It was brought to my attention that I completely overlooked a piece of iconic removal.

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Okay, well the first lesson is that I’m an idiot and not to be trusted. It is interesting how recent these cards are though. Righteous Blow is from Avacyn Restored and then this paradigm lay fallow until Impeccable Timing reappeared in Kaladesh. However, once I got over my embarrassment (and my rationalization engines started kicking in) I started to wonder, are these cards really removal? Or… is it just a combat-trick on steroids? Let’s compare:

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So, what are the differences between these two cards? Interestingly, Bladebrand’s cantrip nature isn’t terribly important. Since your creature is almost certainly going to die, you’re just replacing the creature with a card from your library. Imagine if Bladebrand read: “Sacrifice a creature. Destroy target attacking or blocking creature.” I would argue that it would play nearly exactly the same way. They both function relatively similarly on your attack, since the attacker is still blocked. There is more difference on defense. Bladebrand needs a creature whereas I.T. can wipe out an attacker without board presence, a key advantage for I.T.

There are some other minor differences: Bladebrand also works better with your first-striking creatures and is worse when facing first-striking creatures. Bladebrand can bring down an opposing bomb (as long as you can block it) whereas I.T. really can’t. But they have the key similarity that they *don’t* hit creatures that aren’t engaging in combat. Since those are often the creatures that you need to kill most (Risen Reef etc.), that’s a major functionality gap.

When evaluating removal, it’s worth breaking down the four dimensions of What Removals Does For You.

• Removing oppo’s blocker
• Killing utility creatures
• Answering opponent’s bombs
• Handling oppo’s aggressive attackers.

Weigh these four variables against the cost. The reason why Lightning Strike is so fantastic is that it aces three of these tasks, only falling short on answering an opposing bomb, at the very reasonable cost of 2-mana. Consign to the Pit does do all four of these, but at 6-mana the cost is significantly more prohibitive.

Given how Impeccable Timing (and its peers) only handle three of these functions, I think they should be evaluated more as combat tricks. Since they do wipe out early attackers, they are helpful for control decks. But the inability to hit utility creatures, not removing blockers, and decreasing utility against Big Bombs, is enough to tip the scales to “Not Removal”.