Editor's Note: The following has been lightly edited from its original text, which can be seen here.
On Oct. 30, 2026, Green Sun’s Zenith, Preordain, and Thopter Foundry/Sword of the Meek combo were removed from the PreFIRE Watch List. Additionally, Dark Depths was unbanned and moved to the Watch List.
It’s been about a year since the previous change to the PreFIRE Banned and Watch Lists, which featured Creeping Chill's ban and the removal of Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Stoneforge Mystic, and Bloodbraid Elf from the Watch List.
In that time, we have nurtured a great community, and our MTGO leagues have run consistently. We have even seen paper events occur worldwide! All of this has yielded many results, posted in our beloved TCDecks.
With this, some announcements are in order. Firstly, there are three cards that have proven on par with the power level expected for the format: Green Sun’s Zenith, Preordain, Thopter Foundry/Sword of the Meek Combo. As a result, they are no longer on the Watch List:
Green Sun's Zenith by David Rapoza
Green Sun's Zenith is a fine tool for decks, which have not proven utterly dominant. Even in decks such as Birthing Pod, where I originally expected Green Sun's Zenith to be included as an easy four-of, it hasn’t proven significantly better than alternatives, since many creatures are not .
Amulet Titan is a potential concern but, since the banning of Summer Bloom, it has remained reasonable. At this point, Green Sun’s Zenith has established itself as a solid roleplayer without being too strong.
Preordain by Svetlin Velinov
Preordain is in a similar spot. Ensuring decks have access to a strong cantrip is paramount to the color’s identity, and, as in Modern, Preordain has demonstrated it's at a good power level, providing solid selection without guaranteeing absolute consistency. As long as Ponder remains banned, which is the reality we will continue living in, Preordain feels safe enough to remove from the Watch List.
Thopter Foundry by Ralph Horsley
Sword of the Meek by Franz Vohwinkel
Finally, the Thopter Foundry/Sword of the Meek combo is weird, since it has seen little play so far. Whir of Invention combo decks have appeared in the format from time to time, and have felt reasonable. There aren’t any cards in the format, such as Urza, Lord High Artificer, to elevate the combo to a concerning level, so it remains limited by mana. This makes the combo relatively disruptable via artifact and/or graveyard hate, which every color has access to. For that reason, Thopter Foundry/Sword of the Meek on the Watch List feels unnecessary.
Marit Lage by Stephan Martiniere
Now onto the big one: Dark Depths.
When the format was created, I envisioned Dark Depths as a banned card that I would eventually reassess. It has a sound tournament pedigree in Extended and Legacy, and it seemed scary in Turbo Depths shells, 
decks powered by }Knight of the Reliquary|, and the potential to include Dark Depths/Thespian's Stage in Primeval Titan decks, such as Amulet Titan or Scapeshift. I am a little skeptical of the latter, but it could be real.
The beautiful thing about a community format is those within it who are willing to put in the legwork to test whether our assumptions are true. The findings were promising.
Dark Depths decks achieved a win rate against the field without being overwhelmingly. I am cautiously optimistic about Dark Depths as an interesting new inclusion to the format. For that reason, I am willing to give it a test run on the Watch List during the upcoming three leagues beginning on October 12, 2026.
It is in the spirit of the format to allow for unique experiences that weren’t possible in Modern before, so there is upside to this experiment. Multiple playable incidental answers have been printed over the years, including Assassin’s Trophy, Field of Ruin, Harbinger of the Tides, and Reflector Mage, which gives me more incentive to give this a shot. Remember, PreFire is 100% proxy-friendly.
Once we have a couple of months’ worth of data, it should be possible to make a final determination if Dark Depths is indeed too strong for PreFIRE or another role player. Until then, brew to your heart’s content. I look forward to seeing what the community comes up with!
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Featured image: Dark Depths by Stephan Martiniere
