When the battlefield gets cluttered with monstrous creatures, it’s best to clean the slate. For that, Magic: The Gathering has board wipes. You will commonly see board wipe spells in control decks, but some midrange strategies have been known to utilize a board wipe or two. Nowadays, it’s not simply about removing creatures from the battlefield, as some of these spells remove other permanents.
Unlike spot removal spells like Path to Exile or Swords to Plowshares, a wrath spell doesn't target and they don't typically deal damage, which allows you to get around hexproof and protection on a creature. Mana value, removal of more than just creatures, and added costs are just a few aspects to look at when determining a board wipe's validity. Today, we take a look at some of the best board wipes white has to offer.
10 Vanquish The Horde Is Cheaper With A Higher Head Count
How can a spell that costs six generic mana and two white mana be considered one of the best? It didn’t see a lot of play in Standard, but it is a great card in Commander when you’re up against multiple opponents filling the board with creatures.
The more creatures on the battlefield, the better for Vanquish the Horde, because it can eventually become a wrath for two white mana. If you play a Midnight Hunt draft, this is also a good pick to take care of those creature-heavy decks.
9 Austere Command Gives You Options
The Lorwyn block introduced a cycle of spells called the Commands. These are spells that presented multiple modes to choose from when casting the spell. Better yet, you are able to choose two modes, which offers a lot of versatility for a single card. Austere Command is ever present in Commander and would be highly playable in Standard even today.
Next to blue’s Cryptic Command, this is one of the most played Commands since its first printing. If you needed to destroy multiple artifacts and enchantments, not creatures, Austere Command made that possible.
8 Divine Purge Is Death And Taxes Incarnate
Board wipes are powerful spells when they’re simply destroying creatures. As the game continues to evolve, the aspects of evergreen spells need to also and Alchemy is a clear sign of that evolution.
Divine Purge doesn’t destroy, it exiles. It doesn’t exile just creatures, it removes artifacts too. White in MTG is nothing if not fair, so Divine Purge gives the opportunity to replay the permanents that were exiled with an additional tax. For a sweeper that only costs three mana to cast, that’s arguably too powerful.
7 Akroma's Vengeance Removes More Than Just Creatures
There’s nothing worse than having a dead card in your hand during a match of MTG. It’s not fun playing against an opponent with a creatureless deck while you have a hand full of removal spells. Akroma’s Vengeance allows you to cycle it when you don’t need it and need to find a better answer to your opponent’s threats.
Luckily, Akroma’s Vengeance doesn’t only remove creatures, it also goes after artifacts and enchantments. It’s a versatile sweeper that sees most play these days in Commander.
6 Farewell Is An Upgrade From A Lorwyn Classic
Kamigawa: Neon Destiny printed a strictly better version of Austere Command in the form of Farewell. Instead of destroying permanents, it exiles them, which gets around indestructible. Better yet, Farewell allows you to choose any number of modes it offers, not just two.
This is a catch-all sweeper that all decks should worry about. Have a graveyard strategy? Farewell exiles your graveyard. Playing an artifact deck with affinity? Farewell exiles all artifacts. Farewell is a perfect name for this spell and finds itself in decks from Standard, Pioneer, and Explorer.
5 Doomskar Lays In Wait
The standard for white board wipes has typically been a mana value of four. The only time they’ve been less has been when they have a secondary color like Deafening Clarion or if they have a stipulation like the aforementioned Vanquish the Horde.
Doomskar on its own costs five mana, but with the foretell mechanic it only costs three mana. Several strategies allow you to take advantage of foretelling Doomskar. If needed, you can cast it on turn three or let your opponent amass their army and cast later and have enough mana to follow it up. Doomskar will be missed in Standard.
4 Day Of Judgment Is An Oldy But A Goody
Regarding functional reprints, it doesn’t get much closer than Day of Judgment. When Wrath of God left rotation, Day of Judgment took its place as the four mana sweeper and set the trend for white board wipes to be at that mana cost.
It’s a simple spell that does what you want it to: level the playing field. Of course, indestructible poses an issue, and the occasional creature can regenerate, but Day of Judgment buys you the time you want to survive into the late game.
3 Settle The Wreckage Is An Instant Speed Wrath
Imagine Path to Exile on steroids and you’ll get Settle the Wreckage. Sure, there have been instant speed sweepers before, but few have been white and none as impactful as Settle the Wreckage. Aggro decks have a challenging time playing around Settle when their goal is to knock your life total down to zero as quickly as possible.
The beauty of this sweeper is that it exiles attacking creatures and doesn’t target them. Just don’t pull the trigger too soon unless you’re okay with your opponent getting lands they wouldn’t otherwise have.
2 Wrath Of God Is The Original Sweeper
If you like playing creatures, this is the card you get to thank for removing them en mass. A Magic: The Gathering staple since Alpha’s release in 1993, this sweeper started it all. Regenerate was a common feature on creatures, making Wrath of God a significant nuisance for players.
Killing off players before turn four was more crucial than ever because there weren’t a lot of ways to avoid a well-timed wrath. If you come across a Wrath of God from Alpha, it’s worth around $700.
1 Balance Was Too Unbalanced
Imagine a card so powerful, that it’s banned in two formats that it would otherwise be legal in and restricted in another. Two mana is cheap when you look at what it does, and suddenly, it being banned makes sense.
When you can’t even play it in Commander, it has a problem. It’s easy: When your opponent has more creatures than you, balance the scales. However, Balance doesn’t stop at creatures. Both players had to have the same amount of cards in hand and lands. You can argue that it’s fair, but there are plenty of ways to abuse this card.