Price$5.26 – $32.84

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Toxic Deluge

Sorcery

LegalEDHREC #66

As an additional cost to cast this spell, pay X life.

All creatures get -X/-X until end of turn.

Why is this card good?

Toxic Deluge is one of the best board wipes in black, and arguably the most flexible sweeper in the game. Paying life instead of mana means you can blow up the board on turn 3 or scale X exactly to kill what you need without overcommitting. Unlike Wrath of God, it's a damage-free -X/-X effect, so it bypasses indestructible, ignores regeneration, and shrinks even hexproof/protection-from-color threats. It also wipes tokens and recurring creatures permanently since they actually die to a state-based 0 toughness. Every black deck that wants to control the board wants this: midrange, control, reanimator decks resetting before going off, and stax shells. It's especially valuable against go-wide tokens and aristocrats swarms where you can set X low and still clear everything. Don't run it if you're the aggressor in a creature-heavy deck and don't want to nuke your own board, or in token/go-wide strategies where you're usually the one being swept. The life cost also adds up in racing pods.

Related cards

Damnation

Black 4-mana board wipe destroying all creatures.

Languish

Gives all creatures -4/-4, similar mass removal.

Bontu's Last Reckoning

Cheap black wrath destroying all creatures.

Black Sun's Zenith

X -X/-X counters to all creatures, scalable like Deluge.

Crux of Fate

Black board wipe with dragon option.

In Garruk's Wake

Destroys all non-your creatures, one-sided wrath.

Pernicious Deed

Scalable X-based board sweeper in black.

Mutilate

Gives all creatures -X/-X scaling with swamps.

Printings (13)

socSecrets of Strixhaven Commander · #120R$5.26Buy

sldSecret Lair Drop · #1860R$26.96Buy

mh3Modern Horizons 3 · #277R$5.69Buy

mh3Modern Horizons 3 · #412R$6.93Buy

mkcMurders at Karlov Manor Commander · #142R$5.96Buy

cmmCommander Masters · #523R—Buy

cmmCommander Masters · #191R$5.64Buy

ltcTales of Middle-earth Commander · #209R$6.07Buy

Show all 13 printings

cc2Commander Collection: Black · #6R$10.29Buy

2xmDouble Masters · #345R$32.84Buy

2xmDouble Masters · #110R$6.11Buy

emaEternal Masters · #108R$8.59Buy

c13Commander 2013 · #96R$8.91Buy

Played by these commanders

Mirko, Obsessive Theorist100% of 1

Dina, Essence Brewer100% of 1

Oloro, Ageless Ascetic100% of 1

Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit100% of 1

Rulings (2)

2020-08-07
All creatures on the battlefield when Toxic Deluge resolves are affected. Ones that enter the battlefield or become creatures later in the turn are not.
2020-08-07
If you cast Toxic Deluge without paying its mana cost, you'll still choose a value for X and pay X life. This is because it doesn't have in its mana cost.