If you’re playing a colorless deck and can’t splash colors for colored removal (in Commander, for instance), you’ll still need a way to remove problematic cards from opposing battlefields. In these circumstances, you’ll have to dive into the relatively shallow pool of colorless removal. While colorless removal spells aren’t the most efficient in the game, there are still some great options – And they are the topic of today’s article – The very best colorless removal in MTG. So, let’s jump right in.
Colorless removal generally has one thing going for it – It’s versatile. It isn’t really restricted by the color pie, like other colors. For example, many cards can exile creatures or other permanents, and some even punish players for having colored spells. The catch is that it comes at a much higher cost than similar spells that have colored mana.
We will look at MTG’s top 10 colorless removal spells and cover what makes them good, their pros & cons, and what formats I recommend playing them in. So, break out those Wastes and get ready to remove some permanents.
Top 10 Colorless Removal Spells
10. Meteor Golem
Meteor Golem costs a lot of mana, but the optimistic player will find a few small saving graces exist. First, given that this is an artifact, it’s pretty easy to reduce the cost of this a bit with cards like Foundry Inspector and Jhoira’s Familiar.
Secondly, you get a 3/3 body that can attack, block, and be pumped up with things like Steel Overseer. Furthermore, the fact that it is an artifact means it can contribute to anything that cares about how many artifacts you have. The construct tokens from Urza’s Saga.
| Pros | Cons |
| Is a creature and removal | Very expensive to cast |
| It contributes to the number of artifacts you have in play | Sorcery speed |
Recommended Formats: Commander
9. Unstable Obelisk
Unstable Obelisk isn’t the most efficient removal spell in the world by any stretch of the imagination. After all, you’ll need 10 mana and to sacrifice your card to get something off the field. The caveat is that the removal comes stapled onto a mana rock. Considering three-mana rocks are playable in most colorless commander decks, I like to think of this as a mana rock that’s also removal, making it a bit better.
Related: The Best Mana Rocks In MTG
| Pros | Cons |
| Produces mana in the early game and removal late game | Expensive to use |
| Can remove any permanent type | Requires you to sacrifice your mana rock |
| Can be activated at instant speed if it’s already in play |
Recommended Formats: Commander, Oathbreaker
8. Ugin, the Ineffable
If you’re playing a deck that needs colorless removal, you’ll likely want Ugin, the Ineffable in the deck, even aside from its ability to remove permanents. The static ability alone is a powerhouse effect in decks built around artifacts or otherwise colorless spells.
The +1 is also fantastic, considering it generates bodies that can protect Ugin and later turns them into card advantage when they’ve served their purpose. Lastly, we come to the removal portion – for three loyalty, you can destroy any permanent that is one or more colors.
The majority of the time, this will do the job. However, there are potent cards like Blightsteel Colossus, Wurmcoil Engine, and Aetherflux Reservior that this will miss. It’s also worth noting that you’ll have to minus your walker in loyalty to remove something.
| Pros | Cons |
| Overall powerful card that serves purposes outside of removal | Can’t remove colorless permanents |
| Can reduce the cost of other removal spells | Has to have at least three loyalty to remove something |
| Removes any permanent type so long as it’s colored | Sorcery speed |
| Can remove multiple things with enough loyalty |
Recommended Formats: Commander, Oathbreaker
7. Karn Liberated
If you’ve ever started down an early game Karn Liberated that someone has powered into play early, you know how hard of a card this is to beat. It does cost a lot of mana, but you get more than your money’s worth. For seven mana, it can come down and -3 to exile a permanent of your choosing. So, at this point, it’s a sorcery speed Scour from Existance, which is still playable.
Especially when you consider everything else Karn brings to the table – The +4 (going all the way up to 10 loyalty!) is maybe not removal but can undoubtedly be a disruption, particularly in 1v1 games. It also puts him so high in loyalty that it’s nigh impossible to remove him by simply attacking. This massive boost also means you have the resources to activate the -3 multiple times throughout the game.
And the cherry on top is that his ultimate (final ability) is a downright win-con. After all, the +4 and the -3 exile cards that this ultimate will put into play under your control after restarting the game. In my experience, Karn usually closes out games long before he gets up to his final ability.
| Pros | Cons |
| Overall powerful card | Can’t be used at instant |
| Removes any permanent type | Has to remove loyalty to remove something |
| Exiles the target |
Recommended Formats: Modern, Commander, Oathbreaker
6. Spatial Contortion
Finally, something that doesn’t require a ton of mana. While being cheap to cast is a plus, that five mana cost reduction will also cost you some stopping power. Spatial Contortion can only remove creatures with three toughness or less unless they’ve been somehow damaged.
