Due to the fact that Magic: The Gathering is primarily a multiplayer game, players are frequently confronted with more issues than they would in a one-on-one game. This means that larger-scale solutions are required for these larger-scale issues. We’re talking about “Boardwipes,” of course. “Boardwipes” have long been a mainstay of the Commander format, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a well-balanced Commander deck without at least one.
In commander mode, where you usually have three opponents and have more time to put up huge moves because to your greater starting life, you should always have a backup plan. If your opponents obtain an unfair advantage, you may need to use board-destroying spells to level the playing field.
So now we’ll discuss the best of the best in the field of large-scale removal for Commander. So, without further ado, here are our Top Commander “Boardwipes” in Magic: The Gathering is upon us!
Cyclonic Rift
Cyclonic Rift is mostly always found in decks that run blue. When cast for full seven-mana Overload cost, Cyclonic Rift is a one-sided board wipe, making it one of Commander’s finest finishers. This spell bounces any non-land permanents controlled by your opponents while keeping your board intact.
It’s critical to utilize Cyclonic Rift at the appropriate time. The spell may be used to either stop an opponent from winning the game or empty the board for your legion of attackers.
Merciless Eviction
While not the most efficient mana-wise, Eviction excels in both effect and versatility, letting you exile all artifacts, creatures, enchantments, or planeswalkers. Even if you only get to select one, it’s still a dangerous and adaptable ability that can get through impenetrable defenses.
Crux of Fate
Crux of Fate, maybe the most specialized entry on our list, gives players the choice of destroying all dragons or destroying all non-dragons. Crux of Fate can be used as a regular Boardwipe as long as there are no dragons in play.
Crux of Fate, on the other hand, may be one of the most powerful Boardwipes in the game when used in a Dragon deck. Crux of Fate is one of the few Boardwipes capable of as much one-sided destruction as Crux of Fate, making it an automatic inclusion in any dragon deck with black as a color identity.
In Garruk’s Wake
The finest board wipes are one-sided wipes. In Garruck’s Wake, a powerful wrath spell from Magic 2015, is available to black decks. Each creature and planeswalker you don’t control gets destroyed by this nine-mana spell.
Although a nine-mana value spell is costly, black Commander decks thrive at generating large mana pools. Although the card struggles against artifact-focused decks, black has numerous of methods to deal with them through life-loss effects.
Akroma’s Vengeance
Unlike Eviction, Vengeance kills its targets, but it isn’t as effective as exiling them, and you get to blast creatures, artifacts, and enchantments this time! This clears the majority of the field, making it ideal for instant/sorcery or planeswalker strategies.
You can also cycle Vengeance for three turns, allowing you to draw a fresh card if you don’t need it right now.
Evacuation
Evacuation is without a doubt one of Blue’s most powerful Boardwipes. Evacuation has the significant distinction of being an instant, even though it restores all creatures to their owners’ hands rather than killing them like many other Boardwipes. This implies that, unlike most other Boardwipes, Evacuation may be played whenever it is most convenient for you.
Evacuation can be cast whenever an opponent announces an attack aimed at you, or even simply during an opponent’s end step to guarantee that you’re the first to recover from a Boardwipe.
Supreme Verdict
One of the most frustrating sensations a Commander player can have is having a crucial spell countered at a crucial moment. Supreme Verdict is a Boardwipe that will always resolve, no matter how many blue mana or counterspells are in your way. Supreme Verdict, a normal Boardwipe with a “cannot be countered” stipulation, is an Azorius player’s old standby when it comes to Boardwipes.
Doomskar
Doomskar is the newest card on this list, having been printed in Kaldheim. The card’s power level was immediately apparent when it was initially unveiled. A three-mana wrath has the ability to be both explosive and efficient. Doomskar is a Foretell spell that typically costs five mana for a wrath, but may be performed for three mana when prophesied. That’s a significant savings.
