First printed in Conspiracy: Take the Crown (2016)
Sorcery
Council's dilemma — Starting with you, each player votes for death or taxes. Each opponent sacrifices a creature of their choice for each death vote and discards a card for each taxes vote.
"I did offer them a choice . . ."
—Queen Marchesa
- Illustrated by
- Lake Hurwitz
Legality
- Legal in
- Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker
- Not legal in
- Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Pauper, Future Standard, Historic, Timeless, Alchemy, Penny Dreadful, Premodern, Old School 93/94, Gladiator, Pauper Commander, PreDH, Tiny Leaders, Brawl, Standard Brawl, Competitive Brawl
Rulings (9)
- If a creature with an enters-the-battlefield council’s dilemma ability leaves the battlefield before that ability resolves, players can still vote for any option that would put +1/+1 counters on that creature, even though—or perhaps especially because—those votes won’t generate an effect.
- The effects of each council’s dilemma ability happen in the stated order. First the vote occurs, then the first effect, and finally the second effect.
- If an opponent controls fewer creatures or has fewer cards in hand than the number of appropriate votes, all those creatures are sacrificed or all those cards are discarded, as applicable.
- Each opponent chooses an appropriate number of creatures to sacrifice in turn order, then all of those creatures are sacrificed simultaneously. After that is complete, each opponent sets aside an appropriate number of cards to discard in turn order, then all cards are revealed and discarded simultaneously.
- You must vote for one of the available options. You can’t abstain.
- Unlike the will of the council cards from the original Conspiracy set, where a majority of votes determined what happened, each vote made for a council’s dilemma card adds to the ultimate effect.
- No player votes until the spell or ability resolves. Any responses to that spell or ability must be made without knowing the outcome of the vote.
- Players can’t do anything between voting and finishing the resolution of the spell or ability that included the vote.
- Because the votes are made in turn order, each player will know the votes of players who voted beforehand.
Prices
MTGO price: 2.54 TIX, the cheapest non-foil print (average sell price on GoatBots, 1 Nov 2026).
