Was the errata removed from this card which required it to be in play when the creatures were exiled? If so, this card is insanely broken, and even more so with an Opalescence in play.
Situation: It's your opponent's turn and he or she has 40 Relentless Rats in play and they're about to attack you. You have an Opalescence and Parallax Wave (Parallax Tide can be broken just as easily, but won't save you from this situation) with five counters on it in play.
You remove four of Wave's counters targeting four of his Rats and then remove the fifth targeting Wave itself. The Wave gets exiled, triggering its "Return stuff to play" ability while only itself has been exiled, returning itself to play (with five fresh, new counters, I believe, since Magic treats this new Wave as an entirely new permanent; I've been told it would come into play with none because of a rules change, but don't know if it's true). There are now four abilities on the stack which will exile a Rat upon resolving and you have a fresh Wave to continue exploiting. As long as the Wave leaves play after its "exile a creature" ability has been triggered and before the ability resolves, the creatures it exiles will not return to play once removed.
Even without this infinite combo, it's still "exile up to four target creatures" for 2WW.
skew
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
No, you have to pay the ability's cost. You can't "try to pay it" and sacrifice it.
Besides, it's removing 5 creatures, not just 4. You exile them all, leaving no fade counter on wave, then, in your next upkeep, you sac it.
My favorite sentence in all of magic:
Good with Gilder Bairn.
Oh, and paradise mantle on said Gilder Bairn.
And a trianing grounds.
"NO MORE CREATURE FOR YOU!!!"
drunyon
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
I like playing this card with Eon Hub. Remove up to five target creatures, and they never come back!
izzet_guild_mage
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This thing is pretty silly. It's so easy to just make it a way to exile 5 dudes permanently @__@
KikiJikiTiki
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Proliferate just made this even sillier. So many things to break...
DarkerNectron
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Incredibly strong on its own: Parallax Wave acts as a temporary one sided wrath, hides your creatures from wrath, and can be used to re-trigger your creatures ETB effects.
Combos well with Opalescence to permanently exile any number of target creatures or blinking your own creatures thereby triggering ETB effects such as Wall of Omens to allow for infinite draw. Add Enchanted Evening into the mix and you remove everyone else's boards.
Overall one of the most powerful white enchantments ever printed. And as KikijikiTiki pointed out, proliferate makes this card even better.
OverfiendSurprise
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@DarkerNectron: furthermore that Enchanted Evening + Opalescence combo will turn all lands into 0/0 creatures. Checkmate.
mrredhatter
★★★☆☆ (3.1/5.0)(4 votes)
Needs to be reworded to say: Remove a fade counter from Parallax Wave: Exile target creature with “Return this card to the battlefield when Parallax Wave is not on the battlefield.”
So it's basically a sorcery for with "give all your allies 5 +1/+1 counters, burn 5 creatures, make someone lose a ton of life, and get a shitload of wolf tokens" Not half bad
dberry02
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Just end your turn with Sundial of the Infinite when it triggers to return all cards back to the battlefield lol
metalevolence
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Play it, activate the creature-exiling ability a bunch of times, and with those still on the stack, sac it to claws of gix or something.
XaiviarNightwing
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Why do people say it can exile 5 cards? After it has no counters the comeback cause it dies read the card. Still unequaled in ETB tomfoolery though.
Mirrordin_Pure
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It's quite simple, Xaviar; most people commenting on here tend to think beyond the card.
What happens, for example, if it's played with Eon Hub?
Exactly.
MaddAddams
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I love playing this card in Cube.
Biglonty
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So play this, exile 5 or less creatures on the stack. Before they resolve sacrifice it or destroy it. The "leaves play" trigger happens and finds nothing to exile yet. The exiled creatures remain exiled :D
Puzzlemancer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card combos really well with Whip of Erebos since the whips replacement won't trigger, you can get the creature you reanimate back permanently, once Parallax Wave leaves play.
Wizpal
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@XaiviarNightwing: We can read it allright, you just need to think creatively! If you can exile permantely things with Oblivion Rings and Journey to Nowhere, you know half the trick.
Let's say that you play this, it enters with 5 counters and you TARGET five creatures with it. In response to the TARGETS, you cast, I don't know, Boomberang or Erase, to remove it from the battlefiled.
WHEN IT LEAVES THE BATTLEFIELD you return any creatures it exiled, and, since it hasn't exiled anything, you don't return anything. Then, you proceed to exile the targeted creatures as normal.
Oh! Also, it doesn't leaves the battlefield the moment it doesn't have any counters (hmmm... if it could leave the battlefield when it doesn't ha... OMG, it's power level is over 9000!!)
Don't tell people to read the card when you clearly haven't read the card rulings.
Comments (21)
Situation: It's your opponent's turn and he or she has 40 Relentless Rats in play and they're about to attack you. You have an Opalescence and Parallax Wave (Parallax Tide can be broken just as easily, but won't save you from this situation) with five counters on it in play.
You remove four of Wave's counters targeting four of his Rats and then remove the fifth targeting Wave itself. The Wave gets exiled, triggering its "Return stuff to play" ability while only itself has been exiled, returning itself to play (with five fresh, new counters, I believe, since Magic treats this new Wave as an entirely new permanent; I've been told it would come into play with none because of a rules change, but don't know if it's true). There are now four abilities on the stack which will exile a Rat upon resolving and you have a fresh Wave to continue exploiting. As long as the Wave leaves play after its "exile a creature" ability has been triggered and before the ability resolves, the creatures it exiles will not return to play once removed.
Even without this infinite combo, it's still "exile up to four target creatures" for 2WW.
Besides, it's removing 5 creatures, not just 4. You exile them all, leaving no fade counter on wave, then, in your next upkeep, you sac it.
Good with Gilder Bairn.
Oh, and paradise mantle on said Gilder Bairn.
And a trianing grounds.
"NO MORE CREATURE FOR YOU!!!"
Combos well with Opalescence to permanently exile any number of target creatures or blinking your own creatures thereby triggering ETB effects such as Wall of Omens to allow for infinite draw. Add Enchanted Evening into the mix and you remove everyone else's boards.
Overall one of the most powerful white enchantments ever printed. And as KikijikiTiki pointed out, proliferate makes this card even better.
EDH Blink Deck...making it now
Not half bad
After it has no counters the comeback cause it dies read the card.
Still unequaled in ETB tomfoolery though.
What happens, for example, if it's played with Eon Hub?
Exactly.
Let's say that you play this, it enters with 5 counters and you TARGET five creatures with it. In response to the TARGETS, you cast, I don't know, Boomberang or Erase, to remove it from the battlefiled.
WHEN IT LEAVES THE BATTLEFIELD you return any creatures it exiled, and, since it hasn't exiled anything, you don't return anything. Then, you proceed to exile the targeted creatures as normal.
Oh! Also, it doesn't leaves the battlefield the moment it doesn't have any counters (hmmm... if it could leave the battlefield when it doesn't ha... OMG, it's power level is over 9000!!)
Don't tell people to read the card when you clearly haven't read the card rulings.
@mrredhatter: Oh please, no! I hated it when they reworked this effect with cards like Banisher Priest or Chained to the Rocks.