As a white mage, it’s good to know what options you have to wipe the board clear when the battlefield becomes a little too crowded. I have countless games of Magic where drawing the right white sweeper in a game was the difference between winning and losing.
As a whole, the best white board wipes are Day of Judgement, Wrath of God and other white 4 mana destroy all creature spells. Some white board wipes have additional effects that may make them better than other spells depending on the deck they are used in.
White decks have some of the best board wipes for eliminating groups of creatures and other types of permanents in the game, helping to clear your path to victory.
Below are some of the best board wipes (sweepers) I would recommend for players wanting to cast white spells.
1. Planar Cleansing
| Recommend Formats: | Commander |
Destroy all nonland permanents.
Pros
Cons
| Versatile: Destroys all Permanents, not just creatures |
| Expensive: 6 mana |
| Color Restrictive: 3 white mana |
Planar Cleansing is as simple as it gets; it destroys everything on the board except lands.
For 6 mana, you can clear the board of creatures, enchantments, artifacts, and Planeswalkers. The coverage of this spell is wide enough that you can count on this card whenever you need a board wipe in a white-colored deck.
The mana value is not so bad either, considering this straight-up destroys almost everything that stays on the board.
2. Akroma’s Vengeance
| Recommend Formats: | Commander |
Destroy all artifacts, creatures, and enchantments.
Pros
Cons
| Versatile: Destroys Artifacts, Enchantments, Creatures |
| Flexible: Has Cycling |
| Expensive: 6 mana |
A card that wipes the board clean for a reasonable price is Akroma’s Vengeance, as it destroys creatures, enchantments, and artifacts for 6 mana.
This spell is valuable when facing enemy decks that utilize enchantments and artifacts aside from creatures. Cast Akroma’s Vengeance to break their strategy apart and implement your own.
Akroma’s Vengeance’s second ability also lets you cycle the card from your hand for some extra white card draw. This gives you more flexibility in case wiping the board is no longer a good idea, like when you’re already dominating the board with your permanents.
Because of cycling ability, having this card in your deck is a no-brainer for many Commander players and one I would definitely recommend to new players building their first deck.
ALSO READ: Best MTG White Counterspells [Helpful Guide To White]
3. Slaughter the Strong
| Recommend Formats: | Commander, Historic, Penny Dreadful |
Each player chooses any number of creatures they control with total power 4 or less, then sacrifices all other creatures they control.
Pros
Cons
| One-sided: Benefits small creatures |
| Cheap: 3 mana |
| Hits Indestructible creatures |
| Incomplete: Misses some small creatures |
| Control: Opponents choose what they keep |
“Slaughter the Strong” has the smallest mana value on this list.
Although it only affects creatures with above 4 power, this card forces players to sacrifice all of their high-powered creatures on the board while leaving the rest unaffected.
Since it only costs 3 mana, destroying just 1 of your opponent’s powerful creatures can be enough to give you an advantageous tradeoff. More than 1 creature becomes, well… a real slaughter.
Slaughter the Strong is best for decks with low-power creatures since you don’t have to worry about losing too many creatures yourself.
By the way, this spell works against creatures with “Indestructible”. So, you can enjoy taking out something huge like a “Blightsteel Colossus” and other indestructible creatures that most sweepers couldn’t deal with.
For optimal use, cast this spell after your opponent summons those big expensive win conditions. Great for formats like Commander or in more competitive formats that have large creatures stomping about.
4. Final Judgment
| Recommend Formats: | Commander, Penny Dreadful |
Exile all creatures.
Updated Card Text – Wizards.com- Gatherer – Magic: The Gathering[1]
Pros
Cons
| Exiles creatures |
| Expensive: 6 mana |
Creatures that circumvent board wipes generally either have a graveyard ability to return to play or are indestructible.
For persistent creatures like these, “Final Judgment” is the right sweeper spell to provide an answer. This card removes creatures from the game (exile) for 6 mana.
