Table of Contents
Introduction
Discover the best Magic: The Gathering Arena Timeless decks and archetypes that the players are using to climb the ranked ladder and win tournaments. Our MTG Arena Best of Three (Bo3) Timeless Meta Tier List regularly reviews and ranks the top decks in the format, carefully curated by our expert Altheriax. We also follow up our choices based on a variety of factors and sources, with a comprehensive analysis of the data available.
Meta Overview and Changes
Our new Meta Report which goes over all of the new changes such as new archetypes, changes to pre-existing lists, and any other changes to the format as a whole since the last update!
Timeless Best of Three (Bo3) Meta Tier List
| Tier | Deck Name | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Sultai Show and Tell | |
| Tier 1 | Domain Zoo | |
| Tier 1 | Jund Midrange | |
| Tier 1 | Sultai Yawgmoth | |
| Tier 2 | Selesnya Titan | Guide ⭐ |
| Tier 2 | Mono Black Vampires | Guide ⭐ |
| Tier 2 | Naya Winota | Guide ⭐ |
| Tier 2 | Grixis Breach | |
| Tier 2 | Sultai Midrange | |
| Tier 2 | Grixis Shadow | |
| Tier 2 | Rakdos Burn | |
| Tier 2 | Dimir Control | |
| Tier 2 | Rakdos Midrange | |
| Tier 3 | 5 Color Creativity | |
| Tier 3 | Izzet Phoenix | |
| Tier 3 | Mono Black Devotion | |
| Tier 3 | Golgari Belcher |
Tier 1 Decks
Sultai Show and Tell
Sultai Show and Tell by Omri
by Altheriax
Timeless
best of 3
16 mythic
24 rare
5 uncommon
15 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (4)
Instants (15)
Sorceries (17)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (20)
60 Cards
$774.69
Sideboard
15 Cards
$52.15
This is a combo deck built heavily around Show and Tell that is looking to use it to cheat either Omniscience or Atraxa, Grand Unifier into play as early as turn 2. Omniscience is generally the stronger of the two enabling you to cast all of your spells for free, and with a lot of card selection and digging spells you can find your 1 of Mastermind's Acquisition very consistently to fetch Approach of the Second Sun as your win condition.
Since this archetype has been in the format for a little while now, a lot of other lists have been adapting with a variety of hate cards and so being able to win at instant speed via Borne Upon a Wind is very important as to not get blown out by permanents with enter the battlefield abilities such as Reclamation Sage and Agent of Treachery since you can cast Borne Upon a Wind in response and win before the ETB trigger resolves, or use your instant speed card draw spells such as Dig Through Time and Brainstorm to find Borne Upon a Wind and win from there.
Additionally Borne Upon a Wind is one of the most important cards in the mirror, and it enables you to cast cards like Brainstorm and Lórien Revealed into Orcish Bowmasters without dying since you can win with all of the Bowmasters triggers still on the stack.
There are other hate cards that are harder to play through though even with Borne Upon a Wind such as Roiling Vortex, Rule of Law, and Boromir, Warden of the Tower for example, but you do have outs to these, and none of them (outside of Roiling Vortex to an extent) are particularly good against Atraxa, Grand Unifier.
Speaking of which, running Atraxa, Grand Unifier alongside Omniscience provides you with more redundancy for your combo which enables you to use Show and Tell early more consistently, the 7/7 body with flying, deathtouch, lifelink, and vigilance can often win the game on its own and if it doesn’t, the ability to refuel your hand either pulls you ahead on card advantage, or can set up another Show and Tell the following turn.
Finally, as previously mentioned a lot of the hate cards that are effective against Omniscience aren’t very effective against Atraxa, Grand Unifier and vica versa making it difficult for the opponent to shut off your combo consistently, even if they draw their sideboard hate. The rest of the deck is largely comprised of ways to dig for the combo quickly such as Brainstorm, Assemble the Team and Dig Through Time, and Thoughtseize which provides early disruption, and can pre-emptively get rid of a high impact permanent the opponent might be holding onto to cheat into play off Show and Tell.
Weaknesses: As the deck that definitely has the biggest target on its back right now, it’s expected that a lot of lists will be running hate cards against you. Again you do have counterplay to these, especially with Borne Upon a Wind, Thoughtseize and the split of Omniscience and Atraxa, Grand Unifier but sometimes you won’t have the answer.
Additionally both discard spells and counterspells are very effective ways of keeping you off your combo plan which a lot of decks can run either in the maindeck or sideboard – you do have counterplay here too in the form of Veil of Summer and Leyline of Sanctity but you won’t always have them.
Overall the worst matchups for Show and Tell are decks that pack hate cards, discard spells, or counterspells alongside a fast clock such as Domain Zoo, Grixis Tempo, or Naya Winota.
When is it good to play? The raw power level of this deck is so high that I think it will be a good choice as long as the format isn’t completely warped around trying to beat you, or primarily comprised of decks that pair hate cards or cheap discard and counters with a fast clock.
