Ultima | Courtesy of Square Enix

Hello friends, your friendly neighborhood Jesguy here, back this time with another deck tech! I know I said it in my other two articles that I don't know a lot about Final Fantasy, but this time, this time, I know a bit about UltimaUltima! I know that he is a huge jerk and does some pretty messed up stuff in Final Fantasy XVI.

...Which is exactly why I wanted to take a shot at building him.

Colorless decks are always a blast to try and crack, and this one was no exception. Restriction really does breed creativity in this regard. You gotta fight and scrape to try and hit all your card draw and ramp and vegetables for decks like these.

At the time of writing this, Ultima, Origin of OblivionUltima, Origin of Oblivion has about 200 decks to his name, so unlike my previous two deck techs, I'm going to start out with his average list, and curate my picks from there. The goal here is to aim for a Bracket 3 deck. Colorless decks can easily hit Bracket 4, but I wanted to tone it down a little bit, and give you a deck that you can bring to your average table and have a good time with.

Nothing Average About Ultima

Here we have the current average deck on EDHREC for UltimaUltima. At a glance this looks like your run of the mill colorless deck: some ramp, some Eldrazi, big haymakers, stuff like that. It even has 36 lands! That might be a new record when compared to other average deck lists.

The problem here is the top end; there's just too much of it. Everyone wants to play all these big, splashy cards, but what this deck really needs is to eat its vegetables. It needs more card flow. It needs more ramp. You don't need thirteen creatures with MV ten and up. It's just too much.

As such, before we start sprucing this up, let's go over some of the cuts, that way we can trim this down to something a bit more manageable.

Ultima's Cutting Room Floor

Like I already mentioned, we have too many big creatures, so they were first to go.

It That BetraysIt That Betrays, Void WinnowerVoid Winnower, and Artisan of KozilekArtisan of Kozilek are all powerful, but not what I'm looking for here. When it comes down to it, these fellas are in competition with the likes of Kozilek, Butcher of TruthKozilek, Butcher of Truth and Emrakul, the Promised EndEmrakul, the Promised End. If I had to choose which ones make it into a deck, I'm certainly choosing the latter over the former. The Titans just provide so much more power than your average Eldrazi, it's just hard to compete.

Creatures weren't the only top end I was looking to cut from; even the artifacts got hit!

• Darksteel MonolithDarksteel Monolith
• Akroma's MemorialAkroma's Memorial
• Chimil, the Inner SunChimil, the Inner Sun

Since UltimaUltima effectively doubles our mana, I didn't think that being able to play a single spell for free once a turn with Darksteel MonolithDarksteel Monolith was worth it. It's a lot of mana for not a lot of gain. Similarly, Akroma's MemorialAkroma's Memorial doesn't pull its weight here either. All of the creatures that we're playing are already massive. As someone who has played plenty of Eldrazi decks in his day, giving them some keywords just seems like overkill, especially for seven mana.

Finally Chimil, the Inner SunChimil, the Inner Sun is a powerful card, but most of our spells at five MV and under are ramp or setup. At the point that I'm deploying ChimilChimil, I want to be well past that. Sure, our spells won't be able to be countered, but that isn't enough for me. 

While I won't go over every single card I took out, I wanted to highlight a couple more.

Urza's IncubatorUrza's Incubator only hits about 1/5th of our deck now, making it an easy cut. I'd rather just add in another mana rock that can hit all of our spells. While we have a couple way to give our spells flash, with Liberator, Urza's BattlethopterLiberator, Urza's Battlethopter and Skittering CicadaSkittering Cicada, I didn't think that having our artifacts untap each turn with Unwinding ClockUnwinding Clock was worth it. Sure, it works with Mana VaultMana Vault and Basalt MonolithBasalt Monolith, but...Basalt MonolithBasalt Monolith was another cut. It combos with something like Forsaken MonumentForsaken Monument to produce infinite mana, which bumped this deck up from a Bracket 3 deck to a Bracket 4. The easiest thing to do to remedy this was cut the Monolith for another, less combo-y rock.