Creatures affected are not destroyed but placed into exile, which means graveyard abilities and triggers are void and don’t take place when creatures are removed from play. On top of that, this spell bypasses indestructible abilities, so all creatures go bye-bye.
For best results, save this card for when you are facing a battlefield with enemy creatures with graveyard and indestructible abilities. Until then, save this spell and use other mass removal spells to deal with normal creatures to prevent not having Final Judgement when you really need it.
5. Fated Retribution
| Recommend Formats: | Commander, Penny Dreadful |
Destroy all creatures and planeswalkers.
Pros
Cons
| Versatile: Destroys all Planeswalkers and creatures. |
| Powerful: Instant speed sweeper |
| Utility: Potential scry 2. |
| Expensive: 7 mana |
| Color Restrictive: 3 white mana |
Don’t let the high mana cost discourage you because Fated Retribution is a spell you should really consider having in your arsenal.
Aside from creatures, it also destroys Planeswalkers in play. But what makes this spell truly valuable is that it is an instant!
Instants are spells that you can play anytime, even during your opponent’s turn.
Instant board wipes are not that common. Thus, most likely, your opponent won’t expect a card like this coming on their turn.
A clever play would be to let them believe that it’s safe for them to amass their armies during their main phases. Then, before their turn ends, spring the trap, wipe their armies clean with Fated Retribution. Remember to say “surprise” and smile – you may lose a friend or 2 with a play like this, but who cares right? We’re winning.
If you cast this spell on your turn, Fated Retribution gives scry 2, assisting your card draw potential to improve your cards in hand.
6. Hour of Revelation
| Recommend Formats: | Commander, Penny Dreadful |
Destroy all nonland permanents.
Pros
Cons
| Versatile: Destroys All non-land permanents |
| Fast: Can be played on turn 3 |
| Expensive: Can cost 6 mana sometimes |
| Color Restrictive: 3 white mana |
“Hour of Revelation” is a reset button for six mana.
It wipes the board clean of creatures, artifacts, enchantments, and Planeswalkers.
Like Planar Cleansing on steroids, its mana cost is reduced to 3 when at least ten nonland permanents are in play. This card is ideal for clearing the field when you are overwhelmed by enemy nonland permanents.
Especially in the Commander format, where it’s easy to have more than 10 permanents on the battlefield, Hour of Revelation is an awesome board wipe to have.
If drawn early, you can take away enemy mana rocks with this card to cripple your opponents’ mana resources as soon as your 3rd turn.
Of course, they will probably dislike you for that, but you’d probably be too far ahead in the game to notice them glaring at you.
7. Terminus
| Recommend Formats: | Commander, Legacy, Modern |
Put all creatures on the bottom of their owners’ libraries.
Pros
Cons
| Fast: Can be played on Turn 2 |
| Versatile: Removes Indestructible and recurring creatures from the battlefield. |
| Expensive: Can cost 6 mana sometimes |
| Limited: Only affects Creatures |
| Doesn’t Destroy Creatures |
“Terminus” has an unusual mechanic as a mass removal spell.
It returns all creatures to the bottom of the owner’s library instead of destroying and sending them to the graveyard.
Sure, creatures may not be dead, but it’ll take some time before they come back to play. Consequently, this also means potential effects that happen on death do not trigger, and enemies can’t revive these creatures through graveyard spells.
But the real treat for this card is it has Miracle 1 – lowering its cost to 1 mana when played right after it’s drawn.
Miracle: You may cast this card for its miracle cost when you draw it if it’s the first card you drew this turn.
It doesn’t always happen, but is so satisfying when it does! With the right deck combination, playing Terminus on miracle will always feel divine.
Rules Note: It’s important to reveal a card with Miracle before it is mixed with the other cards in your hand.
8. Cleansing Nova
| Recommend Formats: | Commander, Historic |
Choose one —
• Destroy all creatures.
