Is Genesis Ultimatum good in Commander?

Genesis Ultimatum in Commander — Combos, Decks & Price

Genesis Ultimatum puts up to five permanents directly onto the battlefield for ten mana — no casting, no triggers withheld, just an instant board state. It's a haymaker in the truest sense, and Maelstrom Wanderer decks run it at over 50% inclusion because the card does exactly what that commander wants: convert a late-game mana advantage into a won game.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01

Maelstrom Wanderer

52.0% of decks · synergy 0.45

Maelstrom Wanderer cascades into spells, and Genesis Ultimatum cascades into permanents — the two effects stack into a single turn that can deploy eight or more cards onto the battlefield at once, which is why it shows up in over half of all Maelstrom Wanderer lists.

02

Illuna, Apex of Wishes

31.7% of decks · synergy 0.25

Illuna, Apex of Wishes mutates to exile cards until it hits a non-Aura, non-Equipment permanent, and Genesis Ultimatum is the kind of high-ceiling spell that justifies packing your deck with expensive permanents — the more bombs in the library, the better Illuna's ceiling gets.

03

Averna, the Chaos Bloom

24.2% of decks · synergy 0.17

Averna, the Chaos Bloom puts lands from cascaded spells directly into play, and Genesis Ultimatum at ten mana means you're cascading into expensive cards that can themselves cascade further, giving Averna multiple chances to chain land drops off a single spell.

04

Ureni, the Song Unending

20.5% of decks · synergy 0.14

Ureni, the Song Unending cares about permanents entering from exile, and Genesis Ultimatum puts exiled permanents directly onto the battlefield — every hit from the Ultimatum is an enters-the-battlefield event Ureni can capitalize on.

05

Surrak Dragonclaw

17.7% of decks · synergy 0.11

Surrak Dragonclaw keeps your creatures from being countered and gives them flash, which matters because Genesis Ultimatum's payoff is an immediate board presence — Surrak ensures nothing you cheat into play gets answered on the stack before it can attack.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

Format	Verdict
commander	legal
legacy	legal
modern	legal
pioneer	legal
standard	not legal
vintage	legal
pauper	not legal
oathbreaker	legal

Commander is the unambiguous home for Genesis Ultimatum — ten mana is realistic in a format full of ramp, the singleton rule means your top five are always diverse, and the game-ending upside of deploying multiple expensive permanents at once is maximized when those permanents are your best individual threats. In competitive non-rotating formats like Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer, ten mana is effectively unreachable in any game that matters, so Genesis Ultimatum sits on the unplayed fringe even though it's technically legal. Vintage has the mana acceleration to theoretically cast it, but the format's answers are fast and cheap enough that a ten-mana sorcery is still too slow to compete. For practical purposes, treat Genesis Ultimatum as a Commander card.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

unknown tier

Pricing data for Genesis Ultimatum isn't currently available in this listing, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for the latest figure before buying. Given its near-exclusive Commander relevance and moderate inclusion rate, it typically sits in the affordable bulk-to-mid range — worth picking up before it shows up in a popular precon reprint.