Domain Zoo
Domain Zoo by Delmo
by Altheriax
Timeless
best of 3
6 mythic
31 rare
13 uncommon
10 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (21)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (21)
60 Cards
$853.22
Sideboard
15 Cards
$35.25
This is probably the best aggressive deck in the format right now, which has incredibly efficient creatures and removal, and can force through a lot of damage very quickly.
Wild Nacatl, Territorial Kavu, and Nishoba Brawler all represent incredibly good stats for their mana cost assuming you can get domain online early (which is very easy due to your fetch lands), and Territorial Kavu and Nishoba Brawler specifically are very important creatures since they turn on ferocious for Stubborn Denial making it a 1 mana hard counterspell which is very strong in any matchup, but particularly good against combo, ramp, and control.
The deck also has very efficient interaction outside of that like Leyline Binding, plus Lightning Bolt and Tribal Flames which both give you great reach too allowing you to close out games even if your creatures are answered. On top of that you also get access to some of the most generically powerful cards in the format like Deathrite Shaman, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, and Orcish Bowmasters, and a big selection of sideboard cards since you’re already in 5 colors.
Weaknesses: As a 5 color deck you’re naturally very soft to Blood Moon – you do have counterplay in the form of Leyline Binding, Stubborn Denial, and cards like Erase post-sideboard, but if the opponent can resolve it and you don’t have your relevant basics fetched, it can often lock you out of the game.
Additionally Titan can be a tricky matchup if you don’t get Stubborn Denial online quickly or find your sideboard cards like Strict Proctor, and decks with a lot of removal can slow you down a lot too.
When is it good to play? Zoo will generally be a good choice as long as Blood Moon isn’t very popular.
Jund Midrange
Jund Midrange
by Altheriax
Timeless
best of 3
9 mythic
40 rare
6 uncommon
5 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Companion
Planeswalkers (2)
Creatures (15)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (23)
60 Cards
$885.29
Sideboard
15 Cards
$57.21
This is a traditional midrange list that’s running some of the most efficient interaction and generically powerful threats in the format, and is hoping to trade one for one with the opponent via discard spells and removal, and then leverage its snowbally threats to shut the opponent out of the game before they can draw an out. One of the big advantages of being a low synergy deck is that you can pivot a lot more effectively depending on the matchup meaning you generally have much better post-sideboard games than the more linear decks in the format.
This list runs the very powerful rakdos interaction that we’ve seen in a lot of midrange lists in the form of discard spells (which are good across the board but particularly effective against combo and control), and creature removal like Fatal Push and Lightning Bolt that slows down the opponent’s starts and gives you a way to play the control role against aggro decks.
The green splash here is predominantly to give you ways to apply pressure and start closing the game out faster in the form of Tarmogoyf and Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes which really apply pressure once you have a foothold in the game, and makes it much harder for the opponent to win from behind. You also get nice card advantage tools in the form of Perilous Iteration and Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion (where straight Rakdos is reliant on more expensive engines like The One Ring), and sideboard cards like
Even though you’re a 3 color deck, you’re still capable of running Blood Moon which is really important against Titan and other multicolored decks that are more greedy with their manabase, and can often go over the top of you.
Weaknesses: Even with maindeck Blood Moon, Titan is a difficult matchup especially if their build is resilient to it (although running Tarmogoyf and Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes do help). There are also a number of other midrange decks that can go bigger than you such as Sultai, and 4/5 color Omnath, Locus of Creation decks, although Blood Moon also helps there too.
Additionally you struggle with the traditional midrange issues where you need to have the right early interaction for your fair gameplan to be effective which won’t always happen, and sideboard space is always tight meaning that you can struggle against an unexpected deck if you’re not prepared for it with your sideboard.
When is it good to play? Jund midrange is very versatile and generically powerful so it should remain a good choice as long as you have a good read on the metagame and tweak your list accordingly.
Sultai Yawgmoth
Sultai Yawgmoth by Käpälä
by Altheriax
Timeless
best of 3
10 mythic
37 rare
5 uncommon
8 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (28)
Lands (20)
60 Cards
$1009.72
Sideboard
15 Cards
$78.03
This is a creature-based combo deck that has two angles of attack. You have the regular Yawgmoth, Thran Physician combo which can draw infinite cards when combined with Prosperous Innkeeper, and either 2 Young Wolf or a Young Wolf and a Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons, and can deal infinite damage if you replace Prosperous Innkeeper with a drain effect like Blood Artist.
Then on top of that you also have Natural Order which can either put a Craterhoof Behemoth into play, often immediately ending the game since the deck has a lot of cheap creatures and can therefore go wide very fast, or an Atraxa, Grand Unifier which can refuel your hand and then start applying pressure and gaining you life if you’re lighter on resources.
