Sometimes while playing Magic, particularly in Commander, a game just isn’t going your way. In times like those, when you need a way to reset the game a bit, a board wipe or two can be just the thing to get the game going back in your favor.
Not all board wipes are equal though, with many either being way too expensive to reliably cast in a game or many more having weird conditions tied to them that can often give your opponents ways to keep bothersome creatures around. If you’re looking for a way to clear the board and start over, then look no further than these cards.
Terminus
While not strictly a board wipe, Terminus is a fantastic way to get rid of a board filled with creatures. For six mana Terminus puts all creatures on the bottom of their owner’s libraries, or if you happen to draw it, you can cast it for its miracle cost of just one mana, though the odds of that are relatively low.
Terminus is unique in that your opponents can’t cast spells like Heroic Intervention to save their creatures. Short of a Teferi’s Protection or a Clever Concealment, your opponents are very likely going to lose their creatures.
Merciless Eviction
The best types of cards are those that give you options and Merciless Eviction gives you the choice to permanently exile one of your choices, either all artifacts, creatures, enchantments, or planeswalkers. You only get one choice though, so make sure you get rid of the cards giving you the most trouble.
Since Merciless Eviction exiles the cards and doesn’t destroy them, it also is a great way to get around indestructible and that pesky Heroic Intervention. Just make sure if you’re going to be exiling cards you don’t accidentally exile something you control that you want to stick around.
Blasphemous Act
Blasphemous Act is an incredibly powerful card but isn’t always the most reliable in all instances. It deals 13 damage to each creature in play for a staggering nine mana, but that cost is reduced by one for each creature in play. More often than not, it’ll just cost one red mana, but on the odd chance that there are just a few creatures in play that need to be dealt with, it will cost more.
Once it resolves, Blasphemous Act deals 13 damage to each creature, which is often times more than enough to kill everything in play. But again, on the off chance that your opponents are dishing out a lot of +1/+1 counters, or happen to have one massive creature, you could end up with a mostly empty board and one massive creature coming your way.
By Invitation Only
An interesting board wipe that is also fairly situational, By Invitation Only lets you pick a number between zero and 13, then has every player sacrifice that many creatures. This board wipe gets around indestructible effects since it doesn’t sacrifice effects so creatures like Gods or a Blightsteel Colossus are removed.
The major downside to this card is if an opponent has lots of creatures in play, like from a token-based deck, you could be stuck with no creatures in play yourself and an army from the token player.
Wrath Of God And Damnation
These two board wipes are classics in the game and are basically interchangeable. Wrath of God is the original board wipe, with Damnation being the color-shifted one from Planar Chaos. Both cards are relatively straightforward, you spend four mana and destroy all creatures, and those creatures can’t be regenerated.
These cards are incredibly reliable and just about every commander deck in these colors should run one of these cards as a bit of insurance in case the game isn’t quite going their way.
Supreme Verdict
An upgraded version of Wrath of God, Supreme Verdict is technically a more restrictive and more difficult card because of its mana cost but is better in one key way: Supreme Verdict cannot be countered.
There are only a few ways your opponents can get around a Supreme Verdict, and most of them aren’t very common. Also, since Supreme Verdict is two colors, it can’t be included in as many decks.
Kindred Dominance
You might not always want to blow up your hard-earned board state when you’re going for a board wipe and Kindred Dominance gives you a work-a-round. When you cast Kindred Dominance you pick a creature type and then destroy all creatures that aren’t that type.
Kindred Dominance performs best in a deck with a creature-type theme, like Vampires or Slivers. For a long time, Kindred Dominance was a pretty pricy card but since it was recently reprinted in Commander Masters, its price has become much more reasonable.
Toxic Deluge
Another unique board wipe, Toxic Deluge costs less than most at just three mana but also comes with a bit of a downside. Toxic Deluge gives all creatures -X/-X until end of turn, but the X amount is determined by the amount of life you pay when you cast it.
Since Toxic Deluge gives the creatures -X/-X, it is a good way to get around indestructible, since creatures cannot have zero toughness, regardless of their indestructibility, and destroys those creatures regardless.
Farewell
The strictly better version of Merciless Eviction, Farewell does most of the same things, but with two major differences. Farewell swaps out exiling planeswalkers for exiling all graveyards, and Farewell lets you pick any number of choices from its modes.
Exiling all graveyards instead of planeswalkers is often better given all the graveyard shenanigans commander players can get into. Planeswalkers can be dangerous but can be dealt with via combat damage or with any number of removal spells that have been printed over the ages.
The Meathook Massacre
One of the most oppressive Magic cards ever printed, The Meathook Massacre not only clears the board but punishes your opponents for even daring to have creatures in play. For just two mana you can cast The Meathook Massacre as a plain ol’ enchantment, one that gains you life when your opponent’s creatures die, and make them lose one life when one of your creatures dies.
If you choose to pump some mana into it when you cast it, The Meathook Massacre gives all creatures -X/-X for the turn. Much like Toxic Deluge, The Meathook Massacre gets around indestructible and most other protection effects. You might need a healthy chunk of mana to get started, but it is a powerful way to clear the board for your eventual victory.
Ryan Hay (he/him) has been writing about Magic: The Gathering and video games for years, and loves absolutely terrible games. Send him your bad game takes over on Twitter where he won’t stop talking about Lord of the Rings.