I also cut all of the Urza Lands, aside from Urza's CaveUrza's Cave. They're a bit too gimmicky when you don't have easy ways to tutor them up and get them on board together. While we do have Expedition MapExpedition Map, a single way to try and tutor just isn't going to cut it. I'd rather have more powerful utility lands in those slots.

A (Not So) Blighted Landscape

Speaking of utility lands, that's the first place that I started. I wanted to cut down the WastesWastes to a more manageable number than 13 and replace the slots that the Urza Lands left open. To do this, I consulted the Top Utility Lands and Colorless Lands pages on the site. Here I was able to round out the mana base with a fourteen additional lands!

• WastelandWasteland
• Strip MineStrip Mine
• Ghost QuarterGhost Quarter
• Demolition FieldDemolition Field

First up are land destruction lands. While our commander can take lands out of commission with blight counters, sometimes that just won't be enough. These fill the slots of the four Urza Lands that I took out, and will help the deck much more than they ever could. Being able to neutralize a Kessig Wolf RunKessig Wolf Run, Cabal CoffersCabal Coffers, or Nykthos, Shrine to NyxNykthos, Shrine to Nyx without needing UltimaUltima to attack is great.

• Talon Gates of MadaraTalon Gates of Madara
• Plaza of HeroesPlaza of Heroes
• Tyrite SanctumTyrite Sanctum

Next are lands that help protect UltimaUltima in some way. Talon Gates of MadaraTalon Gates of Madara is a great way to blank removal, as it can phase out UltimaUltima pretty cheaply. Normally the cost to flash it out is pretty prohibitive, but in this deck, with our commander out, it only requires tapping two lands to do this instead of four! In that vein, Plaza of HeroesPlaza of Heroes joins the fray as a way to provide indestructible and hexproof at a moment's notice. This is an excellent way to sidestep removal pointed at UltimaUltima or any of our legendary Eldrazi titans.

Finally, Tyrite SanctumTyrite Sanctum is awesome here. UltimaUltima's creature type is God, meaning that you can easily give him an indestructible counter whenever you want, provided you leave the mana up. All of these lands go a long way in making sure that our powerful creatures stick around. 

I also wanted to be sure to add in a couple lands that produce more than a single mana, since we already have a handful of "SolSol Lands" in the deck. The two that were missing were Guildless CommonsGuildless Commons and Arid ArchwayArid Archway. While they do bounce a land back to your hand, people play "bounce lands" all the time in Commander, and they do a great job at putting non-green decks ahead in terms of mana production. Here is no different!

Lastly, we've got a smattering of various other utility lands.

Abstergo EntertainmentAbstergo Entertainment is another way to exile all graveyards alongside the already included Scavenger GroundsScavenger Grounds. You even get to nab a historic permanent too before you get rid of everything! The Mycosynth GardensThe Mycosynth Gardens is always an overperformer, copying our best artifact on board. FountainportFountainport and Sea Gate WreckageSea Gate Wreckage are both ways to get card advantage in a pinch. Finally Inventors' FairInventors' Fair will nab us a couple points of life, and also tutor up our best artifact for the occasion (usually Portal to PhyrexiaPortal to Phyrexia).

All these lands go a long way in making the deck tick, giving it more ways to interact as well as more power in general. In the end, we cut our land base down to seven WastesWastes. This is a much more manageable number, giving us plenty of outs if a creature gets Path to ExilePath to Exiled or the like.

Big Mana = Big Problems

The first place I decided to look for inspiration was the Big Mana theme on EDHREC...And much to my chagrin, there wasn't a whole lot of new ground to be tread here.

Most of the pieces that were listed (mainly for Zhulodok, Void GorgerZhulodok, Void Gorger) were all already in our list. We already cut a lot of top end and a bunch of niche mana generators, so what's next? Is there anything here?

Well yes!

