The 30 Best Planeswalker Removal Spells in Magic Ranked

Last updated on December 26, 2024

Assassin's Trophy | Illustration by Ron Spears

Hello planeswalkers! At least, I hope I can say hello to you, and that you haven’t been removed from the game. Planeswalkers are the grand heroes or the big bads in the Magic multiverse. They've become an integral part of the game; love them or hate them, I can guarantee you’ll run into some planeswalkers eventually in every format outside of Pauper.

Whether you’re developing a superfriends deck or just sick of seeing some of the planeswalkers' faces, understanding planeswalker removal is crucial. Planeswalkers don’t act like any other card and can sometimes be a hassle to deal with. Let’s look at the specific and general removal for dealing with planeswalkers.

What Is Planeswalker Removal?

The Elderspell | Illustration by Daarken

Planeswalker removal refers to any card that can remove a planeswalker from the battlefield for more than a turn (no blink effects, sorry). There are many ways to get rid of a planeswalker including: removing loyalty counters, destroying, exiling, and sacrificing. I’ll look at cards that can directly target the planeswalker card type, as well as generally effective removal.

Before we get to the removal, you should also know about cards that can neutralize or slow down planeswalkers. They won’t be included here, but they can help you when dealing with planeswalkers. Cards like Pithing Needle, Suppression Field, Eidolon of Obstruction, Spark Rupture, and The Immortal Sun fall into this category.

#30. Overwhelming Remorse

Overwhelming Remorse is a graveyard deck’s kind of removal. It seems weak or overpriced but becomes quite good once you fill your graveyard. There are many cheap planeswalker removal spells, but the chance to pay 1 mana is enticing.

#29. Necrotic Sliver

Necrotic Sliver is an interesting Orzhov card I wanted to include because it turns your slivers into planeswalker-killing bombs. You can sacrifice your slivers to remove any kind of permanent, and this is especially brutal against planeswalkers. You usually want to have many slivers for all their compounding abilities, so make sure to use a card like Sliver Queen to fortify your planeswalker-removing ability.

#28. Price of Betrayal

Don’t be surprised to see many cards from the War of the Spark MTG set. It was all about planeswalkers and therefore needed some good planeswalker removal. Price of Betrayal is a cheap sorcery that removes counters from a permanent. This can be quite cost-effective when dealing with planeswalkers, as their average starting loyalty points is around 4. A slightly worse option can also be Render Inert.

#27. Hex Parasite

Cards like Price of Betrayal are great for removing loyalty counters from planeswalkers, but they have a set number they can remove. Hex Parasite can remove as many counters as you can afford. This artifact creature also happens to get huge if you use the ability enough.

#26. Aether Snap

Aether Snap is an interesting board wipe that may be a solid addition to sideboards. It removes counters and tokens, which can help to beat superfriends or mass-token decks. What you don’t want to happen is to have this card be a dud in your hand because it won't remove anything. This black sorcery can be efficient against planeswalker decks and therefore should be sideboarded and used when needed.

#25. Pile On

Pile On is legal in almost every format and can help you remove planeswalkers at a reduced price. Convoke is such a good mechanic and can lure your opponent into thinking you don’t have enough mana to respond to their planeswalker. This black instant requires some board presence but can be a killer trap for your opponents.

#24. Yawgmoth’s Vile Offering

Yawgmoth's Vile Offering is the swing many decks seek. You can reanimate a creature or planeswalker back to the battlefield while removing an opponent’s creature or planeswalker. This card can work wonderfully if a few things are set up in your matches. I love the advantage swing this card can give, but it won’t always be useful in your hand.

#23. Sword of Sinew and Steel

The swords of MTG all have crazy good upside in the right decks. Sword of Sinew and Steel belongs in aggressive decks that can afford to play and equip it in the middle rounds. Once equipped you have some decent removal protection and planeswalker and artifact hate. I’m not saying to run out and purchase a ton of copies of this card, but it does have some interesting interactions to be aware of.

#22. Blood on the Snow

Blood on the Snow is a wonderful piece of removal for decks with snow lands. You can remove creatures or planeswalkers and return one of your own if you have enough snow lands. This is a great advantage swing and a solid way to take care of multiple planeswalkers.

