Ultima – Final Fantasy
Date Reviewed: June 23, 2025
Ratings:
Constructed: 3.33
Casual: 4.00
Limited: 3.17
Multiplayer: 4.00
Commander [EDH]: 4.00
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Not to be confused with the character.
This spell combines two phrases you don’t often see in the same place, and it might confuse some readers at first. While there are times when a major sweeper will be the only thing you do in a turn, there are other times when you’ve got enough mana to do more than that, and thus presumably a desire to do more. Even so, you can play around this particular quirk in both deckbuilding and gameplay, and there are even a couple of advantages to it. For example, it forces a dilemma on opponents with instant-speed spells or creatures: they’ll have to use them in response to Ultima or wait until their own turn (or a later one), and creatures with flash seem a lot less appealing when there’s a sweeper on the stack. It also hits two different card types, which is not something you see in every set, and artifacts might come up in the equipment-heavy Final Fantasy set.
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 4
Limited: 4
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4
One of the longest-running original spells of Final Fantasy, Ultima actually dates all the way back to Final Fantasy II on the NES…though that version of the spell was not exactly great, but that’s another discussion. When the spell has shown up, it’s usually meant devastation, and that’s certainly the intent here, echoing Final Fantasy XIV in its execution.
That said, this Ultima doesn’t leave a great first impression. While it is a board wipe that also hits artifacts, it also brings your turn to an immediate end on resolution. That’s usually not worth the extra mana…you cast the spell and devastate everything, also bypassing some triggered abilities that go off on resolution, but you have no means to set up a defense in that turn. So, played fairly, Ultima is underwhelming…
…but the devil is in the details. The “end the turn” rider is, unlike Day’s Undoing, agnostic towards when the spell was cast. If you give this sorcery flash (or a way to cast it at instant speed otherwise), this looks a lot better, wiping the board and thwarting your opponent’s attempts to rebuild. Ending the turn has a lot of utility in lots of cases…stopping combat, functioning as a counterspell, or just making your next turn look a lot better. Ultima is still going to usually be a one-and-done sort of spell…ending the turn on resolution causes it to exile itself, so be wary of that.
Ultima is a spell that demands a bit of flexibility and ingenuity to shine…it’s not great at first glance, but it looks a lot better if you can figure out how to circumvent its limitations. I suppose most cards tend to be in that vein, but Ultima in particular really wants that extra bit of speed.
Constructed: 3 (if you can flash this in, it’s good, but five mana still is a trickier sell for a board wipe)
Casual: 5
Limited: 3.25 (if you need just one more turn, this might give it to you)
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4
Thijs
Ultima {3}{W}{W}
Sorcery
Destroy all artifacts and creatures. End the turn.
Constructed: 3,5
Casual: 3
Limited: 2
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4
A board wipe like all other board wipes. Right?
Not quite.
First of all, Ultima is deeply rooted in Final Fantasy’s history. Ever since FFII this final spell appears every now and then. An incredibly powerful spell that is sometimes used by you, sometimes by your enemies, but it’s always a devastating happening. In FFXIV it even appears as the final boss, as a godlike entity (this is of course Ultima, Origin of Oblivion).
As a card it looks like a classic white board wipe, like Cleansing Nova, Wrath of God, Hour of Revelation, with of course the added bonus that it immediately ‘ends the turn’. And that’s where the fact that it’s a sorcery brings up the question ‘when does one play this spell’. Other cards let you play on. Playing a well-timed Hour of Revelation means that you can start rebuilding your board state right away. Land drop, a one drop on the battlefield and you’re good to go. Not this one. It is a hard reset. It causes tons of triggers not to take effect, like for example death triggers. That makes it incredibly powerful in the right circumstances.
Apart from the fact that it will definitely find a place in Commander, where board wipes are a natural part of deck lists, it’s also making appearances in Standard, specifically in the Pro Tour, where it was part of Azorius Control and Domain Overlord decks.
I love the art, it reminds me of Goku with the spirit bomb in Dragon Ball Z.
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