• Destroy all artifacts and enchantments.
Pros
Cons
| Versatile: Option to destroy Artifacts and Enchantments. |
| Good Mana Cost |
| One-sided: Options that can give you an advantage |
| Can only Choose 1 option. |
Too many enchantments on the battlefield you need destroying, but you can’t afford to lose your creatures to mass removal?
Then “Cleansing Nova” is the spell you need.
This mass removal lets you choose either creatures or enchantments and artifacts to wipe out, ideal for that situation where your creature advantage is being mitigated by enchantments or artifacts, like “Ghostly Prison“.
Use this card according to your board situation, whether to eliminate annoying enchantments that hinder your army or wipe clean creatures that threaten your life total.
9. Austere Command
| Recommend Formats: | Commander |
Choose two —
• Destroy all artifacts.
• Destroy all enchantments.
• Destroy all creatures with mana value 3 or less.
• Destroy all creatures with mana value 4 or greater.
Pros
Cons
| Super Flexible: 4 Modes to choose from |
| Fair Mana Cost |
| One-sided: Options that can give you an advantage |
| Expensive: 6 Mana can be slow |
Austere Command has got to be the most flexible board wipe in white!
Getting to choose 2 of the following options:
- Destroy all artifacts.
- Destroy all enchantments.
- Destroy all creatures with CMC three or less.
- Destroy all creatures with CMC four or more.
With these options, you can choose different combinations that will optimally destroy your opponent’s board while minimizing losses to you.
Various white-colored decks can utilize this card in almost any situation as it is probable that your board situation will not be the exact same as your opponent’s.
I’ve personally been a victim of this board wipe several times against opponents who deliberately cast creatures with mana values opposite to mine in the spell’s choices. Getting your creatures destroyed, along with mana artifacts, can make it almost impossible for a player to recover from such a brutal blow!
For Commander players, this is one of the few cards that I recommend for almost all white decks in the format – it’s just too flexible not to play. There will be some decks that don’t want this card in the 99, but most decks will benefit from including Austere Command.
Remember, Magic The Gathering is a game of strategy.
A flexible plan can control the board, and proper board control wins games. Austere Command lives up to that principle by providing the right kind of board wipe combination you need to control the board and win the game.
10. Wrath of God
| Recommend Formats: | Commander, Historic, Modern |
Destroy all creatures. They can’t be regenerated.
Pros
Cons
| Good Mana Cost |
| Stops Regeneration |
| Nothing to see here – The card is solid |
Now it’s time for the O.G – the first mass removal, the iconic “Wrath of God”.
It is still one of the most robust board wipes after all these years even with the addition of new sweepers introduced to the game.
For only 4 mana, you can destroy a whole army of creatures, striking them with righteous anger!
On top of that, creatures with Regenerate cannot use the ability that would normally allow them to survive a death blow. Although regeneration is becoming less common in newer Magic cards, for players of older formats, this line of rules texts can sometimes make or break a game.
The small mana cost of Wrath of God allows you to destroy creatures as early as your 4th turn, great against aggressive decks trying to swarm the board in the early parts of the game.
You wouldn’t feel bad about keeping this card early in your starting hand.
In the late game, the spell’s small mana cost allows you to do more to take advantage of the board wipe, like deploying your own creature threats after casting Wrath of God.
Generally, this is an all-around, versatile board wipe suitable for different playstyles with Magic The Gathering.
If you want to know if a mass removal card is sound, use Wrath of God as a reference.
It is still considered as the gold standard of a cost-efficient mass removal card in all of Magic!
11. Day of Judgment
| Recommend Formats: | Historic, Penny Dreadful, Commander |
Destroy all creatures.
Pros
Cons
| Good Mana Cost |
| No additional effects |
What’s better than 1 Wrath of God? – 2 Wrath of God!
Although not the exact same spell, it’s not uncommon to think of “Day of Judgment” as your second copy of Wrath of God in formats where both spells are legal.
