Board wipes are non-negotiable in Commander. When an opponent builds an overwhelming army, drops dozens of tokens, or runs away with the game state, reset buttons keep you in the fight. While premium wipes like Toxic Deluge or Cyclonic Rift carry steep price tags, plenty of high-impact sweepers cost less than two dollars.
Budget-conscious players do not need to sacrifice flexibility or efficiency. Below are the top 10 budget board wipes in EDH priced under $2 that clear the battlefield while offering incredible value.
1. Blasphemous Act
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Card Type: Sorcery
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Mana Cost:
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Key Function: Creature Sweeper / Mass Damage
Despite its massive nine-mana base cost, Blasphemous Act costs less to cast for each creature on the battlefield. In a four-player game, it regularly costs a single Red mana to deal 13 damage to every creature. It is the absolute king of budget Red board wipes and an essential piece of interaction for any Red deck.
2. Cleansing Nova
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Card Type: Sorcery
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Mana Cost:
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Key Function: Modal Board Wipe / Flexible Removal
Versatility makes board wipes exceptional, and Cleansing Nova gives you crucial choices. For five mana, you can choose to destroy all creatures or destroy all artifacts and enchantments. Whether facing down an army of tokens or a wall of annoying engine artifacts, this spell provides the exact answer you need at a budget price point.
3. Crux of Fate
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Card Type: Sorcery
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Mana Cost:
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Key Function: One-Sided Creature Wipe
Black offers fantastic modal board wipes, and Crux of Fate stands out as an asymmetric board wipe option. It allows you to destroy all Dragon creatures or all non-Dragon creatures. If you run a Dragon tribal deck, it functions as a one-sided win condition. In non-Dragon decks, it operates as a standard five-mana wipe that wipes away most threats.
4. Fumigate
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Card Type: Sorcery
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Mana Cost:
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Key Function: Creature Wipe + Life Gain
Standard white sweepers clear the board, but Fumigate pads your life total in the process. Destroying all creatures while gaining 1 life for each creature destroyed turns a desperate defensive play into a massive lifegain engine. In token-heavy Commander metas, Fumigate can easily gain you 15 to 20 life in a single turn.
5. Chain Reaction
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Card Type: Sorcery
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Mana Cost:
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Key Function: Scalable Damage Board Wipe
If you need a low-mana damage sweeper, Chain Reaction scales directly with the board state. Dealing X damage to each creature, where X is the total number of creatures on the battlefield, it consistently deals enough damage to wipe away huge battlefields for just four mana.
6. Organic Extinction
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Card Type: Sorcery
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Mana Cost:
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Key Function: Asymmetric Wipe for Artifact Decks
Designed specifically for artifact and token strategies, Organic Extinction features Improvise, allowing your artifacts to help tap and pay for its mana cost. Furthermore, it destroys all non-artifact creatures, leaving your artifact-heavy army intact while wiping out every opponent’s board.
7. Dusk // Dawn
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Card Type: Sorcery // Sorcery
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Mana Cost: //
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Key Function: Conditional Wipe & Graveyard Recursion
Split cards offer two spells in one package. Dusk acts as a four-mana board wipe that destroys all creatures with power 3 or greater, protecting your small utility creatures or token engine. Later, from your graveyard, Dawn returns all creature cards with power 2 or less from your graveyard to your hand, giving small-creature strategies immense recursion.
8. Decree of Pain
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Card Type: Sorcery
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Mana Cost:
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Key Function: Late-Game Reset & Uncounterable Cycling Wipe
While eight mana is steep, Decree of Pain destroys all creatures and draws you a card for each creature destroyed, instantly refilling your hand for the late game. Even better, it offers an uncounterable instant-speed Cycling mode for that gives all creatures -2/-2, serving as a perfect answer to small token armies.
9. Wave of Reckoning
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Card Type: Sorcery
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Mana Cost:
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Key Function: Asymmetric Removal for High-Toughness Decks
Wave of Reckoning forces each creature to deal damage to itself equal to its power. In decks with high-toughness creatures, walls, or toughness-matters commanders like Arcades, the Strategist, your creatures easily survive while your opponents lose their entire board.
10. Ezuri’s Predation
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Card Type: Sorcery
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Mana Cost:
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Key Function: Green Board Wipe & Token Generator
Green rarely receives traditional board wipes, but Ezuri’s Predation acts as both a sweeper and a massive win condition. For eight mana, it creates a 4/4 green Beast token for each creature your opponents control, and each token immediately fights one of those creatures. It clears smaller threats while leaving you with a army of beasts to attack on the next turn.
Summary: Control the Board Without Spending Big
Having reliable board wipes in your Commander deck is mandatory for surviving high-aggro pods and outlasting token swarm strategies. By integrating efficient, budget-friendly sweepers like Blasphemous Act, Cleansing Nova, and Crux of Fate, you maintain control of the game state while staying well under your deckbuilding budget.
