The Top 10 MTG Black Board Wipes

In almost every game of Magic, you’ll need to answer your opponents’ creatures. Spot removal works well for individual threats, but sometimes you just need to wipe the slate clean. When your opponents’ boards get out of control, black board wipes are some of the best tools available to get you back in the game.

Black is the best color in terms of creature removal, and it has some of the best mass removal for creatures in the game. In control decks, as well as just about any EDH deck that can run them, black board wipes are excellent because of how common creatures are. If you need to deal with other permanents, however, black doesn’t have many options for you.

With so many options, some are naturally better than others. Picking the right sweepers for your deck and for your meta is key to getting the most out of your removal. Listed here are the top ten black board wipes, as well as some general principles for how to evaluate board wipes.

Table Of Contents

1. What Should You Look for in Black Board Wipes?
2. Honorable Mentions
   1. Kindred Dominance
   2. Deadly Tempest
3. Top 10 Black Board Wipes
   1. Necromantic Selection
   2. Blood on the Snow
   3. Crux of Fate
   4. Plague Wind
   5. In Garruk’s Wake
   6. Black Sun’s Zenith
   7. Damnation
   8. Living Death
   9. Toxic Deluge
   10. The Meathook Massacre
4. End Step

What Should You Look for in Black Board Wipes?

There are lots of factors to consider when choosing your sweepers. Not every board wipe can satisfy every possible need, but knowing what your deck wants the most will help you make the right call.

Are They Expensive?

One of the most important parts of a board wipe is how much it costs. Paying more mana than you need to will make your deck inefficient and slow. Black board wipes are good in this regard as often times they will let you pay alternatives costs like life instead of mana. This is especially problematic for board wipes because you will often play them when you have to answer your opponents’ creatures. Not having enough mana to play a board wipe can turn a dangerous situation into defeat, so you should value cheaper board wipes.

Having leftover mana after clearing the board is also important. The first player to start rebuilding can gain a big advantage, and cheap board wipes let you follow up with more spells. However, this is less important for one-sided board wipes since those leave you with an advantage anyway.

Are They Flexible?

Board wipes can save you in a variety of situations, so the more flexible each one is, the better. When I’m on the back foot in a game, drawing a dead card feels like falling even further behind. If you can minimize the chances of that happening, your deck will feel more consistent and adaptable.

Black board wipes usually only remove creatures, but there are a handful that also get rid of planeswalkers. Destroying any problematic planeswalkers is a fantastic option to have at your disposal.

RELATED: MTG Planeswalkers: An Ultimate Guide

Black board wipes can also remove just a portion of the creatures on the battlefield. Certain strategies like elves or tokens will often flood the board with small, cheap creatures. If your board wipes destroy creatures with low toughness or below a certain cost, you can often handle the problem while preserving your own board.

Are They One-Sided?

One of the biggest downsides to clearing the board is that you’ll often reset your own position at the table. While it might be necessary to run them, symmetrical board wipes can often slow down your game plan. This is especially true if you’re playing a creature-based strategy.

There are multiple black board wipes that keep your battlefield intact. You’ll have to pay significantly more mana for this effect, but it will often win you the game. Even if your opponents don’t have a large board presence, removing their blockers can let you do a ton of damage.

Some black board wipes will also return creatures from graveyards to your battlefield. Even if these cards destroy your creatures first, the recursion effects put you ahead on board. In this way, these are similar to one-sided board wipes.

Honorable Mentions

Before we get into the best of the best, I wanted to mention a couple of niche options that could be all-stars in the right situation. These might not work in every deck or in every meta, but they’re powerful cards that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Kindred Dominance

Kindred Dominance has a lot of potential. It’s cheaper than other one-sided board wipes, but it’s also less consistent. If your opponent has creatures that share types with yours, you might not really be wiping the board. You always have the option to name a creature type that isn’t on the battlefield, but then you’re overpaying for a symmetrical board wipe.

In certain tribal decks, Kindred Dominance can be your best mass removal spell. It’s unlikely that your opponents will have lots of angels and demons, for example, but some tribes are more common. If you’re running elves or humans, your opponents may have a fair number of them without even trying. Kindred Dominance has a high ceiling, but there’s no denying that it’s niche.

Pros	Cons
Cheap for its effect	Niche Demand
Potentially game-winning

Recommended Format: Commander

Deadly Tempest

Deadly Tempest seems to fail in each category I’ve mentioned: it isn’t cheap, it isn’t flexible, and it isn’t one-sided. What I really like about Deadly Tempest is its secondary effect. Damaging each player for how many creatures they lost can swing the game even further in your favor.

