Top 5 Common Limit Removal Spells: Hour of Devastation

Last week we ran down our Top 5 Common Limited Bombs from Hour of Devastation. While it is important to make sure you have a good win condition in your deck, it is just as important to make sure you have ways of taking down your opponent’s threats. It would be great to open up an Hour of Glory or a Cast Out, but we can’t all be that lucky. So today we will be going through our top picks for the best common removal options in this new Limited format. So what are we waiting for, let’s dive right in and see what Hour of Devastation has to offer.

Number 5: Ambuscade

In recent sets Wizards of the Coast have moved away from Green fight spells, and have instead moved towards more one-sided damage effects that use one of your creatures as a power level. Ambuscade is a prime example of this way of thinking. At three mana and instant speed this spell is certainly a great addition to any Green Draft or Sealed deck. The only issue is that you need a creature with high enough power for it to be worthwhile, and if your opponent can remove the creature in question before the spell can resolve then you are out of luck. But if you are looking for some well costed remove in Green, you can certainly do worst.

Number 4: Open Fire

I won’t lie to you, this card makes me very sad. As a Burn Aficionado Lightning Bolt is one of my favourite spells of all time. For only a single Red mana you get three instant speed damage directed as you choose. Wizards think this kind of power is too much for Standard, and will not even give us the slightly more expensive Lightning Strike. However, Open Fire isn’t as bad as some people have made out. It is still three damage at instant speed which can be thrown at your opponent if their creatures are too tough to be destroyed, and you will want to run a couple in your Limited deck if you can. If it was slightly cheaper it would have made it higher up the list, but I guess we will have to accept this is the future of Burn spells for now.

Number 3: Puncturing Blow

For a piece of Sorcery speed removal, Puncturing Blow has some real power in the current Limited Meta game. Five damage to an opposing creature is enough to take down most threats you will come across, but it’s the ability to Exile said creatures that places it so high up on the list. With Embalm and Eternalize being major mechanics of the set, any ability to permanently dispose of a threat is very welcome. It is also great tech against the three new gods from Hour of Devastation preventing them from recurring every time they are destroyed, which considering the art, is really on flavour.

Number 2: Lethal Sting

Each of the previous examples of removal are all damaged based, which can be a problem if you are staring down a Sifter Wurm. Lucky for us Lethal Sting doesn’t care about the toughness of our opponent’s creatures. At three mana we great some great Sorcery speed removal, and it was so close to being number one on our little list. However, this spell does require us to place a -1/-1 counter on one of our own creatures, which presents us with the same issue that Ambuscade has. But don’t let that put you off running a copy or two, especially if you find yourself drafting Black/Green.

Number 1: Sandblast

Taking the top spot is not only one of the best White Common removal spell, but also one of the best White Removal spells in the set. Sandblast is a super charged Impeccable Timing dealing out five instant speed damage to an attacking or blocking creature. While it may be damage related removal the power of this instant is hard to argue against. If you find yourself in White and in need of some solid removal, you can’t go far wrong with a Sandblast or two.

We hope this article has been some help to you, if you have your own list let us know. Drafting sessions for Hour of Devastation officially starts this weekend, and we here at Master of Magics are really looking forward to some sweet Limited action. If you have enjoyed this article and wish to support the site, give us a like and share on social media. Until next time though, Good Luck and Have Fun.

Liked it? Take a second to support Master of Magics on Patreon!

In response...