The Ultimate Guide to Timeless on MTG Arena

Last updated on July 18, 2024

Timeless Dragon | Illustration by Anastasia Ovchinnikova

Exciting and complex play awaits you in the MTG Arena format, Timeless. “No Banned List” is Timeless' middle name and the most simple way to describe it is you get to play every card available on MTG Arena.

Timeless is a Vintage-like format on MTGA, and cards like fetchlands and Historic‘s ban list are legal. What’s more, every time a new card is added to Arena, it is automatically added to Timeless, regardless of the card’s power, so you won’t have to think about what can or can’t be played there. It’s a format that has an ever-evolving metagame and today you learn all you need to know about it.

Let's dive in.

What is Timeless?

Timeless Lotus | Illustration by Lindsey Look

Timeless is a 60-card Constructed eternal format that allows you to play with every single card available on MTGA. If the card has ever been released on the client, then it’s legal in Timeless. And that’s the main difference from Timeless to Historic because Historic has banned cards like Oko, Thief of Crowns, and cards that were previously not legal there, like Counterspell.

Timeless was created due to the huge popularity of events like Historic No Banned List in December 2023. Quoting WotC: “During the two-week event, over 3 million games of the Historic No Banned List event were played. The most-engaged players averaged over 100 games a day! This shattered our expectations and proved that there is an audience for this type of event”.

This allows WotC, to release cards in MTGA that are not legal in Historic. The only caveat is that cards can get restricted in Timeless instead of banned, mimicking Vintage in tabletop MTG. Cards like Channel were restricted from the get-go, and more cards can get restricted should WotC deem it necessary.

Who is Timeless For?

If you enjoyed the Historic No Cards Banned events, this is your format. Strictly speaking, this format is aimed at high-level players and veteran players who enjoy playing high-powered formats. MTG players who love Legacy and Vintage will find a home here. These formats usually have dozens of viable decks in between tiers 1-2 and reward tight play and format knowledge.

This format rewards players with a deep pool of MTG Arena cards. If you’re more of a beginner player or new to Arena, I’d recommend sticking with Standard or Historic before diving into this format, the same way I wouldn’t recommend a new player to buy into a format like paper Modern.

Timeless-Legal Sets

Timeless includes all of the following:

• Every Standard set release on Arena, from Ixalan forwards.
• All cards printed in Bonus Sheets like The Big Score, Enchanting Tales or Mystical Archive.
• Remastered sets like Kaladesh Remastered and Shadows Over Innistrad Remastered.
• Non-Standard legal sets like Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth and Modern Horizons 3.
• Non-Draftable set releases like Jumpstart: Historic Horizons
• All Alchemy sets from Alchemy: Innistrad forwards, as well as Alchemy Horizons: Baldur’s Gate.
• All Anthology and Foundations cards.
• All one-off cards that are included on the client but weren’t part of a set release (Rhys the Redeemed, Timeless Dragon).
• Any card that makes its way to Arena in the future.

Are Special Edition Cards Legal in Timeless?

Special Edition cards are legal in Timeless only if they were already released and available on MTG Arena.

Does the Timeless Format Rotate?

Timeless does not rotate. Timeless is considered an eternal format, so once a card is on MTG Arena, it is forever legal in Timeless, and would only be restricted later for metagame balance reasons.

What Happens When a Card is Restricted in Timeless?

If a card is restricted in Timeless, and you happen to have more than one in your collection, you’ll get up to three wildcards of the corresponding rarity, as you’ll still be able to use at least one restricted copy. You don't get more wildcards from a card you’ve already got something from. For example, I already received four mythic wildcards when Oko, Thief of Crowns was banned in Standard, so if Oko were to be restricted in Timeless someday, I would not get any wildcards.

Timeless Rules

Timeless is your regular 60-card minimum Constructed format with a 15-card sideboard (a 7-card sideboard for best-of-one), following the same rules as Standard, Historic, and Explorer. As usual, you start with seven cards in hand and 20 life. This format allows us to play with companions, so those rules apply as well. You’ll be able to play best-of-one and best-of-three matches in traditional play. What sets this format apart from others is the available card pool.