Between 4 Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, 4 Natural Order 4 Chord of Calling, 4 Once Upon a Time, and Demonic Tutor you have a lot of redundancy for assembling your top end, and a lot of these cards require very different answer which makes the deck hard to shut down since it attacks from a number of angles.
Chord of Calling also enables you to run silver bullets for specific scenarios such as Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons and Blood Artist game 1, and Haywire Mite, Phyrexian Revoker, Scavenging Ooze and Tishana's Tidebinder post-sideboard which frees up a lot of sideboard space for other cards. Overall the deck is very resilient, can go over the top of most midrange decks, and has a great matchup against Titan.
Weaknesses: Unless you have a Delighted Halfling counterspells can be an issue for this build since they answer Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and trade very favorably with Natural Order. Additionally decks like control that are good at keeping your creatures off the board make both Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and Natural Order into Craterhoof Behemoth much less effective – Natural Order into Atraxa, Grand Unifier is good in these kind of spots but control decks with counterspells can shut that off too.
Additionally there are hate cards that can shut off your combos – Grafdigger's Cage specifically is very good against you since it stops the Yawgmoth, Thran Physician combo, Chord of Calling, and Natural Order.
When is it good to play? This is a great choice assuming control isn’t very popular, and Grafdigger's Cage isn’t seeing a lot of play in sideboards.
Tier 2 Decks
Selesnya Titan
Selesnya Titan
by Altheriax
Timeless
best of 3
14 mythic
28 rare
5 uncommon
9 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (15)
Lands (29)
60 Cards
$589.91
15 Cards
$75.35
This is a ramp deck that is looking to get Primeval Titan into play on turn 3 or 4 to get Field of the Dead online which gives you incredible inevitability against any fair deck.
This deck is built to maximize consistency of fast Primeval Titan starts with Natural Order and Sunken Citadel + Castle Garenbrig enabling you to get it out on turn 4, or turn 3 if you can accelerate off Arboreal Grazer or Kami of Bamboo Groves, and has a lot of redundancy with Sylvan Scrying and Archdruid's Charm helping to find Sunken Citadel or Castle Garenbrig depending on which one you’re missing (as well as providing access to a selection of silver bullet lands which you can also fetch with Primeval Titan), Archdruid's Charm helping you find Primeval Titan, and Once Upon a Time helping you find any other missing pieces.
This list is also very resilient to Blood Moon (which is one of the few ways the fair decks can beat you) with multiple ways to access to basics (off 6 fetch lands and Kami of Bamboo Groves), Natural Order finding Titan of Industry, Sylvan Scrying finding Boseiju, Who Endures, and Archdruid's Charm, as well as Get Lost post-sideboard.
Combo is definitely your trickiest matchup but you have nice sideboard options that can shut their combos off such as Grafdigger's Cage, Rule of Law, and Veil of Summer to help improve those matchups post-sideboard, and your matchup against almost all of the fair decks is very good, which accounts for a big portion of the metagame right now.
Weaknesses: Fast combo decks are by far your biggest weakness, and even though you do have more counterplay post-sideboard with your hate pieces, they’re still unfavored matchups. Additionally there are other hate cards that fair decks can bring in against you outside of Blood Moon which can pose an issue such as Strict Proctor, Ashiok, Dream Render, and Virulent Plague, although you do have Get Lost in the sideboard as answers to all of these.
When is it good to play? This is an excellent choice as long as fair decks are popular and fast linear combo decks aren’t.
Mono Black Vampires
Mono Black Necro Vampires
by Altheriax
Timeless
best of 3
12 mythic
32 rare
5 uncommon
11 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (4)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (20)
60 Cards
$723.74
Sideboard
15 Cards
$29.21
This is a midrange deck that has access to some incredibly fast starts thanks to Dark Ritual which enables you to cast both Necropotence and Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord into Vein Ripper on turn 1. There’s a lot of nice crossover synergy between your two top end gameplans as well since both Vein Ripper and Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord are nice at buffering your life total allowing for more Necropotence activations.
This particular build also has a lot of cards that really increase your range of keepable hands (which helps to fix the typical issue of Dark Ritual Necropotence decks which often have to mulligan a lot) such as Deathrite Shaman which enables you to cast your 3 drops ahead of curve without being reliant on Dark Ritual, and Preacher of the Schism which makes Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord live without Vein Ripper and provides you with another powerful turn 1 play via Dark Ritual.
The deck also runs a lot of cheap interaction including discard spells like Inquisition of Kozilek and Break Expectations which are useful across the board but are particularly important against combo and control (Thoughtseize isn’t run here since the life loss is a really big drawback when you’re running Necropotence, especially because you want to be running it in high numbers), and cheap interaction like Fatal Push and March of Wretched Sorrow (which is one of the best cards alongside Necropotence since it allows you to overdraw with Necropotence, then exile excess black cards durin your end step to kill the opponent’s biggest threat, sculpt your hand, and then gain a bunch of life to fuel Necropotence) which are really important at slowing down the fast creature decks, and enables the passive abilities on Vein Ripper.
