Table of Contents
Hey everyone! Today I’m going to be going over the three Timeless decks I’ve been having the most success with so far, as well as having a look at some lists that other people have been doing well with.
The new format has been so much fun with a bunch of interesting decisions in terms of both deckbuilding and gameplay, so I’m really excited to keep experimenting and trying to figure out the most busted thing you can be doing in Arena’s most powerful format. Let’s get into it!
3 Decks I’ve Had the Most Success With so Far
I’ve been trying out a bunch of different ideas since the format launched a few days ago to varying success, however these three have definitely stood head and shoulders above the rest so far. I think there’s a lot of room for improvement in other lists that didn’t work out quite as well and I’ve still got a very long list of other ideas to try that I think have a lot of potential so I wouldn’t be surprised if stronger decks emerge over the next few weeks and months as ideas become more refined, but these have felt very strong and fairly well tuned so far.
Izzet Phoenix
Izzet Phoenix
by Altheriax
Timeless
best of 3
4 mythic
16 rare
16 uncommon
24 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Companion
Artifacts (4)
Lands (18)
60 Cards
$477.72
Sideboard
15 Cards
$70.97
This is a deck largely built around Arclight Phoenix that is mainly focused on chaining together a bunch of instants and sorceries and filling the graveyard. Phoenix as an archetype gets a ton of huge additions moving from Historic to Timeless that really power up the deck, and it’s felt like one of the strongest decks I’ve ever played on Arena, although it is very difficult to play optimally because there’s so many small decisions that can make a big impact on the game.
Fetch lands are a massive addition to this deck that provide a lot of different benefits including getting delirium online faster for Dragon's Rage Channeler and Unholy Heat, letting you shuffle away your two worst cards off Brainstorm, and filling up the graveyard to enable early Treasure Cruise.
Speaking of which Treasure Cruise has been a massive addition to the deck providing you with even more staying power and a way to pull ahead early, and it’s felt like the best card in the deck every time I’ve cast it (assuming the opponent doesn’t have an Orcish Bowmasters of course).
Brainstorm has similarly felt great as well, providing you with even more card selection and helping you dig towards your key cards but again this is another card where you need to be very wary of Orcish Bowmasters.
Finally you also get Lightning Bolt which doubles up as interaction and reach to help close out games, and Mishra's Bauble that helps you get delirium online faster, and is really nice alongside Dragon's Rage Channeler and Ledger Shredder.
I was a bit hesitant about Phoenix coming into the format since its two main weaknesses are to fast combo decks and Orcish Bowmasters both of which require very different answers.
However there has been a real lack of non-creature combo from my experience which means I think you can get away with 0 Spell Pierce in the maindeck (this could change as the meta evolves though), and running the full 8 copies of Lightning Bolt and Unholy Heat to deal with Orcish Bowmasters so it feels like the deck has a really solid build with its main weaknesses being Orcish Bowmasters and graveyard hate, both of which you can often play around if you plan carefully.
Esper Lurrus Control
Esper Lurrus Control
by Altheriax
Timeless
best of 3
4 mythic
40 rare
8 uncommon
8 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Companion
Instants (28)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$757.18
Sideboard
15 Cards
$12.39
I’ve tried a lot of different builds of control over the past few days and this low to the ground version with Lurrus of the Dream-Den has definitely felt the best of them. I think Orcish Bowmasters is potentially the best card in the format right now while everyone is running Brainstorm and so I very quickly pivoted from Azorius to Esper which also gives you access to Fatal Push and Sauron's Ransom that have both been great.
The thing I really like about this build is how low to the ground it is – Timeless as a format is incredibly efficient and so as a reactive deck, you really need your answers to be cheap so you don’t fall behind on tempo early on, and then you can start trading up on mana as the game goes on.
Because of this I think you really need to have eight 1 mana removal spells to answer cards like Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Dragon's Rage Channeler, Delighted Halfling, Deathrite Shaman etc. even on the draw before they start snowballing the game.
