Wizards of the Coast has confirmed the continuation of a long-running tradition for Magic: The Gathering with the latest card reveal for upcoming Standard set Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths.
Ultimatums, extremely powerful sorceries first printed with 2008’s Shards of Alara, have become something of a staple in the CCG over the last decade or so, and for good reason. Each Ultimatum, despite requiring a heavy mana investment, boasts a power level large enough to end a match (or at the very least swing its outcome in your favor) on the spot. Those released with Alara have long since been rotated out of Standard into Modern and Commander formats, though Wizards seemingly believes the time is right to introduce more of their kind.
Check out the gallery below for your first look at the three new Ultimatums – Eerie, Ruinous and Emergent – coming with Ikoria:
All have incredibly powerful effects, then, though one, in particular, has generated more hype than the rest.
Owing to its ability to return an unlimited number of unique permanents directly to the battlefield from the graveyard, Eerie Ultimatum is essentially a shoo-in for every Commander deck from now until the end of time. For those unfamiliar with the format, players are strictly prohibited to using 100-card decks consisting of no duplicates. That being the case, casting this particular sorcery has the power to put your entire graveyard back in play for an absurdly cheap, relatively speaking, cost. Nutty. The utility provided by Ruinous and Emergent isn’t as obvious, though we imagine the latter will open up the possibility to perform some nasty combos utilizing monocoloured creatures.
Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths is out next week for Magic: The Gathering Arena and May 15th in paper format. Until then, be sure to let us know what deck-building opportunities you’ll be exploring with these latest reveals in the usual place below!