Timeless Banned and Restricted list

Like Vintage, Timeless won’t have any banned cards. At most, cards will be restricted. The current restricted cards for Timeless are: 

• Channel
• Demonic Tutor
• Tibalt's Trickery

There are no banned cards in Timeless.

Timeless vs Historic

Here’s where things get confusing for most players, so let’s break it down. At first, Historic was the eternal, non-rotating format on MTG Arena where you could play all the cards on the client. Fast forward to the release of Strixhaven: School of Mages and there were some cards released there as part of the Mystical Archive. Most of them weren’t legal in Standard or Historic, like Dark Ritual or Counterspell, for fear of breaking the format, while others were legal in Historic – Memory Lapse, Time Warp – and did break the format! For the first time, cards released in MTG Arena would not be automatically legal in Historic. It was clear from there that WotC could release cards into MTGA but already pre-banned in Historic, like Sneak Attack and Spreading Seas.

Historic Banned Cards are Playable

Here lies the main difference between both formats. Bluntly speaking, Timeless is equal to Historic without banned cards. That’s the main concept. So what does that mean exactly?

There are dozens of cards on MTGA that are banned in Historic and legal in Timeless, and you can play four copies in your deck. So, you can play four copies of Counterspell, Lightning Bolt and Swords to Plowshares in your Timeless decks, while you don’t get to play with them at all in Historic.

Rebalanced Exceptions

Three cards that are banned in Historic are restricted in Timeless, so you can play only one of these in a given Timeless deck: Channel, Demonic Tutor, and Tibalt's Trickery.

Digital-only cards released in Alchemy sets are equally legal in Explorer and Timeless. These will have the same version in both formats. For example, Crucias, Titan of the Waves will forever be a 3/1, although it was originally a 3/3.

There’s a difference between digitally rebalanced cards too. In Timeless, all the paper cards that were rebalanced for Alchemy/Historic revert to their original tabletop counterparts. So, cards like Goldspan Dragon and Silver-Fur Master are legal in Timeless as their original paper version, while in Historic you play with the rebalanced version.

Fetches

• The famous fetchlands – Bloodstained Mire, Flooded Strand, Windswept Heath, etc.,  are legal in Timeless. They’re not legal in other 60-card Arena formats like Historic or Explorer. 

Where to Play Timeless

Timeless is a format that’s exclusive to MTG Arena, like Historic. Tabletop MTG and MTGO have other eternal formats at their disposal, like Vintage, Legacy, and Commander. Timeless has its own queue in MTGA, like Historic, Explorer, and Standard. You’ll be able to join both ranked and unranked queues for Timeless matches. We can expect future pro-level competition playing Timeless on MTGA as well because you already see pro players battling in MTGA exclusive formats, whether as a Pro Tour format or a Pro Tour qualifier.

Is Timeless Good for Beginners?

Sorry, but it’s not the best format for beginners. The thing is, when formats get powerful, the gameplay decisions matter a lot. This format has a broad card pool, so it becomes hard to know what your opponents will play. Finally, there is a problem of card availability. Beginner players usually won’t have a deep card pool, so a top-tier deck will be very expensive in rare and mythic wildcards. Try out this format with a regular Standard deck to test the waters, and you're likely to get wrecked.

Does Timeless Have the Power 9?

Timeless does not have the Power 9. These cards are not on MTG Arena. It’s possible to play them via cards like Oracle of the Alpha, but they will be copies conjured straight into your deck. Who knows, maybe WotC will release a Timeless Anthology with the Power 9.

What Are the Best Cards in Timeless?

While the format is going to take a long time to mature, we can draw a few conclusions  based on the early results from the Historic No Cards Banned event. I want to highlight a few strong card interactions here:

Turn 1 Dark Ritual into Necropotence is a combo almost as old as myself. With Necropotence you can draw cards to your heart’s content, being able to combo off in different ways. MTGA even has Tendrils of Agony to enable storm decks.

Turn 1 Delighted Halfling or Gilded Goose into turn 2 Oko, Thief of Crowns is a strong start for green decks. Using Oko to make Food will give you a lot of life to deal with aggressive decks, or you can neuter their best threats by turning them into 3/3 elks. Once Upon a Time raises this deck’s consistency a lot.

Natural Order is a way to sacrifice a green creature and get a much bigger one. You can cheat big beasts into play like Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Craterhoof Behemoth this way.

