Observations on Eternal Masters Removal

eternal masters EMA removal

Let's take a look at the different kinds of removal available in Eternal Masters.

Creature Removal

Let's look at the Common/Uncommon creature removal available in Eternal Masters by color:

Global Creature Removal

Unsurprisingly, Eternal Masters has more global creature removal than most sets. I use global creature removal broadly to mean any spell that permanently or temporarily removes all creatures that meet a certain criteria.

Other than Seismic Stomp, all the Common and Uncommon global creature removal requires Black mana. At Rare, there's an option in each of the Mardu colors (White, Black, and Red), plus Void and Nevinyrral's Disk.

Artifacts, Enchantments, and Lands

There are a number of options in Eternal Masters for dealing with non-creature permanents, but few of them just destroy an artifact or enchantment outright.

In addition to these, White also has Faith's Fetters which can prevent your opponent from using an artifact's activated abilities, and Green/White has Glare of Subdual which can tap artifacts. Looking across rarities, White has the most options for dealing with artifacts and enchantments, and Green has Nature's Claim and a few Green/X multicolor spells. The only artifact or enchantment removal spells that don't require either White or Green mana are Nevinyrral's Disk, Void, and Dack Fayden, and these spells are all Rare or Mythic. Surprisingly, there is no monored artifact removal.

The only land destruction is Rare: Sinkhole, Vindicate, and Wasteland for nonbasic lands. In addition, there's Winter Orb, which doesn't destroy lands but does reduce both player's access to mana produced by those lands. Oddly, there is also no Red land destruction in the set.

Hand and Graveyard Disruption

Black has four discard spells: Duress and Deadbridge Shaman at Common, and Cabal Therapy and Hymn to Tourach at Uncommon. In addition, Blue has Jace, the Mind Sculptor at Mythic and its ultimate ability results in your opponent losing their hand.

There are three graveyard disruption spells in the set: Relic of Progenitus and Gaea's Blessing at Uncommon, and Deathrite Shaman at Rare. These should be higher picks than usual since three of the ten archetypes in the set care about the graveyard (Green/Blue Threshold, Blue/Red Flashback/Retrace, and Blue/Black reanimator/recursion), and you're likely to want to bring these spells in against those decks.

Counterspells

Counterspell and Memory Lapse are Commons and are likely to be played more often than in other Limited environments given the powerful spells available. Force of Will is also likely to be played, but it's a Mythic, so you won't encounter it frequently. On the other hand, Daze, Hydroblast, and Pyroblast (the only nonblue counterspell) should usually be left in the sideboard.

Conclusion

Eternal Masters has a lot of removal relative to other sets, especially in Black and Red. It also has a number of very efficient removal spells, but most colors lack something that they usually have access to. Blue doesn't have instant-speed bounce or ways to bounce noncreatures. Red's Common/Uncommon removal can't kill creatures with 4+ toughness or "borrow" creatures, and doesn't have artifact removal or land destruction. Green doesn't have the usual flyer removal or fight spells. On the other hand, White has a very well-rounded suite of removal spells that includes removal auras, removal that kills attackers, temporary removal, Swords to Plowshares, global creature removal, enchantment removal, and artifact removal.

There are a number of global creature removal spells in the set, primarily in the Mardu colors, and you should try to avoid overextending into them.

Three of the ten archetypes in Eternal Masters rely on the graveyard, so Relic of Progenitus, Gaea's Blessing, and Deathrite Shaman should be higher picks than usual since are important sideboard options.