Then post-sideboard you have really strong hate cards against a lot of the top decks that are capable of going over the top of you such as Roiling Vortex against Show and Tell, Grafdigger's Cage against Yawgmoth and Winota, and Ashiok, Dream Renderand Virulent Plague against Titan, all of which you can find fairly consistently off Necropotence since they’re run in high numbers.
Weaknesses: You are very reliant on resolving your powerful 3 mana spells which can leave you vulnerable to counterspells – you do have discard spells which help but against very counterspell heavy decks like control this may still not be good enough but thankfully pure control isn’t that popular currently.
Pithing Needle is also a card that can cause problems for this deck since it can shut off both Necropotence and Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord, however having two powerful activated abilities does mean that the opponent often has to guess and can only shut off one of the two. The deck is also quite tricky to play, especially in terms of your mulligan decisions and Necropotence activations etc.
Finally you’re generally unfavored against Show and Tell game 1 – the matchup improves significantly post-sideboard meaning you’re the favorite in games 2 and 3 but you do usually rely on winning both sideboard games which obviously won’t always happen.
When is it good to play? This is generally a good choice as long as pure control isn’t that popular, and Pithing Needle isn’t seeing play in high numbers out of the sideboard.
Naya Winota
Naya Winota
by Altheriax
Timeless
best of 3
10 mythic
32 rare
7 uncommon
11 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (28)
Instants (4)
Sorceries (4)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$666.42
Sideboard
15 Cards
$35.31
This is a deck that has two angles of attack in Natural Order and Winota, Joiner of Forces. This list can very consistently cast both of these on turn 3, and there’s a lot of cross synergy between both gameplans like them both requiring similar set up which cards like Arboreal Grazer, Kami of Bamboo Groves and Khalni Garden provides.
Additionally using Natural Order to cheat in Atraxa, Grand Unifierwhich can find Winota, Joiner of Forces and trigger it the following turn, potentially cheating Agent of Treachery is a line that comes up frequently and can be initiated off a single Natural Order, and using Natural Order to cheat in Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant can then cheat Agent of Treachery or other Natural Order targets that you’ve drawn into play, mitigating the drawback of running these expensive often uncastable creatures.
Similarly Grizzled Huntmaster is great here at allowing you to exile any of the aforementioned expensive creatures or unneeded mana dorks and turn them into Winota, Joiner of Forces or a relevant hate card for the matchup which further mitigates the weakness of running those cards.
Boromir, Warden of the Tower is mainly here as a tech against Show and Tell since it’s great against Omniscience, and this list can put it into hand very consistently due to Grizzled Huntmaster, which alongside Agent of Treachery gives you very consistent counterplay and gives you one of the best Show and Tell matchups of any deck in the format.
Finally Once Upon a Time rounds out the deck nicely, providing you with more consistent access to extra lands to ensure you can consistently benefit from the ramp off Arboreal Grazer and Kami of Bamboo Groves, whilst also being able to dig for a creature if you already have enough lands which really increases consistency.
Weaknesses: Grafdigger's Cage and Weathered Runestone shut off both Natural Order and Winota, Joiner of Forces which is a big problem – you do have Haywire Mite which is tutorable with Grizzled Huntmaster as well as Boseiju, Who Endures, but if you don’t have access to either of those it’s very difficult to win. Additionally counterspells can be difficult to play through since both of your key cards are 4 mana sorcery speed cards – Voice of Resurgence helps post-sideboard but tempo decks that run counterspells backed up by a fast clock can be difficult to beat.
When is it good to play? This is generally a good choice as long as hate cards like Grafdigger's Cage isn’t seeing play in high numbers, and tempo decks with counterspells capable of stopping both Natural Order and Winota, Joiner of Forces aren’t a big portion of the metagame, especially if Show and Tell remains popular since that’s one of your best matchups.
Grixis Breach
Grixis Breach by Omri
by Altheriax
Timeless
best of 1
4 mythic
35 rare
14 uncommon
7 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Companion
Creatures (15)
Sorceries (12)
Artifacts (4)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (20)
60 Cards
$877.38
Sideboard
15 Cards
$55.91
This is a combo-midrange deck that is capable of storming off with Underworld Breach to win with Tendrils of Agony, but also has a decent fair backup gameplan off the back of cards like Dragon's Rage Channeler and Orcish Bowmasters, and cheap interaction like Thoughtseize and Fatal Push.
For the combo side of the deck, you have a number of efficient ways to fill the graveyard to fuel Underworld Breach like Stitcher's Supplier, Dragon's Rage Channeler, Mishra's Bauble, and fetch lands, and then you rely on Dark Ritual in order to produce the mana to storm off which you can find off tutor effects like Demonic Tutor and Diabolic Intent so there’s a good amount of redundancy for assembling your combo pieces.
