The 53 Best Black Removal Cards in Magic Ranked

Last updated on December 22, 2025

Invoke Despair | Illustration by Donato Giancola

Hello planeswalkers! Welcome back to your source for the best cards and synergies to take your MTG play to the next level. Today let’s take a look at black removal spells. Good removal is on the mind of every single MTG player. If you’re not disrupting your opponent’s plan, then you’re most likely doomed to lose.

Here at Draftsim we’re taking a look at all the different colors of removal and how their specific removal spells fit into various metas and (hopefully) your future builds. I can’t think of a better color to highlight for removal than black. So let’s get right down to it and destroy your opponent’s strategies with black removal spells!

What Is Black Removal in MTG?

The Elderspell | Illustration by Daarken

Black removal refers to the mono-black cards that remove permanents from the battlefield. I’m including sacrifice, destroy, exile, and -X/-X effects and how they can alter an opponent’s strategies. Multicolored spells that splash black mana are also powerful and should be highly considered, but I focused this ranking on the mono-black removal we all know and love.

Some black interaction removes cards from an opponent’s hand, either by exiling or forcing them to discard, but here I'm focusing on removing threats from the battlefield. Also note that I won’t be looking at black board wipes specifically, as you can find rundowns of these elsewhere.

#53. The Elderspell

The Elderspell is a highly specific removal spell for your superfriends decks. This card will most likely be a sideboard piece, but it can have great value against a planeswalker-heavy opponent. Removing threats and pumping your planeswalkers is a great strategy in my book.

#52. Tragic Slip

Morbid is a great keyword to pair up with many of the removal cards we’re discussing. You can snowball your removal in a single turn or use a chump blocker with Tragic Slip to remove even the biggest of threats. Make sure you always have ways to kill or sacrifice creatures to maximize the removal power of Tragic Slip.

#51. Battle at the Bridge

Let’s include a decent black removal spell for artifact decks. Battle at the Bridge is a variable X-spell that can be made as big as necessary. This card has improvise to help increase the value of X. If you’re considering an artifact deck in black, then Battle at the Bridge is a wonderful addition.

#50. Necrotic Fumes

I’ll include Necrotic Fumes because of its lesson card type. It fits well into Golgari () sacrifice decks and can be stashed in your sideboard. Make sure to include your learn spells like Eyetwitch and Hunt for Specimens. The additional cost is very much worth exiling a creature or planeswalker that’s giving you trouble.

#49. Murder

There’s no black removal article that can’t mention Murder. It’s the no-nonsense and unrestricted removal spell. A mana value of 3 and creature focus are what limit its utility as removal, but everyone loves a good ol’ Murder. There are obviously strictly better versions (Hero's Downfall, Breathe Your Last), but Murder's a classic.

#48. Withering Torment

Black’s getting better targeted enchantment removal, and Withering Torment can be directly compared to Feed the Swarm. Here we pay 1 more mana, which is clearly worse, but less life depending on the target. Having the option to pay 2 life to get rid of enchantments is a good upgrade over basic Murder.  

#47. Malicious Affliction

Removal spells with morbid often allow you to remove multiple threats in a single turn. Malicious Affliction takes that idea to another level by copying the spell if the morbid keyword is satisfied. For 2 mana with morbid online, you may remove two nonblack creatures. That’s wonderful value!

#46. Royal Assassin

When talking about black removal, it’s always good to mention some of the creatures that have removal abilities. Royal Assassin is a wonderful deterrent against non-vigilance creatures.

#45. Avatar of Woe

Avatar of Woe is a crazy versatile card. First, the 10 creatures in all graveyards can easily be satisfied by sacrificing creatures and using removal. Next, you get a big creature that’s hard to block. Finally, you have on-demand removal if you need it in the late game. This is a wonderful black card for Eternal formats, though it's more of a casual card.

#44. Do or Die

Do or Die is a fun divvy card that forces your opponent to make a decision. Your opponent chooses between two piles of creatures to destroy. So, separate one powerful creature from a few smaller ones, or just separate creatures that combo off with each other. There are many possibilities with this card, so have fun!

#43. Feed the Cycle

Bloomburrow‘s Feed the Cycle is in some ways a Hero's Downfall that costs a whole less. It’s not difficult to exile three cards from your graveyard, although doing it on turn 2 can be tricky, but a 2-mana black instant that can answer threats is incredible if you can.

Feed the Cycle has a backup mode of costing 3 mana if you don’t want to forage, which is a bigger benefit than you may realize. I can see this popping up in the removal suite of decks in multiple formats.

#42. Blot Out

We’ve had a few cards that make the opponent exile the creature with the highest mana value or power under their control, which is a really good improvement on the standard edict effect, especially when these effects exile.

