Over the past couple of years, the Premodern format has continued to grow more and more popular. Major in-person events have been reaching full capacity in record time, and Magic Online even incorporated Premodern as the first “Contraption” format of choice.
As the community-driven format draws extra attention, it’s only natural for those overseeing Premodern to want to keep a closer eye on the metagame. Now, those on the panel have determined that a one-sided mass land destruction effect has overstayed its welcome.
MTG Parallax Tide Ban
Essentially used as a one-sided Armageddon effect, Parallax Tide is officially banned in Premodern as of January 20th. The enchantment is typically paired with cards like Stifle, Chain of Vapor, or Seal of Cleansing, ensuring that exiled lands won’t ever get to come back to play. This commonly results in Parallax Tide exiling five lands immediately, with the threat of the same enchantment exiling more in the future.
This type of effect is so punishing that it severely restricts how opposing strategies can get around it. If you’re unable to either counter or go under the enchantment, Parallax Tide will make it impossible to get back into the game. The cards that pair well with the enchantment are naturally strong as well, meaning that this card doesn’t require massive deckbuilding restrictions to utilize.
As a result, Parallax Tide shows up as an Armageddon effect in multiple archetypes, homogenizing the format. According to Premodern data from 2025, 30% of decks that are in the top eight of 65+ player tournaments were either Stiflenought, Replenish, or Tide Control decks that all utilize the enchantment. These three decks were all among the top four most played decks, making the card a clear power outlier.
Potential Benefits
With the homogeneous Armageddon effect out of Premodern, the potential for positive metagame shifts is quite high. Right off the bat, there are a handful of strategies that could gain additional support without having to worry about Parallax Tide. In particular, slower non-blue decks like The Rock and Orzhov Control that have become less represented could make a bit of a comeback. Before now, these slower strategies would get completely blown out by a resolved Parallax Tide, making them rather ineffective.
Besides the non-blue decks getting better, there’s potentially room for blue control decks to become a little less homogenized, opening the door for more cards to see play. It’ll be cool to see how players adapt to make up ground lost by losing out on such an absurdly strong staple.
Looking Ahead
While getting rid of Parallax Tide should be an improvement for Premodern, it leaving the format could create larger problems. One of the biggest concerns that many players have brought up is the potential rise of Enchantress. Despite only being the sixth most-played deck in the top eight of large tournaments in 2025, it boasted the highest win rate of 59.7%. While Parallax Tide leaving the format seems correct, the decision to leave Enchantress alone is risky.
Another talking point has been the potential dominance of Phyrexian Dreadnought decks. For Premodern’s top deck, Parallax Tide was primarily a sideboard strategy rather than a mainboard one. This means that there’s a decent chance that Premodern’s best deck will survive, while the other Parallax Tide decks may be forced out of the format. This creates yet another potential power outlier.
Nonetheless, it seems pretty clear that, from a gameplay perspective, players are pleased that Parallax Tide’s obnoxious play patterns are no more. Only time will tell how the format ultimately evolves, and we look forward to seeing how things play out.
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