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Swords to Plowshares
Price$1.23 – $549.69
Buy on TCGplayer

Swords to Plowshares

{W}

Instant

LegalRemovalEDHREC #11

Exile target creature. Its controller gains life equal to its power.

Why is this card good?

Swords to Plowshares is the best single-target creature removal in the game, full stop. One white mana to permanently exile any creature — no destroy clause to dodge, no indestructible to care about, no regeneration. Exile also handles commanders cleanly, forcing them to the command zone or eating a recast tax. That efficiency is why it sits at #11 on EDHREC and belongs in essentially every white deck. The lifegain drawback is almost irrelevant in Commander. Gifting an opponent a few life rarely changes a multiplayer game, and the upside of dealing with a threat now, at instant speed, for one mana vastly outweighs it. Every white deck wants this — control, midrange, stax, aggro, combo. It's interaction that never gets cut for being too slow or too narrow. The only time to skip it: lifegain matters when you're racing a single low-life opponent in a duel-ish spot, or you're playing a deck that specifically wants to deny opponents resources via destruction triggers. Otherwise, always include.

Related cards

Path to ExileW

Nearly identical 1-mana white exile removal.

Generous GiftW

Flexible white removal for any permanent at instant speed.

Mana TitheW

Cheap white interaction, though counterspell instead of removal.

CondemnW

1-mana white instant that tucks an attacker.

Fateful AbsenceW

2-mana white instant exiling any creature or planeswalker.

Get LostW

2-mana white instant destroying creature or planeswalker.

Banishing LightW

White enchantment exile of any nonland permanent.

Skyclave ApparitionW

White creature that exiles a nonland permanent.

Printings (87)

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Played by these commanders

Commodore Guff100% of 1
Millicent, Restless Revenant100% of 1
Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit100% of 1
Dr. Madison Li100% of 1
Leinore, Autumn Sovereign100% of 1
Shiko and Narset, Unified100% of 1
Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir100% of 1
Kasla, the Broken Halo100% of 1
Felothar the Steadfast100% of 1
Gisela, the Broken Blade100% of 1

Combos (8)

Rulings (1)

  • 2022-12-08

    Use the power of the creature from when it was last on the battlefield to determine how much life is gained.

Discussion (0)