Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths introduced five wedge-colored Ultimatums in 2020, each one a seven-mana sorcery built around a specific three-color identity.
Every card in the cycle shares the same mana-cost shape: three pips of one color, two pips each of the other two, always totaling seven mana across three colors.
This guide walks through all five cards' exact rules text, then ranks them on competitive power, real playability, and collector appeal.
Whether you are building a wedge Commander deck or just chasing the full cycle for a collection, this is the complete side-by-side comparison.
Each Ultimatum uses the same design template: seven total mana split three-two-two across a wedge's three colors, with the wedge's defining color getting the triple pip. That triple-pip color signals which part of the color pie the effect leans hardest into.
Mardu's Ruinous Ultimatum leans into white for one-sided destruction, while Temur's Genesis Ultimatum leans into blue for card selection. The pattern makes the cycle feel like five variations on one shared design idea rather than five unrelated cards.
Ruinous Ultimatum costs {R}{R}{W}{W}{W}{B}{B} and reads: "Destroy all nonland permanents your opponents control." It is the simplest card in the cycle and also the most immediately game-ending, since it clears every opposing creature, artifact, enchantment, and planeswalker in one shot.
EVORETRO covers this card in full depth, including its complete reprint and pricing history, in a dedicated guide linked below.
Emergent Ultimatum costs {U}{U}{B}{B}{B}{G}{G} and reads: "Search your library for up to three monocolored cards with different names and exile them. An opponent chooses one of those cards. Shuffle that card into your library. You may cast the other cards without paying their mana costs."
It is the cycle's most build-around card, since its value depends entirely on which two cards your opponent leaves you to cast for free, competitive decks stack the tutor targets so every outcome is strong.
Eerie Ultimatum costs {W}{W}{B}{B}{B}{G}{G} and reads: "Return any number of permanent cards with different names from your graveyard to the battlefield." With a graveyard full of distinct permanents, it can end a game outright by reanimating an entire board in one sorcery.
Its ceiling is the highest in the cycle, but it is also the most dependent on setup, a thin or same-named graveyard gets very little value out of the effect.
Genesis Ultimatum costs {G}{G}{U}{U}{U}{R}{R} and reads: "Look at the top five cards of your library. Put any number of permanent cards from among them onto the battlefield and the rest into your hand. Exile Genesis Ultimatum."
It is the most consistently useful card in the cycle, since it always finds value from five fresh cards regardless of what is already on the battlefield or in the graveyard.
Inspired Ultimatum costs {U}{U}{R}{R}{R}{W}{W} and reads: "Target player gains 5 life, Inspired Ultimatum deals 5 damage to any target, then you draw five cards." It is the cycle's most flexible card, doubling as removal, a life swing, and card advantage in a single spell.
It rarely wins a game outright the way Ruinous or Eerie Ultimatum can, but it never rots in hand either, since all three modes are useful in almost any board state.
Each card plays out very differently at a four-player table. Ruinous Ultimatum reads as a direct political threat the moment you hit seven mana, since every other player at the table knows exactly what it does and will often team up to stop you from casting it.
Emergent Ultimatum and Eerie Ultimatum instead reward patience, since their value depends on board and graveyard state that builds up quietly over several turns rather than announcing itself early. Genesis Ultimatum and Inspired Ultimatum are the safest to resolve without drawing that same table-wide attention, since neither one telegraphs a one-sided blowout before it happens.
For raw competitive power, Eerie Ultimatum and Ruinous Ultimatum sit at the top, both can single-handedly end a game when their conditions are met. Genesis Ultimatum is the most consistent, Inspired Ultimatum the most flexible, and Emergent Ultimatum the most build-around.
For collector appeal, Ruinous Ultimatum has pulled ahead of its siblings thanks to its Secret Lair and Special Guests reprints, while the other four remain comparatively affordable, a good glare-free matte sleeve keeps any of the five printings safe as you complete the cycle.
Five: Ruinous, Emergent, Eerie, Genesis, and Inspired Ultimatum.
Eerie Ultimatum and Ruinous Ultimatum are generally considered the cycle's top two for raw power.
Yes, all five cost seven mana split three-two-two across their wedge's three colors.
Ruinous Ultimatum, thanks to its Secret Lair and Special Guests borderless reprints.
Five colors, five effects, one shared design, the cycle rewards picking a wedge that matches how you actually want to win. Whichever Ultimatum you build around, an EVORETRO trading card ring binder keeps the full five-card cycle organized in one place as you collect it.
Since three of the five Ultimatums have foil-only or borderless treatments in circulation, protecting them properly is worth the extra step before they go into a deck box.
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