Well, it’s a new day and a new format, and you know what that means: new decks! With the release of Mh3 onto MTG: Arena, everyone who played Timeless expected a significant boost in the format’s overall power. They weren’t mistaken. This tournament had a final prize pool of around $430 and a top cut into the final four. Thank you to the MTGEternal Discord (and particularly the hosts, alfalfa1, JayIsADino, xyolo420swagx, and 95james59) for holding the tournament! We’ll discuss the top eight decks and their performance, including a discussion of major and interesting inclusions. 

I hope this post increases people’s overall interest in the format as a whole! I’d love to see more people attend Timeless tournaments. It’s a crazy, fun, and dynamic format.

The top two players, Shadow_Basilisk (myself) and Dahmauzi, decided to split the finals pool between them. We had already played a match in swiss, and it was the mirror, which is certainly a doozy. As Shadow_Basilisk was the top seed coming out of the swiss, we’ll list them first.

Here’s the breakdown:

First Place

Shadow_Basilisk piloted Boros Energy (Lurrus) to a 5-0 finish in the swiss and a finals cut. The Boros Energy deck has a core of the following cards: Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Static Prison, Amped Raptor, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, and Unstable Amulet. The main difference between the two energy builds in this tournament is how to fill the remaining slots. I elected to run Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Nurturing Pixie, Lightning Bolt, and Ruby Collector with Lurrus, of the Dream-den as a companion. Nurturing Pixie over-performed, feeling substantially better than Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd overall, as the two-drop slot is filled to the brim with excellent plays. Losing out on some of the three-drops certainly made the mirror harder to navigate, as we’ll see next. 

Second and Third

Dahmauzi and Korae each piloted the same Boros Energy (Jegantha) lists to a finals cut (4-1 in swiss) and third (3-2 in swiss) respectively. It has a similar core to Shadow_Basilisk’s list, however it opted out of Ocelot Pride, Nurturing Pixie, Lightning Bolt, and Lurrus of the Dream-Den in favor of Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury, and Jegantha, the Wellspring. Overall, the list seemed to play well into the format, being a bit more midrange-y and having better average top-decks against Scam decks. However, missing Ocelot and running Phelia seemed to be a net negative in the various mirror matches that took place.

Kelvandil piloted a Jund Scam Midrange list to a 3-2 (swiss), third-place finish (Spliting with Korae). This list plays the classic Grief + Reanimate package, alongside their partners in crime Troll of Khazad-Dun, Thoughtseize, and Orcish Bowmasters. However, Kelvandil decided to take his list in a far more midrange-y direction, playing The One Ring, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, and Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes. The goal is, of course, to scam your opponent’s turn one and reanimate back the grief, removing two cards from the opponent’s hand and leaving yourself with a 3/2 Menacer. However, the deck can also opt for either a Reanimate + Troll direction or a Shelly + Ring direction, whatever floats your boat.

Fifth Place

Winkers piloted a very unique 4c Maverick (Yorion) list to a 3-2, fifth-place finish. This very unique list ran a “core” gameplan oriented around Elvish Reclaimer, Stoneforge Mystic, Knight of the Reliquary, and Collected Company. Its goal is to play a slower, midrange-y, grind-focused game, with a toolbox set of lands. Some interesting main-board inclusions are Nadu, Winged Wisdom, Ramunap Excavator, and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Even with only three new cards with Nadu as a two-of and Cephalid Coliseum and Endurance as one-ofs, the deck still performed well and is a very unique list. A helpful change would be to play some number of Toxic Deluge in the side for the Boros Energy matchup.

Sixth Place

Käpälä piloted Titan Field to a 3-2, sixth-place finish. This established archetype was upgraded with the printing of Flare of Cultivation. The goal is to, on turn one, play an Arboreal Grazer or Kami of Bamboo Groves then sacrifice that creature to Flare of Cultivation and put another forest onto the battlefield. The nuts is to put a Sunken Citadel onto the battlefield off of the Grazer or Kami trigger, then play a Castle Garenbrig and cast Primeval Titan on turn two. Another option is to put Khalni Garden onto the battlefield instead of Citadel, then sacrifice the token to Natural Order. When it goes fast, this deck really goes fast. A turn three Titan is very common, and the deck is very scary, but it struggles into Grief and the speed of Boros Energy paired with flying from Guide of Souls triggers and Static Prison. 

Seventh Placce

Clawed piloted Rakdos Scam to a 2-3, seventh-place finish. The recent bane of Modern’s existence, this deck looks to cheat Grief and Fury onto the battlefield and return them with Not Dead After All or Undying Malice. It plays Thoughtseize, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, and Sheoldred to great effect as well. This version of the deck was powered down compared to the Timeless version, perhaps due to wildcards, but the version with Reanimate and Troll of Khazad-Dun is likely strictly better on the whole. 

Eighth Place

Finally, XS0ulBlackX piloted an Izzet Tamiyo Wizards brew to a 2-3, eighth-place finish. This list only runs three creatures in Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student, Party Thrasher, and Snapcaster Mage. It pairs these wizards with Flame of Anor and an energy package, which includes Tune the Narrative, Galvanic Discharge, and Unstable Amulet. This is a super neat list with a very control-oriented take on Wizards, but it struggles to match the speed and efficiency of decks like Boros Energy. Orcish Bowmasters being very common along with a plethora of removal for the minute creature suite. and without cards from legacy like Daze or Force of Will to back them up, the deck struggles to land and stick its threats.

Goodbye, Until next time

This tournament was a very interesting early look at the various archetypes that may be common going forward in Timeless! While Boros Energy dominated this particular tournament, Scam decks are looking to be a solid contender, and I have no doubt that decks centered around Death’s Shadow playing Toxic Deluge will rise to meet the challenge, or perhaps we’ll see faster linear decks centered around Goblin Charbelcher rising to out-speed Boros Energy.

I hope to see you all on the Timeless ladder, and if we have any Timeless tournaments soon, please join! The format is very fun, and very grindy right now. Thanks for reading my write-up! Shadow_Basilisk (_gagerator_ on Discord) signing off.