I played a game of Magic this week that got me thinking about board wipes. It might be salt but I got to wondering what is truly the best board wipe? It's definitely a necessary evil in a game of Commander. Sometimes you want to slow down others because everyone is far ahead and a board wipe might be the only way to do that. Sometimes you have a way to protect your creatures and this can be asymmetrical and a great way to propel yourself into a win.
First, what is a board wipe for the sake of our list? It is something that clears the way of creatures and impediments other players are using to propel their wins. Board wipes aren't exclusively creature destruction, but they are typically.
Honorable Mentions
Austere Command is a very flexible board wipe. It allows you to destroy a huge portion of pesky things. The Urza, Lord High Artificer player is running too many artifacts, you can Austere Command them to oblivion and hope and pray they don't have a counter. The problem here comes in the cost. Six mana for a board wipe that doesn't get everything is a bit rough and power-crept at this point. Also, if you're running a three-color deck, the in the cost is tough to manage.
The Eternal Wanderer is a very powerful card that can potentially wipe out all creatures except the one you leave the player with. It's a sacrifice effect that is a blanket so protection and indestructible don't protect it. It just is a mana spell which is a negative, but it requires ticking down a planeswalker to activate so it's an activated ability instead of a spell which makes it a little harder for people to interact with.
Massacre Wurm is a crazy card. The power of this card comes in the damage it deals for each creature it kills. -2/-2 until end of turn when it enters makes it exploitable in a Orzhov Teysa Karlov deck with blink and double death tiggers. Massacre Wurm killing 10 creatures a player controls could kill that player with double death triggers. But it doesn't often kill everything unless you can blink it a few times in a turn. It mainly hoses token players.
Number Five
Blasphemous Act is everyone's favorite board wipe. It's affordable, costing around $3-$5 at any given time. It's a spell that is reduced by the amount of creatures on board, dealing 13 damage to each creature. Not a lot that makes this bad. Potentially against a Toralf, God of Fury // Toralf's Hammer it could be game ending though, all that excess damage going to face. Potentially, Vigor players gaining 13 +1/+1 counters on all of their creatures could be problematic. Heroic Intervention and Flawless Maneuver manage to survive this. It's strength is that it hits everything, meaning go wipe strategies without protection, lose to this kind of effect. It's an all-arounder.
Number Four
Blasphemous Edict is the contentious, younger, and slightly better brother of Blasphemous Act. The flavor is similar, reducing the cost if there are a certain number of creatures on board - instead of
- and related to 13 in the effect-sacrificing 13 creatures. Why did I put this over Blasphemous Act? I thought about this a lot (maybe too much) and this question is the real inspiration of this article. I think it gets over more things. Yeah it doesn't get token go wide strategies, getting only 13 max creatures, but it gets over protection, hexproof and shroud, and indestructible. Making players sacrifice their creatures is better than trying to destroy them. Yeah the reduction isn't applied for every creatures on board, like Blasphemous Act, but it can reduce down to
instead of
, saving the extra Black pip, and can be hard casted for a reasonable five mana. That's what most good board wipes go for anyway.
Number Three
Farewell is an all-around. For , it can exile Graveyards, Artifacts, Enchantment, and Creatures. Exile is infinitely better than destruction. It stops the major play styles in Magic. It doesn't just destroy them, it makes them no longer recurrable. If a Farewell lands, it potentially hoses everyone at the table. The problem here is that it's a truly complete board hose. It hits everyone, including you. If you select all modes, you put yourself back almost just as far back. But what makes it so amazing, is if you're a creature and graveyard deck you can select to exile Artifacts and Enchantments. It's flexible.
Number Two
Cyclonic Rift should probably be number 1 but I'm stubborn. It costs seven mana. Yeah it's instant speed and it's asymmetrical and it hits all nonland permanents, propelling yourself way ahead. I get that. It's just that you have to make it to seven mana. Sometimes a game is decided by then. Maybe I'm a little cooked. It's the sort of thing that you can come back from as well. Bouncing stuff isn't destroying or exiling it. It can be replayed, but usually making one player discard a lot. Come on. It also costs $40 dollars to run it. It's not a cheap card. Cope aside, it's a hugely great board wipe.
Number One
Toxic Deluge is the best board wipe. For , it's the cheapest mana value wipe. Yes, you pay life into it to give that much -X/-X to each creature. You might put yourself low to do it. However, life is a resource that we ought to be using more often. What is 8 life to completely remove all board threats? It gets over protection, hexproof and shroud, and indestructible. It only costs you $6 dollars to run. It meets all the flaws in the previous board wipes except maybe Farewell. It only hits creatures, but it's for the rest of the turn. It's powerful. It also makes bigger creatures smaller. Because Toxic Deluge only costs
, you can play so much more on your turn, recovering faster and being able to destroy whatever survives the Deluge.
But enough of me yapping, let me hear your thoughts? What is your favorite board wipe? I'm @strixhavendropout on Blue Sky. Thank you so much for taking the time to read. I hope this helps in your next deck-building session!