Timeless Review: Arena Anthologies I & II

In a pleasant surprise, Wizards announced on Monday (18) the Arena Anthology bundles, which harken back to the old Historic Anthology and Explorer Anthology, but now focus on the digital platform's eternal formats, with staples for Brawl, Historic, and, of course, Timeless, with cards like Wrenn and Six and Barrowgoyf.

In this article, we evaluate the potential of the main cards and future staples of both bundles, which will be available for purchase after maintenance this Tuesday (19). It's worth noting that this review was written before the launch, and their prices have not yet been revealed.

With the cards introduced in Arena Anthology I, the Swords cycle is nearly complete. For Timeless, most of them don't seem relevant in the current Metagame, and even considering the possibility of Stoneforge Mystic gaining more presence in the format in the future, we won't need more than one copy of each.

The Talismans are primarily for the Brawl format, but some of them can help with mana correction in Eldrazi decks to increase the consistency of cards like Sowing Mycospawn, similar to what happens with the archetype in Modern.

Mother of Runes is a great card, but it doesn't benefit from the absence of Aether Vial in Timeless, much less from the recurring presence of cards like Orcish Bowmasters and the release of Wrenn and Six.

It's a step in the right direction toward having another white Aggro category in the format outside Energy, but we still need more tools to have our own version of Death & Taxes. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like the kind of card that would fit into current Boros Energy lists either, but it might deserve a slot or two alongside Lurrus of the Dream-Den.

We have Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Static Prison, and Solitude in Timeless, so it's hard to justify including Oust as a board interaction. There may be very specific situations where we'd want this card, but I don't see any of them occurring in Timeless anytime soon.

Thought Scour is an important addition to Psychic Frog decks, whether in lists with Lurrus of the Dream-Den or in versions with Abhorrent Oculus, and its interaction with Brainstorm and Treasure Cruise will likely make it the archetype's complementary cantrip since we don't have cards like Ponder or Preordain in the format yet.

Barrowgoyf is a Legacy staple which is commonly used as a complementary threat in Reanimator and Dimir Tempo decks, where it's a powerful tool for attrition and recursion that also appears in combo lists as an alternative win condition.

All the qualities it offers in Legacy are relevant and possible in Timeless, except that the format's card pool is potentially more damaging to it: Lurrus of the Dream-Den, Deathrite Shaman, and Treasure Cruise / Dig Through Time are banned in Legacy and open up space for this category of recursion and power boost, while their legality in Timeless leaves too much room to question whether we'll use it in the format.

It's possible that the approach ran in Doomsday or Show and Tell in Legacy, where opponents side-out removal and lose to a Barrowgoyf coming from the Sideboard, will be adopted in some combo lists on Timeless. Furthermore, our Legacy editor, Elton, mentioned this creature's biggest problem is that it's a nightmare in fair games because it's difficult to deal with and very punishing if it connects, so a deck like Jund Midrange or Sultai Tempo could find a home between Barrowgoyf, Deathrite Shaman, and Strip Mine's interaction with Witherbloom Command, where Jund colors lose access to stack interaction and Psychic Frog, but also gain Wrenn and Six.

Like Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf is a Legacy staple and primarily features in Red Stompy lists, where its interaction with Broadside Bombardiers can win the game if there are enough card types in the graveyard and/or if it enters early enough.

While its ETB's explosive potential remains viable and very possible in a Timeless with Strip Mine, Chrome Mox, and Ancient Tomb, we don't have Bombardiers for explosive plays with Pyrogoyf. On the other hand, Tannuk, Steadfast Second gains another permanent with a powerful ETB to interact with its Warp ability, paving the way for *Red Stompy to become a relevant deck in Timeless.

Empty the Warrens is a nice alternative winline for the format's Storm variants against Leyline of Sanctity, despite these archetypes being on lower tiers today. The format also features Goblin Bushwhacker, so there are easy ways to make the tokens have an immediate impact and reduce the amount of Storm count we need to run this line.

There aren't any situations where Flame Slash seems necessary today, but a cheap removal with a high damage output deserves an honorable mention in a format with Strip Mine.

Fiery Confluence seems like a decent sideboard option for decks that can easily afford . Its cost is high, but the ability to clear boards, remove multiple artifacts, or deal six damage with a single card slot is enough to be worth considering some rare wildcards.

Eternal Witness has some specific recursive applications and may deserve slots in lists with Ephemerate or Birthing Ritual since it costs less than Timeless Witness, but it shouldn't be a staple.

In a world of Deathrite Shaman, it's hard to justify running Ignoble Hierarch, but there may be occasions when eight mana dorks are needed to maintain color consistency or if we really want to make an explosive three-mana play on the second turn. It's also relevant if, one day, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician becomes a good card in the Metagame again.

