Timeless: 5 Decks with Foundations to try out!

Foundations, the new Core Set for Magic: The Gathering, is about to arrive at Magic Arena along with its JumpStart set, with some iconic reprints that will enter the platform's eternal formats, such as Timeless.

From the original artifact lands to cards like Priest of Gix, Balustrade Spy, Dark Confidant and Violent Outburst, the JumpStart Foundations expansion brings some historical staples from the game, and it's inevitable to wonder which archetypes can benefit from these insertions in MTGArena.

In this article, we present five decklists for Timeless with Foundations cards to try out in the first weeks after launch!

Izzet Affinity

Affinity gained important support in JumpStart Foundations with the artifact lands Seat of the Synod and Vault of Whispers, the first of the cycle to arrive at Magic Arena. With them, we can think of a deck more dedicated to the theme with greater consistency and speed, taking full advantage of another core piece: Simulacrum Synthesizer.

Synthesizer allows Affinity to have a more consistent go-wide plan, as its tokens grow quickly in this list, and it interacts with almost every creature with Affinity we have, from Frogmite to Thought Monitor, which is now joined by Thoughtcast as sources of card advantage.

Our other cards have important interactions with the theme and are useful on their own: Emry, Lurker of the Loch provides a way to recur any destroyed artifact, Kappa Cannoneer can win the game in a few attacks, and Nettlecyst turns even an Ornithopter into a threat.

Grixis Affinity (Budget)

Timeless is my favorite Magic Arena format right now and, because of its high-power level, it's challenging to build a deck without investing a lot in rare and mythic cards, so I constantly look for budget alternatives for it.

This Grixis Affinity list is a starting point: unlike the version above, this one is inspired by the Pauper version of the archetype and uses only Thought Monitor as rare cards, with a plan that involves setting a fast clock with our creatures to reduce the opponent's life to the point where Shrapnel Blast can win the game

We also count on Cranial Ram to force the hit-kill in every combat, forcing the opponent to have blockers, and to make this process more difficult, Etherium Pteramander joins Ornithopter as a flying threat.

All Spells

Balustrade Spy has generated a lot of hype with the possibility of All Spells in Timeless, which involves using it in a deck with double-faced cards to mill all cards and use some reanimate effect to bring Thassa’s Oracle from the graveyard into play.

Since the format already has an archetype with this theme and Goblin Charbelcher, then perhaps adding it as an alternative and cheaper plan in terms of costs, but which requires more pieces to work, is an option. Thassa’s Oracle needs to come from the graveyard into play, so Reanimate is the ideal choice.

Since we use it to bring a creature back, we can use it with Grief to disrupt the opponent's early turns and, depending on the matchup, win the game through combat.

Priest Storm

Jet Storm gained more support with the reprint of Priest of Gix. The combo that already uses Chthonian Nightmare with creatures that generate Treasures can now loop without relying on the artifact.

In this version, two copies of Priest of Gix and a Chthonian Nightmare guarantee an infinite loop between the cards, since we can use the mana generated by the creature to cast the enchantment and sacrifice a Priest to fetch another, generating infinite mana and infinite ETB/LTB.

From this point on, we can use the traditional Jet Storm pieces and win the game with Marionette Apprentice or The Meathook Massacre for infinite damage.

Four-Color Rhinos

The Temur Rhinos was one of the most famous decks in Modern until the banning of Violent Outburst - now, the card arrives in Timeless to bring the combo with Crashing Footfalls to the eternal format of MTGArena.

Since we don't have other spells like Shardless Agent, we need to rely a bit more on alternative game plans, and in this list, I opted for a four-color Goodstuff with Omnath, Locus of Creation and the elementals Solitude and Fury.

To complement Cascade, Bloodbraid Elf can, with luck, bring Crashing Footfalls or Violent Outburst, but even if it hits other things, we gain plenty of value: Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Teferi, Time Raveler are staples of the format in Goodstuff lists.

It is worth mentioning that choosing Teferi instead of Oko, Thief of Crowns is a conscious decision: Oko is a much stronger card on the board, especially in attrition games, but since we are looking to get the most out of Elementals in the early turns to hold the game, we need more white sources to pay for their pitch, and Teferi fills that slot well for Solitude.

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!