Sometimes while playing Magic: The Gathering, you might find yourself in a bit of a pickle. Your opponent could be running aggro and have you outranked in terms of creatures, or in the late game they might just have too many strong ones out there. That's where a board wipe comes into play: when you need a reset, nothing does it better than a board wipe.
Black cards are notorious for making you pay additional costs such as discarding cards, sacrificing creatures, or paying life to get big effects out of them. Board wipes that feature that color tend to be no different, but are often well-worth paying.
10 Plague Wind
Plague Wind is an older card, printed all the way back in the Prophecy set. The shining feature of this card is that it is asymmetrical, as it will only affect your opponent and leave you with a huge advantage. While it is a strong card, Plague Wind does hold some significant downsides.
Most notable is the mana cost. This is a mana-heavy card coming in at seven generic and two black. Since it most certainly will set you up for a win, the cost can be worth it. However, running this card in your deck leaves you with the possibility of drawing it early on and having a dead card in your hand until you can muster up the mana needed.
9 Toxic Deluge
The mana cost may be low compared to most board wipe cards, but the cost on your life total is where Toxic Deluge takes its toll. The more life you are willing to part with, the more damage the card is going to do. This is a card that is much more viable in a format like Commander thanks to the higher starting life total of 40 as opposed to the standard of 20.
However, the strongest aspect of Toxic Deluge is that it gives creatures -X/-X, which means it's a great way to get around destroying those pesky creatures with indestructible.
8 Extinction
Yet another old card that dates all the way back to Tempest, Extinction is a great board wipe card to run if you know you are going up against a tribal deck. For instance, if your opponent is playing an Elf tribal deck, you simply choose Elf as the creature to target with Extinction and watch as all your opponent's creatures of that type are destroyed.
However, if your opponent is running an array of creatures that don't share a type, Extinction might function as a simple removal spell. In the right circumstances, this card can decimate your opponent's game, and on the other hand, it could simply be a nuisance.
7 Kindred Dominance
On the opposite side of the spectrum from Extinction, Kindred Dominance lets you choose a creature type to keep, and then destroy all the rest.
This is a great card to run if you yourself are playing a tribal deck, as you can choose your creature type and remove all the rest. It isn't handicapped by your opponent playing different creatures like Extinction is. It does cost more to play, though, sitting at five generic and two black mana.
Of course the only time this card may not be of use is if your opponent is playing the same creatures you are, but you can simply name any creature type not on the board, and it will function as a standard board wipe instead. You'll lose your own creatures, but sometimes that's worth the breathing room a wipe can give.
6 Necromantic Selection
Necromantic Selection is a board wipe you wouldn't see in any color identity other than black. Functioning like a typical board wipe, it destroys all creatures on the battlefield. Functioning atypically to a board wipe however, after all creatures are destroyed, you select one creature from any graveyard and put it onto the battlefield under your control.
This is a great way to keep one of your strongest creatures on the board against your opponent, or an even better way to steal one of theirs.
5 Mutilate
Mutilate is another board wipe that doesn't just destroy creatures, but gives them -X/-X counters. Again, a great way to get around creatures that may be sporting indestructible. Costing two generic and two black, the minimum this card is likely going to give is -4/-4 in a mono-black deck.
Since the effect of this card is dependent on how many swamps you control, it functions best when featured in a mono-black deck. For those that want to include it in multicolored decks, run it alongside a card like Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, to see it play at full strength. The only downside is that, since it is dependent on lowering the toughness, it might not be able to take down some very big creatures your opponent might control.
4 Overwhelming Forces
The best board wipe cards are the ones that are going to leave you with an advantage, and Overwhelming Forces does just that. Not only will it keep all of your creatures in play, it's going to allow you to draw a card for each creature a target opponent controls that is destroyed as a result of this spell. Pair it with cards like Reliquary Tower or Spellbook so you can keep all those cards you draw, as you'll most likely go over the seven count.
Be careful however, as Overwhelming Forces can be a tricky spell in certain circumstances. For instance if your opponent is bursting at the seams with token creatures, you might mill yourself out by drawing the equal amount of cards. As the card doesn't say "you may," you must draw cards equal to the creatures destroyed.
3 Life's Finale
The real value of Life's Finale doesn't even come from its board wiping ability, but what you do afterward. After the board has been wiped clean, you search your opponent's library, choose up to three creature cards, and put them into their graveyard. This could hamper your opponent's ability to cast strong combos and remove some of their most useful creatures from the mix.
Combo this card with spells that allow you to steal creatures from your opponent's graveyard for max value. Gruesome Encore and Ashen Powder are great places to start, but the options are endless.
2 Decree Of Pain
Decree of Pain plays much like Overwhelming Forces in that you draw a card for each creature destroyed by it. However, Decree of Pain targets the whole board and not a single opponent, making the card drawing aspect much stronger and much riskier. It also adds in the insurance of not allowing creatures to be regenerated, unlike Overwhelming Forces.
Additionally, however, the card comes with a cycling cost of three generic and two black mana. When cycled this will give all creatures -2/-2 until the end of the turn, which is a great way to get rid of mana dorks or fodder your opponent might have at a cheaper cost. It also lets you get an effectively dead card out of your hand if you draw it too early.
1 Damnation
There may not be a more iconic board wipe in all Magic than Damnation. Costing two generic and two black mana, this card destroys all creatures and doesn't allow them to be regenerated.
That's it. It's simple, and it's the best black board wipe you can run. Only four total mana to wipe the board clean with protection against regeneration is just too good to pass on when looking for a card like this.
While it may not be as flashy as other black board wipe cards, it does the job needed to be done, and for cheap. Anyone who is running black in their deck and looking to include a board wipe should look no further than Damnation.