Best Board Wipes in Commander 2026: Every Color Ranked

Board wipes are the great equalizer in Commander. When someone goes wide with twenty tokens or an army of creatures, a board wipe resets the board and gives everyone a fresh start. But not all board wipes are created equal. Some destroy only creatures. Some destroy everything. Some give you a choice. In this guide, we'll break down the best board wipes in every color and help you figure out how many your deck should run.

How Many Board Wipes Should You Run?

The standard recommendation is 3-5 board wipes in a Commander deck. This gives you enough redundancy to find one when you need it without taking up too many slots. If you're in a color with access to many good wipes (like white or black), you can run more. If you're in a color with limited options (like red or green), you might need to include suboptimal choices to reach the minimum.

The exact number depends on your deck's strategy. Aggro decks can run fewer wipes because they want to close the game before anyone else can set up. Control decks should run more because they need to survive long enough to reach the late game. Combo decks should run 2-3 wipes to protect themselves while they assemble their combo.

White Board Wipes

White is the king of board wipes. It has access to the most efficient and versatile options in the game.

• Wrath of God (and variants): 2WW, destroy all creatures. The classic wipe. Simple, efficient, and does exactly what you need. Day of Judgment, Damnation, and Supreme Verdict are all excellent variants.
• Farewell: 3WW, exile any number of creatures and/or enchantments. One of the most versatile wipes in the game. You can exile just creatures, just enchantments, or both. And exile is better than destroy because it bypasses regeneration and indestructible.
• Austere Command: 2WW, choose two: destroy all artifacts, destroy all enchantments, destroy all creatures with MV 3 or less, or destroy all creatures with MV 4 or more. Extremely flexible and can hit multiple permanent types.
• Path of Peace: 2W, each player puts all creatures into their library shuffled. A softer wipe that doesn't destroy but rather bounces everything back to the library.
• Budget picks: Merciless Eviction (choose a permanent type), Fumigate (destroy all creatures, you gain 4 life), and Cleansing Nova (choose creatures or artifacts/enchantments).

Black Board Wipes

Black has access to some of the most powerful and asymmetric board wipes in the game.

• Toxic Deluge: BB, pay X life to give all creatures -X/-X. One of the best wipes in the game because it bypasses indestructible and can be scaled to your needs. The life payment is a real cost, but the flexibility is unmatched.
• Damnation: 2BB, destroy all creatures. No regeneration can save them. The black version of Wrath of God. More expensive but equally effective.
• Languish: 2BB, all creatures get -2/-2 until end of turn. A softer wipe that doesn't kill small creatures but weakens large ones.
• Budget picks: Crux of Fate (destroy all non-dragon creatures if you control a dragon), Extinction Event (choose X, each player sacrifices creatures with total MV equal to X), and Morality (each player chooses creature or noncreature, then destroys all of the other type).

Blue Board Wipes

Blue doesn't have traditional "destroy all creatures" spells, but it has some of the most powerful mass removal in the game.

• Cyclonic Rift: 1U, return all nonland permanents you don't control to their owner's hand. The most powerful wipe in the game. Overloaded, it bounces everything you don't own. Expensive but game-winning.
• Evacuation: 3UU, return all creatures to their owner's hand. A budget alternative to Cyclonic Rift that only hits creatures.
• Curiosity / Wash Out: Return all creatures of a chosen color to their owner's hand. Color-specific but can be very effective in a meta with lots of one-color decks.
• Budget picks: Into the Roil (return target permanent to hand, scry 1 — not a wipe but useful), and Mass Polymorph (sacrifice any number of creatures, reveal cards from your library equal to their total MV, put creature cards onto the battlefield).

Red Board Wipes

Red has access to damage-based board wipes that can hit creatures and sometimes players.

• Blasphemous Act: 4R, deal 13 damage divided among all creatures. One of the best red wipes because it's cheap if you have fewer creatures and can kill anything with 13 or less toughness.
• Star of Extinction: 2RR, deal 12 damage to all creatures and planeswalkers. Hits both creatures and planeswalkers, which is rare.
• Fire Tempest: 5RR, deal 6 damage to each creature and each player. Hits everything but is expensive.
• Budget picks: Pyroclasm (deal 2 damage to each creature), Flametongue Kavu (when it enters, deal 4 damage to target creature — not a wipe but useful), and Volcanic Fallout (deal 4 damage to each creature and each player).

Green Board Wipes

Green has the fewest traditional board wipes, but it has some unique options that can be very effective.

• Creeping Corrosion: 2GG, destroy all artifacts. The only color-specific mass destruction green gets easily. Essential in a meta with lots of artifacts.
• Plague of Vermin / Plague of Blood: Each player sacrifices a creature or planeswalker. Not a true wipe but can clear small boards.
• Budget picks: Sylvan Offering (each player chooses a creature, then they fight), and Hour of Devastation (deal 3 damage to each creature, exile creatures with 4 or more toughness).

Colorless Board Wipes

Colorless artifacts can provide board wipe effects for any deck.

• Oblivion Stone: 5, destroy all nonland permanents. The ultimate reset button. Expensive to activate but clears the entire board.
• Nevenshal Rotkite / Devouring Light: Not true wipes but can clear small boards.
• Budget picks: Planar Collapse (at the beginning of your upkeep, if there are 4 or more creatures, each player sacrifices a creature), and Forebear's Blade (exile target creature, then you can repeat for each creature with the same name).

When to Use Your Board Wipe

Timing is everything with board wipes. Use it too early and you'll clear a board that wasn't threatening. Use it too late and you'll be dead. Here are some guidelines:

• Wait until someone goes wide. If nobody has more than 2-3 creatures, a wipe isn't worth it. Wait for someone to establish a board that's threatening you.
• Don't wipe if you're ahead. If you have the best board, a wipe hurts you more than it helps your opponents.
• Do wipe if you're behind. If you're losing and someone is about to win, a wipe can buy you time to rebuild.
• Do wipe if it benefits you. If you have a board wipe that leaves your creatures alive (like a color-specific wipe), use it when it gives you an advantage.

Checking Your Board Wipes with Rate My Decks

When you analyze your deck with Rate My Decks, we categorize every piece of removal in your deck, including board wipes. We compare your removal count to the optimal range for your target bracket and flag it if you're running too much or too little. Use this feedback to fine-tune your interaction suite and improve your deck's consistency.