#21. Fracture

Fracture is a wonderful removal card for many Constructed formats. It has enchantment, artifact, and planeswalker hate. The number of bomb cards this cheap spell can remove is just amazing. Of course, the only downside is if you face a creature-heavy deck. Fracture is just too good of a removal card to worry much about that.

#20. Ertai Resurrected

Ertai Resurrected is a solid creature with flash and an ETB ability. This Dimir card can play the ultimate defense by countering spells or killing planeswalkers and creatures when it ETBs. Your opponent gets to draw a card from this interaction, and if you’re playing from a disadvantage this card doesn’t often change that. However, if you have the advantage this card can often be the final control you need to win a match.

#19. Stroke of Midnight + Beast Within + Generous Gift

Beast Within, Generous Gift, and Stroke of Midnight are all cards that destroy a planeswalker and give your opponent a creature token. The trade-off of removing a strategy-centric planeswalker for a creature token is one I’d often take. Stroke of Midnight takes a slight lead in this bunch because this white instant only produces a 1/1 creature for the targeted opponent.

#18. Ossification + Conclave Tribunal

There are so many enchantments that can hold a permanent hostage that should be on this list. I’ll highlight the two I like the best for taking care of planeswalkers. Ossification is a great and cheap white enchantment that can give you a big mana advantage when it removes planeswalkers. Conclave Tribunal can be even cheaper when you use convoke to pay for it. Beware of enchantment hate and you’ll have great planeswalker removal in these cards.

#17. Molten Collapse

This spot used to be dedicated to Dreadbore, but the printing of Molten Collapse in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan pushed that card into obscurity. This is a strict upgrade that's just as efficient, but gives you some modality with the descend ability.

#16. Rite of Oblivion

Rite of Oblivion is a superb removal card for token and small creature decks. You can get use out of a card like Burglar Rat and sacrifice it to remove powerful permanents like planeswalkers. The flashback ability makes this card a nuisance that opponents have to plan around.

#15. Electrodominance

Another effective strategy for removing planeswalkers is by doing direct damage with spells. The cheapest and most useful of these might be Lightning Bolt, but I also want to highlight Electrodominance. With the right amount of mana, you can destroy a planeswalker and play another spell from your hand. This red instant is an advantage shift you want in a card.

#14.  Eaten Alive + Bone Shards

There are many cards like Eaten Alive and Bone Shards, so let’s highlight them and you can decide which of these kinds of cards fits your flavor. Eaten Alive and Bone Shards are super cheap planeswalker removal cards that just require an extra resource to cast. Discarding or sacrificing a dud creature to remove a planeswalker is an easy trade-off. I'll give it to Eaten Alive because it can be cast for 5 mana if you can’t sacrifice your precious creatures.

#13. Murderous Rider

Adventures have been powerful since their introduction, and maybe none more than Swift End, one of the best removal spells in black. The adventure of this card can remove an opponent’s best creature or planeswalker, and then you can cast it as Murderous Rider from exile. The removal is fantastic and the fact that this black creature could get shuffled into your library for another go is even better.

#12. Thief of Blood

Would you like to be able to siphon all the loyalty counters on planeswalkers onto one creature? Well, this is how Thief of Blood can help you get rid of planeswalker threats. The mana value of 6 can be absurd for a 1/1 creature, so you better hope there are some counters to move. The absolute best scenario is removing multiple planeswalkers with this card in a single action.

#11. Vampire Hexmage

Vampire Hexmage is a small insurance creature. You can play this vampire shaman early as a combat deterrent because of its first strike. It then can act as a rattlesnake or straight-up removal of planeswalkers. This is the kind of versatile card that finds its way into many decks just because of how efficiently it can work.

#10. Questing Beast + Rampaging Raptor

Questing Beast and Rampaging Raptor are great aggressive creatures that can take care of planeswalkers. One of the hardest parts of dealing with planeswalkers is you often have to dedicate your attacks to remove them and give your opponents more time to control the game. These creatures deal damage to planeswalkers when they deal combat damage to players. You no longer have to choose, but if I were to choose one of these cards, I’d pick Questing Beast.

#9. Sheoldred’s Edict + Angrath’s Rampage

Angrath's Rampage and Sheoldred's Edict are great 2-drop edicts that can force an opponent to sacrifice whatever you need to get rid of at that moment. Your opponent picks which permanent to sacrifice depending on which mode you pick, so choose wisely. Choosing planeswalker can be brutal for your opponent who probably spent a good amount of mana on it. Of the two, I love Sheoldred's Edict because of its instant speed and its impact in the current Standard format.

