Price$0.42 – $2.96

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Austere Command

Sorcery

LegalBoard WipeEDHREC #168

Choose two —

• Destroy all artifacts.

• Destroy all enchantments.

• Destroy all creatures with mana value 3 or less.

• Destroy all creatures with mana value 4 or greater.

Why is this card good?

Austere Command is the gold standard of modular board wipes — its flexibility is exactly what makes it premium in Commander. The "choose two" structure lets you tailor the wrath to the table and, crucially, to your own board. Going wide with tokens? Destroy big creatures + artifacts while keeping your small fry. Playing a few fat threats? Sweep small creatures + enchantments and leave your bombs standing. That asymmetry is what separates it from vanilla wraths like Day of Judgment. Wants it: basically any white deck that isn't hyper-aggressive. It's especially strong in control, midrange, and decks built around either very cheap or very expensive creatures, where you can wipe one half and dodge your own stuff. The artifact/enchantment modes also make it valuable answer-density in a format full of mana rocks and problematic enchantments. Skip it in fast aggro/tokens decks where six mana for a wrath is too slow and clunky, or in lists that need creatures on board to win and can't easily build asymmetry.

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Printings (22)

ficFinal Fantasy Commander · #231R$0.43Buy

plstThe List · #MKC-56R$0.46Buy

m3cModern Horizons 3 Commander · #167R$0.74Buy

pipFallout · #447R$2.96Buy

pipFallout · #684R$3.87Buy

pipFallout · #156R$0.42Buy

pipFallout · #975R$5.80Buy

mkcMurders at Karlov Manor Commander · #56R$1.13Buy

Show all 22 printings

lccThe Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander · #126R$0.63Buy

wocWilds of Eldraine Commander · #62R$0.53Buy

plstThe List · #LRW-3R$0.54Buy

mocMarch of the Machine Commander · #172R$0.96Buy

brcThe Brothers' War Commander · #69R$0.65Buy

clbCommander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate · #687R$1.13Buy

nccNew Capenna Commander · #193R$0.82Buy

cmrCommander Legends · #12R$0.92Buy

cmrCommander Legends · #618R$2.74Buy

2xmDouble Masters · #7R$1.76Buy

imaIconic Masters · #10R$1.66Buy

mp2Amonkhet Invocations · #1S$50.13Buy

cmdCommander 2011 · #8R$1.06Buy

lrwLorwyn · #3R$1.52Buy

Played by these commanders

Gisela, the Broken Blade100% of 1

Kamiz, Obscura Oculus100% of 1

Go-Shintai of Life's Origin100% of 1

Kasla, the Broken Halo100% of 1

Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER100% of 2

Satya, Aetherflux Genius100% of 2

Dr. Madison Li100% of 1

Ellivere of the Wild Court100% of 1

Urza, Chief Artificer100% of 1

Nalia de'Arnise100% of 1

Rulings (3)

2020-11-10
Each of the chosen modes happens sequentially. If a permanent has an ability that triggers whenever it or another permanent is destroyed, it will see permanents destroyed at the same time as it or before it, but not permanents destroyed by later modes.
2020-11-10
If a card is exiled "until" another permanent leaves the battlefield, the exiled card returns to the battlefield immediately after that permanent leaves the battlefield during Austere Command's resolution, and it may be destroyed by a later mode.
2020-11-10
If the first and last modes are chosen, an artifact creature with mana value 4 or greater will have to be regenerated twice to survive. This is because the modes happen sequentially, and the regeneration "shield" is used up by the first one. The same is true with any other combination of modes that covers one permanent twice.