MTG Salvation

Trying to figure out what to main board. Seems like its a toss up between doom blade or go for the throats.
what do you guys think?

Few others - Murderous Cut, Victim of Night (BB tho) Slaught Pacts - Personally I consider Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize removal.

Is there a lot of Junk or other black based decks in your meta? If so Doom Blade just feels real bad when you're staring down a Bob or Rhino you can't remove. If affinity is big then Go for the Throat is even worse feeling. Personally, if you don't know, Smother, Murderous Cut and Slaughter Pact might be better options until you get a feel for your meta.

this comes up too often. The truth is all good black removal is 2 cmc, and nothing is 1 cmc like bolt or path. However you can do the all colored answer dismember which is probably the best, but murderous cut has given it a run for its money lately.

I play a mix of Dismember, Go for the Throat and Murderous Cut. Against affinity, I take out Go for the Throat for Pharika's Cure or Victim of Night. I also have SB Geth's Verdict, which is good against Bogles.

I don't like Doom blade all that much. But, I could see it as a 1-of or sideboard. I really think spreading out the types of removal is best. If you're playing affinity, remember that Doom Blade is bad too because of Vault Skirge.

Disfigure, Dismember, Deathmark, and Murderous Cut are the best you can cast for one mana. Victim of Night and Go for the Throat are probably the best at 2cmc. Black removal in general is pretty situational, though the prevalence of 4/5s in the meta right now has made Path to Exile and black removal stronger than red, damage-based removal. Lightning Bolt is probably the weakest it's ever been right now, and it certainly doesn't help that Siege Rhino gains back the life lost even if you send them to the dome.

How about Shriekmaw? Removal early, a body late. I think it gets pretty overlooked. Especially when you factor fear into the equation so it is essentially 3 evasive damage.

Assuming we're talking about mono-black here - in terms of black removal, Abrupt Decay's likely the best, followed by Maelstrom Pulse and Terminate.

Likewise, assuming we're talking about strict removal here - Liliana of the Veil's likely the best, but that's because she's only in part an edict effect.

Dismember's the best at this point, but that's largely because the card can be run in non-black decks.

The actual answer for mono-black single instance removal run in black decks is likely Murderous Cut, though in Delve it does compete with Tasigur (though Tasigur will fortunately fuel future Murderous Cuts).

Removal in B is circumstantial. In the right deck tragic slip is the best. In another geth's verdict. Overall I'd say damnation is the king. For singular creature then probably either dismember or go for the throat.

Doom Blade used to be pretty underrated until everyone started playing Siege Rhino (and hopped back on the Bob train). Nowadays, the Doom Blade to play is Slaughter Pact because you can tap out against Twin/Amulet and still kill their combo creature with a Slaughter Pact (and since you tapped out, they will be a lot more likely to start ramming in the combo).

With a UB Faeries list, I'm usually stuck playing a mix of Doom Blade (now here's one deck that doesn't like tapping out, so Doom Blade > Slaughter Pact here), Go for the Throat, Smother, and Dismember, usually in Dismember's favour. I'd try Murderous Cut if I weren't dabbling with Tasigur in UB Fae.

If you're into costly but versatile mono-black removal, Hero's Downfall sees little play and does serious stuff.

Doomblade was good last summer. No it is mediocre at best.
Smother also lost a big deal of its usefulness.
Slaughter pact is as bad as doom blade right now. Difference is that it is awesome against Twin.

Go for the Throat is still a good card.
Murderous cut is a good contentder.

Dismember is the best of all, especially now lightning bolt is falling from grace now.
Disfigure is a nasty compromise for 1 mana, it is really mediocre though.

Current removal suite in UB Faeries:

2x Dismember
1x Tragic Slip
1x Murderous Cut
1x Go for the throat
----
With sidedeck removal
2x Disfigure
2x Deathmark

The consensus is:

mono-black

• Doom Blade
  
• Go for the Throat
  
• Dismember
  
• Murderous Cut
  
• Slaughter Pact
  
• Smother
  
• Victim of Night

with another color

• Abrupt Decay
  
• Maelstrom Pulse
  
• Terminate

I always liked grasp of darkness.

I like Disfigure. Sometimes you get beat down by Goyfs and Rhinos, but it's the BoPs and Hierarchs that power out those starts, and black is really hurting for ways to deal with them. Additionally, given how much Abzan mirrors degenerate into the 4/5 wars and Gavony Township activations, it goes a long way.

Dismember deals with almost everything you need, but the life cost is a major downside against a number of the decks in the format, making it woefully inefficient when you can't afford to be taking 7 to deal with Siege Rhinos. Still, in terms of versatility and positioning, it's hard to beat.

Quote from Shodai »

Go For the Throat misses Spellskite and Wurmcoil Engine, and is obviously dead against affinity, while Doom Blade misses Tasigur, Siege Rhino, Dark Confidant, Vault Skirge,

Not hitting Spellskite is a major, major advantage for Go For The Throat.

Lili, hence the price. Damnation is also nice... hence the price.

Dismember and Murderous Cut are undoubtedly the best.

Really been liking Deathmark right now.

F-you Siege Rhino!

Thoughtseize is hands down the best removal spell in black. It removes any creature in the game before they're even played. Even if you don't find a creature in their hand, Thoghtseize STILL isn't dead in your hand since it can take any nonland card.

Technically Terminate, but if you're talking monoblack, GftThroat, Murderous Cut, Dismember.

Doom Blade is one of my favorite cards, but I don't think it's good right now.

Quote from Skoonie »

Thoughtseize is hands down the best removal spell in black. It removes any creature in the game before they're even played. Even if you don't find a creature in their hand, Thoghtseize STILL isn't dead in your hand since it can take any nonland card.

Nothing better than a turn one Thoughtseize after opponent mulled to 5 just to see 3 lands and 2 Loxodon Smiter. ***** happens

Quote from Finkllestein »

Quote from Skoonie »

Thoughtseize is hands down the best removal spell in black. It removes any creature in the game before they're even played. Even if you don't find a creature in their hand, Thoghtseize STILL isn't dead in your hand since it can take any nonland card.

Nothing better than a turn one Thoughtseize after opponent mulled to 5 just to see 3 lands and 2 Loxodon Smiter. ***** happens

Nothing beats Verdant Catacombs -> Overgrown Tomb untapped -> Thoughtseize only to see that you are playing against Burn.

I'm honestly not happy with black's targeted removal suite. It's theoretically the best color at destroying creatures, but is it? No. It's far outclassed by Bolt and Path. It's kind of overdue for black to get Instant "BB: destroy target creature", and I think by now, that wouldn't be overpowered. ( Victim Of Night is almost that, though, in Modern, and it's never played. )

Quote from Nakhla »

I'm honestly not happy with black's targeted removal suite. It's theoretically the best color at destroying creatures, but is it? No. It's far outclassed by Bolt and Path. It's kind of overdue for black to get Instant "BB: destroy target creature", and I think by now, that wouldn't be overpowered. ( Victim Of Night is almost that, though, in Modern, and it's never played. )

Well there is Terminate which is even better but in two colors but I get what you mean.

That being said we shouldn't forget that Path and bolt both have downsides.
"Destroy target creature" has no downside besides being useless without creatures to target but that is true for any non-burn creature removal spell.

I think the best card that hasn't been mentioned yet is unmake. Yeah, technical it's mulitcolored, but it can easily be cast in a mono black deck.