Additionally having tutors in the maindeck enables you to consistently find silver bullets from your sideboard without having to run them in high numbers such as Feed the Swarm to answer problematic enchantments like Rest in Peace, and Tormod's Crypt to combat opposing graveyard decks.
The real strength of this deck is that it isn’t one dimensional, and having a fair midrange plan B means that combo hate cards only slow you down, and don’t shut you out of the game entirely which makes the deck very resilient and difficult to shut off both angles of attack, since if the opponent is very focused on shutting off Underworld Breach, they leave themselves vulnerable to getting beaten down by Dragon's Rage Channeler and Orcish Bowmasters instead.
Weaknesses: The combo side of the deck is vulnerable to both graveyard hate (especially Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void), and storm hate cards such as Damping Sphere and Deafening Silence, so if the opponent is able to get one of these down early, you’re either forced to beat them with your midrange gameplan (which sometimes won’t be enough), or dig for an answer to the hate cards which slows you down quite a lot.
Additionally more focused combo decks that are capable of assembling their combo faster than you can be an issue although you do have Thoughtseize as a way to disrupt so this is less of an issue.
When is it good to play? This will be a good choice into most metagames as it’s fairly resilient and has good tools to fight most matchups.
Sultai Midrange
Sultai Midrange
by Altheriax
Timeless
best of 3
15 mythic
35 rare
1 uncommon
9 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (4)
Creatures (15)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$1024.38
Sideboard
15 Cards
$25.71
This is another strong midrange deck that gets access to some of the most efficient interaction and proactive threats in the format. Being Sultai instead of Rakdos or Jund gives you access to acceleration in the form of Deathrite Shaman and Delighted Halfling which can ramp into one of the best midrange cards in the whole format in Oko, Thief of Crowns, as well as counterspells like Spell Pierce, and incredible card advantage tools like Brainstorm, and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath.
This deck also runs Natural Order as a haymaker card which gives the deck a combo-esque burst with both Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Koma, Cosmos Serpent being high impact targets that can often solo the game on their own. Additionally you get a great selection of sideboard cards like Ashiok, Dream Render which is really strong against a number of decks, Veil of Summer for counterspell and discard decks, and your own discard spells and cheap counterspells for control and combo etc.
Weaknesses: Whilst Sultai is one of the best ‘fair’ decks in the format and you do have tools to beat combo decks like Show and Tell, that matchup can be difficult especially game 1 where you have access to less disruption. You can alter the maindeck to have more tools for the Show and Tell matchup but that will make you weaker elsewhere.
Additionally, the Titan matchup can be difficult if you don’t find an early Ashiok, Dream Render or Disdainful Stroke, and tempo decks with cheap counterspells like Spell Pierce can be tricky to play through if you’re reliant on Natural Order or Oko, Theif of Crowns (assuming you don’t have Delighted Halfling).
When is it good to play? Sultai is a one of the best ‘fair’ decks in the format but is in somewhat of a dilemma where Show and Tell can be a tricky matchup if your interaction doesn’t line up well, but if you make the list more teched for the Show and Tell matchup you lose equity elsewhere, so this will generally be a good choice as long as you have a decent understanding of the popularity of Show and Tell relative to other archetypes and tweak your list accordingly.
Grixis Shadow
Grixis Shadow
by Altheriax
Timeless
best of 3
6 mythic
35 rare
14 uncommon
5 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Companion
Creatures (24)
Artifacts (4)
Lands (18)
60 Cards
$788.9
Sideboard
15 Cards
$26.23
This is similar to other black midrange decks I’ve discussed, but this version also runs Death's Shadow as an incredibly strong 1 drop that is enabled by the fetch + shock land manabase, and is in blue as well which helps it to pivot into more of a tempo deck in matchups where cheap counterspells are good.
Death's Shadow is a very scary threat to deal with if you don’t immediately have a Fatal Push or Swords to Plowshares since it can grow at instant speed thanks to fetch lands, and it can also force through an absurd amount of damage when paired with Inti, Seneschal of the Sun.
It gets access to the great red and black midrange tools that other lists are running such as Deathrite Shaman, Orcish Bowmasters, Lightning Bolt, and Thoughtseize etc. and blue gives you access to excellent card advantage in the form of Treasure Cruise which allows you to grind into longer games, and cheap counterspells in the form of Stubborn Denial and Aether Gust that help slow the opponent down and enable your tempo gameplan.
Weaknesses: While this list does have slightly better tools to deal with the Titan deck than some other midrange decks due to counterspells and big creatures which you can give trample, game 1 is still difficult and post-sideboard is tricky too if you don’t draw your sideboard bullets. Additionally bigger midrange decks like Sultai and 4/5 color are really tricky matchups since they have very clean answers for your creatures and tend to go over the top of you as the game goes long.
When is it good to play? Grixis Shadow is a good choice for a midrange deck if you want to prey on decks that struggle against tempo such as control and combo, but is weaker if bigger midrange decks like Sultai and 4/5 color are popular.
