.
rockleemyhero says... #8
JaceTheSwagSculptor that's why you supplement with Sun Titan :). Aura of Silence is a really good card too that can be used for removal (also combos with ST). Btw, love the name hahah
December 2, 2016 4:49 p.m.
JaceTheSwagSculptor says... #10
@rockleemyhero: Sun Titan's cmc is a little bit too high for my taste. I do run Aura of Silence, however.
@UpsetYoMama: The deck is G/W. I'm already running Song of the Dryads, Beast Within, Aura of Silence, Nature's Claim, and Swords to Plowshares as single target removal.
December 2, 2016 5:02 p.m.
rockleemyhero says... #11
Sounds like a more competitive EDH deck? Than i'd for sure skip out on Oblation, I'd only maybe play it in selvala. Sun Titan should actually be really powerful in a G/W build, even at 6 mana it should be able to stabilize or take over the game. You can also play sticks like Fiend Hunter or Reclamation Sage. Return to Dust is ok too, albeit expensive but at least its a 2 for 1.
Mind if i ask who your general is? That will help a lot.
December 2, 2016 5:08 p.m.
Karns_Pyromancer says... #12
I run both Judgement & Absent. Both are good. Judgement has a lot of pull if you're behind & you can convince your opponentsite to share the pain.
Absent is kind of meh. I'd swap it for almost anything that hits multiple permanents.
December 2, 2016 5:20 p.m.
JaceTheSwagSculptor says... #13
@rockleemyhero: Its a fairly competitive Sigarda, Host of Herons enchantress deck. Sigarda is pretty much the top of the curve along with the back up win-con in Sigil of the Empty Throne.
I would prefer to stay away from cards with ETB effects as I use a fair amount of Torpor Orb effects in the deck.
December 2, 2016 5:22 p.m.
Raging_Squiggle says... #14
What type of permanents are you trying to get rid of?
December 2, 2016 5:30 p.m.
JaceTheSwagSculptor says... #15
@Raging_Squiggle: Permenants that negatively effect my permenants lol.
December 2, 2016 5:55 p.m.
MindAblaze says... #16
If you're playing a competitive meta Unexpectedly Absent is good because it can be used in response to a fetch land. Pay two white for an opponent to shuffle target permanent in?
December 2, 2016 7:10 p.m.
@MindAblaze is right in that Unexpectedly Absent is great at higher levels, but it tends to see more play in decks with restricted color identities.
As for Council's Judgment, it's a great catch-all that has the potential to deal with permanents you might otherwise struggle with. It's not hard to convince a table that a Narset needs killing.
December 2, 2016 9:23 p.m.
Raging_Squiggle says... #18
Some things no one has mentioned of Council's Judgment is:
It doesn't target. It can hit permanents with shroud, pro white, or hexproof.
Because it doesn't target, the opponent(s) will not know what will be chosen until it's too late for them to respond.
December 2, 2016 9:35 p.m.
I used to play Oblation but replaced it with Unexpectedly Absent - it's a lot stronger than it originally seems, even at X=0. But you need to look at the setting of the deck. I play Saffi Eriksdotter combo so having cheap removal for even just one turn allows me to combo off through say a Hushwing Gryff or Rest in Peace.
If you're playing a longer game (is this for Sigarda?) then I would say Council's Judgment is probably better. Just be aware that with that one, while most people will vote alongside what you choose, it does have the potential for you to get outvoted.
December 2, 2016 9:36 p.m.
JaceTheSwagSculptor says... #20
@enpc: The deck probably not as fast as a combo deck, but it can definitely end games quick with the correct set of auras.
Also I'm pretty sure people would not vote for the permenant that is stopping me from OHKOing an opponent. However, I do believe Council's Judgment is quite good if your behind especially with Lightning Greaves being such a prominent EDH card.
December 2, 2016 10:03 p.m.
JaceTheSwagSculptor says... #22
@phc: Surprisingly, that's not too farfetched of an option. If it were an instant, I probably wouldn't think twice about it's inclusion.
December 2, 2016 10:35 p.m.
Raging_Squiggle says... #23
You could always run Sterling Grove + Privileged Position and not worry about things that make you sad.
December 2, 2016 10:59 p.m.
JaceTheSwagSculptor says... #24
@Raging_Squiggle: Both are already in the list.
December 2, 2016 11:34 p.m.
JaceTheSwagSculptor says... #25
As opposed to just sounding like a downer, let me pose another question: would you rather have a more specific removal spell with little to no downside such as Path to Exile or a more generic removal spell with a larger downside such as the cards discussed in this thread?
December 2, 2016 11:37 p.m.
Both. Personally in Saffi I run Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, Unexpectedly Absent, Nature's Claim, Beast Within and a slew of creature based removal.
Infinimage007 says... #2
Oblation- Staple. No shenanigans and in EDH you should be able to deal with those two cards pretty easily.
Council's Judgment- Decent. It's best with two players but it is also a very fun card to use.
Unexpectedly Absent- Gimmicky. cost spells are annoying.
December 2, 2016 3:16 p.m.