Control decks will have a lot of tools at their disposal, whether playing Counterspell and Swords to Plowshares, or being proactive with Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek.

Red decks have cards like Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and Lightning Bolt, as well as the disruptive element of Blood Moon.

Channel allows you to pay 8-10 life to ramp a giant Eldrazi on turn 2. It’s capable of very broken starts, but playing only one in a deck reduces the consistency a lot.

Infinite extra turns are possible via cards like Wilderness Reclamation, Time Warp and Nexus of Fate.

Thassa's Oracle is a proven win condition, and a strong combo with Underworld Breach. We can mill ourselves with Breach and cast Oracle from the graveyard, winning from there.

Finally, I need to address Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time, which don’t have a record of being safe, both being restricted in Vintage. It’s somewhat of a good thing if Izzet Treasure Cruise decks actually end up being good because it’s going to be a cheap way into the format, with lots of common and uncommon cards making up the bulk of the deck.

Timeless Decks

After the Timeless metagame settles, we can rely on Arena Tutor to provide us insight and winning decklists, and I strongly recommend that you use this tool. Today we can suggest a few tried-and-true decks that’ll be an important part of the meta. Don’t worry, there are plenty of budget timeless decks that can compete with minimal wildcard investment, and you’ll get to play other archetypes like mono red burn, white weenie, Azorius () control, and the like.

Temur Midrange Good Stuff

Oko, Thief of Crowns | Illustration by Yongjae Choi

This deck is playing cards that are usually banned in other formats like Historic, Pioneer, and Modern. Powerful mana acceleration on turn 1 using Gilded Goose or Delighted Halfling will allow us to play Oko, Thief of Crowns or Teferi, Time Raveler very consistently, while setting the stage for Omnath, Locus of Creation. This deck is filled with value and powerful spells all around. 

Don't forget, a Temur commander deck is one of the only other ways you can play Oko and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath since they're still banned in several formats, and not available in Historic Brawl.

Black-Green Storm

Tendrils of Agony | Illustration by Rovina Cai

Here we have a Storm combo deck that aims to win via Tendrils of Agony or Weather the Storm powered up by Witherbloom Apprentice. Necropotence and Bolas's Citadel can give you a lot of cards, and most of these cards are cheap to play anyway, increasing the storm count for your win condition.

Combo Elves

Allosaurus Shepherd | Illustration by Randy Vargas

Combo Elves is a deck that exists in every Eternal format. This deck has 30 creatures, most of them 1-drops, and some elf lords, so elf beatdown is definitely a thing. There’s the Intruder Alarm combo with Imperious Perfect, so you can produce infinite tokens and mana this way. Allosaurus Shepherd is a good finisher for this deck as well. Another version of this deck ditches the Intruder Alarm combo in favor of cheating Craterhoof Behemoth via Natural Order.

Timeless Communities

Timeless is discussed in some places, and if the format gets more popular, we’ll have more and more communities. Here are a few spots to chat about Timeless:

Draftsim Discord

Draftsim Discord is a place to discuss all MTG formats out there, including Timeless.

MtG: Eternal Discord

The MtG: Eternal Discord has channels for Timeless brewing and lots more Magic discussions like Historic Brawl, Cube, and card balance.

Timeless Subreddit

Timeless Subreddit is the main subreddit to discuss Timeless in-depth, whether deck choices, sideboard options, the metagame and more.

MTG Arena Subreddit

Timeless sometimes shows up as the subject of discussion on the MTG Arena subreddit but there are so many themes going on there. 

Wrap Up

Chronostutter | Illustration by Seb McKinnon

Timeless is a high-powered format that will evolve as new formats and powerful cards get released. Cards from Modern Horizons 3 got added to Arena, and are super powerful and impactful. The format has a long way to go to be Vintage-level powerful. It is the “cheapest” way to play a high-powered format, without having the Reserved List or $500 cards.

You can call Timeless “Vintage-lite”. It’s also nice that WotC supports formats that people want, and this gives me hope for something like Gladiator to become an Arena-supported format someday. Have you tried Historic No Bans Timeless? What cards are you eager to play? Let me know in the comments, or discuss it in the Draftsim Discord’s Timeless section.

Thank you for reading, and how much time have you spent with a loved one today?