Path to ExilePath to Exile | Art by Todd Lockwood

White Out

With the release of Edge of Eternities, a brand new white single-target removal spell has entered Magic's card pool in Emergency EjectEmergency Eject. But how does it stack up to the other white removal spells available to Commander players already? Especially in a color that boasts some of the best removal spells in the entire game!

In this edition of The Monolith, your home for monocolored deckbuilding on EDHREC, we're stacking up the best mono-white kill spells available in the internet's favorite format: a Top 10 list!

10. Declaration in StoneDeclaration in Stone

Once you get down to the number ten slot for this list, the card selection becomes a lot more nuanced. There's probably ten or more cards that could slot in at position number ten. For my personal pick, I'm going with an underrated classic from Shadows over Innistrad.

Declaration in StoneDeclaration in Stone could probably remove its bonus effect and still see a decent amount of play in white decks. Two mana to exile a creature is a fine enough rate for, say, your third removal spell. Even though it's at sorcery speed.

The upside, however, makes this spell very versatile. Not only does Declaration in Stone exile a creature, it also brings along any other creatures that a share a name with it on that player's board. This could be a two-mana, exile your key creature, get a ClueClue.

But quite a lot of the time it's "I board wipe one player's 30 Zombie tokens and they get no death triggers and don't even get a Clue for their troubles." And for two mana? That's some pretty fantastic modularity.

9. Oblivion RingOblivion Ring

There's a million different variations on the classic Banishing LightBanishing Light. For two and a white you can exile any nonland permanent under an enchantment until that enchantment leaves the battlefield.

The ability to exile something is already a very important tool in a game of Commander, a format where death triggers, reanimation, and indestructible creatures are hiding around every corner.

The cost of swapping your standard three-mana destroy effect at instant speed to a sorcery speed exile is not the most amazing trade off, but as Banishing Light has seen so many different flavored reprints, there's a version of the card for every deck.

Conclave TribunalConclave Tribunal rewards go-wide players, Leyline BindingLeyline Binding gives a massive edge to those in five-color decks, and you can limit your targets for a discount with cards like OssificationOssification.

This entry for Oblivion RingOblivion Ring can effectively stand in for whichever version of this spell best fits your deck whilst also giving a little tip. You see, Oblivion Ring might seem like a regular old Banishing Light clone with some slightly outdated rules text. But that change in rules text actually allows you to abuse the rules of the game to get rid of something forever.

If you hold priority after targeting something with Oblivion Ring's enters trigger, you can respond to it by sacrificing Oblivion Ring, bouncing it back into your hand, or blinking it. When Oblivion Ring leaves the battlefield, its second separate bit of rules text will enter the stack and attempt to return your exiled card before the exile trigger has actually happened.

Now that's Magic!

8. Darksteel MutationDarksteel Mutation

The problem with removing a player's Commander is that the format specifically allows them to just cast it again as many times as they can afford to. That usually makes commanders a terrible target for your precious removal spells. You shouldn't really waste them on something your opponent can just recast right away.

But at the same time, a vast majority of decks in EDH are specifically built around that commander you want to remove. Taking the commander out of the equation will very often collapse a player's entire strategy.

You shouldn't really build decks like that, but let's be honest - most people do.

Enter my personal favorite removal spell in the entire game. Darksteel MutationDarksteel Mutation (or as I like to call it, "Get stickbugged") doesn't actually remove your opponent's creature, per se. Instead it turns it into the funniest thing possible, an 0/1 indestructible bug with no abilities.

For a lot of decks this is actually worse than removal. A mono-red deck that relies on the abilities of its commander is basically finished.

7. Fateful AbsenceFateful Absence

Whilst this spell drew a lot of eyes when it was first spoiled online, quite a few people thought the potential card disadvantage it could lead to would leave it in the bargain bin. The truth is, though, two mana to draw a card in Commander is a pretty garbage rate. But two mana to kill a creature or planeswalker at instant speed is still pretty good.

Fateful Absence wipes a card off your opponent's board and leaves a ClueClue to their whereabouts in its place.

It's definitely not a flashy card, and unfortunately it was pretty heavily power-crept by the next entrant on the list. But in a format where you can't run playsets of the best cards and will need to have multiple options to achieve the same thing, Fateful Absence certainly has a space somewhere in your deck.

6. Get LostGet Lost

I've had many a friendly argument with local Standard players at my FLGS about how Get Lost is one of the biggest traps in the format. It seems like an unreal removal spell. It can destroy half the types of permanent in the game (or over half if you don't really count battles. I wouldn't blame you) and it only gives the controller a couple of MapMap tokens!

Who cares, right?

Well in a 60-card format, I've seen plenty of games slip out of someone's control because of the +1/+1 counters and card selection those Map tokens can give your opponent. But in Commander, a format where the games are slower and the amount of impact something has to have on the board for it to be a threat is way higher? Those Map tokens really are pretty negligible.

And the cost is fantastic! Just one and a white for an incredibly versatile removal spell at instant speed. Get Lost's only downside for me is that it can't deal with artifacts.

That might be seem pretty negligible for the one less mana you'll spend but, be honest. How many games have you lost to an artifact? For me it's a ridiculous amount. And if I was sat there watching it happen again because I had a ton of mana but only a Get Lost in hand, it'd sting pretty bad.