Hedron CrawlerHedron Crawler, Ornithopter of ParadiseOrnithopter of Paradise, and Burnished HartBurnished Hart were all takeaways from this section. I wanted to lower the curve a bit and add more mana production, and this was the way to do it. In particular, while Burnished HartBurnished Hart is outclassed in most decks nowadays, I think it shines here, as it gets us a couple of basics, which UltimaUltima will allow us to tap for two instead of one. 

And look, I know I said the deck had too much top end, but I couldn't help but add one more haymaker to the mix: Emrakul, the World AnewEmrakul, the World Anew. While we won't ever be casting her for the Madness cost, with UltimaUltima out, if we play our sixth land, we are good to cast EmrakulEmrakul no problem. She is incredibly strong, super hard to remove, and can build you a board out of nowhere. She fit in perfectly with the rest of her siblings here.

But that/s not a lot of cards is it? I've still got a number of open slots that I have to fill. I don't want to add more top end. I want to smooth out the curve a bit and add some more vegetables. Some more ways to get lands would be nice too, since UltimaUltima's ability revolves around them...Where do I go?

The Fallen to the Rescue

...And that's when I remembered that one of my good friends recently built an Ob Nixilis, the FallenOb Nixilis, the Fallen Landfall deck. While I can't use the black cards in it, I can certainly use the colorless ones! All the cards here synergize with lands in some way, which helps give the deck a bit more of a unique flavor when compared to other colorless decks that mainly focus on ramping with artifacts.

Bitterthorn, Nissa's AnimusBitterthorn, Nissa's Animus and Scampering SurveyorScampering Surveyor are two more ways to tutor up a WastesWastes or two. Like with Burnished HartBurnished Hart, getting a handful of colorless producing lands out at a decent clip is great, as they'll all be doubled with UltimaUltima's ability. In goldfishing, seven WastesWastes was enough to support these cards, but in your own testing you may want to go up to ten or so if you're worried about failing-to-find.

Speaking of lands, Walking AtlasWalking Atlas and ScaretillerScaretiller are easy ways to "ramp" out more lands from your hand. Each of them do a great job, with AtlasAtlas coming down early to put out additional lands, and ScaretillerScaretiller giving you the option to either put a land down, or RestoreRestore one. This synergizes especially well with the land destruction lands I added above.

To help fuel these though, we need card advantage. It's really easy for you to run out of lands in your hand when you're playing multiple a turn. While we have things like Mind's EyeMind's Eye and Kozilek, Butcher of TruthKozilek, Butcher of Truth, I wanted a couple more ways to net us some cards.

While it can also help our opponents, Ghirapur OrreryGhirapur Orrery is a great add here. Not only will it refill our hand if we run out of cards, it will also let us play twice the lands each turn, letting us come out ahead of our opponents since they're all tapping for two instead of one! Last is Seer's SundialSeer's Sundial. Normally, two mana to draw a card is a huge ask, but when each of our lands are producing two mana with UltimaUltima out, it's much more manageable. SundialSundial basically reads "Lands you control may enter the battlefield tapped. If they do, draw a card," which is awesome.

We Are Without Equal - Updated Ultima Deck List

And there we have it, an updated UltimaUltima deck!

While this deck tech didn't add in a ton of splashy cards and was quite "vegetable" focused, I had a blast with it. Finding niche synergies and building out mana bases is really enjoyable to do from time to time, and I'm happy I was able to do so in the context of an antagonist that I actually knew a bit about!

One thing I want to note is that it's super easy to make a deck like this into Bracket 4. Add back in Basalt MonolithBasalt Monolith, some more artifact ramp, and a couple more tutors, and you can optimize this no problem

What are your thoughts tough? Anything I missed? Anything you'd do differently? Let me know down in the comments below!

You can reach me on Twitter and Bluesky (@thejesguy), where you can always hit me up for Magic- or Jeskai-related shenanigans 24/7. Do you have any comments, questions, or concerns? Please don’t hesitate to leave them below or get in touch!

Stay safe, wash your hands, and keep fighting the good fight. Stay safe in these wild times. I support you. No justice, no peace.