Wipe Clean MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Common
Type	Instant
Abilities	Cycling
Released	2003-05-26
Set symbol
Set name	Scourge
Set code	SCG
Number	26
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Arnie Swekel

Key Takeaways

Wipe Clean offers card advantage by effectively neutralizing multiple threats at once.
Instant speed and undeniable effects make it versatile for real-time game adjustments.
Despite its potential, the discard requirement and white mana constraint may limit use.

Text of card

Remove target enchantment from the game. Cycling (, Discard this card from your hand: Draw a card.)

"The light of the Ancestor will scour the taint of darkness from the land."

Card Pros

Card Advantage: When you deploy a Wipe Clean card, it’s often a trade of one for more, efficiently removing multiple threats on the board. This swing in resources can propel you toward a dominant position in the game.

Resource Acceleration: Eliminating a host of enemy creatures or enchantments clears the way for your own resource acceleration. Without competitors, you capitalize on mana-generating assets or other accelerants unimpeded and can pave the way for a quicker victory.

Instant Speed: The ability to cast Wipe Clean at instant speed offers extraordinary flexibility. React in real-time to shifting battlefields, strategically choosing the most opportune moment for maximum impact, whether that’s end-of-turn plays or in response to an opponent’s aggressive move.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: To utilize Wipe Clean’s effect, players are often required to discard another card. This can put you at a disadvantage by diminishing your hand, especially if you’re already struggling to maintain card advantage or if the game is in a late state where every card counts.

Specific Mana Cost: Wipe Clean comes with a specific mana cost that includes white mana. This requirement can restrict its inclusion to decks that run white mana sources, leaving mono-colored or other multicolored decks without this option. The necessity for white mana might not align with the strategy or mana base of all decks.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Although Wipe Clean might offer a clean slate by removing all counters from a target, its mana cost is a consideration. The card could be seen as costly when compared with other removal options that might provide a similar effect for less mana, impacting its efficiency and potential inclusion in decks looking for more economical removal spells.

Reasons to Include Wipe Clean in Your Collection

Versatility: Wipe Clean offers strategic flexibility in deck-building. It can seamlessly integrate into control or combo decks that require precise removal of problematic enchantments or abilities.

Combo Potential: This card has significant synergy in setups that capitalize on spell recursion or copying, amplifying its effect and disrupting opponent strategies multiple times throughout the game.

Meta-Relevance: Given its aptitude for removing counters and abilities, Wipe Clean proves essential in a meta dominated by +1/+1 counter decks or those relying heavily on persistent creature abilities. Its efficacy can shift the tide of matches, making it a key component in adjusting to the fluctuating competitive landscape.

How to Beat Wipe Clean

Wipe Clean can be a game changer with its power to nullify targeted spells or abilities. Facing this card, Magic: The Gathering players might feel a sense of dread, fully aware of its potential impact on any well-laid plans. This card’s strength lies in its silence effect—stopping a crucial enchantment or an imposing creature ability dead in its tracks. However, like all powerful spells, it comes with its own set of limitations and workarounds.

To outmaneuver Wipe Clean, consider strategies that don’t rely on single, high-value targets. Think in terms of redundancy, with multiple, low-cost threats that lessen the blow by spreading the importance across your board. Diversify your threats to avoid overcommitting to one tactic. Moreover, baiting out the card with less critical spells can leave the path clear for your game-winning play. Alternatively, adopting an aggressive playstyle can pressure your opponent into using Wipe Clean prematurely, thereby exhausting their resources and providing you with the upper hand going forward.

Ultimately, understanding the timing and the scope of Wipe Clean’s capabilities will assist in devising effective counterstrategies, supporting your path to victory against decks that harness this reactive control tool.

Cards like Wipe Clean

Wipe Clean stands out as a distinctive card in the Magic: The Gathering environment of removal spells. Its resemblance to spells like Erase is evident, as both efficiently exile target enchantment without the chance of regeneration. However, Wipe Clean notably includes the “Split Second” mechanic. This means that once it’s played, other spells or abilities can’t be activated in response, providing an uncontestable solution that Erase doesn’t offer.

When pitted against Dust to Dust, Wipe Clean offers a more immediate and less restrictive removal, only targeting enchantments compared to Dust to Dust’s focus on artifacts. Moreover, it is a single-target removal, which is sometimes more advantageous than Dust to Dust’s requirement to exile two artifacts at a time. Krosan Grip is another card with Split Second, ensuring its effects are similarly irrevocable. While Krosan Grip handles artifacts and enchantments, it comes at a higher mana cost, which positions Wipe Clean as a more accessible option for urgent situations.

Ultimately, Wipe Clean’s advantage lies in its precision and the uncontestable nature of Split Second. These attributes provide tactical superiority, especially in metagames where enchantments warrant immediate and undeniable removal.

Cards similar to Wipe Clean by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Wipe Clean MTG card by a specific set like Scourge, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Wipe Clean and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Wipe Clean has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Wipe Clean card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2008-10-01	Cycling is an activated ability. Effects that interact with activated abilities (such as Stifle or Rings of Brighthearth) will interact with cycling. Effects that interact with spells (such as Remove Soul or Faerie Tauntings) will not.