All 12 Mass Destruction Cards in Magic Ranked

Last updated on February 19, 2026

Worldfire | Illustration by Izzy

There have been some extremely powerful cards printed over the 30+ years Magic has existed. That’s no secret. We’ve seen some dominant planeswalkers like Oko, Thief of Crowns, and creatures like Griselbrand that ravage players in a single turn.

But there’s also a type of spell that doesn’t care what’s on the other side of the battlefield, or even what’s on yours. Spells that destroy or exile all permanents. Almost nothing gets past them, and that’s why there are only a few of these powerful spells in existence.

Today I dive in and see just what these spells can do. Ready? Let’s go!

What Are Mass Destruction Cards?

Worldslayer (Mirrodin) | Illustration by Greg Staples

Mass destruction cards are, well, spells that destroy or all permanents! And I’m not just talking about spells like Armageddon or Wrath of God, but spells that hit everything in play. Lands, creatures, artifacts, planeswalkers, even enchantments.

They do this by specifically mentioning “permanents” as opposed to “nonland permanents” or another quality. They’re a sort of catch-all for threats. As a side effect, these also typically extend the length of Commander/EDH games by 20 minutes.

Of course I include cards that destroy everything, but mass exile and mass bounce are on the table as well. If it results in a completely empty battlefield, or pretty close to empty, it qualifies for the list.

Honorable Mentions

If it weren't for the part about putting any number of lands back into play I'd add The Great Aurora. It is a powerful blend of tucking cards into libraries, but doesn't quite qualify. Final Act gets rid of a lot, and for decks that rely on rad, poison, energy, or experience counters this is a serious reset. Because there's no way for it to touch lands, enchantments or artifacts though, I can't include it. Cyclonic Rift already hits everything but lands and delays the game for so long. And it puts those cards back in their owner’s hands, too.

#12. Dimensional Breach

I'm not seeing the endgame here unless you're just trying to be annoying. Dimensional Breach clears the board of everything, but players get to gradually return their permanents to play. Assuming you're casting this on your own turn, you'll be the last one to get anything into play. And there's the game of chicken where players have to decide if they want to start developing their mana right away or put their best threats back on the battlefield.

#11. Gideon, Champion of Justice

Gideon, Champion of Justice is often considered the worst Gideon planeswalker card, and Gideon had two Planeswalker Intro Deck rares. And yeah, people are wrong about it. The Gatecrash Gideon just builds up loyalty and sometimes attacks as a large creature. But unless you've got enough creatures on board to win with a Halo Fountain, you're not realistically getting to 15 loyalty counters without your opponents interfering first. Even if you do, -15 probably leaves Gideon with such low loyalty that you can't close out the game before everyone rebuilds.

#10. Worldpurge

Worldpurge was a “fixed” Upheaval, though the resulting card may still be broken. I'm not sure what the desire to play around with these sorts of effects is, because they're either immensely annoying, or they win on the spot with the right set-up. For Worldpurge, that means blinking a bunch of cards out of play, resolving this 8-mana sorcery, then being the only one left with a board when your cards re-enter. You can't even float mana like you can with Upheaval, so you're often right at square one with everyone else.

#9. Bearer of the Heavens

Up next is Bearer of the Heavens, which is just Child of Alara on steroids. It’s the sort of impending-doom I love to see on a Magic card. All permanents get destroyed at the next end step when this creature dies. Everything, from your lands to your hexproof creatures, goes right down the drain as the heavens collapse.

It has a somewhat-expensive cost at 8 mana, but luckily only has a single red pip which makes it relatively easy to include in most multicolor control and board wipe decks.

#8. Worldslayer

Worldslayer is sort of like Bearer of the Heavens on a stick. It’s a little more difficult to get off, requiring that you actually connect with a creature to trigger its effects.

The good news is that you get to keep the sword. But it’ll be a while before you can actually pay the equip cost since all of your lands will be destroyed. Odds are you probably don’t have much else going for you anyway if you’re destroying the entire board. Worldslayer is best friends with an indestructible wielder, Zurgo Helmsmasher perhaps.

#7. Apocalypse

I can’t think of a more-fitting name for this card than Apocalypse, and its effect is truly implied by its name. It exiles all permanents from the game and makes you discard your hand.

Losing your own hand puts you at a pretty big disadvantage most of the time, but not if you’re already hellbent or close to it. These kinds of effects often prolong Commander games, so try and have a way to win soon after. Otherwise you might be stuck at the table far longer than you expected.

#6. Obliterate

We’re starting to get closer to what we’re looking for with Obliterate. This will miss on some key permanents some amount of the time, but hitting all artifacts, creatures, and lands is pretty wide coverage. Land destruction being included in a permanent board wipe seriously sets back everyone at the table in a way creature and nonland wipes just don’t.

#5. Jokulhaups

Jokulhaups is the cheaper and harder-to-pronounce version of Obliterate, which charges you 2 extra mana to dodge counterspells. At that's likely a turn or two earlier and almost shifts it to another Commander bracket. It's also more reasonable that you can time it to impact more games and still dodge a removal spell.

#4. Decree of Annihilation

Next up is Decree of Annihilation, which takes things quite a few steps further than anything Obliterate was planning on doing. On top of hitting all lands it also wipes out all artifacts, creatures, lands, graveyards, and hands.

This is next-level destruction. I can’t think of a way to come out on top with this in play unless you’re an enchantment or a superfriends deck, but those archetypes typically don’t play red.

#3. Worldfire

Unbanned not too long ago, Worldfire is Commander-legal and ready to ruin lives. On top of exiling everything, including graveyards and hands, each player’s life total becomes 1.

I’m a big fan of this card because it doesn’t do what cards like Apocalypse and Cyclonic Rift often do, which is prolong the game. Having everyone at such low life makes everything a giant threat, meaning players who were previously on the cusp of victory can suddenly be killed by a slight breeze.

#2. Upheaval

Gotta love a clean textbox. Upheaval‘s not playing around. Just pick everything up everyone, admire those playmats. The catch here is that you can just float a ton of mana, resolve Upheaval, then use what mana you have left to deploy mana rocks and threats. It reads like a symmetrical effect but it almost always locks up the game for the player who cast it, hence its long-standing position on the Commander banlist.

#1. Strategy, Schmategy

Strategy, Schmategy, while not actually legal in Commander, is sort of everything we’re looking for. You can get this effect tons of times with the right style of deckbuilding, and it has the ability to purge everything in the game outside of a few types of cards.

All at 2 mana, no less.

Wrap Up

Bearer of the Heavens | Illustration by Ryan Alexander Lee

That wraps up today’s look at spells that destroy or exile everything. They’re a niche card type, but I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. I believe in second chances and you can give one to that player that overextended.

What do you think of these kinds of spells? Do you think they’re a fun nuclear option? Or are they a little too un-fun and unnecessarily prolong Commander games? Let me know your thoughts in the comments or over in the official Draftsim Discord.

Until next time, stay safe and stay healthy!