The 37 Best Enters The Battlefield Removal in Magic Ranked

Last updated on September 30, 2025

Portal to Phyrexia | Illustration by Svetlin Velinov

Enters-the-battlefield triggers may seem ubiquitous in Magic: The Gathering nowadays, but there was a time before when many permanents did nothing until the following turn, or without an additional mana investment. Now though, the best permanents have enters-the-battlefield effects to generate value as soon as they hit the field. Many of these emulate staple instants and sorceries, like how Bone Shredder is a Terror, or Solitude is a Swords to Plowshares.

What are the best ETB removal spells? And how can we capitalize on them for maximum efficiency? Let’s take a look at the best ways to destroy permanents with permanents!

What Are ETB Removal Cards in MTG?

Ravager Wurm | Illustration by Svetlin Velinov

For the purposes of this list, “ETB removal” cards are any permanent spell that removes one or more other permanents when it enters the battlefield. This could be via destruction, exiling, or direct damage.

As noted above, in all cases the card type will be a permanent. The best spells on this list imitate the best instant and sorcery removal, or have a variety of uses besides just plain old removal.

#37. Big Game Hunter

We don’t see Big Game Hunter as much as we used to, and that’s a shame! One of the best assassins in Magic, this Reprisal on a black creature is technically a better rate than its reference spell, and gets you access to that effect in a color that wouldn’t typically have it! Never mind that you could just run a less-restrictive Murder for the same unmodified mana value, Big Game Hunter can be cast for 1 thanks to madness if we ditch it with a Faithless Looting!

#36. Venser, Shaper Savant

Venser, Shaper Savant is an Unsubstantiate on a legendary blue creature, hitting the field as a 2/2 vanilla creature after its effect has resolved. Venser is alright for bouncing creatures, but its real value is as a blue counterspell that makes you a free body as well.

#35. Sidequest: Hunt the Mark / Yiazmat, Ultimate Mark

The removal bit of Sidequest: Hunt the Mark is costed for Limited, which makes it a little awkward, but it still looks fine in a Commander Treasure deck. Just think of it as a 5-mana sacrifice outlet that happens to enter as an enchantment. Yiazmat, Ultimate Mark is a pretty nasty threat, after all.

#34. Oblivion Ring

We’d better talk about the OG banishment effect. Oblivion Ring is unique in that its banishment effect is split up into two triggered abilities, which allows you to perform some pretty broken infinite combos with this white enchantment. Two Oblivion Rings on the field can blink each other infinitely, triggering your, say, Eidolon of Blossoms until you draw your entire library.

#33. Man-o’-War

Man-o'-War is about as basic as ETB removal gets. It’s an Unsummon on a bear body for 3 mana, and that's about it. Man-o'-War typically sees play as part of various blink strategies, and less as targeted removal.

#32. Flametongue Kavu

Flametongue Kavu is one of my favorite creature-based removal cards. Four mana gets you a 4-power red creature and 4 damage to a target creature, but that clause isn’t a “may.” That’s right, the beauty in Flametongue Kavu is it needs another target for its fireball, or else it’ll end up destroying itself with its own direct damage. I’ve found that makes this Kavu one of the best tests of skill for any player – knowing when to optimally drop Flametongue Kavu in Limited formats can be a game-defining play.

#31. Soul of Emancipation

Triple up on Generous Gift with Soul of Emancipation. This 7-mana 5/7 Bant () avatar blows up three target nonland permanents, replacing them with 3/3 flying angels. While replacing an opponent’s essential permanent with a creature token is usually a fair trade, Soul of Emancipation’s lack of flying or reach means those tokens it creates won’t have any trouble connecting with you. Best to use Soul of Emancipation in tandem with other removal spells or flying blockers.

#30. Meteor Golem

Meteor Golem dares to ask the question: “What if we put Spine of Ish Sah on a 3/3?” It’s a little worse since it can’t hit lands, but Meteor Golem being an artifact creature means it's easier to blink with spells like Cloudshift and Ephemerate.

#29. Demonic Junker

Demonic Junker looks perfect in Commander because it destroys something controlled by each player, so it scales appropriately with the multiplayer format. Toss in the utility of affinity that makes it a very cheap three-for-one and you have an excellent card.

