Ultimecia, Temporal Threat Deck Tech

Emecia, Temporal Threat | Art By Bachzim

Like many Magic players, I love to draw cards. When I was new to the game, I had many very good players tell me that you can usually tell who is winning a game by looking at who has drawn the most cards. In this deck tech, we're going to look at a deck that should always be ahead by that metric, because the new Final Fantasy set has gifted us with just the commander for the job: Ultimecia, Temporal Threat.

My favorite part about seeing all of these legends from Final Fantasy is that I have absolutely no clue who any of these people are. That being said, based on the name and what this card does, the vibe I'm getting from Ultimecia is "Teferi, but evil." I'm 100% in for that. I'm also thrilled for all of the fans reading this to go down into the comments and promptly shatter that assumption.

What Does Ultimecia, Temporal Threat Do?

Ultimecia, Temporal Threat is a fairly simple card. When Ultimecia, Temporal Threat enters, she taps down all opposing creatures to clear the way for attacks. Then, whenever one of your creatures deals combat damage to a player, you draw a card. Important to note, she draws you a card for each instance of your creatures dealing damage and not just one draw per player you dealt damage to, like the Jeskai mode of Frostcliff Siege.

If I were to compare this deck to other commanders I've played, I'd say that playing Ultimecia, Temporal Threat feels a lot like playing Malcolm, the Eyes or Svyelun of Sea and Sky. You're playing a tempo deck that's drawing cards by getting your creatures into the red zone and using those cards to halt your opponents' progress and work towards assembling late game threats. The big trade-off you're making by playing Ultimecia over Malcolm or Svyelun is accepting the risks of having a comically high mana value commander in exchange for a much more effective draw engine.

The first thing a deck looking to maximize Ultimecia, Temporal Threat should include is evasive creatures. There's no shortage of blue one- and two-mana creatures with the text "This creature can't be blocked." These creatures will allow you to keep drawing cards even when the board is clogged and it would otherwise be difficult to get a creature through. Next, you'll want some ways to blink Ultimecia at instant speed. Her ability to tap down all opposing creatures when she enters isn't particularly impactful during your turn, given that most of your creatures are already unblockable. However, that enters trigger happening at the beginning of an opponent's combat step is quite brutal. Imagine an opponent casting a Craterhoof Behemoth only to move to combat and have all their creatures tapped down. Not only have you blanked one of their win conditions, but they're also going to be vulnerable to other player's attacks for the rest of the turn cycle. Now imagine being able to do that during all three of your opponents' turns. Not bad, right?

Key Cards for Ultimecia, Temporal Threat

What if you could condense the blink package necessary to maximize Ultimecia, Temporal Threat down to just a few cards? Archaeomancer and Ghostly Flicker will allow you to blink Ultimecia as many times as like. Ghostly Flicker will target Ultimecia and Archaeomancer, exile them and return them to play, then go to the graveyard before the enters triggers resolve just in time for Archaeomancer to pick Ghostly Flicker up and put it right back into your hand. Similarly, Displacer Kitten can blink Ultimecia each time you cast any noncreature spell. With Verity Circle in play, each time you blink Ultimecia will result in drawing a ridiculous amount of cards. I'd wager that having Ultimecia, Temporal Threat, Displacer Kitten, and Verity Circle on your board simultaneously will allow you to run away with any game easily.

This deck wants a lot of evasive creatures on the board at any given time. I've included 12 creatures that can be cast for no more than two mana that either have flying or unblockable, like Triton Shorestalker, Silent Hallcreeper, and Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel. Then, we have several creatures that generate evasive tokens. Talrand, Sky Summoner, Murmuring Mystic, and Mischievous Mystic fill that role quite nicely and are also conveniently fetchable with Step Through. Finally and easily my favorite of the bunch, we have a few creature lands. Faerie Conclave, Mishra's Factory, and Hall of Storm Giants can each be turned into a creature to attack and get a card draw trigger. I've found these to be particularly useful the turn after a board wipe where you have enough mana to re-cast Ultimecia, Temporal Threat but are in need of a creature to attack with that turn.

One of the most impactful ways you can leverage the card advantage that Ultimecia, Temporal Threat provides is free interaction that has the drawback of forcing you to exile cards from your hand. Normally, going down two cards for a Commandeer or Foil is agonizing. However, if you're drawing heaps of extra cards every turn, particularly if you've freed yourself of the maximum hand size with cards like Thought Vessel or Sea Gate Restoration, you can easily afford to impose a little card disadvantage on yourself to keep your opponents at bay. For that reason, I've chosen to forego nearly every counterspell that you have to pay mana for. This might cause some discomfort in the early stages of the game before your card advantage engines are online, but I've found that these cards render the deck nearly unstoppable in the late game.

How Does This Ultimecia, Temporal Threat Deck Win?

In a game where you've drawn 30 more cards than any other player at the table, I don't think it actually matters how you go about winning the game. Given enough time, you will find a way to grind your opponents out even if your deck doesn't have any dedicated win conditions. That being said, I have included some pretty sweet options. Psychosis Crawler makes you feel like you're playing the world's coolest burn deck. An Oneirophage that sits in play for a few turn cycles will rapidly grow large enough to eliminate a player in one hit. The third level of Wizard Class combined with a plethora of unblockable creatures will make you feel like you're one-upping the green player's Craterhoof Behemoth. Ominous Seas allows you to use your card draw engine to deploy an army of Krakens. But what if I don't just want to win with combat damage?

Triskaidekaphile is easily the coolest way to end a game with this deck and quite possibly the easiest. Most of the tutors in the deck can reach Triskaidekaphile, if only in a roundabout way (like Merchant Scroll searching for a Muddle the Mixture to transmute into Triskaidekaphile). You can deploy Triskaidekaphile with flash through Borne Upon a Wind and Emergence Zone on the end step before your turn to win in your upkeep, provided you have enough cards and have already done away with your maximum hand size.

Ultimecia, Temporal Threat Commander Decklist

Conclusion

My build of Ultimecia, Temporal Threat fits pretty cleanly into the Upgraded Bracket (3). We have three or fewer Game Changers, no real infinite combos, only a handful of fairly restrictive tutors, and our win conditions can't be assembled in the early stages of the game. However, I suspect that some tables and playgroups may not enjoy the deck's high density of free interaction and the deck's ability to effectively nullify opposing combat strategies, particularly in games where you're fortunate enough to draw Displacer Kitten.

I think this deck is a perfect fit for a player that enjoys being the archenemy. In the games that you win with this deck, you'll spend the early and middle stages of the game appearing as if you are accomplishing very little only to turn the corner in the late game and build a board that many other decks in the Upgraded Bracket (3) will struggle to interact with. True to form for Ultimecia, you'll very much feel like the final boss working to thwart the protagonists' plans to defeat you. I absolutely love this kind of gameplay, but it certainly isn't for everyone. Furthermore, this deck doesn't seem particularly fun to play against decks that don't have very much interaction as none of your opponents even attempting to thwart your evil schemes with counterspells and removal can be quite anticlimactic. I'd definitely bring that up during pre-game discussions, especially in unknown playgroups. If all of the above warnings entice you rather than dissuade you, this will most likely be a deck you'll enjoy.