That said, I checked the edhrec list of Commander’s top 100 most played creatures, and -3 to toughness can bring down 65% of them. Granted, not all 65 of them are creatures you’ll want to use a removal spell on in most circumstances, but still, I found the number surprisingly high.
There’s also the possibility to consider using this as a pump spell for one of your creatures, assuming it has some toughness to spare or perhaps went unblocked. This may not be the most common application of the spell, but I have seen it happen.
| Pros | Cons |
| Instant speed | Requires colorless mana |
| Can pump your creatures | Doesn’t remove larger threats |
| Circumvents indestructible | |
| Cheap to cast |
Recommended Formats: Commander, Oathbreaker, Modern, Vintage, Legacy
5. Scour from Existence
Scour from Existence (like the spells mentioned before it) is also expensive. However, it’s costly in a much better way. First, it’s an instant. This alone puts the versatility leaps and bounds above the previous spells on the list. Secondly, it exiles, whereas everything else has only destroyed whatever it removed.
Many decks can reanimate permanents, so exiling them is a great way to ensure you only have to remove them once. Lastly, Scour can hit any permanent type, even land, which makes it quite the catchall. Oh, and seven is sort of the magic number for many colorless decks running the Tron lands, Urza’s Powerplant, Urza’s Mine, and Urza’s Tower, which together produce seven colorless mana.
| Pros | Cons |
| Instant speed | Expensive to cast |
| Exiles the target | |
| Can remove any permanent type |
Recommended Formats: Pauper, Commander, Oathbreaker
4. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, is the third planeswalker mentioned so far, and he’s the best of the bunch. One downside to Ugin, the Ineffable, and Karn Liberated is that they require you to take away loyalty to remove things, which makes them easier to remove, and therefore closer to leaving the battlefield.
On the other hand, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, can deal with threats while increasing his loyalty, thanks to his +2. As mentioned when discussing Spatial Contortion, three damage is enough to take out 65% of the top-played creatures in Commander. And even outside of Commander, this will always be as effective as Lightning Bolt in damage. It’s also worth noting that you can damage players, battles, and other Planeswalkers.
Related: Best Black Removal Spells In Magic: The Gathering
And all this is just with his first ability – Moving along, he has a versatile
| Pros | Cons |
| Gains loyalty as it removes things | Expensive to cast |
| Can deal damage to any target | Sorcery speed |
| Has both single target removal and a |
Recommended Formats: Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Commander, Oathbreaker
3. All is Dust
You can’t have a list about colorless removal without All is Dust. It’s a very powerful card and is often a one-sided
| Pros | Cons |
| Wipes the | Doesn’t remove colored permanents |
| Circumvents indestructible, hexproof, and shroud | |
| Cost can be reduced with Eldrazi Temple and Eye of Ugin |
Recommended Formats: Modern, Legacy, Commander, Oathbreaker
2. Titan’s Presence
In my opinion, this is one of the best single-target removal spells a colorless deck can run. It’s cheap to cast, instant speed, and it exiles the target – However, there is one catch. As an additional cost to cast the spell, you must reveal a colorless creature from your hand. Then you can exile any creature whose power is less than or equal to the revealed cost.
In other words, you’ll need to reveal a card with more power than whatever you want to remove. In archetypes like Eldrazi, having a large, high-power creature in hand isn’t hard to do, and you’ll likely almost always be able to cast this without issue.
| Pros | Cons |
| Exiles the target | Requires you to have a creature with power equal to or higher than your target |
| Instant speed | |
| Cheap to cast |
Recommended Formats: Oathbreaker, Commander
1. Introduction to Annihilation
Here we are – The best of the best of colorless removal. It costs more than Titan’s Presense, but you’ll never get stuck not being able to remove what you need to when you need to. And as far as casting cost goes, it’s cheaper than similar effects like Scour from Existance.
And there’s more to like aside from the reasonable casting cost too. There are no restrictions to what non-land permanents this can remove, and there are no hoops to jump through when casting this. The only catch is that the controller of the permanent getting taught a lesson in annihilation will get to draw a card. Assuming you’re aiming this at a worthy target, that’ll always be a deal in your favor.
| Pros | Cons |
| Exiles the target | Sorcery speed |
| Moderate casting cost | |
| Removes multiple permanent types | |
| No additional cost to cast |
Recommended Formats: Pauper, Commander, Oathbreaker
End Step
Overall, colorless decks don’t have the best removal compared to other colors like white, blue, black, and red, but they can still get the job done when you choose the right spells. I hope you’ve come away from today’s article with a few more tools in your arsenal. Until next time, get out there are play some MTG.
