Red has never been great at spot removal. It cannot deal with single creatures or enchantments very well and has very little ‘any permanent’ removal options. Red’s traditional artifact interaction does give it some great artifact removal options. Unless you’re in mono-red, it is advisable to check out removal options in other colors first, except for maybe the higher ranked ones on this list. In the board wipe department this is a different story, red has a terrific selection of sweepers. Below are our 10 best red removal spells in EDH.
This article lists out the best spot removal cards, check this article if you are looking for the best board wipes in EDH.
10. Lightning Bolt
We kick off our list with this all time classic red spell. Printed in 1993 in Alpha and reprinted dozens of time, every Magic player knows this card. Although maybe not the best removal to play in our format, I still play it in my Purphoros, God Of the Forge deck because I just love the history and flavor of it. And the times that I finished an opponent off by giving them 3 damage to the face out of nowhere were 100% worth it. It will hit a large percentage of commander creatures as well, which is why we think still makes it a viable card in EDH.
9. Skred
Because we need to to fill up our land base with snow lands (i.e. snow-covered mountain) and we need to establish a land base first, we have ranked this card a bit lower. If you do decide to run with this however, this can be a real gem. In the late game we are looking at 6+ damage for 1 red mana, we cannot beat that efficiency with any card on this list.
8. Shatterskull, the Hammer Pass
MDFC’s or dual faced cards are great because if we’re hitting all our land drops or entering the late game this doubles as a spot removal spell. This particular MDFC can enter the battlefield untapped, which is big because we won’t lose any tempo. The efficiency of this card is not bad either, if we pay six mana (x=4) we can give two creatures four damage. So we’re assigning eight damage in total for six mana. And to make this card even more flexible it doubles from x=6 and on, so for x=6 we can deal 12 damage to up to two target, 24 damage is not bad for seven mana. Are there more efficient red spot removal cards in EDH? Yes, but they don’t double as a land!
7. By Force
Arguably one of the best scalable artifact removal spells in EDH, if x=1 it functions as just another red artifact spot removal card with a pretty average 2 for 1 rate. But if you scale this up you can turn into a one sided artifact board wipe. After Vandalblast this is our best red artifact spot removal pick.
6. Mizzium Mortars
Busting out 4 damage for 2 mana is not the best rate that you can achieve in red, take Lightning Bolt for instance which is much more efficient. However, this card doubles as a one sided boardwipe if you overload it. We love flexibility in EDH and that’s why this card should not be overlooked when building your red removal package.
5. Pyroblast / Red Elemental Blast
These can hit any blue permanent but they function as counterspells as well. Yes they are situational but let’s face it, countering or blowing up an Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice for 1 red mana just feels amazing. And you can use these to counter a blue player’s annoying counter spell. Although this might defer from playgroup to playgroup as it depends on how much blue is being played, in our opinion they are staples in most mono red decks and have their place in some multicolored decks as well.
4. Abrade
Abrade is in this spot because of it’s versatility, which is as mentioned one of the key qualities of spot removal in EDH. Three damage doesn’t seem like a lot, but this can often be enough to blow up someone’s commander. Blowing up one artifact for two is pretty average as well. But having these two options stapled onto one card is what makes it so great.
3. Vandalblast
As mentioned, red shines at artifact removal and Vandalblast is hard proof of that fact. One red mana to blow up an artifact is the most efficient you can get, but we also have the flexibility of turning this into a one sided artifact boardwipe for five mana. Either blow up the biggest artifact thread or slow down all your opponents if they have big artifact board states. Pair this up with Liquimetal Torque in your mono red deck for some nasty plays!
2. Wild Magic Surge
A two mana destroy target permanent effect is the most efficient and flexible we can get in EDH and it almost seems to good to be true to find this in mono red. To look for similar cards we have to compare it to all time spot removal favorites like Assassin’s Trophy. When comparing the two however, the downside of Wild Magic Surge is a lot worse. If you blow up someones creature for instance, there is a chance that they can put a bomb like Blightsteel Colossus straight onto the battlefield. Chances are slim that this will happen though, decks are often not filled to the brim with heavy hitters like that and it is a risk that we’re willing to take if we want to run the best in slot red spot removal.
1. Chaos Warp
Just like our number 2, this hits any permanent. The downside of Chaos Warp is a lot lighter though, since there is a chance that the revealed card isn’t a permanent. This smaller downside grants the extra mana that we have to pay for Chaos Warp compared to Wild Magic Surge. If you have to choose between one of these two, go for Chaos Warp. The flexibility of being able to hit any target and the small downside puts this card up there with big-name removal spells like Beast Within and Generous Gift.
Conclusion
In this list we have not included targeted land destruction, because we feel it doesn’t really belong in the removal package of many metas these days. Just a reminder that red has some solid options like Seismic Spike if you’re looking for that kind of thing. Thanks for taking a look at our take on today’s best red removal spells in EDH.