Blot Out also hits planeswalkers. This can sometimes be a hindrance if the threat you want to remove is a creature and your opponent gets the chance to sacrifice a planeswalker instead. But it can also come in clutch versus superfriends decks or control decks relying on a planeswalker as their wincon. Blot Out doesn’t always hit what you need it to, but it can be the perfect answer to that indestructible or hexproof threat.

#41. The End

Effects that remove all copies of a card from a deck usually can't deal with what’s already on board, which makes The End really unique. There’s an niche type of deck that I love, one where the gameplan is removing every threat and finisher from an opponent’s deck with effects like this. Tying one into a removal spell is exactly what this archetype needed to bring it up a tier!

#40. Tithing Blade

Edict effects generally aren’t great removal, but Tithing Blade is a bit more than that. It’s an edict effect that hits each opponent, and crafting can turn into a persistent source of damage. Being a black artifact also helps in those decks, so there are lots of little bumps that get this over your standard edict. Nice little card, and it shows that Wizards is still experimenting with this space.

#39. Sheoldred’s Edict

Sheoldred's Edict was a Standard darling while legal. For aggressive decks, this is a great card for removing threats in your path. For the later game, the planeswalker removal is fantastic. The sacrifice ability is also fantastic to get around indestructible and hexproof.

#38. Chainer’s Edict

Making a player sacrifice a creature can be a great strategy to navigate tricky keywords, and flashback allows you to use Chainer's Edict twice. The major downside is the cost of 7 mana for the flashback ability. Sacrifice has its purposes but can also be easily navigated around by your opponent with tokens and cheap creatures.

#37. Plaguecrafter

It seems that every few sets, there’s a creature that ETBs and makes each player sacrifice a creature. This is hopefully used to sacrifice a weak creature of your own to take out one of your opponent’s powerful creatures. Plaguecrafter may be the best example of this type of creature. It doesn’t have any requirements for the sacrifice and a mana value of 3 is curve-friendly.

#36. Victim of Night

Victim of Night is a great and classic black removal spell, with fantastic art if I might say. The restrictions on targets lowers its value, but for most situations, this card is going to do exactly what’s needed.

#35. Dalek Drone

Everyone loves a Ravenous Chupacabra. Doctor Who brought everyone’s favorite race of evil traffic bollards to MTG, and they’re a nice upgrade to the goat-eater! A 3/3 flying creature with menace is a solid body to attack with after removing that threat. I’m just thankful I never had to face this one in a Draft.

#34. Force of Despair

Force of Despair is a wonderful trick removal. With all your mana tapped, you can lure your opponent into a false sense of security. By exiling a black card from your hand, you can destroy all the creatures that entered the battlefield this turn. This is a cerebral kind of removal card, and I'm here for all the wonderful interactions this free spell can create.

#33. Fell

A card just straight-up saying “Destroy target creature” isn’t too common in Magic. Fell is a 2-mana card that says exactly this with no restrictions other than its speed. This black sorcery is a really nice addition to black's removal suite and is just barely edged out by other options in Standard.

#32. Heartless Act

Heartless Act is a cheap removal spell with some restrictions. Unlike other removal spell restrictions like “non-artifact”, this card can’t destroy any creatures with counters on them. There are plenty of cards that can give counters, so beware. Being able to remove counters is a fine fallback against the creatures this can't kill, but you won't use that mode very often.

#31. V.A.T.S.

Another Universes Beyond card, Fallout‘s V.A.T.S. isn’t quite a full board wipe: You can choose any number, meaning you don’t have to choose your own creatures. It still won’t hit hexproof creatures, unfortunately, but choosing 1 for this in a token meta is a nice way to deal with a wide board without losing your own stuff.

#30. Annihilating Glare

We need to include some of the sacrifice-as-a-cost removal spells as well. I choose Annihilating Glare because it’s legal everywhere, it can destroy creatures and planeswalkers, and you have a bigger casting cost option if you don’t want to sacrifice a creature. There are plenty of great removal spells just like this that can fit the flavor of any deck that wants them (Eaten Alive for a zombie deck, for example).

#29. Eat to Extinction

Eat to Extinction is a great creature and planeswalker removal card. The instant speed and exiling instead of destroying adds some great value to this card. Eat to Extinction also gains some surveil value if you can play with your graveyard.

#28. Defile

Defile is a fantastic mono-black removal card. For 1 mana you can give a creature -1/-1 equal to the number of swamps you control. This is a 1-drop that you may want to wait on to maximize its impact.

#27. Demonic Junker

Another one for the artifact decks, Demonic Junker often costs 3 or 4 mana to cast for a better Ravenous Chupacabra in the form of a vehicle. Crew 2 a 4/3 or a 6/5 vehicle is strong indeed, and worthy of your 3-5 mana investment.

