Slash the Ranks
Sorcery
Destroy all creatures and planeswalkers except for commanders.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Commander Legends
- Price
- $0.90
- EDHREC rank
- #4639
Slash the Ranks wipes the board of every creature and planeswalker except your commander — a one-sided reset at five mana that most white decks are happy to cast. If your commander is already equipped and swinging, like Balan, Wandering Knight, you're not just surviving the board wipe, you're winning the turn after it.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Balan, Wandering Knight
Balan, Wandering Knight is a natural home for Slash the Ranks because Balan survives it and immediately becomes an unblockable threat in a cleared combat step — equipment on an unkillable attacker is a fast clock. One-third of Balan lists run it for exactly that reason.
Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist // Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh
Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist // Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh piles equipment onto zero-cost commanders that are immune to Slash the Ranks, so the wipe doubles as a win condition — you clear blockers and swing in the same turn. Nearly a third of these lists include it because the synergy is that direct.
Sephara, Sky's Blade
Sephara, Sky's Blade protects herself from Slash the Ranks while leaving opponents' boards empty, which is exactly the kind of asymmetry a flying-tribal payoff deck wants. The result is a cleared sky and a live commander ready to generate value.
Frodo, Sauron's Bane
Frodo, Sauron's Bane is a tiny commander that survives Slash the Ranks while the life-loss engine keeps ticking in a suddenly empty game state. Clearing bigger threats off the table accelerates the path to corrupting an opponent before anyone rebuilds.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Slash the Ranks is a Commander card through and through — the commander exemption is baked into the rules, and that's the entire reason to run it over a symmetrical board wipe. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but utterly irrelevant; five-mana sorceries that don't end the game on the spot have no competitive role in those formats. Oathbreaker shares the same commander-exemption structure, so Slash the Ranks translates cleanly there too. Everywhere else it's not legal, and even if it were, it would still only matter in formats where a persistent central permanent defines your game plan.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.90 bulk tier
At $0.90, Slash the Ranks sits in bulk territory, which undersells how much work it does in the right deck. It's an easy pick-up that won't strain any budget, and demand from equipment and voltron commanders keeps it from being a true throwaway bulk rare.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Balan, Wandering Knight
- Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist // Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh
- Sephara, Sky's Blade
- Frodo, Sauron's Bane
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.