Deadly Tempest shines in token-heavy metas, especially if you’re running a deck that’s light on creatures. The ability to deal ten, twenty, or even more damage from your board wipe is powerful, but remember what that damage is making up for. If you aren’t punishing go-wide decks, you’re playing a slow board wipe that isn’t giving you any extra advantages.

Pros	Cons
Can punish go-wide decks	Inefficient and symmetrical

Recommended Format: Commander

Top 10 Black Board Wipes

No black board wipe can perfectly satisfy every category, but the following cards execute extremely well on some of them. I’ve arranged them from weakest to strongest, but the right choice for your deck will depend on what qualities you value most.

#10: Necromantic Selection

For a symmetrical board wipe, Necromantic Selection costs two or three more mana than you would typically want to pay. However, that extra investment lets you reanimate any creature that was on the board. The power level of this card depends on how reliably you can recur a strong, meaningful creature.

At tables that usually see powerful creatures like eldrazi or demons, Necromantic Selection is a great choice. It’s even better if you’re running those creatures yourself. Keeping your best threat while everyone else has to start from scratch isn’t a bad deal for seven mana.

Pros	Cons
Recursion	Expensive

Recommended Format: Commander

RELATED: Building an Eldrazi Commander Deck: An Ultimate Guide

#9: Blood on the Snow

Blood on the Snow is very similar to Necromantic Selection, but it has a few advantages that push it to #9. First, it costs one less mana and has fewer color requirements. Second, it can destroy creatures or planeswalkers, so it’s more flexible. Finally, it also gives you more options for recursion.

Blood on the Snow can bring back planeswalkers, even if you chose to destroy all creatures. Planeswalkers are incredibly strong on an empty board because it takes so much more time for them to die through combat. The possibility of returning a card like Elspeth, Sun’s Champion and keeping it for multiple turns edges this card over Necromantic Selection for me.

It’s unfortunate that Blood on the Snow can’t recur anything with a mana value higher than six, but its flexibility and cheaper cost makes it more versatile than Necromantic Selection.

Pros	Cons
Flexible Uses	Expensive
Recursion (including Planeswalkers)	Limited recursion targets

Recommended Formats: Commander, Standard

#8: Crux of Fate

Crux of Fate will usually destroy all creatures for five mana. There are some situations where it won’t do quite what you want, but it’s fairly reliable. The ability to hose dragon decks is also nice, as well as being able to run it as a one-sided board wipe within a dragon deck.

RELATED: The Best MTG Dragons

The biggest problem with Crux of Fate is its mana cost. Five mana isn’t terribly expensive, but there are other black board wipes that have a similar effect for less mana. This is still a great choice, but there are more efficient options.

Pros	Cons
Reliable	Slightly inefficient
Interacts well with dragons

Recommended Format: Commander

#7: Plague Wind

Plague Wind is a clean, one-sided board wipe. Casting this spell with even a modest battlefield can propel you into the lead. In the right situation, it can outright win you the game. Even if you don’t win on the spot, you’re likely to stay ahead of your opponents.

Despite this powerful effect, putting a nine-mana card in your deck can be a real liability. If you draw it early, you’ll have a dead card in your hand for turn after turn. Even if you aren’t stuck with it early, reaching nine mana can be difficult. You definitely can’t go light on your lands and ramp if you run Plague Wind.

Pros	Cons
One-sided	Expensive

Recommended Format: Commander

#6: In Garruk’s Wake

In Garruk’s Wake is generally a stronger version of Plague Wind. There may be times that a creature dodges Garruk’s axe with regeneration, but it’s far more likely that you’ll run into pesky planeswalkers than a regenerating menace.

Planeswalkers generate tons of value, and they can easily take over a game. Answering these permanents once they hit the battlefield is key, and In Garruk’s Wake does this perfectly.

Planeswalkers aside, this card has the same strengths and weaknesses as Plague Wind. Keep that land count high!

Pros	Cons
One-sided	Expensive
Destroys Planeswalkers

Recommended Format: Commander

#5: Black Sun’s Zenith

One of the greatest strengths for any X spell is its flexibility, and Black Sun’s Zenith is no exception. If you want to completely wipe the board, you might have to pump more mana into this than you’d like. However, you also have the option of partially clearing the board by paying less.

If you’re only concerned with handling tokens or smaller threats, you can just pay one or two mana. That way, you can maintain some of your board presence while handling lots of creatures at once. This option has even more utility since Black Sun’s Zenith puts -1/-1 counters on creatures. These counters will permanently lower their stats, so you can neuter larger creatures without killing them outright.

