How to Play More Removal (and be happy about it)

I love the higher level philosophical approach to edh deck construction this channel showcases.

If you’re running mono Red, Bolt Bend is objectively the funniest “removal” spell when you have enough big creatures for it to work.

The section about the appropriate removal for the deck type is excellent and ill def consider that if i brew again. Never considered it that way.

"What if we seasoned the vegetables" the video, good stuff.

the warped “rounded deck” made me actually laugh. thank you 😂

When I help friends with their decks around this topic, I make sure to replace "control" and "removal" with "interaction" cards and it works so well! It's exactly what we need more of for more interesting dynamic games.

I also really like removal that does other things along with removing, Binding the Old Gods (The 2BG Saga from Kaldhiem) is a really great removal spell because the second chapter snags you a land.

Having "removal engines" is a MAJOR key for mid-power. Going 1-for-1 with stuff like swords is useful when you need to answer a threat immediately, but often midpower games feature not one, but a wide range of large bastards that might need answering. In my Yorion build Aerial Extortionist does triple duty as a reasonable flier, repeatable removal, and card advantage engine. The new Ethersworn Adjudicator looked like an unexciting mythic at first, but in a deck with Training Ground effects has been a chunky flier that can snipe multiple targets per turn. At higher power levels counterspells and the 'staple' removal spells are a given, but that hidden factor of decks generally being leaner means those removal packages can often get much worse at dealing with the multitude of big, stupid threats flying around a lower power levels. If you're the only person packing that removal suite you're going to exhaust your hand before the 3 others taking turns tapping out to play giant idiots on curve run out of giant idiots.

my biggest thing is always trying to figure out which removal is the best (i don’t have deadly rollick money either), as well as how situational is too situational when it comes to removal. i also try to consider how i can be creative with removal without defaulting to the most played, best-in-slot cards all the time (which sometimes can’t be helped). i’m still playing with preconstructed decks, but i’m trying to build my own completely original deck (once i come up with a good enough idea), so videos like this are helpful for getting the pieces together.

I love thematic removal, like my frog tribal has multiple cards that turn people's creatures into 1/1 frogs with no abilities, and my enchantress deck runs grasp of fate and might be one of my favorite enchantments, my voja deck run werefox bodyguard in my voja deck that synergies really well

I like removal that also advances your gameplan. For example, a card like Lethal Scheme can removed an opposing creature while looting up to 4(!) cards; while Astarion's Thirst is removal that also buffs your commander. A commander like Herigast, Erupting Nullkite can utilize threaten effects to steal opponent's creatures and sacrifice them to the deck's emerge costs.

there are some really interesting and strange removal options. Sometimes it's a creature, and most times it's a sorcery. Players don't normally play with aura's, but when someone does there's a board wipe that only hits creatures that are not enchanted with an aura.

Dude, your videos are top tier. Your deckbuilding advice has helped me blend in with the random pile of card/adjusted preconstructed/admittedly tryhard decks of my pod. 😂 I used to always be surprised with my decks when they worked, and whine when I fell behind. (I can be a sore loser. 😅) But knowing how to build a consistent deck has allowed me to be a lot more confident with how I interact at the table. All thanks to you!

My first edh deck was a slower deck with a lot of cheap removal spells. After only a few games I pretty much never got attacked because people knew their stuff was at risk of dying it it went after me. The threat of removal alone allowed me to comfortably get into the late game where my deck shined.

Can you cover spell slinger decks in a future video?

It would be cool if there was a list somewhere that had removal spells that are beneficial to different deck types. The section about those kinds of spells really got me searching for something like that.

Devastate is a fun card but as a warning for those who don"t know, you need ALL possible targets to be available in order to cast it. So if no one happens to have an enchantment or the only enchantment is yours it can be a bit awkward. Casualtys of war does not have this problem

But but ... My flashy tribal psynergy win more card is so cool in best case scenarios 😂

Great video! Totally agree I tend to be more on the "Removal can't keep up with overpowered cards/decks", but the line of thought this video explains is just high quality

idk what it is exactly but I really appreciate your voice and the way you ennnunciate. I find it very easy to be completely invested in your videos. Great analysis as always!