#8. Bedevil + Hero's Downfall

Let’s put Hero's Downfall and Bedevil together as effective, instant, 3-drop planeswalker removers. They both have the versatility of multiple targets so they can be reliably used in many decks. I’ll give the slight lead to Bedevil just because it can remove artifacts as well. While Heroic Downfall is more iconic, there are strictly better versions with cards like Feed the Cycle and Breath Your Last.

#7. Vindicate

Who needs a whole bunch of text, when all you want is simple? Vindicate has no frills to it, just “Destroy target permanent.” This card can fit well into Orzhov () control decks or any deck that can create white and black mana. I usually love cards that give me versatility, but sometimes you just need direct removal.

#6. Void Rend

Void Rend is the more talkative cousin of Vindicate, meaning that it uses more words for a similar effect. Those words, however, make this Esper card wonderful for removing planeswalkers. You won’t care about the nonland permanent distinction when you can be assured that this card won’t be countered. With the number of ways to fix mana in Constructed, Void Rend is a wonderful catch-all card.

#5. Flame Blitz

Flame Blitz is the ultimate middle finger to planeswalkers. It does 5 damage to all planeswalkers at your end step each turn. I don’t know many superfriends decks that would enjoy going against this red enchantment. There isn’t much else to say about it, except keep it in your sideboard for security.

#4. The Elderspell

The Elderspell was made for the War of the Spark set. It excels when you're battling planeswalker decks against each other. You can remove all your opponent’s planeswalkers and give yours a huge boost of loyalty counters. This black sorcery is too specific to be in every deck, but it’s the cream of the crop when it comes to removing planeswalkers.

#3. Exiling Instants

I honestly couldn’t make the hard decisions and remove many of these cards from the list. Let’s throw them all together and call them the “exile planeswalkers instants.” This includes everything like Anguished Unmaking, Baleful Mastery, Despark, Utter End, Tear Asunder, Vanishing Verse, and Vraska's Contempt. They may not be as cost-effective as an Assassin's Trophy, but they’re effective and can exile a target planeswalker at instant speed. These cards have little downside and can be incorporated into so many decks. If you’ve played long enough, you’ve seen one of these great removal spells.

#2. Get Lost + Bitter Triumph + Fateful Absence

Get Lost, Bitter Triumph, and Fateful Absence are somewhat interchangeable 2-drop removal spells, depending on the format. These cards can remove a creature or planeswalker with some downside attached to the spell. At 2 mana and instant speed, they’re crazy efficient and help ensure you keep control of a game. For my money, Get Lost is the best of the trio because if you control a match your opponents shouldn't have any creatures to benefit from the Map tokens.

#1. Assassin’s Trophy

Assassin's Trophy is such a famous removal card that I’m sure I don’t need to sell you on it. For those who don’t know much about this excellent Golgari card, it's awesome removal. This card is cheap and can target so many different threats. You shouldn’t worry too much about giving your opponent a land advantage when removing their big threats easily.

Why Can’t You Remove a Planeswalker as Soon as It Enters the Battlefield?

It’s all about how priority is handled in MTG. Let’s go through the steps:

• When a player casts a planeswalker, priority is passed to you while the spell remains on the stack.
• While you have priority, you can take game actions that interact with other cards or spells on the stack (for example, you could target the planeswalker on the stack with a counterspell).
• Once you pass priority, the planeswalker resolves. The planeswalker’s player now has priority as it ETBs (when a player's spell resolves, they retain priority).
• Since they have priority, you can’t do anything until they take an action or pass priority.

This is why you can’t respond to a planeswalker that ETBs until after the player activates a loyalty ability, or takes any other action. It's worth noting though, if the planeswalker entering play causes an ability to trigger and go on the stack (think: Altar of the Brood), you'll actually have a window to interact before they can activate their planeswalker! I have to give credit to the Reddit r/MagicArena for help with this explanation!

Wrap Up

Yawgmoth's Vile Offering | Illustration by Chase Stone

There's no removing my interest in this game, and I hope you’re the same. Planeswalkers are a huge part of Magic, so it’s imperative to understand how to use them and remove them. There are so many strategies and many more cards for removing planeswalkers, so use these rankings well and make sure to do your own research!

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Stay safe and play on!