5. Stroke of MidnightStroke of Midnight

The next three spells all essentially do the same thing. For three mana, at instant speed, you get to blow up pretty much anything you want. In exchange, your opponent gets a little commiseration present.

Stroke of Midnight replaces their eight-mana planeswalker, Bolas's CitadelBolas's Citadel, or whatever it is you need to get rid of, with a measly little 1/1 Human token.

This PongifyPongify-style effect looks pretty bad in comparison if you're just getting rid of a creature. But flexibility is everything, especially in a format like Commander, and being able to target an enchantment, artifact, or whatever is threatening your game plan makes this a great utility tool in any white deck.

And the fact that it can actually target artifacts edges it, and its clones, just slightly ahead of Get LostGet Lost in my books.

4. Emergency EjectEmergency Eject

And here it is! Our brand new removal spell entering the race for best killer. Emergency Eject is the latest rendition of what we tend to see a lot of in new sets, as we've just seen from Stroke of MidnightStroke of Midnight. You get to kill a nonland permanent your opponent controls at instant speed for three mana. They get something in return.

In this case it's a basic land tapped on the battlefield from their library, locked behind the ramp equivalent of a ClueClue token, the LanderLander. This has to be the best trade of the bunch. Stroke of Midnight might only give away a 1/1 human but a creature is still a creature.

These Lander tokens are cool if you're building around them but I doubt you'd pay much mind to your opponent casting a Rampant GrowthRampant Growth in a game of Commander. It seems like a fine tradeoff for destroying their best nonland permanent.

3. Generous GiftGenerous Gift

In Commander, Generous Gift is probably the most flexible removal spell white has access to. White is known for its ability to remove pretty much anything on the board, either by blowing it up, exiling it, or shoving it under a Banishing LightBanishing Light equivalent.

One of the trickiest things to get rid of in Magic, however, is the accursed utility land. The Rogue's PassageRogue's Passage that's about to get a hexproofed creature through your blocking line, the Cabal CoffersCabal Coffers that's putting you massively behind your opponent's mana.

Generous Gift takes the flexibility of our newest list entrant and cranks it up a notch by removing the "non" from "nonland permanent." Kiss that land goodbye, it's an Elephant now.

Whilst the downside of giving your opponent a free 3/3 is definitely worse than giving them a Lander, the ability to blow up your opponent's Dark DepthsDark Depths in response to them targeting it with Thespian's StageThespian's Stage is not to be sniffed at.

2. Swords to PlowsharesSwords to Plowshares

When it comes to interaction spells in Magic: The Gathering, there are three points on a triangle that you need to consider: cost, flexibility, and speed. All of these points are pretty self explanatory, but are also incredibly important when picking a spell for your 99.

If a card is cast at sorcery speed then it won't protect you for more than 75% of the game's runtime. All Magic players should know the power difference between an instant and a sorcery.

If the spell is expensive then not only will it be unavailable in the early phases of the game, but it'll also restrict how much mana you have available to further your own game plan.

Lastly, flexibility means you won't be left without a valid target. "Destroy target nonland permanent" is a way better line of text than "Destroy target enchantment."

Swords to PlowsharesSwords to Plowshares might not be able to give you every point of that triangle, but as instant-speed kill spells go, Swords has the lowest cost you could really ask for (bar one, of course). For just a single white pip, any creature on the board (even yours if you're really desperate) is exiled. Its controller then gains life equal to the exiled creature's power.

One of the first things you're taught in "getting good at Magic school" is that life is a resource. It's usually regarded as the least important thing you can lose or gain in a game unless it's the very last chunk you have. That's why players with black in their decks are always exchanging their life totals for card advantage.

All good, cheap removal has an extra downside attached and this has to be the "cheapest" downside there is. Except...

1. Path to ExilePath to Exile

And finally, the absolute G.O.A.T. - the greatest to ever do it. Path to Exile is far and away the best removal spell white has access to.

Take all the benefits I previously raised with Swords to Plowshares and swap the cost from life gained for your opponent, to ramp for your opponent. Exile a creature at instant speed, its controller may put a basic from their deck onto the battlefield. All for a single white pip.

There's definitely a lot of debate between Path to Exile and Swords to Plowshares, and which of the two is superior. They both offer the same incredible removal ability. The choice between them is which upside you offer your opponent. Now in my opinion, gifting your opponent a tapped basic land is far less of a problem than turning lethal damage into life gain in this format.

You have to think about when you want a removal spell the most. In Commander you should only really be spending your precious removal when not doing so will lose you the game. Sometimes you'll have to cut down a crucial combo piece like Viscera SeerViscera Seer to stop an infinite combo. At that point, the life gain from Swords is definitely negligible.

But more often than not, if you're pulling the trigger on the best creature killing spell in the game, it's because that creature is coming at you with lethal amounts of power. In a format like Commander, the power on that creature is very likely to be very high. Gifting your opponent a massive swing in health total might end up losing you the game in a way that a tapped land on their board just never will. That's if they even have enough basics in their decks to fetch!

Let Us Know Your Favorites

These lists are always a bit of a nightmare to write because the best removal spell in the game is the one that best fits your deck and its themes. I'm sure there's plenty of removal spells that players absolutely swear by that didn't quite make the cut. So let us know your absolute favorite mono-white murders in the comments below and I'll see you on the next edition of The Monolith