Rakdos Burn
Rakdos Burn
by Altheriax
Timeless
best of 3
1 mythic
26 rare
27 uncommon
6 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Companion
Creatures (16)
Instants (4)
Lands (20)
60 Cards
$534.02
Sideboard
15 Cards
$55.69
This is a deck that is looking to punish people for dealing damage to themselves with fetch and shock lands with a bunch of cheap aggressive creatures and burn spells to burn the opponent out.
The creatures in this list are all very efficient and good at forcing through damage over the course of multiple turns which should hopefully put the opponent within range that you can finish them off with your burn spells, and with Lightning Bolt being in the format you have a pretty high density of efficient burn spells which gives you great reach to close out games even if the opponent can keep your creatures off the board.
Moving into black also gives you access to Lurrus of the Dream-Den as a great mana sink if you run out of resources, Bump in the Night as another efficient source of direct damage, and Orcish Bowmasters which is one of the best cards in the format and is great at dealing chip damage which plays well with your overall gameplan. The filtering from Dragon's Rage Channeler and card advantage off Light Up the Stage also help you to not run out of gas, but having access to Lurrus of the Dream-Den gives the deck a failsafe even if you do.
Weaknesses: A number of top decks are already running incidental lifegain which is really helpful at stabilizing against you – Deathrite Shaman, Oko, Thief of Crowns, Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, and Omnath, Locus of Creation all see play in midrange strategies, Titan runs Westvale Abbey and Titan of Industry, Yawgmoth runs Prosperous Innkeeper, and Natural Order and Show and Tell decks run Atraxa, Grand Unifier which often makes it very difficult to force through enough damage.
Additionally there are a number of creatures that see play that are very good at blocking and also have high toughness making them difficult to answer with regular burn spells like Territorial Kavu, Tarmogoyf and Death's Shadow which can often buy the opponent enough time to stabilize.
When is it good to play? This is generally a good choice as long as incidental lifegain and bigger creatures aren’t seeing much play.
Dimir Control
Dimir Control by Mystmin
by Altheriax
Timeless
best of 3
3 mythic
32 rare
10 uncommon
15 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (4)
Instants (28)
Artifacts (4)
Lands (21)
60 Cards
$594.59
Sideboard
14 Cards
$82.37
This is a traditional control deck running a lot of cheap efficient removal and counterspells to stabilize against the opponent, good card advantage tools to pull away in the mid-lategame, and then closes out the game with Orcish Bowmasters and Lurrus of the Dream-Den.
With the format being so fast and efficient, it’s very important to maximize the amount of early interaction you have to maximize your chances of stabilizing, and so I like this very low to the ground build by that is almost entirely interaction and card advantage with your win condition in Orcish Bowmasters also doubling up as interaction.
There are some more expensive top end cards you could consider such as The One Ring, Narset, Parter of Veils, and both the 3 and 5 mana Teferis, but I feel tapping out as the control deck is incredibly risky against a lot of decks in the format, and Teferi, Hero of Dominaria has felt a little too slow to me, so I think keeping the deck low to the ground maximizes your chances of making it out of the early game which is the most important thing for a control deck.
Dimir gives you access to some of the most efficient interaction in the format such as Fatal Push, Counterspell, Drown in the Loch (which is much better in Timeless due to fetchlands), and Orcish Bowmasters which is not only a win condition that doubles up as removal, but is the best answer to opposing Orcish Bowmasters which is typically a very strong card against control.
Weaknesses: Discard spells like Thoughtseize and cheaper counterspells like Spell Pierce can be issues for control and can lead to the opponent forcing through problematic theats that you struggle to answer. Additionally Delighted Halfling and Cavern of Souls can bypass your counterspells if you don’t have an immediate answer, Veil of Summer and uncounterable threats like Thrun, Breaker of Silence are also a very strong sideboards card against you too, and Field of the Dead can pose problems in longer games as well.
When is it good to play? Dimir control is generally a good choice if tempo decks aren’t very popular, and you have a good read on the metagame and tweak your interaction accordingly, especially if people aren’t prepared in their sideboards.
Rakdos Midrange
Rakdos Midrange by Mystmin
by Altheriax
Timeless
best of 3
13 mythic
33 rare
6 uncommon
8 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (11)
Artifacts (4)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$1279.14
Sideboard
15 Cards
$40.37
This is a fair midrange deck that utilizes some of the most efficient threats and removal available in the format like Deathrite Shaman, Orcish Bowmasters, and Lightning Bolt.
There are a huge variety of color combinations and ways you can build midrange within these color combinations (including lower the ground Lurrus of the Dream-Den variants which are another solid way to build it), but I prefer this slightly bigger list by Mystmin because I think Blood Moon and The One Ring give you the best tools to fight your tougher matchups like Titan, and the ability to go over the top of other midrange decks too which still account for a big portion of the metagame.