This is perhaps the worst of the cards mentioned, but it's also the most important. Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary is a card from the Reserved List, the first among them to arrive on Magic Arena as craftable. It sets the stage for endless possibilities in these Arena Anthology packs, which don't go through a physical release, and gives hope that other cards from the List will eventually make it to the digital platform. Mentions include the Original Dual Lands, Gaea's Cradle, Mox Diamond, Gilded Drake, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, Null Rod, Lion's Eye Diamond, among many others.

Grist, the Hunger Tide is a strange card, and one I've always been bad at evaluating. In Modern, it sees play in creature-based combo archetypes like Golgari Yawgmoth and occasionally shows up in Legacy as a one-of for Green Sun's Zenith, but it's never had much impact outside this type of strategy.

It's possible to find interesting ways to use this Planeswalker, but my initial impression is that the format is too fast and too unfair for the archetypes that would normally like to use Grist to thrive in the Metagame.

Wrenn and Six arrive in Timeless just a few weeks after Strip Mine changed the way we play the format. Alone, this Planeswalker completely dominated Legacy until it was banned due to the combination it offered of mana denial with Wasteland, protection from the opponent's Wasteland, and one of the most powerful board controls the format—which at the time was accustomed to small creatures—had ever seen.

Years later, Wrenn and Six didn't have the same impact in Modern, and its best iteration was almost always alongside Fetch Lands in Indomitable Creativity lists or with Urza's Saga. But in Timeless, W6 will be much closer to the Legacy mold, but with even more lethal lock potential in exchange for dealing with a Metagame that, in parts, is much less fair or interactive.

Potentially the best card in the bundle for the format, and one of those cards that defines the Metagame, whether creating new archetypes or introducing existing strategies with the help of Deathrite Shaman for color correction. Not to mention that even strategies like Gruul Eldrazi can somehow take advantage of the Planeswalker without compromising its mana due to Talisman of Impulse.

Life // Death is a great complement to Reanimate in the archetype of the same name, increasing the consistency with which we return Atraxa, Grand Unifier to the battlefield while also being able to better leverage Grief's already well-known interaction with these effects. With Force of Negation arriving in Avatar: The Last Airbender, we're gradually getting closer to another deck that was once banned from Legacy becoming legal in Timeless.

Does Timeless have enough artifacts or archetypes with enough relevant pieces to easily enable Mox Opal? Decks with Chrome Mox or Mox Amber might opt for the card due to the ease of having many artifacts in play, but there's a limit to how many free mana rocks we can include if they're conditional—a Chrome Mox can't exile Mox Opal, and playing it just to enable Metalcraft can be a pretty bad tradeoff.

I can imagine some lists like Affinity (which finally has the full cycle of the original artifact lands) using the card for more explosive openings, and the addition of this package definitely puts the archetype on the radar for some time. Perhaps Stompy lists with The One Ring, Chrome Mox, and even Chalice of the Void could find space in their lists, not to mention decks like Belcher that want as many alternative mana sources as possible to execute the combo and might find ways to enable Mox Opal as well.

It's also possible to take advantage of Mox Opal's Legendary type with Underworld Breach to generate recurring mana if we loop two copies of them, but without Grinding Station, our best option is Glimpse the Unthinkable, whose combination of mana needs and cards in the graveyard ( and nine cards per loop) allows us to mill the entire deck and, ultimately, cast Thassa's Oracle to win the game, but this line requires many dead pieces and an inconsistent setup to work.

With the Artifact Land cycle complete, decks like Affinity can finally emerge in Timeless and have a significant chance in the Metagame, whether with variants running Kappa Cannoneer or more classic versions that try to take advantage of Cranial Plating for an absurdly fast clock, although the archetype may prove too fair for the format right now.

Other options for these cards include running Great Furnace to enable Mox Opal's Metalcraft in Red Stompy and similar lists, not unlike what players do in Pauper's Mono Red decks with Galvanic Blast.

Both bundles introduce some important cards to Timeless, but the quality of Arena Anthology II is by far the best. The sheer number of potential staples and format-defining cards makes it a near-guaranteed purchase for any player playing Timeless or even Historic.

Cards like Wrenn and Six, Mox Opal, Barrowgoyf, and even the artifact lands will bring innovations to the Metagame, and the sheer number of rare and mythic wildcards invested in them would most likely already offset the value of the bundle.

As for the Anthology I, the potential additions to the format are uncommon, or only require one copy to search for with Stoneforge Mystic if it eventually becomes relevant in the format. So, it's worth saving on it even if you're a Brawl player, as Signets and Talismans require a low wildcard investment.

Thanks for reading!