Even if you don’t have the mana to remove every creature, Black Sun’s Zenith still lets you make the board more manageable.

Pros	Cons
Flexible	Can be expensive
Gives -1/-1 counters

Recommended Format: Commander

#4: Damnation

Board wipes don’t get any more straightforward than Damnation. For four mana, you destroy all creatures. This is the most consistent sweeper on the list, and worth considering in any black deck. The relatively cheap mana cost also makes this a very efficient option.

Some players might argue that Damnation should be at the #1 spot. The reason it’s at #4 is because the next few cards have higher upsides. Still, Damnation’s simplicity shouldn’t be overlooked. Whenever you draw it, the only factor you’ll have to consider is whether or not you want to wipe the board.

Other sweepers can vary in utility depending on your deck or the state of the game, but Damnation is the most reliable of the bunch.

Pros	Cons
Efficient	Symmetrical
Reliable

Recommended Format: Commander

#3: Living Death

Living Death has one of the highest ceilings out of any mono black board wipe. As a sweeper, it’s quite strong. Forcing your opponents to sacrifice their creatures instead of destroying them gets around indestructible. It’s also reasonably costed at five mana.

RELATED: MTG Indestructible: How It Works and What It Does

The real strength of Living Death comes from its reanimation effect. Bringing back every creature from every graveyard can completely change the game. While this effect is symmetrical, you’re likely running it in decks with self-mill or aristocrats themes, so you’ll benefit more than most of your opponents.

Still, it’s not a guarantee that you’ll come out on top. If your opponents have a well-stocked graveyard, they could easily end up with a battlefield that rivals or even out performs yours. This risk makes Living Death a tricky card: it will often swing the game wildly in your favor, but there will be times when you can’t risk casting it.

If you’re likely to have a large graveyard, Living Death is absolutely worth running. Just make sure it’s not the only sweeper in your deck.

Pros	Cons
Can be one-sided	Can benefit your opponents
Excellent in graveyard decks

Recommended Format: Commander

#2: Toxic Deluge

Toxic Deluge is the most efficient mono black board wipe, without question. At just three mana, it’s the cheapest one available. Having such a low cost means you’ll almost certainly be able to follow it up with another play.

Another point in its favor is that it doesn’t destroy creatures: it gives them -1/-1. Similarly to Living Death, this gets around indestructible. When you need to wipe the board, you want to be certain that your spell resolves as intended. Cards like Heroic Intervention can lead to huge blowouts, but not with Toxic Deluge.

Most importantly, Toxic Deluge is very flexible. Since you get to choose the value of X, it can serve many roles. If you need to remove a board of tokens, you can pay one or two life. If you want to keep a specific creature, you can make sure it sticks around. And if you have to truly wipe everything, you’ll likely have the life to do so.

The one drawback to Toxic Deluge is that the life loss can be quite taxing if there are big creatures. In Commander, though, starting at 40 life makes this less punishing. Outside of that, managing your life total is definitely important.

Still, the power level of Toxic Deluge is undeniable. No other black board wipe matches the efficiency and versatility of this card.

Pros	Cons
Cheap	Loss of life can be painful
Flexible

Recommended Format: Commander

#1: The Meathook Massacre

It was a tough decision to put The Meathook Massacre at #1 over Toxic Deluge. If you’re looking for a board wipe, plain and simple, you might choose to go with the latter. Both cards let you give -X/-X to the whole board, but Toxic Deluge‘s cheaper mana cost makes it more consistent. What I love about The Meathook Massacre, however, is that it can also be your deck’s win condition.

For aristocrats decks, having a card that acts as both a sweeper and a Blood Artist is invaluable. Not only can you clear the board right away, but you’ll likely get lots of triggers when you do. Even outside of sacrifice-heavy decks, playing this card can win you the game if life totals are low enough.

You also don’t need to spend tons of mana for this card to be good. If The Meathook Massacre is in your opening hand, you can just play it without paying anything for X. Setting up your deck’s win condition on turn two is still very strong, and that’s the card’s worst case scenario.

Ultimately, The Meathook Massacre gives you choices, synergy, and a way to win the game, as well as just clearing the board when you need to reset. It’s a fantastic card that immediately boosts the power level of any deck that runs it.

Pros	Cons
Flexible	Can be expensive
Also a win condition

Recommended Formats: Commander, Historic, Pioneer

End Step

Black board wipes offer a variety of effects at a variety of mana costs. Depending on what you need for your specific strategy or meta, you might choose a different suite of board wipes than what another player would. I hope this guide has given you the information you need to make the right call for your deck.