The 39 Best One-Sided Board Wipes in Magic Ranked

Last updated on February 19, 2026

Cyclonic Rift | Illustration by Chuck Lukacs

There are moments when casting a board wipe is the only way to survive or give the game the momentum it needs; without it, the game would just stall endlessly. The downside, of course, is that you lose the progress you’ve worked hard to build each turn. But what if I told you there are spells that act as one-sided board wipes, affecting only your opponents' side of the field while leaving yours intact?

Today, that's exactly what we'll cover! I go over some of the best one-sided board wipes in Magic and explain the scenarios where they can punish your opponents while keeping your board safe. Intrigued to see which ones made the list? Let’s dive in!

What Are One-Sided Board Wipes in MTG?

Ruinous Ultimatum | Illustration by Chase Stone

Unlike traditional board wipes, which affect all players equally, one-sided board wipes are spells that remove creatures (or other permanents) from opponents’ boards while leaving the caster’s own board mostly or entirely intact.

For this list, I will go over the best spells that have this potential effect depending on the context in which they're cast; that means a spell that only kills non-enchantment permanents ran in an enchantment-heavy deck will be considered as a one-sided board wipe under that premise.

With that out of the way, let's see the spells we have access to.

#39. Arms of Hadar + Massacre Wurm

Since I wanted to add a board wipe for at least each format, Arms of Hadar is my choice for Pauper, as this black board wipe is the most effective way to clear the board of pesky creatures without touching your side of the field. Note that board wipes in this format are very limited, and finding a black sorcery that acts just on your opponent's side of the field is very hard.

Outside of Pauper you could make a case for Massacre Wurm to be as good as Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite for the shrinkage, but since it is temporary I'll leave this here and call the rest of the card gravy as a big creature that is a payoff for virtually every other card on this list.

The runner-up is End the Festivities.

#38. Orzhov Pontiff

More often than not, Orzhov Pontiff is used as a one-sided Shrivel effect that combos with sacrifice outlets to completely clean the opponent’s boards thanks to its haunt ability.

While it saw decent play in Modern way back when Birthing Pod was legal, it has lost popularity nowadays due to the latter being banned.

#37. Goblin Chainwhirler

Goblin Chainwhirler is a good sideboard choice against cheap creatures in the Pioneer format. If you give it deathtouch with cards like Call of the Death-Dweller, then you wipe the entire board instead.

#36. Mogg Infestation

Mogg Infestation technically fits into this list, but in turn, this red board wipe will give your opponents a decent army of goblins. This can be bypassed if you use the likes of Curse of Death's Hold (another example of a one-sided board wipe) on your opponents to finish the job.

On the other hand, you can use it on yourself to trigger the abilities of cards like Purphoros, God of the Forge or Impact Tremors.

#35. Rain of Daggers

While this black card does its job, it comes with a painful price: You'll lose 2 life for each creature you destroy, easily putting your life total in danger.

#34. Dread Cacodemon

Dread Cacodemon gives you a big body and a one-sided board wipe for 10 total mana. I explain it like this because you can’t bypass the casting cost to get the effect; a Reanimate simply won’t work, for example.

Still, the likes of Omniscience would do the job.

The other problem is that your creatures get tapped, so you can’t really clear the board and attack, which is another downside on top of paying 10 mana for this creature.

#33. Disaster Radius

If you reveal an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn as an additional cost to cast Disaster Radius, you’ll likely kill everything that doesn’t belong to you. Still, this red sorcery requires you to hold onto a card that you'll likely want to play before the board wipe happens.

#32. Ezuri's Predation

Ezuri's Predation isn’t really a one-sided board wipe if your opponents’ creatures are big. That said, a 4/4 is big enough to successfully fight most creatures, which can result in adding creatures to your board and killing all of your opponents’ creatures for 8 mana.

#31. Alpha Brawl

There's a lot of potential for Alpha Brawl if your opponent controls one large creature and a bunch of smaller ones. If they have 10 1/1s and a 10/10 everything dies, though that’s a pretty specific situation. There’s board clear potential here, but it’s less effective in a multiplayer environment.

#30. Curse of the Cabal

Curse of the Cabal is another overpriced card that acts as a potential one-sided board wipe, as your opponent will have to sacrifice half the permanents they control, rounded down. This effect reminds of Liliana of the Veil’s ultimate, and while similar, they work relatively differently from one another. The ability to suspend this is a cute way to tax your opponent, but it’ll rarely be cast for its upfront cost.

