Best Timeless Decks: Bloomburrow Meta Report – August 27, 2024

Hey everyone! I’ve just updated the Timeless tier list which you can check out here for Bo3 and here for Bo1, and it provides a ranking of all the decks with a summary of each archetype along with its weaknesses and which metagames it’s likely to thrive in.

Timeless has seen a number of shifts in the metagame since the last tier list update so today I’ll be looking at the main cards from Bloomburrow that have seen play or experimentation so far, looking at new decks which have emerged since the last update and where they’ve landed on the tier list, and discussing movement of certain decks up and down since the last update and why. Let’s get into it!

Bo3 Timeless Metagame Tier List and Rankings

Bo1 Timeless Metagame Tier List and Rankings

New Cards from Bloomburrow

With the recent massive boost to power levels in Timeless thanks to Modern Horizons 3, it’s very difficult for new cards to break through and since Bloomburrow isn’t a huge set for eternal formats there haven’t really been that many cards that have made a big impact, but I’m going to be looking at the few that have seen play or experimentation so far.

Cache Grab: This is a new addition to the Simic Show and Tell decks that are also trying to leverage Shifting Woodland as an alternative way to combo that’s more resilient to discard spells and counterspells which are two of the main ways people have of interacting with the Sultai conventional Show and Tell lists, essentially acting as a worse version of Malevolent Rumble (which is one of the best cards in the deck) as another way to fill the graveyard and finding Shifting Woodland or other combo pieces more consistently.

Thundertrap Trainer: This has been a nice addition since it works very well alongside Flare of Denial and Flame of Anor. Flare of Denial was definitely one of the cards from Modern Horizons 3 that had undoubtable power level but just didn’t have enough good enablers but the addition of Thundertrap Trainer (which can also find Flare of Denial to enable itself) means that we now have a higher density of solid blue creatures to enable the best free counterspell in Timeless.

Baleful Strix was also added in Bloomburrow which is another powerful creature that I’ve seen people run as another way to enable Flare of Denial but it’s very weak to Orcish Bowmasters and doesn’t provide the same level of card selection as Thundertrap Trainer so it definitely feels worse even though flying and deathtouch can be very relevant in a lot of matchups.

Mockingbird: This has seen play in fringe Jeskai Energy variants as a way to copy Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Amped Raptor, and Ajani, Nacatl Pariah which are all excellent cards to double up on.

It also works very well with Ranger-Captain of Eos since it can be searched and copy Ranger-Captain of Eos itself, and Ranger-Captain of Eos being able to find Guide of Souls and Ocelot Pride in the first place is strong, plus the sacrifice ability is useful against decks like Show and Tell and control so some people have been running Ranger-Captain of Eos in Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury builds of Jeskai.

Having said that I’m not sure Jeskai is better than Mardu which definitely feels the best energy variant right now but getting to run cheap counterspells fills a similar role to the discard spells in mardu builds so Jeskai could be worth exploring more.

Pawpatch Formation & Tasteful Offering: These have seen play in Indomitable Creativity decks as nice enablers for Indomitable Creativity, however the deck itself still doesn’t feel that strong in the current metagame mainly due to a lack of game winning Creativity targets. If we get something like Archon of Cruelty in future then this is an archetype I’m definitely excited to return to though.

Iridescent Vinelasher: This has seen play in some variants of Rakdos Burn as a consistent source of reach and additional damage, however Rakdos Burn as a deck doesn’t feel particularly strong or well positioned right now so this hasn’t had a big impact.

New Decks Since the Last Update

Mono Black Jet Storm

This is a combo deck that can deal infinite damage via Jet Medallion + 2 of Shambling Ghast or Greedy Freebooter + Chthonian Nightmare + either Marionette Apprentice or The Meathook Massacre by sacrificing one Shambling Ghast / Greedy Freebooter to Chthonian Nightmare to get back the other one creating a treasure and dealing 1 damage to the opponent, then thanks to Jet Medallion you can re-cast the Chthonian Nightmare with the treasure token and loop infinitely.

Assembling a 4 card combo might seem like a tough ask in Timeless but all of the cards surve a purpose on their own and synergize well with each other so you don’t always need to go infinite in order to win, and you also have Necropotence and Diabolic Intent as ways to dig towards missing combo pieces if you do need to go infinite.

