Temporal Distortion
Enchantment
Whenever a creature or land becomes tapped, put an hourglass counter on it.
Each permanent with an hourglass counter on it doesn't untap during its controller's untap step.
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, remove all hourglass counters from permanents that player controls.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Invasion
- Price
- $0.38
- EDHREC rank
- #25202
Temporal Distortion puts a hourglass counter on every land that enters the battlefield and forces each of those lands to come in tapped — a persistent soft-lock that punishes landfall decks and slows every opponent's mana development for as long as the enchantment survives. Five mana is a real ask for a symmetrical effect that does nothing to lands already in play, so it earns its slot only in decks built to break the symmetry.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Temporal Distortion is a political enchantment that warps the mid-game — three or four opponents all losing tempo on land drops compounds fast, and it pairs naturally with proliferate and stax strategies that want opponents perpetually behind on mana. Legacy and Vintage are the only other formats where it's legal, and it sees no meaningful play in either; those formats move too fast for a five-mana enchantment that doesn't immediately answer a threat or win the game. Temporal Distortion lives and dies in EDH, where slower games and multiple opponents give its cumulative effect time to matter.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.38 bulk tier
At $0.38, Temporal Distortion is firmly bulk, and that price reflects its narrow appeal rather than hidden upside. It's a safe pickup for stax or land-disruption builds — no budget concern here — but don't expect the price to move; the card has a small target audience and no competitive demand pulling it upward.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.