#29. Swift Demise

I count Swift Demise because it would work with many alpha strikes (yours or your opponent's), but more importantly pairs up beautifully with cards that spread one damage to all your opponent's creatures like Iroh's Demonstration and End the Festivities.

#28. Split Up + Slaughter the Strong + Citywide Bust

I don't have a cool name to categories these handy wipes that work one-sidedly because of the way you built your deck. You ensure 90% or more of your creatures would not meet the conditions of the wipe, and you have an incredible answer to lots of creatures your opponents post up on the battlefield. You're not limited to Split Up, Slaughter the Strong, or Citywide Bust, but these are great examples of this option.

I'll slip in Profaner of the Dead here because you have to build the right creatures in for it to work.

#27. Swarmyard Massacre + Realm-Cloaked Giant

We're mainly here for the Cast Off adventure on Realm-Cloaked Giant as one of the premier type-wipe sweepers. Build for giants, or the pests listed on Swarmyard Massacre and you get an eradication of the opposing cards you don't want around.

#26. Archfiend of Ifnir + Doomwake Giant

You need to do a bit of work to make Archfiend of Ifnir and Doomwake Giant eliminate your opponent's creatures. Thankfully game actions like putting enchantments into play or discarding cards is a joy to build around, so it's very feasible to bring these effects to a one-sided Languish.

#25. In Garruk's Wake + Plague Wind

While Plague Wind and In Garruk's Wake do essentially the same thing, the latter kills planeswalkers so it makes it 99% strictly better (minus the regeneration clause). You can’t go too wrong running one or the other, but I wouldn’t really play both in the same deck because it's very risky to draw multiple 9-drops in the same hand.

#24. Ruinous Ultimatum

For 7 mana, Ruinous Ultimatum is one of the best cards to get rid of your opponent’s non-land permanents, although this Mardu card is a bit restrictive on the mana, like all ultimatums are.

#23. Overwhelming Forces

In a 1v1 format, Overwhelming Forces is better than other cards that cost a lot because it’ll be easier to resolve. The problem is that in multiplayer games, you’ll have two more armies to take care of. That’s somewhat compensated for by drawing a card for each creature that was destroyed, and you can do some sort of political game to negotiate a temporary truce with the other players that aren’t impacted.

#22. Angel of the Dire Hour

Unlike other board wipes that can work regardless of the scenario, some like Angel of the Dire Hour are extremely situational. This white creature straight punishes your opponents for attacking you, and there are other similar cards like Settle the Wreckage that do about the same, with the latter providing value to your opponents based on the number of attacking creatures, acting as a mass Path to Exile.

Instant-speed board wipes are very strong, and Aetherspouts/Aetherize are other strong options to run in blue decks if you want a similar effect to Angel of the Dire Hour.

#21. Balefire Dragon

More often than not, a hit from Balefire Dragon will usually be enough to clear your opponent’s side of the board. I like this, as all you really need to do is give haste to this dragon so it can attack the same turn it entered, limiting your opponent’s window to deal with it.

#20. Call Forth the Tempest

Call Forth the Tempest has double cascade to ensure you have some amount of mana value to work with. Unless they have something huge, this is a strong way to get value and clear up your opponent's board.

#19. Immolating Gyre

Immolating Gyre has the added benefit of destroying opposing planeswalkers in addition to opposing creatures. You're in a spellslinger and rummage color, so ensuring instants and sorceries are in your graveyard should be no problem.

#18. Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh

While Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh is a powerful Grixis card on its own, its ultimate is one of the best one-sided board wipes ever created as it affects all of your opponents. To get the most out of it, I would pair it with Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider to fire off its ability right away and possibly win the game on the spot. Note that for most planeswalkers listed here, that would be the optimal way of enabling their one-sided board wipe effect.

#17. Kindred Dominance

Kindred Dominance is the best one-sided board wipe a typal deck can use. The only problem with it is that this card is black, and popular creature types like elves, goblins, and merfolk are prevalent in other colors, unless you use a commander that includes black in its color identity. Raise the Palisade is a strong alternative for blue typal decks.

#16. Scourge of Fleets

A one-sided board wipe that leaves a body behind is a very cool thing to run, and while you won’t be destroying anything with Scourge of Fleets, bouncing those creatures to their owner’s hand is about the same, and in some scenarios even better for creatures that can’t be dealt with otherwise. Just make sure that you have a vast density of islands when putting this kraken into play. If you reanimate it or cheat it into play with cards like Sneak Attack when you control fewer non-islands, all you get is a big creature on the field.