#26. Shriekmaw

Shriekmaw is a flexible evoke creature that's recently dropped off in popularity. You have the opportunity to remove a non-artifact, non-black creature for 2 mana if needed. If you can hold out longer, then you get a decent removal ETB creature with fear. This is an all-around great addition to decks that need some removal and creature presence.

#25. Archenemy’s Charm

The newest card in the list of triple mana charms, Archenemy's Charm is a strong one. Triple black can be somewhat restrictive, but black is known for its mono-black devotion decks. The first mode offers excellent exile removal for planeswalkers or creatures. The other modes are backup if you need card advantage or to recover some life against aggressive decks.

#24. Dismember

Dismember is a wonderful way to remove pesky creatures. The -5/-5 will remove the majority of creatures, even those with indestructible. The value of Dismember is the flexibility of casting it with 2 Phyrexian mana. The size of the debuff and flexibility of casting makes this must-have removal in Modern and Eternal formats, especially in non-black decks.

#23. March of Wretched Sorrow

March of Wretched Sorrow plays very well in many black decks. There are so many great black cards that take some life, which you can offset with removal that provides lifegain. You can pitch extra cards to help take down a larger threat, and gain back any life you lost from cards like Phyrexian Arena.

#22. Fell the Profane / Fell Mire

Modal double-faced cards that are lands on one side and spells on the other have proven to be popular in Constructed formats, and Fell the Profane is an example of an excellent one from Modern Horizons 3.

The eternal question is, do you cut a land for a card like this? That’s what we call a nice problem to have.

#21. Vendetta

Cheap removal can take a deck to really competitive heights. Vendetta costs 1 mana to destroy a non-black creature. The downside is you lose life equal to that creature’s toughness. Vendetta is a great removal spell if you have contingencies to deal with the loss of life.

#20. Snuff Out

Your life total can be used as a resource. Snuff Out gives you the option of using an alternate casting cost of 4 life instead of paying its normal cost. Having the option of using your mana in other places gives this card huge value for responding to threats while developing your board presence. You do need to control a swamp to cast it for free, so make sure you include some basic Swamps with your other nonbasic lands.

#19. Feed the Swarm

It’s always important to find ways to stop or remove noncreature permanents during deckbuilding. Feed the Swarm gives us enchantment hate in black, and if your opponent isn’t using enchantments, you also have creature removal. It’s great to have removal that’s versatile in different game situations, but do mind the loss of life.

#18. Shoot the Sheriff

Shoot the Sheriff is very similar to other 2-mana restrictive black removal spells; here, we can’t target outlaws. This can be an interesting metagame call. Many of the most-played threats aren’t outlaws, but sometimes you can’t hit staples like Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, or you’ll face a rogue typal deck. In those scenarios, it’s like playing Go for the Throat against an affinity deck.

#17. Liliana, Dreadhorde General

I don’t think I could do a black removal article without at least one Liliana planeswalker. I choose Liliana, Dreadhorde General because when you make an opponent and yourself sacrifice creatures, you also get to draw. Shout-outs to Liliana of the Veil, Liliana of the Dark Realms, and all the other versions of this iconic black planeswalker and their removal abilities.

#16. Murderous Rider

The adventure cards from Throne of Eldraine can be quite powerful. Murderous Rider allows you to remove a creature or planeswalker and then play a creature with lifelink. This dual form of casting squeezes so much value out of each card with adventure. Murderous Rider is a removal spell and creature to put into many black decks in most non-Standard formats.

#15. Bloodchief’s Thirst

Bloodchief's Thirst is the flexible kind of removal card many players seek, and for good reason. It allows you to remove early threats like Stoneforge Mystic and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, and later threats like Elder Gargaroth or Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. The viability of playing this card at any phase in a match makes it beloved and widely used.

#14. Cut Down

Cut Down was an absolute staple in Standard before Dominaria United rotated. It has a surprisingly wide range of different MTG creatures it can remove for the cheap and quick cost of 1 mana.

#13. Fatal Push

The MTG community hailed Fatal Push as the black Lightning Bolt, and rightfully so. It kills any creature with mana value 2 or less, or goes up to 4 mana value with revolt, easily triggered by fetch lands or Treasure. Unfortunately for Push, many creatures these days “cheat” on mana value with mechanics like affinity and delve.

#12. Doom Blade

Doom Blade is a no-nonsense removal spell in most non-Standard formats. For 2 mana you can remove any non-black creature. This card’s only downsides are the non-black restriction and destroying the creature instead of exiling it, but I don’t think you can go too wrong with a removal spell like this. There's a reason we say everything “dies to Doom Blade.”

#11. Go for the Throat

Go for the Throat is a regularly reprinted removal spell for nonartifact creatures. The 2 mana and limited restrictions makes this a wonderful removal spell that’s curve-friendly, putting it in line with most other Doom Blade variants.