Then you have a variety of very powerful counterspells in Counterspell, Memory Lapse, and Archmage's Charm that cement your midgame and give you a great matchup against the decks that are trying to go slightly bigger than you, and then good ways to refuel in Brainstorm, Sauron's Ransom, and the draw 2 mode off Archmage's Charm to ensure that you don’t run out of answers and you end up ahead on card advantage.
Additionally you have Snapcaster Mage which is very strong here because of how cheap all of your instants are, and when paired with Orcish Bowmasters you can also use it to start closing games out earlier which is something I felt was missing with other versions I tried that were trying to go a bit bigger, since I would sometimes run into issues against creature lands, Field of the Dead, or the opponent drawing well if I gave them too much time.
Finally you also get access to Lurrus of the Dream-Den as another extra resource to ensure you end up ahead on card advantage, and this can completely dominate the game if left unanswered since using it to recast Orcish Bowmasters or Snapcaster Mage each turn can get you out of most situations even if you’re behind. Overall I’m a fan of this list and the nice thing here is that it should be very flexible to changes in the meta since you have a very nice variety of interactive options in Esper colors.
Rakdos Lurrus Midrange
Rakdos Lurrus Midrange
by Altheriax
Timeless
best of 3
8 mythic
38 rare
12 uncommon
2 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Companion
Creatures (20)
Artifacts (4)
Lands (20)
60 Cards
$890.96
Sideboard
15 Cards
$35.75
Finally we have a Rakdos midrange list that has unsurprisingly been performing well. This deck gets to utilize some of the most busted cards we get access to in Timeless like Deathrite Shaman, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Mishra's Bauble, Lightning Bolt, and unnerfed Orcish Bowmasters and Dragon's Rage Channeler.
These are some of the strongest standalone threats in the format that really allow you to pull ahead once you’ve slowed the opponent down after interacting with them in the early turns. To that end it can play the tempo role fairly well whilst still being a midrange deck at its core, which is important to be able to do especially since we’ve seen a rise in other midrange decks that go bigger than you such as Oko, Thief of Crowns midrange decks and Field of the Dead ramp decks, so having a fast clock feels even more valuable.
The discard spells pull a lot of weight here enabling you to either shut off the opponent’s proactive strategy, or get rid of their interaction to allow your snowbally threats take over the game. I also think this is one of the best Lurrus of the Dream-Den decks in the format since it has so many good targets to replay such as Mishra's Bauble, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, and Orcish Bowmasters.
As usual with midrange decks, a lot of the strength comes from the sideboard allowing you to pivot depending on the matchup, and Dreadhorde Arcanist specifically really helps you maximize this by letting you recast sideboard cards like Unholy Heat and Duress in matchups where they’re particularly good.
Finally another massive card in the sideboard is Blood Moon that really helps to improve matchups against the aforementioned decks that typically go bigger than you and are otherwise tricky matchups like Field of the Dead, and the 3-5 color midrange decks running cards like Omnath, Locus of Creation and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath which are almost impossible to outgrind.
Getting Blood Moon in play against those decks often just wins you the game immediately, and while you do have to give up Lurrus of the Dream-Den in order to bring it in, it’s absolutely felt worth it in the matchups where its good.
Decks From Other Players
There have also been a lot of lists posted on Twitter recently and I wanted to highlight a few that have looked promising to me.
Sultai Midrange by Crokeyz
Sultai Midrange by Crokeyz
by Vertyx
Timeless
best of 3
5 mythic
37 rare
7 uncommon
11 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Companion
Planeswalkers (4)
Creatures (13)
Instants (15)
Artifacts (4)
Lands (19)
60 Cards
$841.92
Sideboard
15 Cards
$153.91
This is a midrange deck that is basically an amalgamation of some of the most broken and previously banned cards we’ve seen on Arena such as Oko, Thief of Crowns and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath which this list runs instead of Lurrus of the Dream-Den.
