Reality Fracture MTG Reality Fracture removal guide
Reality Fracture has cheap answers in every colour and the most removal in black and red, and this guide says what each spell kills and when to take it.
Removal is easy to find in Reality Fracture, and black and red hold the most of it. The set has 60 removal spells, more than any other recent set, with 15 of them at common and 22 at instant speed. Take it early, as the guide says. The pool may still grow, and every order here is our read of it so far.
What the damage kills
The three-damage spell is a premium pick here, not a conditional one. No Admittance deals 3 damage to any target for two mana, and 68% of the set's creatures die to that. Last Gasp gives -3/-3 at instant speed, which kills the same bodies but no planeswalker.
Both stop at toughness four, and 32% of the creatures have four or more. Wrath of the Bloodmane deals 4 damage, short of the 3/5 flier Undulating Witness, the 4/5 Tether Technician and the 5/5 Wrecking Gecko. Awaken the Inferno deals 6, enough for all three, at five mana and sorcery speed, and only to an opponent's creature or planeswalker. White's Surgical Precision destroys only a creature with toughness four or greater, the bodies burn leaves behind.
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Black
No colour has more removal than black. Silence the Echo destroys a creature or planeswalker for two mana if you sacrifice one of your own, and for five if you do not. Extended Absence exiles a creature or planeswalker for four mana at instant speed, and its 1 damage to each opponent feeds black-red's payoffs.
Multiply by Zero gives a creature base power and toughness 0/0 until end of turn as a two-mana instant. Only +1/+1 counters or another boost keep the creature alive, so it misses most against green-white and red-white. Break Under Pressure makes an opponent sacrifice whichever creature or planeswalker of theirs has the greatest mana value. It targets the player, so ward and hexproof do not stop it. Terminal Criticism destroys a creature or planeswalker for two mana, but only a blue or red one. Mabel, Bitter Recluse is a one-mana deathtouch creature that removes up to three counters from a creature or planeswalker, loyalty included. Winter, Tormented Loner makes each opponent sacrifice a creature of their choice, if you sacrifice a creature or planeswalker first. Proft, Sinister Mastermind can be discarded to give a creature -3/-1.
Red
Red's removal is damage, and at common and uncommon all of it can hit a planeswalker. Wrath of the Bloodmane is an instant for three mana, or two if you control a legendary creature. Tether Technician deals 2 damage to any target on entering, if you discard a card.
Fulminous Forte is red's uncommon to want: 5 damage to a creature or planeswalker at instant speed for three mana, or 1 to each creature and planeswalker your opponents control. Violent Echoes deals 6 for four mana at instant speed. Essence Burn deals 5 for two mana, but only to a black or green creature or planeswalker. Way of the Warlord is a three-mana enchantment that puts five loyalty on Jace. It gives your planeswalkers an ability that costs four loyalty and deals 2 damage to a creature or planeswalker and 2 damage to a player.
White
Our pick of all the uncommons is white's. Prophesied End is a two-mana instant with no limit on the creature it destroys. The price is a card for its controller, and only when the creature was not attacking. Your Fate Ends Here is a three-mana instant for a creature or planeswalker with mana value three or greater. Refute Destiny exiles only a green or blue creature or planeswalker, at sorcery speed. Surgical Precision is a sorcery whose second mode draws a card and gains 2 life. Memory Trap is a three-mana enchantment that exiles any nonland permanent an opponent controls until it leaves the battlefield.
Green
Green's best removal borrows the power of a creature you control. Compel Brutality is a two-mana instant: your creature deals damage equal to its power to an opponent's creature or planeswalker, and takes none back. Flourishing Grapple does it for one mana, but the target must be red or white. Yoshimaru, Scrappy Stray makes another creature of yours fight on entering, and a fight deals damage back. Sureshot Sower is a two-drop you can discard, for four mana, to destroy a creature with flying. Budding Insurgent is a 3/3 that you sacrifice at sorcery speed to destroy an artifact or enchantment.
Blue kills nothing. Unsummon returns a creature to its owner's hand at instant speed. Infinite Coursework is an Aura that locks a creature down: tapped, without abilities, and unprepared. Plan for All Outcomes puts a nonland permanent on the top or bottom of its owner's library, their choice.
Gold and colourless
Stingerquill Charm is the gold card that pulls a drafter into a pair, a two-mana instant that deals 3 damage to any target. The other charms that can kill are two-mana instants too. Theorix Charm gives a creature -2/-2, Konstrari Charm deals 6 damage to a creature with flying, and Vigorbloom Charm adds a +1/+1 counter before your creature fights. Warrior's Blades is a four-mana Equipment that deals 3 damage to any target on entering, and Twisted Fates destroys any nonland permanent for five mana.
The colourless answers go in any deck. Living Library is a common 0/4 for two mana. For six mana you sacrifice it, and an opponent's creature or planeswalker is shuffled into its owner's library. Archive Arbiter is a six-mana 4/4 flier at uncommon that destroys a noncreature, nonland permanent on entering, or gains 4 life instead.
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The pick order
This order is our read, not a measurement. The top is the cheap spells with the widest reach. Prophesied End and Multiply by Zero kill nearly any creature for two mana at instant speed. Stingerquill Charm, an instant, and No Admittance, a sorcery, can hit a planeswalker or a player as well as a creature. The middle needs something each time: a mana value of three or more, a sacrifice, a creature of your own, a toughness of four. From Wrath of the Bloodmane down, the spells ask little and cost three mana or more. Of the gold cards only Stingerquill Charm is ranked, because the others matter only once you are in their pair.
The colour-limited uncommons sit outside that order. Each names two colours, so against most two-colour opponents only part of the deck is a target. On our read they come after the unconditional spells, and the first one makes your deck.
What removal does not answer
Ward is at common. Wrecking Gecko is a 5/5 that costs an opponent two more mana to target, and Unflinching Hortimancer is a two-drop that costs them one more. Ruric Thar, Magecrusher is a 7/7 with hexproof until it has dealt combat damage, and its toughness is above every burn spell at common and uncommon. Break Under Pressure gets past ward and hexproof, as long as that creature has the greatest mana value on its side. Prophesied End and Surgical Precision ignore toughness, though both still target.
The read
Take the two-mana removal over any common creature, and the rest over all but the best bodies. Black-red, our pick, can cast more removal than any other pair. Blue-green, our read of the trap, can cast the least. A cheap kill spell in blue or green would soften that. The Removal view shows what each spell kills, and the Interaction view what an opponent can hold at instant speed.