Speaking of which getting to run Dark Ritual + Necropotence is a really strong engine that can often single handedly win you the game but has often struggled with the issue in the past that drawing one without the other can be a bit awkward, but there are a lot of other good fast starts that Dark Ritual can enable in this list (including a turn 2 win), and you can ramp into Necropotence on turn 2 via Shambling Ghast or Greedy Freebooter + Phyrexian Tower so this is arguably the best Dark Ritual + Necropotence deck we’ve seen in Timeless so far.

Additionally you can win games via chip damage without needing to go infinite so if the opponent is very focused on cutting off the combo post-sideboard you can still win by beating down and incrimental damage from Marionette Apprentice and The Meathook Massacre

Weaknesses: Both Necropotence and Chthonian Nightmare get shut down by Pithing Needle and Disruptor Flute (Disruptor Flute is particularly punishing when cast in response to Necropotence since it prevents you from drawing until it’s removed) which any deck can run.

Thankfully the first copy can only shut off one of the two so you can often win with the other if they guess wrong, but if they do guess correctly and you can’t find an answer like Haywire Mite it can slow you down significantly.

Additionally fast combo decks like Show and Tell can be difficult to race without a good draw and Abrupt Decay from their sideboard can answer hate cards and keep you from comboing, and Dimir Tempo can be tricky thanks to their cheap counterspells but Defense Grid can often win you the game post-sideboard if you can resolve it.

Tier Placement: This is a very powerful deck but it didn’t feel quite on the level of Mardu Energy, Sultai Show and Tell, and Dimir Tempo which all feel a bit more consistent and resilient to me which is why it didn’t make it into tier 1.

Simic Shift & Tell

This is a combo deck that is looking to use Omniscience to combo off either via Show and Tell or Shifting Woodland – once you have Omniscience in play you can dig through your deck to find Fae of Wishes and then win by casting Mastermind's Acquisition fetching the second Mastermind's Acquisition, fetching Bond of Insight to rebuy the two Mastermind's Acquisition, then re-casting one Mastermind's Acquisition to fetch Approach of the Second Sun which then shuffles itself into the deck, then re-casting the second Mastermind's Acquisition to find Approach of the Second Sun again and re-casting it to win the game.

The advantage of this build over the Sultai version is Shifting Woodland which not only provides you a way to combo off with Omniscience through discard spells and counterspells, but it also makes you much less reliant on Show and Tell itself which in turn makes you less vulnerable to extraction effects, and cards that the opponent puts into play off Show and Tell like Vexing Bauble and Static Prison.

Having said that you do need to run a number of cards to enable delirium so the deck runs a number of ways to fill the graveyard quickly such as Malevolent Rumble, Cache Grab, and Founding the Third Path as well as other graveyard payoffs such as Ugin's Binding and The One Ringwhich can also be copied via Shifting Woodland. Speaking of which the deck also gets to run Ugin's Labyrinth which can ramp into cards such as The One Ringahead of curve, but importantly also enable turn 2 Show and Tell which can be very important at racing in a number of matchups.

Weaknesses: Even though Ugin's Labyrinth does enable turn 2 wins via Show and Tell, they’re not that common so this variant is definitely slower on average compared to its Sultai counterpart which can be an issue against faster decks. Additionally utilizing Shifting Woodland does make you vulnerable to graveyard hate. Additionally needing to run expensive colorless cards to enable Ugin's Labyrinth can lead to more clunky draws which is especially an issue against discard heavy Grief decks too.

Tier Placement: This is a list that has been around for a little while now but I didn’t include it in the last update because refined versions had yet to emerge at that point. I can definitely see certain metagames where this build of Show and Tell would be better than Sultai if being more resilient matters more, but this build being slower, less focused, and less well equipped to fight sideboard cards means that I prefer Sultai against a lot of the top decks currently.

If Shifting Woodland builds can be tweaked to become faster, the metagame shifts and becomes slower, or decks start to run more discard spells or counterspells then this build becomes a lot more appealing but right now I think Sultai is the better option – having said that this is still a strong choice though which is why I’ve included it in tier 2.

Movement of Decks Since Last Update

In this section I’ll be going over any decks that have moved up or down the tiers since the last update and why. If you’re not familiar with any of these decks then I recommend checking the tier list here where each archetype has a breakdown summary of how the deck works and it’s strengths and weaknesses along with a sample decklist.