Day of Judgment does miss out on the ability to stop creatures that have the regeneration mechanic from surviving board wipes which could be relevant depending on the format you are trying to cast the card in. However, with the regeneration keyword being less popular than it once was on new Magic cards, it shouldn’t be a problem too often.
Even if you can play Wrath of God, but only have space for 4 white sweepers in your deck, it is often better to play 2 Wrath of God and 2 Day of Judgments – instead of 4 Wrath of God.
Why?
Within Magic you can often run into cards like “Meddling Mage” that when cast against you can name a card and prevent you from casting it as long as Meddling Mage is in play.
Although Wrath of God and Day of Judgement are similar cards, they definitely don’t have the same name.
This means if you’re ever in a situation where your opponent is preventing you from casting 1 of your white mana sweepers by an effect similar to Meddling Mage’s ability, you will still have 2 copies of a white board wipe in your deck that will be unaffected.
It’s a very small thing to take notice of, but that’s what separates good Magic players from great Magic players.
Assuming Regenerate isn’t a big factor in the formats you play, there is little to no downside to splitting your 4 mana sweepers between Wrath of God and Day of Judgment to keep your opponents guessing.
12. Hour of Reckoning
| Recommend Formats: | Commander, Penny Dreadful |
Destroy all nontoken creatures.
Pros
Cons
| One-side: Token creatures are not destroyed |
| Convoke: can be cast without alternative resources |
| Expensive: Cost 7 mana without Convoke |
| Only recommend for token decks |
| Color Restrictive: 3 white mana |
| Opponents keep their Token Creatures |
“Hour of Reckoning” may look expensive on the surface, but this card in the right white deck can be a one-sided massacre.
If your deck is built around a theme of token creatures, this board wipe will have little to no downside for you but will cause a world of trouble for your opponents.
The “Convoke” ability on this card means you can cast it much sooner than turn 7 and stop opponents that appear to be developing a board presence faster than you can.
Token decks tend to deploy creatures in large waves, so taking advantage of the Convoke discount shouldn’t be an issue for most token decks.
Hour of Reckoning is only really recommended for players who are going all-in on the token creature plan. Otherwise, at a potential 7 mana, this card is just too slow and the card may do just as much damage to your board if your creatures aren’t token creatures.
If you are going to be playing this card, you don’t want to be playing it fairly.
13. Fell the Mighty
| Recommend Formats: | Commander |
Destroy all creatures with power greater than target creature’s power.
Pros
Cons
| One-sided: A player keeps a creature in play |
| Easy Mana Cost: Only 1 white mana |
| Situational: Needs multiple creatures in play |
| Misses smaller creatures |
Are you the type to get jealous when your opponents have larger creatures than you?
“Fell the mighty” might be the sweeper you have been looking for then.
Arguably the best sweeper if you are planning to build a deck filled with “Walls” or creatures with low power, but a lot of toughness – this is not a sweeper that you put in your deck when you are trying to play fair.
To get the most of Fell the Mighty, it requires you to have the smallest creature in play. Otherwise, this card can hit you just as hard as your opponents.
You can cast the spell targeting one of your opponent’s small creatures in a pinch, but if there is only 1 large creature in play, Fell the Mighty won’t do anything.
For this reason, Fell the Mighty doesn’t come highly recommended unless you are really building your deck to take advantage of it.
Improving your Decks with White Board Wipes
White board wipes are pretty versatile in their application.
In a given expansion block, white usually has the most board wipes as it’s kind of their thing in Magic The Gathering.
So which one should you choose?
The fundamental theme with white mass removal is it destroys everything, including your own permanents. This should be taken into consideration when building a deck with white mass removals.
There are a ton of strategies and combos in magic that synergize well with board wipes. Don’t be afraid to try out spell combinations with your board wipes to discover what works synergistically with your playstyle.