The quality of interaction and efficiency of threats in Rakdos colors is great with early disruption like Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, and Lightning Bolt giving you early ways to slow the opponent down, and then threats like Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse tend to snowball the game in your favor if you can protect them. You then have a great selection of sideboard cards to be able to pivot depending on the matchup.
Maindeck Blood Moon (which you can cast on turn 2 off Deathrite Shaman) isn’t a necessity but it does allow you to potentially steal games against Titan and other midrange decks with greedier manabases, both of which tend to go over the top of you.
Speaking of which The One Ring also gives this version of the deck a much stronger mid-lategame which further improves those matchups, although I still think Lurrus of the Dream-Den variants are a strong way to build the deck.
Weaknesses: Even with maindeck Blood Moon, Titan is a difficult matchup especially if their build is resilient to it. Additionally there are a number of other midrange decks that can go bigger than you such as Sultai (especially since Oko, Thief of Crowns can elk your The One Ring), and 4/5 color Omnath, Locus of Creation decks, although Blood Moon also helps there too.
Additionally Rakdos generally closes games out slower than Jund which makes it weaker to decks that tend to go over the top such as Titan, as well as giving combo decks like Show and Tell more time to find an out or assemble its combo. Overall I’ve found Rakdos to be the slightly slower deck of the two which makes a big difference against a lot of the top decks right now.
When is it good to play? This sort of midrange deck will usually be a good choice as long as Titan isn’t the most popular deck, and you have a good read on the meta to tweak your sideboard accordinly. RBx is also my preferred midrange color combination of choice as long as Blood Moon is effective against your more difficult matchups.
Tier 3 Decks
5 Color Creativity
5 Color Creativity
by Altheriax
Timeless
best of 3
14 mythic
24 rare
10 uncommon
12 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (4)
Creatures (2)
Instants (18)
Sorceries (4)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$734.44
Sideboard
15 Cards
$42.15
This is a combo control deck that is looking to use interaction in the first few turns to slow the opponent down, and then use Indomitable Creativity on an artifact or creature token to cheat Atraxa, Grand Unifier into play to refuel and then close out the game.
The deck has a plethora of ways to produce tokens such as Oko, Thief of Crowns, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes and Dwarven Mine (which can be fetched into play off any red fetch land as early as turn 4) so Indomitable Creativity will almost always be live when you draw it.
The deck also has access to very efficient interaction such as Lightning Bolt, Swords to Plowshares, Leyline Binding, and Reprieve, and you have some strong standalone threats that give the deck a solid backup plan even if you can’t set up Indomitable Creativity like Oko, Thief of Crowns and Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes. Being in 5 colors also opens up a lot of potential options in the sideboard as well so the deck is pretty flexible to changes in the metagame.
Weaknesses: I think the core of the Indomitable Creativity deck is very strong but the payoffs aren’t amazing. Atraxa, Grand Unifier is obviously a very strong card but it is definitely beatable, especially if the opponent is on combo.
I think if we had free spells like Force of Negation to interact even if you tap out for Indomitable Creativity, or more high impact targets like Archon of Cruelty then the deck would be more viable but right now the only other alternatives are Serra's Emissary which isn’t very reliable, and x=2 combo targets which makes the deck a lot slower.
Additionally if you’re reliant on creature tokens in order to pull off Indomitable Creativity it can be easy for the opponent to fizzle it by holding open interaction, and you can vulnerable to Blood Moon as well.
When is it good to play? I think the deck is a decent choice as long as tempo decks and other fast combo decks aren’t that popular.
Izzet Phoenix
Izzet Phoenix
by Altheriax
Timeless
best of 3
4 mythic
18 rare
12 uncommon
26 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Companion
Instants (18)
Artifacts (4)
Lands (18)
60 Cards
$510.42
Sideboard
15 Cards
$44.37
This is a deck that is looking to chain multiple instants and sorceries together in order to bring Arclight Phoenix back from the graveyard either to apply pressure, or repeatedly block in order to stabilize.
This list has multiple ways of pitching Arclight Phoenix into the graveyard via Faithless Looting, Ledger Shredder, Lightning Axe, and flipping them from the deck to the graveyard off Dragon's Rage Channeler and Consider. This deck is incredibly fast and can fill the graveyard very quickly via fetch lands, cheap spells, and Dragon's Rage Channeler which also enables Treasure Cruise incredibly quickly meaning the deck has a lot of ways of grinding into longer games too.
Three other really big additions the deck gets in Timeless is Brainstorm which is great at helping you find what you need, fetchlands which are great alongside Brainstorm at shuffling back your worst two cards as well as enabling delirium faster for Dragon's Rage Channeler and Unholy Heat, and Mishra's Bauble which is great at triggering both Dragon's Rage Channeler and Ledger Shredder, and enabling delirium faster too.
Then post-sideboard you get access to some very nice tools such as Blood Moon which is solid against Titan and multicolored decks, Spell Pierce which is great against control and combo, and Roiling Vortex which is great against Show and Tell and slower decks like control. Overall this is one of the most generically powerful decks in a vacuum, and is one of the most high powered Arclight Phoenix decks we’ve seen in any format.