Mardu & Boros Energy

The biggest change since the last update is the movement of Mardu Energy to the top and Boros Energy down into tier 2. This is mainly due to the consistent presence of Sultai Show and Tell as one of the best decks in the format, and the emergence of Simic Shift and Tell which are both very difficult matchups for straight Boros.

You do still have tools in Boros to fight these matchups such as Vexing Bauble, Deafening Silence, and Invasion of Gobakhan, but black having discard effects (which are generally cheaper and better on rate) which are both maindeckable and good to run in the sideboard in addition to those hate cards and Orcish Bowmasters means Mardu generally has a better matchup.

In addition Mardu running discard spells and Orcish Bowmasters really improves the control matchup too against both Jeskai and Dimir, as well as 4 Color Beanstalk to an extent which were all tricky matchups as well due to board sweepers and Fury, and Orcish Bowmasters giving you an edge in Energy mirrors meant that there were really good reasons to run Mardu instead outside of the combo matchups.

Finally running black also makes running Goblin Bombardment better since it pairs well with Orcish Bowmasters and Chthonian Nightmare which is a big deal for your proactive gameplan since Goblin Bombardment + Ajani, Nacatl Pariah gives you very good reach to close out games, and makes you less vulnerable to sweepers. Boros does still have its advantages in Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury and Blood Moon so there will be metagames where Boros is the better choice but overall I much prefer Mardu in the current metagame.

Dimir Tempo

This is another deck that I’ve moved into tier 1 since I think it’s gotten both better positioned and better refined since the last update. One of the main reasons I’ve moved it up is because it has one of the best matchups against Show and Tell and control whilst still having a solid proactive gameplan against the majority of the rest of the field.

The cheap snowbally threats like Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student Nethergoyf, and Psychic Frog are so good on rate that backing them up with cheap interaction (which you can tweak depending on the matchup which makes you a really strong deck in post-sideboard games) is a strong gameplan against most decks, but especially decks like combo and control that rely on resolving expensive cards in order to win.

The lower to the ground decks like Energy were some of your tougher matchups but you still have decent counterplay there via board sweepers, and Mardu lists running engine cards like Goblin Bombardment and Chthonian Nightmare instead of Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury make your cheap counterspells like Spell Pierce better too. Overall this is a tricky deck to play and tweak when the metagame shifts, but it’s a really strong deck in the right hands and feels well positioned at the moment too.

4 Color Beanstalk Revels

I had this in tier 1 in the previous update but I’ve moved it down largely due to the increase in popularity of Show and Tell and Dimir Tempo.

Even though you do have permament-based hate cards for Show and Tell, and counterspells like Dovin's Veto, these sorts of combo decks are still very unfavorable for you, and the Shifting Woodland variants in particular are even more difficult since they attack on multiple fronts requiring you to have graveyard hate as well as a way to stop Show and Tell which is really tricky to do.

Dimir Tempo is a closer matchup since you can overwhelm them if you get to resolve a key card like Up the Beanstalk, Cabaretti Revels, or Omnath, Locus of Creation, and you have the evoke elementals to answer their creatures before they can snowball too hard, but it’s definitely an uphill struggle where you can run out of gas pretty quickly if they stop your card advantage engines.

One of the main reasons I was high on the deck previously was it had a really solid matchup against Energy mainly due to Fury, but with the Energy lists now switching to Mardu they have discard spells which improve the matchup from their side, as well as cards like Goblin Bombardment which lets them play around cards like Fury and other sweepers more easily. Having said that I still think 4 Color Beanstalk Revels is a very powerful deck that can win against a lot of other top decks, but it definitely feels in a worse position than before.

Titan Field

This is a relatively small change moving from tier 2 down to tier 3, and this is another deck that really suffers from the increase in popularity of Show and Tell both in terms of the increase in Sultai, and the emergence of Shifting Woodland variants. Show and Tell was always Titan Field’s worse matchup and there’s not too much you can do to improve it without diluting your proactive gameplan a lot.

I still like the deck against energy, 4 Color Beanstalk, and tempo and control to a certain extent thanks to Cavern of Souls, but Energy shifting towards Mardu with extra discard and Goblin Bombardment which lets them close games out faster means there’s far fewer top decks that Titan Field has a good matchup against now.