diff --git a/parser-typechecker/src/Unison/Typechecker/Context.hs b/parser-typechecker/src/Unison/Typechecker/Context.hs
index 6bad566a8..c12ce25fc 100644
--- a/parser-typechecker/src/Unison/Typechecker/Context.hs
+++ b/parser-typechecker/src/Unison/Typechecker/Context.hs
@@ -1079,25 +1079,14 @@ solve ctx v t
 abilityCheck' :: (Var v, Ord loc) => [Type v loc] -> [Type v loc] -> M v loc ()
 abilityCheck' [] [] = pure ()
 abilityCheck' ambient requested = do
-  let !_ = traceShow ("ambient" :: String, ambient, "requested" :: String, requested) ()
-  -- if requested is an existential that is unsolved, go ahead and unify that
-  -- with all of ambient
-  ctx <- getContext
-  let es = [ Type.existential' (loc t) b v
-           | t@(Type.Existential' b v) <- apply ctx <$> requested ]
-  case es of
-    h : _t -> subtype h (Type.effects (loc h) ambient)
-    [] -> do
-      success <- flip allM requested $ \req -> do
-        -- NB - if there's an exact match, use that
-        let toCheck = maybe ambient pure $ find (== req) ambient
-        ok <- flip anyM toCheck $ \amb -> (True <$ subtype amb req) `orElse` pure False
-        pure ok
-      when (not success) $ do
-        ctx <- getContext
-        failWith $ AbilityCheckFailure (apply ctx <$> ambient)
-                                       (apply ctx <$> requested)
-                                       ctx
+  -- let !_ = traceShow ("ambient" :: String, ambient, "requested" :: String, requested) ()
+  success <- flip allM requested $ \req -> do
+    flip anyM ambient $ \amb -> (True <$ subtype amb req) `orElse` pure False
+  when (not success) $ do
+    ctx <- getContext
+    failWith $ AbilityCheckFailure (apply ctx <$> ambient)
+                                   (apply ctx <$> requested)
+                                   ctx
 
 abilityCheck :: (Var v, Ord loc) => [Type v loc] -> M v loc ()
 abilityCheck requested = do