Council's dilemma

Council's Dilemma
Ability Word
Introduced	Conspiracy: Take the Crown
Last used	Lord of the Rings Commander
Typical Text	Council's dilemma — ... starting with you, each player votes for ...
Scryfall Statistics
cards

Council's dilemma is an ability word introduced in the multiplayer Conspiracy: Take the Crown set.

Description

Council's dilemma is similar to will of the council in that it calls for all players to vote on an effect. Unlike with the earlier mechanic, every vote will add to the overall effect (not only the majority).

It made a small reappearance in the Streets of New Capenna Commander decks with Tivit, Seller of Secrets and also appeared in the Elven Council deck of Lord of the Rings Commander.

Rulings

From the Release Notes for The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (May 8, 2023)

• Abilities that trigger "whenever players finish voting" trigger once all players have voted or once all secret votes are revealed, but they won't go on the stack until the current spell or ability finishes resolving.
• In the case of non-secret voting, votes are cast in turn order, and each player will know the votes of players who voted beforehand.
• Each player must vote for one of the available options. They can't abstain.
• 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.
• The phrase "the vote is tied" refers only to when there is more than one choice that received the most votes. For example, if a 5-player vote from among three different choices ends 3 votes to 1 vote to 1 vote, the vote isn't tied.

Examples

Example

Capital Punishment
Sorcery
Council's dilemma — Starting with you, each player votes for death or taxes. Each opponent sacrifices a creature for each death vote and discards a card for each taxes vote.