Sultai is definitely a strong color combination in Timeless with green giving you access to the aforementioned broken 3 drops as well as ramp to accelerate into them like Delighted Halfling and Deathrite Shaman, blue gives you access to counterspells, as well as card advantage tools like Brainstorm and Treasure Cruise, and black gives you access to a variety of solid interaction too. Overall this deck looks very well balanced with good tools to fight most matchups.
Simic Titan Field Ramp by Xioshiva
Simic Titan Field Ramp by Xioshiva
by Altheriax
Timeless
best of 3
20 mythic
20 rare
12 uncommon
8 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (1)
Creatures (18)
Instants (4)
Artifacts (4)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (26)
60 Cards
$803.3
Sideboard
15 Cards
$244.65
This is a ramp deck looking to use Primeval Titan to get Field of the Dead online ahead of curve and swarm the battlefield with 2/2 zombies that are great at both closing out the game, and blocking to stabilize.
Traditionally Field of the Dead has been a tool that gives you inevitability in longer games which usually results in good matchups against both midrange and control, but this list is capable of swarming the board earlier than usual with combo burst turns thanks to Spelunking.
If you have Spelunking in play before you resolve Primeval Titan, the lands you fetch will enter the battlefield untapped meaning that you can fetch a Hanweir Battlements and a red source to give Primeval Titan haste and immediately fetch another two lands leading to a big swarm of Field of the Dead tokens. This is big because it gives the deck potential for a faster clock which improves your matchups against the faster decks in the format which were previously your toughest matchups.
The list also takes advantage of the relatively new Sunken Citadel which works very well alongside Castle Garenbrig enabling you to cast Primeval Titan off 4 lands which is another way you can really increase the speed of the deck.
While I was initially hesitant at how good Field of the Dead would be in Timeless because it’s usually quite slow, this list does a lot of things to help remedy that while still retaining that very strong inevitability against the slower decks in the format.
Rakdos Necropotence by dark jialiang
Rakdos Necropotence by dark jialiang
by Vertyx
Timeless
best of 1
6 mythic
37 rare
9 uncommon
8 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (15)
Artifacts (4)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (20)
60 Cards
$823.68
Sideboard
15 Cards
$60.05
One of the most powerful cards that we get access to in Timeless is Necropotence which is incredibly strong both when used fairly, and as a combo piece too, and we can cast it as early as turn 1 in Timeless thanks to another busted card in Dark Ritual.
This deck uses it in a more fair way as a consistent source of card advantage, although it does have combo synergies with Laelia, the Blade Reforged since you can buff its power at instant speed with each activation of Necropotence often allowing you to achieve lethal damage if it’s left unblocked.
As mentioned above, Rakdos colors have incredibly good midrange tools and this list takes advantage of that in terms of both its interaction such as Fatal Push and Lightning Bolt, and creatures such as Deathrite Shaman and Orcish Bowmasters, and combining those with the sheer card advantage Necropotence can provide makes for a deck that is tricky to beat, especially because of its potential for fast starts off the back of Dark Ritual.
While I do think you need a very good reason to not run Lurrus of the Dream-Den, Necropotence definitely fits the bill as a card that’s potentially worth losing the companion for, especially when you can cast it on turn 1.
Conclusion
So those are the decks that are early frontrunners in the format for me, and while I’m sure more lists will arise over the next few weeks, I expect these archetypes to stick around since they all have very strong cores. Either way I’ve been having so much fun playing Timeless, and the gameplay has been really interesting and something I’ve not experienced on Arena before with a lot of complex decisions that I feel are already making me a better player.
Even though the format is largely centered around a handful of incredibly powerful cards, there still feels like there’s a lot of options in terms of deckbuilding, and I’ve already got a long list of ideas I’ve not gotten round to trying yet so I’ll be brewing a lot over the next few weeks and should hopefully have some more guides to bring you soon. Thanks a lot for reading!
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Altheriax
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