MTG Modern Horizons 3 brings time counters back from the past 

Dreamtide Whale is a mono-blue Creature that balances out Vanishing with a reliable source of Proliferate.

MTG has accrued a wide range of counters across its 30-year history, from the ever-relevant +1/+1s to Commander-based Experience counters. 

Time counters are one of Magic’s most unique counter types, being used by multiple abilities like Vanishing and Suspend. Interestingly, rather than providing a buff, time counters are often a hindrance for players to work around, either keeping them stocked up or attempting to remove them as quickly as possible. 

WotC

Vanishing uses time counters to limit powerful cards, allowing them to provide a temporary benefit before being sacrificed when their final time counter is removed.  

The last major use of Time Counters and Vanishing was in the Universes Beyond: Doctor Who set. That set made the most of the show’s time-traveling premise, drawing on several underused MTG mechanics to accurately represent the worlds and stories of Doctor Who. 

The Timey Wimey pre-con deck in particular made good use of the Vanishing ability. Rather than focusing solely on powerful Creatures with an in-built expiration date, the deck included many synergies to increase or decrease your time counters, casting spells with Suspend most quickly and keeping cards with Vanishing around for longer. 

Modern Horizons 3 has clearly taken a leaf out of this book, as Dreamtide Whale comes with an ability to prevent itself from leaving the battlefield too early via Vanishing, which also benefits all your other cards with counters on them.

Modern Horizons 3’s Dreamtime Whale has Vanishing 2, but will rarely be limited to just two turns on the field. This card activates Proliferate whenever a player casts their second spell in a turn. Through this, Dreamtide Whale’s controller can put an additional counter on any card that already has a counter of that type. 

Proliferate is one of the most powerful and popular MTG mechanics, thanks to its ability to rapidly build up your board with +1/+1s or simply take out opponents directly with poison counters.  

Dreamtide Whale makes for a great Proliferate engine in the mid-game, causing opponents to think twice before casting multiple spells in the same turn, and effectively removing its own time counter limitation.