Back to Shards of Alara

Brilliant Ultimatum

{W}{W}{U}{U}{U}{B}{B}

Sorcery

ALAShards of Alara#159rare
Foil

Revealing the truth only deepened Tezzeret's curiosity for the secrets still buried.

Border
black
Frame
2003
Pull rate
about 1 per booster–1 in 1793
Illustrator
Anthony Francisco
Found in
Shards of Alara MTGO Redemption · Shards of Alara MTGO Redemption Foil · 3 more
Printings1
CommanderLegalModernLegalStandardNot legal
Format legality
AlchemyNot legal
BrawlNot legal
CommanderLegal
Competitive BrawlNot legal
DuelLegal
Future StandardNot legal
GladiatorNot legal
HistoricNot legal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
Old SchoolNot legal
PauperNot legal
Pauper CommanderNot legal
PennyLegal
PioneerNot legal
PreDHLegal
PremodernNot legal
StandardNot legal
Standard BrawlNot legal
TimelessNot legal
Tiny LeadersNot legal
VintageLegal
Exile the top five cards of your library. An opponent separates those cards into two piles. You may play lands and cast spells from one of those piles. If you cast a spell this way, you cast it without paying its mana cost.
Market · per finishspark updated 5h ago · prices as of 2026-07-12
Nonfoil+0.0%
$1.44
$0.85 low$0.60 gap
Foil+0.0%
$7.04
$2.99 low$1.41 gap
Cheapest playable copy$1.44· across 1 printing

Rulings

6 · latest Oct 1, 2008 · one tap opens all
  • WotCOct 1, 2008

    If you cast a card “without paying its mana cost,” you can’t pay any alternative costs. You can pay additional costs, such as conspire costs and kicker costs.

  • WotCOct 1, 2008

    One of the piles may have zero cards in it if the opponent wishes.

  • WotCOct 1, 2008

    The cards are exiled face up.

  • WotCOct 1, 2008

    The cards in the pile that wasn’t chosen remain exiled. Likewise, any cards in the chosen pile that you can’t play or you choose not to play remain exiled.

  • WotCOct 1, 2008

    You can play a land card from the chosen pile only if it’s your turn (which it probably is, since Brilliant Ultimatum is a sorcery) and you haven’t yet played a land this turn. That means that if there are two lands in the chosen pile, you’ll be able to play a maximum of one of them.

  • WotCOct 1, 2008

    You play cards from the chosen pile as part of the resolution of Brilliant Ultimatum. You may play them in any order. Timing restrictions based on the card’s type (such as creature or sorcery) are ignored. Other play restrictions are not (such as “Cast [this card] only during combat”). You play all of the cards you like, putting land onto the battlefield and spells on the stack, then Brilliant Ultimatum finishes resolving and is put into your graveyard. The spells you cast this way will then resolve as normal, one at a time, in the opposite order that they were put on the stack.