#15. Incinerator of the Guilty

Incinerator of the Guilty is similar to Balefire Dragon, but 1 mana cheaper, and you’re required to collect evidence from your graveyard to trigger this red card‘s ability. The end result is a bit better as you can deal more damage than its power, dealing with creatures and planeswalkers altogether.

#14. Crux of Fate

Crux of Fate is another one-sided board wipe that’ll fit perfectly in your dragon typal deck, though it's also another card that you can use against the Commander player that always brings their dragon deck to the table.

#13. Their Name Is Death

Since there’s a lot of hate for artifacts, as we saw in some other examples, it’s just fair to have Their Name Is Death, a one-sided board wipe that does not work on artifact creatures, but will kill all the others. Extinguish All Hope is a parallel to this card for enchantment creatures.

#12. Hurkyl's Recall

For 2 mana, Hurkyl's Recall is used as a one-sided board wipe against artifact decks, and it’s used mostly in Modern and Legacy where this blue instant is legal and artifact strategies are prevalent.

#11. Ajani Vengeant

While Ajani Vengeant’s ultimate may not deal with your opponent's creatures or nonland permanents like other cards from this list do, it is a way to kill your opponent’s lands. I remember the first iterations of Jeskai superfriends that used it along with other strong cards, such as Gideon Jura and Jace, the Mind Sculptor.

#10. Ral, Caller of Storms

Like other planeswalkers, Ral, Caller of Storms’ ultimate is the part that acts as a one-sided board wipe, but this Izzet card draws you cards up until that point.

#9. Steel Hellkite

From time to time, you’ll see Steel Hellkite in Commander games as a way to sweep part of an opponent's board, one mana value at a time. What I like about this colorless board wipe is that it's not tied to any color identity; you can run it in any Commander deck regardless of color identity.

#8. Bonfire of the Damned

A Favorite card to everyone except LSV and Brian Kibler, Bonfire of the Damned is a hell of a card to play against, primarily when your opponent draws it and plays it for its miracle cost.

#7. Austere Command + Farewell

Both Austere Command and Farewell can act as one-sided board wipes depending on the deck they belong to or the deck you’re playing against, but their modality is a major standout for these white board wipes.

#6. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

Before she ventured into the DC World as the iconic Joker’s partner, Lady Gaga was already doing MTG cosplays based on one of the best one-sided board wipes ever printed: Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. Sure, it won’t kill big creatures, but it's usually enough to shut them down.

#5. Vandalblast

Undoubtedly, overload is a very clever mechanic that I would love to see more in modern Magic design. For 5 mana, Vandalblast can kill each artifact you don’t control, which is extremely useful when you play cards such as Mycosynth Lattice that turn every permanent into an artifact.

#4. River's Rebuke

River's Rebuke is one of the best one-sided board wipes as you deal not only with an opponent’s creatures but also with other non-land permanents they control. While this blue sorcery only deals with a single opponent's board, it's a very efficient way of clearing the field for you to attack with your army.

#3. Delayed Blast Fireball

Delayed Blast Fireball has flexibility going for it, as well as direct damage to opponent's faces. The foretell cost is reasonable and the bump to 5 damage is huge. Charge this one up and let it loose!

#2. Winds of Abandon

Winds of Abandon is a mass sweeper disguised as a 2-mana removal spell. As with our unsurprising #1 slot, you basically never want to cast Winds for 2 mana unless you're forced to, since the overloaded mode just resets your opponents' boards. They get a bunch of lands for their troubles, so you probably want to close out the game pretty fast, but that's easier to do when no one has any creatures to stop you.

#1. Cyclonic Rift

By far, Cyclonic Rift is the best one-sided board wipe ever printed and a Commander staple for any blue deck. It cleans the board almost entirely, but can also be cast for cheap in a pinch, making it both strong and versatile.

Wrap Up

Their Name Is Death | Illustration by Evan Shipard

As you can see, one-sided board wipes are invaluable tools in MTG for players looking to turn the tide without sacrificing their board presence.

From powerful staples like Cyclonic Rift to more niche options, these board wipes can create game-changing moments, especially in multiplayer settings where preserving your own resources is crucial.

Which cards from the list do you like the most? Were there any that I missed? Let us know in the comments!

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Take care, and we will meet again soon for my next article!