Underplayed Board Wipes and Mass Removal
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An important part of every good Commander deck is mass removal and responses to your opponents’ ever-growing board state. While some of the most efficient board wipes in EDH also bring a hefty price, like
Wash Out
Lookout mono-colored decks! Wash Out is a bounce spell that hits every permanent in the color of your choice. Is the green deck putting out way too many creatures to handle? Is the black deck about to combo off, and you need to get
| Wash Out | ||
| Wash Out |
Massacre Girl
Massacre Girl is a fairly unsuspecting board wipe that can get out of hand quickly. When she enters, every creature except her gets -1/-1 until end of turn. But if a creature dies that turn, creatures get an additional -1/-1. This effect snowballs quickly, and typically ends with the board wiped and Massacre Girl being the only creature left standing.
| Massacre Girl | ||
| Massacre Girl (Anime Borderless) | ||
| Massacre Girl (Retro Frame) |
White Sun's Twilight
This is the slightly less popular alternative to
| White Sun's Twilight | ||
| White Sun's Twilight (Extended Art) |
False Prophet
In a little over 1300 decks on EDHREC, False Prophet can be a fantastic political tool and threat to the table, giving you enough protection to begin building your own threats. For four mana it can act as a blocker, not just from combat damage but from attacks altogether as your opponents will not want to attack you and risk losing their creatures. Or, you can fake or hold a removal spell that can garner deals with other players. Even if it gets countered or removed with an exile spell like
| False Prophet | ||
| False Prophet |
The Nipton Lottery
You won the lottery! Or at least one of your creatures can. This four-mana sorcery adds a little chaos to a board wipe by randomly choosing a creature on the board. In the best case scenario, you get to keep one of your creatures, untap it and give it haste to attack or hold up as a blocker, and continue your strategy. In the worst case scenario, you get to steal one of your opponents creatures and get a free attack against an opponent.
As a side note, this is one of my favorite cards from the
| The Nipton Lottery | ||
| The Nipton Lottery (Extended Art) |
Nuclear Fallout
Nuclear Fallout is of course best in decks that synergize with rad counters, but the real win comes from how much value you gain from its variable mana value. If you pay two mana for X, every creature on the board gets -4/-4. Due to the fact that it gets around most protection spells, Nuclear Fallout is consistent and malleable to any situation you may come across. And if your deck cares about cards in graveyards, the mill effect from rad counters is the icing on the perfectly preserved pie!
| Nuclear Fallout | ||
| Nuclear Fallout (Showcase) |
Bontu's Last Reckoning
Who doesn’t love a cheap board wipe? The downside of Bontu’s Last Reckoning can be drastic if you don’t time your follow-up plays well, but due to its cheap mana value you can start rebuilding in the same turn, or hold off and wait till your next turn to begin tapping lands. Bontu’s Last Reckoning adds a fun challenge to wiping the board, and it doesn’t feel as bad for your opponents when compared to
| Bontu's Last Reckoning |
Fade Away
Fade Away is a card from
| Fade Away |
Hidetsugu Consumes All
If your opponent is playing a go-wide strategy consisting of token creation or cheap permanents, Hidetsugu Consumes All is a great three-mana response to keep them in check. This can remove anything from hordes of creature tokens to Treasures that your opponent might be saving up for their
| Hidetsugu Consumes All | ||
| Hidetsugu Consumes All (Showcase) |
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Further Reading:
Kaspar Renken is a graduate of Western Connecticut State University, and has been playing Magic since War of the Spark. He began playing Standard for a short time before finding EDH and the friendships that come from multiplayer formats. When he’s not playing or building decks, he can probably be found working on his Mustang.
