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
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.
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.
A Counter-Meta Energy Aggro Deck: Boros Energy, but with Black! Mardu sacrifices some speed and consistency for Orcish Bowmasters, Chthonian Nightmare, and 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.
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 Graveyard Based Combo Deck: Jet Storm aims to present a lethal loop with Chthonian Nightmare, Jet Medallion, and Marionette Apprentice combined with two seemingly innocuous commons to drain out opponents. The deck backs this up with the fastest and most consistent turn one and two Necropotences to both find the combo and bury most opponents in cards.
A Cheating Midrange Graveyard Deck: The “Scam” Package of Solitude/Grief/Reanimate/Ephemarete is complemented by Psychic Frog and Satoru to keep cards flowing and Alchemy All-Star Diviner of Fates to replace every card discarded. Rescaminator features all of the most efficient card-advantage creatures on Arena to replace the cards pitched to free elementals, and has relatively few noncreature cards.
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 True Tempo Cardflow Control Deck: Put down growing threats in the early turns, then spend then protect them while they generate value and end the game alone. Compared to midrange decks, Dimir Tempo is more consistent but needs to play its cards in order. 16 growing creatures are complemented by a full suite of removal spells, counterspells, and specific answers to Timeless Combos.
C Tier
A Specific Counter-meta Energy Aggro Deck: Boros Energy, but with Blue! Meddling Mage and Mockingbird are the only maindeck blue cards, for an energy variant that rewards specific Timeless meta-knowledge of exactly what to copy or prevent. Jeskai Energy is harder to pilot than it’s Boros/Mardu brothers/sisters, but has better matchups against them and some combo decks.
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 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!
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.
A Midrange Kindred Cheat Deck: Supplement the traditional Scam Elementals package of Grief/Solitude/Ephemerate/Reanimate with Sorin, Imperious Blood Lord to put 7-mana Alchemy Vampire Saint Elendra straight onto the battlefield. Dark Ritual allows this extra cheat on the first turn of the game, and the extra vampiric lifegain reduces the risk of Necropotence.
A Controlling Tempo Graveyard deck: Answer specific gameplans while putting massive threats into play at a discount.The namesake Abhorrent Oculus and Psychic Frog keep cards flowing, and the most efficient removal spells on Arena keep a tight lock on the game. Compared to Dimir Tempo, the Oculus build has better threats, mana, and resilience in return for range and a weakness to graveyard hate.
A Flexible Hard Control Deck: CONTROL IS NOT DEAD, it just takes some Alchemy cards. Every card with the Alchemy-only Chorus mechanic gets stronger when any one is cast, resulting in one of the only Timeless decks that always wants the game to last longer. Cheap blue value creatures turn Flare of Denial into a passable Force of Will to complement classic non-Chorus control pieces.
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.
D Tier
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.
A Classic Midrange Cheat Deck: With all of the most unfair “fair” Magic cards crammed into a midrange interactive shell, Rakdos is the best Scam build for switching gears based on what the other deck is doing.. Make all of your spells generate value while dealing damage- evoke elementals and recur them for value, attack with value creatures, and burn them out.
A 4-Color Flexible Cardflow Deck: Get around the card cost of evoking elementals by drawing a card when they’re cast, instead of stopping them from dying. Up the Beanstalk draws entirely too many cards off of spells that don’t cost any mana, while cheap interaction clears the way for powerful planeswalkers and Omnath to play fairer win conditions than other Scam builds
A Defensive Maximum Control Deck: Lock down the game with counterspells, protection, and removal until Phlage can escape the graveyard and win alone. Wrath of the Skies is the new sweeper of choice, answering any permanents and maximizing the value of a timely Mana Drain. Compared to other Control Decks, Jeskai offers stronger lifegain, better mana, and safe One Rings.
A Draw/Go Hard Control Deck: Dimir Control locks down the game with the strongest counterspells and removal on Arena, answering every conceivable deployable threat and never passing the turn with less than two mana available. A companion Lurrus and four Orcish Bowmasters with flash serve as the deck’s only win conditions.
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.