Commander is a social game, and it’s impossible to overestimate the importance of your opponents forgetting about Doomskar. You must make sure Doomskar is plainly visible as a face-down card, but considering how intricate Commander board states may be, your face-down spell is the last thing on your opponent’s mind. As your opponents play into it, you could receive a bit additional value with Doomskar.
All is Dust
Dust is a costly board wipe for colorless decks, but it compels all players to surrender colored permanents they control. Most things that aren’t artifacts or lands are damaged by this, but if you have a colorless deck (or an already-empty field), you won’t worry, while your opponents will have their board states ravaged.
Dust is a tribal sorcery, which means it’s an eldrazi card (useful for effects like “Eye of Ugin”).
Austere Command
Austere Command, like Crux of Fate, is a versatile Boardwipe that gives the user choices. Austere Command allows you to be selective in your devastation rather than eliminating all animals in the game. You can destroy two of the following: all artifacts, all enchantments, all creatures with converted mana costs of four or more, or all creatures with converted mana costs of three or less.
This enables players to Boardwipe according on their present issues. Want to get rid of all of your opponent’s big threats, as well as all of their artifacts, while keeping your token army intact? Austere Command may be the perfect Boardwipe for you.
Blasphemous Act
Red doesn’t have a clear “kill all creatures” effect, but it can do a lot of damage, which has the same effect. Blasphemous Act is a nine-mana sorcery that hits all creatures for 13 damage. Most of the time, that’s more than enough to clear the board. The mana value reduction is what makes Blasphemous Act so amazing. Each creature on the battlefield reduces the cost of the spell by one. This spell will almost always cost one or two mana.
A token deck’s biggest opponent is Blasphemous Act. This strong sorcery may easily be reduced to a one-mana spell by a single opponent.
Serenity
Serenity is one of the easiest and cheapest nukes accessible, albeit with a delay, and it’s often overlooked because it hasn’t seen print in a while. It destroys all objects and enchantments (including itself) at the start of your upkeep and stops them from renewing!
So you’re hitting two different card types and emptying the field of Sol Rings, Mana Crypts, and a variety of other cards. Your opponents have one round to try to take down Serenity before it activates, but only the player with the most to lose will bother, since the rest will most likely want you to take out their most dangerous threat.
Toxic Deluge
Toxic Deluge is a Boardwipe who demands payment in exchange for its services. Toxic Deluge is one of the cheapest Boardwipe choices in terms of mana cost, costing only three mana to play. You may pay any amount of life after casting Toxic Deluge. Then, for each monster, you’ll get -X/-X, where X is the amount of lives you paid.
This gives the card a lot of flexibility, since you may use a little number of life to deal with minor issues like tokens, or a large quantity of life to deal with the entire board. To keep your largest monster alive after the Deluge, a typical strategy is to pay a quantity of life just below its toughness.
Hallowed Burial
One of the more difficult aspects of employing Boardwipes is that certain reanimation-oriented decks may bounce back from them faster than others since they can use their graveyards as a resource. Boardwipes like Evacuation, on the other hand, only solve issues briefly because the creatures they wipe away are restored to their owners’ hands. You’d probably want to bring a Hallowed Burial with you if you want long-lasting consequences that will send your issues into the wide unknown.
The effect of Hallowed Burial is simple: it places all creatures at the bottom of their owners’ libraries. Few decks are capable of swiftly recovering cards from the bottom of the graveyard, making Hollowed Burial one of the best long-term solutions. Hallowed Burial is a guaranteed way to get rid of a creature with both Hexproof and Indestructible.
Wrath of God and Damnation
Wrath of God and Damnation are functionally similar cards, thus it felt odd to have them take up two spots on this list for the same reasons. These cards serve as a yardstick for determining what constitutes a successful Boardwipe.
They are simple and to the point. Each of these cards is reasonably priced, with a converted mana cost of four and the ability to destroy all creatures while preventing them from being regenerated. When examining Boardwipes and how much mana they require in comparison to how much they cost, it’s always a good idea to compare such effects to what Wrath of God and Damnation can achieve for only four mana.
