Weekly Recs - 09/23/24

Unusual boardwipes!

Weekly Recs

Highlighting five cards that could be worth picking up. (Note: These are sent to subscribers first and then posted a week later)

I recently picked up the Family Matters Bloomburrow precon, and inside the collector booster sample pack I pulled an alt art, foil Starfall Invocation (about a $1.30 card). It is a pretty interesting board wipe that has some recursion stapled onto it. So this week, I wanted to check out some board wipes that are different than your typical Wrath of Gods or Blasphemous Acts.

Ezuri's Predation

1 year ago - $1.08

Today: $0.74

Back when I first got into commander, Ezuri's Predation was around $20 as it was kind of the only mono green creature mass removal spell. Since then, it has been reprinted multiple times. Even so, I rarely see it at the table, and in a color that has very few board wipe choices, I would expect to see it more often. The likely reason why not is two-fold:

  1. It costs 8 mana
  2. It does not say "destroy" or "exile" so it does not strike people as a board wipe.

Green's primary strategy is often to amass a board of big creatures and swing out. A mass removal spell, which gives you an instant board, leans into that gameplan very well. My favorite combo is with Elemental Bond, as that can often draw you 10-20 cards!

Types of decks to put it in

  • Mono green
  • Fight decks

Oversimplify

1 year ago - $0.23

Today: $0.23

I am cheating a bit as this is Simic, but Oversimplify is another underplayed board wipe originally printed in a commander deck. Yes, blue has perhaps the best board wipe in Cyclonic Rift, but Oversimplify permanently removes everything from the game. Exiling all creatures gets around indestructible, and even though it may leave behind a single, massive creature, that creature can easily be chump blocked. When I want to clean the board, I prefer to permanently get rid of things, and in a color where most of the time you just return the creatures to their owners' hands, Oversimplify is one of my favorite underplayed wipes.

Types of decks to put it in

  • Simic token strategies
  • +1/+1 counters

Blood on the Snow

1 year ago - $0.11

Today: $0.15

Rarely do we see text like "removal all planeswalkers." Maybe even rarer do we planewalkers in commander. Still, I enjoy the flexibility of Blood on the Snow, and the potential recursion attached to it. If you are playing a mono black deck, it may be worth slotting this in as a budget board wipe, alongside swapping out all of your basic swamps in favor of snow swamps. Snow lands are typically "strict upgrades" over basic lands as they enable a few more synergies with random "snow matters" type cards.

Types of decks to put it in

  • If your meta plays lots of planeswalkers
  • If you have lots of snow lands

Vanquish the horde

1 year ago - $3.11

Today: $2.81

Vanquish the Horde was going to be Blasphemous Act's little brother, but in white. Instead, I do not see this card played as much. Maybe it is because white is THE board wipe color so it gets lost in the shuffle. But for typically 2 mana, being able to clear the board is a fantastic rate.

Types of decks to put it in

  • If your meta has lots of token strategies
  • Mono-white good stuff

Anger of the Gods

1 year ago - $0.27

Today: $0.45

Red is another color that somewhat lacks enough board wipes for your deck. Yes, obviously include Blasphemous Act, but unless you are playing a supporting color like white or black, what other red board wipes come to mind? I like Anger of the Gods because it clears away all of those incidental 1/1 Thopters or Human Soldier creature tokens, and 17/50 of the top commanders (according to EDHREC). And it is just 3 mana!

Types of decks to put it in

  • Mono red

End step

We often default to the best, typical, most efficient board wipes when it comes to building our decks. I am not saying we should not do this, rather adding some variety to our decks could make for some different and interesting play patterns. I like testing out what cards I pull in packs instead of letting them sit in my binder, and hey, there is no harm to trying something out one week, and swapping it out the next. Variety is the spice of life!

Subscribe to Green Lotus EDH

Don’t miss out on the latest issues. Sign up now to get access to the library of members-only issues.
jamie@example.com
Subscribe