#28. Avalanche Riders

Part of the original Ponza deck, Avalanche Riders is a punishing 2/2 with haste that blows up a land whenever it enters the battlefield. It has a steep echo cost, but most decks plan to let these human nomads die and reanimate them for cheap to reuse that ETB land removal.

#27. Alpha Deathclaw

Alpha Deathclaw has at max two targeted permanent removals before it peters out. The first one isn’t so bad; 6 mana for an unrestricted destroyed permanent and a 6/6 with evasion is great! Paying 7 more mana for another instance of removal and four +1/+1 counters is less great. The consistency is nice, but there are better and cheaper options for ETB-based removal.

#26. Noxious Gearhulk

The cycle of Gearhulks from Kaladesh were reminiscent of the Titans from Magic 2011 and the Primordials from Gatecrash. Noxious Gearhulk is a 5/4 creature artifact with menace, and a one-time Murder that gains you some life, too. The black Gearhulk makes a great response to that control deck finally tapping out to drop their 6-mana bomb, only for you to destroy it with your own.

#25. Overlord of the Boilerbilges

Overlord of the Boilerbilges puts a spin on Inferno Titan… or maybe Flametongue Kavu is a better comparison?

Either way, this is an exceptional threat. Whether it comes down on turn 4 or turn 6, you gain a massive advantage when you kill a creature and eventually get a massive threat, especially once you consider that this can go face to remove your opponent.

#24. Angel of Despair

Another Commander staple, Angel of Despair is a Vindicate on a big flying body. At 7 mana, that’s technically a fair rate for both the Orzhov () angel and the removal, but it’s still a hefty investment in colors that don’t lend themselves to ramping particularly well.

#23. Bone Shredder

The Terror-on-a-body Bone Shredder can be cast to destroy a creature for just . That's a great rate on an ETB destroy effect, but you'll have to pay that cost again to keep Bone Shredder around the following turn. This Phyrexian minion has a sort of simple beauty to its utility that I think is wonderful.

#22. Chaos Defiler

The infernal war machines known as the Chaos Defilers spew hellfire randomly across the battlefield in a violent rain of destruction. For 5 mana, Chaos Defiler gets you a 5/4 demon construct with trample that’ll destroy at least two random permanents between entering and dying. In a Commander game, the Defiler lets you remove problematic permanents without making yourself the enemy – you had to choose randomly! It wasn’t up to you that they lost their Bolas's Citadel!

#21. Dread Cacodemon

The Commander 2011 card Dread Cacodemon is a one-sided black board wipe stapled to an 8/8 body. At 10 mana, this big boy is expensive to cast and taps down your own board (not a huge problem when we’re getting an 8/8 on the field). Effectively an In Garruk's Wake that’ll see you getting an additional threat for 1 extra mana, I’m surprised I don’t see more folks running this now-vintage demon.

#20. Summon: Primal Odin

Summon: Primal Odin powers up the classic Nekrataal with the threat of player deathtouch and eventual card draw. While it rarely reaches the final chapter because your opponent either trades with it or kills it in fear of the second chapter, that’s more than enough value from a card that literally wins the game if it catches your opponent off-guard.

#19. Woodfall Primus

As far as 8-mana bombs go, Woodfall Primus is alright. A 6/6 green creature with trample that recurs itself is always welcome, especially when that recursion includes another trigger of your enters the battlefield effect. While some green monsters have to rely on their power to destroy creatures, this treefolk shaman can sink any other permanent in the game, including planeswalkers, lands, or even battles!

#18. Fiend Hunter

Fiend Hunter and its cousins Banisher Priest, Fairgrounds Warden, Skyclave Apparition, and many others, are some of the best ETB removal in the game. Stapling Oblivion Ring to a body for the same mana cost (more or less) makes these little white creatures great for removing threats in the early and late game. This effect has seen multiple incarnations over the years, with more recent examples like Assimilation Aegis and All-Fates Stalker coming to mind.

#17. Ravager Wurm

Ravager Wurm’s modal enters the battlefield effect works as either fight-based removal or nonbasic land destruction, both of which are very valuable on a potentially hasted 4/5 wurm. The option to give it a +1/+1 counter to increase its fighting effectiveness makes it useful in a variety of situations.

