Timeless Tier List
The Gathering’s MTG BO3 Timeless tier list is data-driven that looks at the past week’s worth of MTG event results, top finishes, and overall entries to determine which Timeless decks are currently the most popular and likely to be seen at any given event. There is a small amount of player input in regards to arrangement, but the list is primarily reflective and backward looking.
Updated Every Friday
S Tier
A Tier
A Counter-Meta Energy Aggro Deck: Boros Energy, but with Black! Mardu sacrifices some speed and consistency for Thoughtseize/other hand disruption. Many builds eschew Phlage and Blood Moon due to stricter mana requirements, which allows for a Lurrus companion. Mardu is better against fast combos and weaker against damaging aggro decks.
A Graveyard Combo Deck: Get an Omniscience into play, then win the game when none of your spells cost any mana! Shifting Woodland provides a more consistent gameplan than other Omniscience decks and an array of card types to enable delirium, with some resilience to discard and counterspells. The cost is a fresh weakness to graveyard hate.
An Interactive Combo Value Deck: Efficient card draw, tutors, and interaction enable the casting of namesake Show and Tell to cheat a game-ending permanent into play, usually Omniscience. Omnitell then utilizes free spells large and small to sift through an entire library and lock opponents out of the game with Hullbreaker Horror.
B Tier
A Landless All-In Combo Deck: Sometimes the best way to navigate around combo hate is to simply run a second combo. In a deck with zero real lands, rituals power out the traditional lethal Goblin Charbelcher activation for infinite damage or Balustrade Spy to mill your own library in one shot. Compared to other landless decks, the dual combos create resilience against hate pieces and more consistent opening hands.
A Tempo Cardflow Control Deck: Put down growing threats in the early turns, then protect them while they generate value and end the game alone. Psychic Frog and Tamiyo remain powerful ways to grind out cards against a sparse board, so put one down and manage opposing threats carefully. A diverse set of options for control cards lets Dimir answer any set of meta decks, though never all at once.
An Hyper-Efficient 1-drop Aggro Deck: Only slightly slower than the fastest deck on MTG Arena, Boros Energy boasts better mana and a stronger late game powered by a resource that’s nearly impossible to interact with. With Energy cards from MH3 (and only MH3), re-played Amped Raptors can’t miss a second spell for more damage and more card draw.
An All-in “Landless” Combo Deck: Orzhov Belcher makes the most use of a second set of Dark Rituals in the form of Sacrifice to cast and activate Goblin Charbelcher for 7 mana faster than any other deck on Arena. Sacrifice let’s an evoked Elemental generate 5-6 mana for a T1 kill in a deck without lands. Sorin+Saint Elendra and Necropotence/Dominance create a powerful plan B.
C Tier
A Classic Max-Speed Efficient Aggro Deck: Keep the cost low for maximum efficiency. A Classic assortment of Ragavan, Lightning Bolt, one-mana interaction spells, and any other powerful efficient beater you can think of. A light graveyard theme supports Dreadhorde Arcanist, FoMO and DRC, with Cori-Steel Cutter and Lurrus to keep threats flowing late into the game.
A Resilient Toolbox Ramp Deck: Flare of Cultivation + Arboreal Grazer means as much as 5 mana on turn two, allowing The One Ring to stop a fast combo deck or Karn to grab a missing piece of interaction from the sideboard. Ugin and Emrakul round out the threats, while Kozilek’s Command and Malevolent Rumble provide excellent card selection. This is the both the best ramp and strongest Ring deck on Arena.
A Midrange Cheat Deck: Supplement the traditional Scam Elementals package of Grief/Solitude//Reanimate with Sorin, Imperious Blood Lord to put 7-mana Alchemy Vampire Saint Elenda straight onto the battlefield. Dark Ritual allows this extra cheat on the first turn of the game. If that isn’t enough the deck also has a strong midrange core to back it up.
An All-In Dual Combo Deck: The Two best insta-win Blue combos taped them together with countermagic. Goblin Charbelcher wins the game on activation in a deck with 0 lands and Omniscience wins the game when cheated into play. This deck uses digging creatures and Blue MDFC lands to counter spells without spending mana, and can often win off an opposing Show and Tell.
A Landless Full Combo Deck: Belcher is a straightforward combo deck, with cards that are lands only on the back and tutors to cast and activate Belcher as quickly as possible. Goblin Charbelcher “Reveals cards from the top of your library until you reveal a land card” and then deals damage equal to the number of cards revealed. In a landless library, that’s 45+damage to the dome!
A Complex All-In Combo Deck: The most difficult combo deck to pilot in Timeless. Storm combos require a way to generate mana, cast enough spells in one turn, and answer the inevitable ways your opponent tries to stop your combo. Beseech the Mirror represents a host of options for each of these categories, but can cast itself as long as there’s something to bargain for a boost to the storm count.
D Tier
An Aggressive Well-Rounded Graveyard Deck: For the low-low cost of having an array of card types, Jund Delirium gets to cast some of the most efficient creature spells ever printed. Nethergoyf, DRC, and Fear of Missing Out all perform far above the mana spent to cast them. Lurrus is a strong companion and keeps Amped Raptor from ever missing. Strong, cheap interaction spells round out the aggro plan.
An All-In Combo Weenie Deck: Cheap creatures fill up the graveyard and benefit from it. Underworld Breach allows for the second casting of every cheap spell in the graveyard, creating infinite value or an easy Storm kill with Tendrils of Agony. Jund is flexible at the cost of a more consistent combo, Jund Breach has more interaction and the ability to attack down an opponent disruptive to a storm plan.
A Consistent Disruptive Cheat Deck: Use efficient black disruption and reanimation to both deploy and manage opposing threats ahead of schedule. Compared to more colorful Scam builds, Mono-Black substitutes reanimation for blink effects to gain more consistent removal and resiliency in the form of The One Ring and Sheoldred, The Apocalypse.
An Explosive Cardflow Artifact Deck: Arena-special Landlord Navigator joins the likes of Tamiyo and 8 available Thoughtcasts for a suite of card-draw to cast 12-20 0-mana artifacts and facilitate Affinity and Improvise. Kappa Cannoneer almost always ends the game the turn after it resolves, so playing affinity is more about getting a score of artifacts into play and keeping them there as long as possible.
An Aggressive Toolbox Creature Deck: Birthing Ritual does an excellent imitation of Birthing Pod two whole turns faster. One-mana value creatures become two-mana disruptive creatures, and subsequently birthed creatures restart the chain or grab what’s missing for the matchup. Solitude and Overlord of the Balemurk top the Pod Chain without ever needing a third land in play.
A Consistent Controlling One Ring Deck: Mono-Blue Control has been color-shifted. Reprieve and Mana Tithe are strong cheap counterspells, The One Ring generates protection and card advantage, and Solitude allows for 8 functional copies of Swords to Plowshares. Compared to other control decks, Mono-White has perfect mana and Essence Reliquary for soft locks against fair decks.
