It is not a surprise to anyone that Parallax Tide is one of the strongest cards in the format, going from having its own archetype to being a sideboard plan in decks like Stifflenought. Time and time again people have complained, saying it is oppressive, complaining about the lack of solutions or relying on subpar cards like Sheltering Prayers.
While other solutions can be used, and are very much ok in archetypes that can accomodate them, they always rely on, most of the times, straight countering the Tide or playing a combination of Abeyance plus an enchantment removal spell. That not only takes more deck-building slots, but it also restricts it to mostly white-based decks like Landstill, for example.
Enter Skyshroud Blessing: easily splashable, effectively denies all Parallax Tide activations if the player decides to go for the "target five lands, hold priority, Chain of Vapor (or crack Seal of Cleansing)" and, perhaps, even more importantly, replaces itself so it is never a dead card. Think of it like a green Teferi's Response that doesn't draw you as many cards but can effectively be a pseudo Time Walk against Tide decks.
And, at the end of the day, even in other matchups it can actually be sort of a Stifle meets Counterspell against decks that run Land Destruction spells or Wasteland, being also useful as a means of protecting your Man-Lands.
At the end of day, it is another interesting, absolutely forgotten card that definitely has good uses in how the fornat is shaped in present day and might be good enough to actually see play.
"Blessed are the hearts that can bend; they shall never be broken." – Albert Camus
Best regards,
Urza
Nice Post. Although I still believe that the full influence of parallax tide is yet to be fully seen, it's nice to see some discussion around possible solutions.
ReplyDeleteI think that as more new players enter the format, the more diluted the choice of Tide as a deck while be and the more variance will be added to the format. Lets see how it rolls out
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