#16. Ureni, the Song Unending

While permanents that damage other creatures aren’t super uncommon, they rarely have the potential of Ureni, the Song Unending, which often looks like a board wipe. An easily exploitable, repeatable board wipe thanks to blue’s many flicker effects. This is incredible top-end for your Temur EDH deck.

#15. Palace Jailer

While Palace Jailer is effectively a Fiend Hunter with-set’s-mechanic, I felt it deserved its own entry because of its unique monarch stipulation. Since Palace Jailer doesn’t return the exiled creature when it leaves the battlefield, you can blink the Jailer multiple times and continue removing creatures until an opponent becomes the monarch. If you can effectively defend against combat damage, Palace Jailer can become a veritable white board wipe.

#14. Kogla, the Titan Ape

Kogla, the Titan Ape is a big ol’ beater with fight-based removal when it enters the battlefield. Its 6 toughness should be enough to survive most slugfests with other creatures, but just in case, it can bounce a human to your hand to gain indestructible until the end of the turn. Kogla’s 6 mana for a lot of power on the board, and it continues to remove permanents whenever it attacks.

#13. Angel of Serenity

The only thing better than one Fiend Hunter is three. Angel of Serenity is a 5/6 flier with three instances of targeted removal when it hits the field, with the added bonus of not returning those creatures to the field after it leaves. It can also remove targeted cards from a graveyard, but returns all of these cards to their owners’ hands. This is generally a little worse than just, say, Tormod's Crypt-ing their entire graveyard permanently, but you can also target creatures in your own graveyard and essentially draw them when the angel leaves.

#12. Fleshbag Marauder

Edict effects are one of the main ways to deal with hexproof or indestructible permanents. Fleshbag Marauder slaps a symmetrical edict on a 3/1 body and calls it good. Even though it's a fairly basic card, Fleshbag Marauder’s utility can’t be overstated. Sacrifice effects can be highly effective at removing opponents' creatures, and the “downside” of the effect’s symmetry is mitigated by having the option to sacrifice this zombie to itself.

#11. Spine of Ish Sah

Spine of Ish Sah is the best generic permanent removal we can ask for. This artifact is expensive to cast at 7 total mana, but it’ll destroy just about anything on the battlefield. Plus, if you can find a good sacrifice outlet for it (even just a Deadly Dispute), it’ll return to your hand, ready to destroy another target permanent when it comes back into play.

#10. Sheltered by Ghosts

Sheltered by Ghosts has put in an astonishing amount of work in Pioneer and Standard as an incredible stabilizing piece. It turns a creature you control into a Fiend Hunter, essentially, but the lifelink does so much more than you might think. You get a huge advantage when you exile a creature and immediately gain life, even if your opponent starts their turn with a removal spell. Which will probably consume their entire turn thanks to ward .

#9. Solitude

One of the best lifelinkers in Magic and an excellent control card overall, Solitude has a great ETB effect that you can effectively cast for free. Putting Swords to Plowshares on a 3/2 body is still pretty good for 5 mana, too!

#8. Sheoldred / The True Scriptures

March of the Machine’s Sheoldred is a 5-mana 4/5 with menace – already a killer deal when we factor in its one-sided edict effect. It just gets better when you invest in flipping Sheoldred to its saga side and continue destroying creatures, before getting a Rise of the Dark Realms and flipping it back over – triggering another edict effect. It should come as no surprise that this mythic rare praetor is one of the most valuable sources of removal.

#7. Ashen Rider

I like to imagine the designer of Ashen Rider was the same designer of Angel of Despair and they just really, really wanted to push it up another mana. Ashen Rider is just a touch better than Angel of Despair by virtue of exiling the targeted permanent, and getting another trigger when it dies (but importantly not when it “leaves the battlefield”; no blinking this guy with Cloudshift for another two removals).

#6. Acidic Slime

Acidic Slime is a classic removal spell for noncreature permanents. It kills artifacts, destroys enchantments, and most importantly, targets lands. Not nonbasic lands, lands. Blinking an Acidic Slime or copying its ETB effect can be devastating to your opponent’s board state, blowing up their only access to a certain color, or removing all of their mana rocks in one fell swoop.

