Cruel Ultimatum

Cruel Ultimatum

Sorcery

Text

Target opponent sacrifices a creature of their choice, discards three cards, then loses 5 life. You return a creature card from your graveyard to your hand, draw three cards, then gain 5 life.

There is always a greater power.

#5,639 EDHREC 🖌 Todd Lockwood

Market prices

updated on 06/17/2026
from €0.19
Source Normal Foil
Cardhoarder 0.02 tix
Card Kingdom $0.69
Cardmarket €0.27
CardTrader Buy €0.19
TCGplayer $0.35

Trend · last 90 days · EUR

€0.19
min €0.14 max €0.56

CardTrader market

180 offers · from €0.19 · avg €0.61 · max €1.90

Poor: 2 · Played: 8 · Near Mint: 59 · Slightly Played: 89 · Moderately Played: 22

Rulings (4)

All of the actions for Cruel Ultimatum are performed sequentially, in the order listed. Earlier actions may affect how you perform later actions. For example, if the opponent sacrifices a creature that they control but you own, it will end up in your graveyard. When Cruel Ultimatum lets you return a creature card from your graveyard to your hand, you can choose that one.

03/14/2017

Cruel Ultimatum's only target is an opponent. You don't choose which creature card in your graveyard you'll return to your hand until Cruel Ultimatum resolves.

03/14/2017

If, as Cruel Ultimatum begins to resolve, your opponent's life total is 5 or less and you have two or fewer cards in your library, the game will result in a draw. Your opponent's life total will drop to 0 or less, but Cruel Ultimatum must finish resolving completely before state-based actions are performed. You'll then be forced to draw three cards and fail to draw one. When state-based actions are finally performed, you and your opponent will both lose the game at the same time, which means the game is a draw.

03/14/2017

If the target opponent is an illegal target as Cruel Ultimatum tries to resolve, it won't resolve and none of its effects will happen. (I'm not going to list them all here because it would just be disappointing to hear all of the things you won't get to do.)

04/12/2024

Legality by format

Brawl Legal
Commander Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Legacy Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Old School Not legal
Pauper Not legal
Pioneer Not legal
Premodern Not legal
Standard Not legal
Vintage Legal
Block Constructed Not legal
Extended Not legal
Frontier Not legal
Tiny Leaders Not legal