Weaknesses: By far the biggest issue for this deck is Orcish Bowmasters which massively punishes Brainstorm, Treasure Cruise, and Faithless Looting, and is one of the most commonly played cards in the format. This list is maindecking 8 removal spells in order to try and counteract that, but it’s still an issue since it means you’re never really happy using your removal on anything else or it may leave you open to getting punished by Orcish Bowmasters.
Additionally the deck is weak to graveyard hate especially enchantment-based graveyard hate since you have no answers to it once it’s resolved. Having said that you do still have Ledger Shredder and Roiling Vortex that can win you the game through graveyard hate so this is a bit less of an issue.
When is it good to play? Phoenix is generally a good choice as long as graveyard hate and fast combo decks aren’t popular, as long as you play around Orcish Bowmasters.
Mono Black Devotion
Mono Black Devotion by Elliot Dragon
by Altheriax
Timeless
best of 3
9 mythic
27 rare
10 uncommon
14 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (12)
Sorceries (1)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$648.9
Sideboard
15 Cards
$125.07
This is a deck largely built around Necropotence, Dark Ritual, and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx that is capable of some very fast snowbally starts. Necropotence is the centerpiece of the deck that you can play on turn 1 off Dark Ritual, can refuel your hand, and pairs incredibly well with cards that can gain you huge amounts of life such as March of Wretched Sorrow (which you can cast for a very high x value by exiling your excess black cards before discarding to hand size during your end step), and Gray Merchant of Asphodel.
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx enables you to get ahead on mana and ‘unlock’ your hand which you’ll often have full thanks to Necropotence, as well as giving you access to expensive artifacts which you can fetch off Karn, the Great Creator.
Additionally you get to run some very nice maindeck hate cards that fuel your devotion such as Leyline of the Void which is great against Breach and delirium decks, and Ashiok, Dream Render (which can be cast off Dark Ritual on turn 1) which is great against Titan, decks that use tutors such as Breach and Show and Tell, and also shuts down opponent’s fetch lands too. You also have Orcish Bowmasters which is a very generically powerful card, and Ashiok, Wicked Manipulator whose passive is incredibly strong alongside Necropotence.
Weaknesses: This list was very well positioned against a lot of the metagame prior to the release of MKM, but it doesn’t have great tools to beat Show and Tell consistently. There are some options in black such as discard spells but that then impacts the deck’s proactive gameplan so I’m not sure there’s an immediate solution without a major rework of the deck.
When is it good to play? This will generally be a good choice as long as Show and Tell isn’t a big part of the metagame.
Golgari Belcher
Golgari Belcher by Zac McLain
by Altheriax
Timeless
best of 3
12 mythic
15 rare
22 uncommon
11 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Sorceries (24)
Artifacts (19)
Enchantments (4)
60 Cards
$335.37
Sideboard
15 Cards
$93.05
This is an all-in linear combo deck that is trying to get Goblin Charbelcher into play and activate it as fast as possible in order to kill the opponent. This deck runs only the double-faced modal lands from Zendikar Rising which count as spells when they’re not on the battlefield meaning that Goblin Charbelcher will almost always be lethal unless the opponent is at a very high life total.
The main two ways you have of accelerating into Goblin Charbelcher is Dark Ritual and Channel with Channel being by far the more powerful of the two, although it is restricted meaning it’s more difficult to find. The deck does run a lot of tutor effects though in Demonic Tutor, Assemble the Team, and Wishclaw Talisman meaning it can find both Goblin Charbelcher and Channel relatively consistently, and Channel can win you the game on the spot with both Goblin Charbelcher, and Karn, the Great Creator (which can pull Goblin Charbelcher from the sideboard to cast it the same turn) assuming you have enough life.
To increase consistency of finding Goblin Charbelcher or Channel even further, you have Beseech the Mirror which can find either of them and cast it as you can pay the bargain cost. Achieving triple black in a list without any dual lands is difficult, but this is helped in a big way by artifacts like Chromatic Star and Wizard's Rockets that can turn your green mana into black, and are also great bargain enablers for Beseech the Mirror.
Weaknesses: The manabase is both slow and painful since it’s all modal lands which can be punished by the faster decks in the format, and is also punished hard by land destruction effects such as Boseiju, Who Endures, Field of Ruin, and Assassin's Trophy since you’re not running any actual lands.
Additionally as an all-in combo deck you’re vulnerable to both discard spells and counterspells that both see a good amount of play, and Pithing Needle which is seen in a number of sideboards, although you do have counterplay to this through Veil of Summer, Haywire Mite, and redundancy for your combo pieces.
When is it good to play? This is a great choice against less interactive decks like Titan or less focused combo decks like Breach or Yawgmoth, as long as discard spells and counterspells aren’t very popular.
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Altheriax
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