#5. Cavalier of Dawn

Cavalier of Dawn does Generous Gift on ETB, and it’s also a 4/6 with vigilance, all for 5 mana. You’re basically getting that body for 2 white mana when you factor in Generous Gift’s original MV. Which is insane value, in case I need to spell it out for you, especially considering Cavalier of Dawn just walls that 3/3 Golem it gives your opponent and recurs an artifact or enchantment when it eventually dies. This mythic is valuable when it enters the battlefield, when it leaves, and the entire time it's on the board.

#4. Apex Altisaur

Apex Altisaur is one of my favorite board wipes in green. Effectively, this green meanie gives you 10 power worth of creatures to destroy if you want to keep it on the field, or more if you’re fine losing it in its final fight. If it sticks to the field, it’ll fight another creature each time it takes damage, making you an unfavorable attack target when that Apex Altisaur can destroy multiple creatures per combat.

#3. Bane of Progress

Bane of Progress should really have been named “Bane of Stax decks” on account of how well it can flip the game in your favor. For just 6 mana, Bane of Progress will destroy those pesky Swiftfoot Boots, Aura of Silences, Propagandas, and everything else keeping your big green deck from connecting with your opponents. Bane of Progress gets significantly better in multiplayer formats, too. The more artifacts/enchantments on the field, the bigger it’ll be!

#2. Fury

Fury caught the ban in Modern when it was determined to be homogenizing the format’s removal, and I can’t disagree with that decision. This elemental incarnation is effectively a free 4 damage when evoked from your hand, or that same 4 damage plus a 3/3 double striking body for 5 mana. The value on this amazing red creature is insane! There was almost no reason not to run Fury before it was banned, with many decks splashing red just to fit it in.

#1. Portal to Phyrexia

It bears repeating here: Edicts are some of the best removal available in Magic. They get around indestructible, hexproof, and shroud, and they’re usually cheaper than straight-up Murders. Portal to Phyrexia is a very powerful colorless ETB card that slaps three Chainer's Edicts that hit each opponent together when it enters the battlefield, then lets you reanimate a creature for free from any graveyard on your upkeeps. Despite costing 9 mana, Portal to Phyrexia somehow still feels aggressively undercosted, wiping the board and refilling your board all in one.

Best ETB Removal Payoffs

A wise friend once said to me: “Wow, it’s almost like getting two enters-the-battlefield effects off of one cast is kinda broken,” and I’ve lived my life by those words ever since.

There are a number of ways to capitalize on creatures with ETB effects – namely, Panharmonicon effects. Besides its namesake, Yarok, the Desecrated, Strionic Resonator, and Roaming Throne can all double those ETB triggers to great effect. Go ahead; blow up two lands each time you cast Avalanche Riders. That’s fair and I bet it feels really good.

Alternatively, any deck running a lot of creatures with ETB effects will benefit from effects that trigger when creatures, well, enter the battlefield. The soul sisters Soul Warden, Suture Priest, and Ajani's Welcome all make great synergies when you’re casting or blinking a lot of creatures.

Cards like Conjurer's Closet, Cloudshift, and Ephemerate can blink your creatures and trigger another instance of their ETB removal.

Another way to get the most ETB triggers from these effects are Clones! These might be literally Clone effects—that is, creatures that become copies of other creatures—but red has a bunch of cards like Twinflame and Molten Duplication that make temporary token copies.

The strongest of these red token producers, in this context, at least, are permanents like Jaxis, the Troublemaker and Orthion, Hero of Lavabrink that make copies of Ravenous Chupacabra each turn for a removal engine.

Wrap Up

Chaos Defiler | Illustration by Games Workshop

A permanent with a removal effect that triggers when it enters the battlefield will always be a valuable card – putting you ahead in cards on the field while denying an opponent’s resource. With all these enters the battlefield removal effects to choose from, there’s no reason you won’t be raining down a constant barrage of destruction and exile on your opponents.

What are your favorite ETB removal effects? Which ETB board wipes are the best? And how do you capitalize on blinking those creatures? Let me know in the comments, or over on Draftsim's Twitter/X.

Thanks for reading! Remember to blink!