#10. Bitter Triumph

Black removal often comes with downsides or restrictions. Bitter Triumph looks like a card that’s all downside, but it’s an absurd removal spell if you’re a deck that wants stuff in the graveyard. It’s still a good rate elsewhere in a pinch, and it gives you the optionality of choosing your downside, so you can always go for the least bad option. Great card for basically any format.

#9. Virtue of Persistence

Not only is Virtue of Persistence a solid removal spell for 2 mana, it also doubles as an insane late-game finisher. What’s more, it's immune to hand disruption while it’s off on the adventure. This is a really sweet black enchantment, and one that attracts lots of different types of players.

#8. Soul Shatter

Soul Shatter is a great card to take out your opponent’s “biggest” threat. Making each opponent sacrifice their highest mana value creature or planeswalker will often take out the strategy they’ve been building towards. Blot Out is generally better in 1v1 situations, but “each” makes this a clear winner for multiplayer Magic.

#7. Flare of Malice

What is a Horizons MTG set without a cycle of free spells?

Modern Horizons 3 brought us Flare of Malice as the black free spell in the Flare cycle. Clearly the biggest advantage here is that it’s instant speed and can cost 0 mana, which is a huge upside. It’s seeing some play in different Magic formats, although generally not as a 4-of, but it’s clearly a useful bit of interaction when other removal spells don’t quite manage to fit. Hitting each opponent is another good upside, and it’s a nice version of this “super edict” effect we’ve seen a lot of recently.

#6. Deadly Rollick

Deadly Rollick is a Commander staple. This spell is free if you control your commander, and it exiles its target instead of destroying it. This is almost a no-brainer card to include in any Commander deck that supports black.

#5. Nowhere to Run

The -3/-3 effect on Nowhere to Run kills most small creatures, but the main reason to play this card is to get rid of hexproof and ward. Many rares and mythics have ward these days, so dodging that is excellent, especially with annoying ward abilities like discarding a card or sacrificing a permanent.

#4. Infernal Grasp

Infernal Grasp is an all-around great removal spell. This cheap and instant-speed spell can take care of any creature threat you may face. It's wonderful for slowing aggressive plays and gives you a massive mana advantage when targeting big creatures. Don’t fear the 2 life too much, but have some sort of contingency plan for it.

#3. Baleful Mastery

You often have to pay extra for the ability to exile something. Baleful Mastery allows you to cheaply exile a creature or planeswalker if you’re okay with your opponent drawing a card. I’m here to tell you that you should be totally fine with this. You'll pay the full 4 mana when you can, but when you’re up against the wall, the 2-mana alternate casting cost may be a lifesaver. Exiling is better than destroying, and also being able to target planeswalkers makes cards like Baleful Mastery wonderful removal spells.

#2. Will of the Abzan

Will of the Abzan is a very flexible card. You’re happy with any of the two modes individually. Of course, if you control your commander you can have a very strong play, getting rid of their best threats and Zombifying one of your own.

#1. Invoke Despair

Invoke Despair is a killer sorcery for any deck that can consistently get to 4 black mana by turn 5 or 6. This card gives you a wide range of removal, and for every card type that’s not removed, you draw a card and deal direct damage. Invoke Despair is the game-changing removal spell you need in black decks.

Best Black Removal Payoffs and Synergies

Black decks have many tools to profit from removal spells and creatures dying. Mechanics like morbid and void incentivize you to kill creatures constantly, which you can take advantage of with Chorale of the Void, Morbid Opportunist, or even setting up a full-power Tragic Slip.

Aristocrats cards like Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, or Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER benefit greatly from creatures dying. These can also benefit from removal spells that require sacrifices, like Final Vengeance or Annihilating Glare.

Aggressive decks need blockers out of the way, too. Black removal spells pave the way for creatures like Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor, Phyrexian Fleshgorger, or Nethergoyf to get in.

Control decks need to survive until the late game, so removal spells are key to ensure this happens. Later, you can win with your black win conditions, like Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Exsanguinate, or Torment of Hailfire.

Finally, removal effects tied to creatures often benefit from black’s reanimation and graveyard recursion. Unearth works very well with cards like Plaguecrafter, while Zombify is excellent with Shriekmaw or Dalek Drone.

Wrap Up

Force of Despair | Illustration by Seb Mckinnon

Removal is one of the cornerstones of MTG. Black is known for thematically exiling, sacrificing, and destroying all threats in its way. The black removal spells will take any of your Constructed decks that have black mana to another level. In Limited, some black removal is even worth splashing for!

I’m just one man with one opinion. If you don’t agree with my rankings or believe I left out a vital black removal spell, please leave a comment below, or you can find us over on Twitter.

As always, keep fighting and grinding!