Edge of Eternities turned out to be an incredibly impactful set for a multitude of different formats. Tons of different archetypes from Standard to Vintage received major upgrades, showcasing just how powerful the new set truly is.
On top of the cards from the main set, the bonus sheet brought some major shakeups to MTG Arena. Unfortunately, though, for Timeless enthusiasts, these changes aren’t exactly for the better. This is because one land in particular has completely warped the format.
Following a recent Timeless $1k tournament, it has quickly become apparent that Ancient Tomb has overstayed its welcome.
A Stale Environment
To start, we need to talk about the elephant in the room. The Show and Tell archetype was among the strongest options in Timeless well before Edge of Eternities released. The deck is consistent, powerful, and more resilient than you’d expect. Now, the presence of Ancient Tomb has completely turbocharged the strategy.
The goal here is pretty simple: cast Show and Tell and put one of your bombs into play. Your best option to pair with Show and Tell is undoubtedly Omniscience.
Once you land Omniscience, you have so many ways to dig for your haymakers. Stock Up digs deep for your best cards. Waterlogged Teachings can grab you Dig Through Time to further help you churn through your library. Eventually, you’ll want to find Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Hullbreaker Horror. Atraxa will fill your hand without enough gas to pull you far ahead, and Hullbreaker Horror will keep your opponent off-balance and prevent you from losing to any opposing combos.
The arrival of Ancient Tomb to the format took this deck and elevated it to the extreme. Between Ancient Tomb and Chrome Mox, setting up a win ahead of schedule is trivial. Even though Ancient Tomb can only produce colorless mana, Show and Tell and Stock Up don’t have heavy color requirements.
The massive boost in acceleration that Ancient Tomb provides has completely turned the Timeless metagame on its head. Show and Tell decks made up five of the top eight slots of last week’s Timeless tournament and over 40% of the field.
Interactive tempo and control decks utilizing Mana Drain were nearly nonexistent and the few decklists that fit the description performed relatively poorly. As good as Mana Drain is, it’s often too slow to counter Show and Tell, especially on the draw. Aggro decks outside of Energy shells have also fallen by the wayside.
A Case for Restrictions
While Show and Tell decks are primarily in the spotlight, they weren’t the only Ancient Tomb decks to make an impact. Golgari Midrange finished in ninth place, utilizing Ancient Tomb alongside Dark Ritual and Chrome Mox to cast potent four-drops on turns one or two. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse provides a quick clock and The One Ring gives you a boatload of cards to work with.
Right below Golgari midrange, Abzan Lands finished in tenth also abusing Ancient Tomb. In this case, the goal is to turbo out Sowing Mycospawn to grab Strip Mine and Icetill Explorer to reuse Strip Mine over and over.
Even though these strategies are a bit more unique, they showcase the homogeneity of Ancient Tomb as a card. Every one of these decks is significantly stronger when they have Ancient Tomb turn one. The play patterns associated with Ancient Tomb are also miserable. Losing the die roll can feel like a death sentence if your opponent gets to start their engine before you get your feet under you.
This isn’t to say Ancient Tomb is solely responsible for Timeless devolving into combo mania. Part of the appeal of the format in the first place is that players have a chance to make use of all the broken cards MTG Arena has to offer.
The issue is that combo decks have become much more consistent at very little cost. Previously, Dark Ritual and Chrome Mox both put combo decks behind on resources. So if you disrupted them, say with Grief or Flare of Denial, they’d need time to rebuild.
By contrast, Ancient Tomb gives you a repeatable effect with little downside. The life loss isn’t relevant if you’re able to close games before it builds up.
An Interesting Development
Interestingly, as incredible as Ancient Tomb is, that hasn’t stopped Goblin Charbelcher decks from thriving. In fact, Golgari Belcher went undefeated in the Timeless $1k. Thanks to its speed, disruption with Grief and Duress out of the sideboard, and ability to refuel with Necropotence and Necrodominance, this archetype is well-suited to thrive in a combo-heavy environment.
However, this deck’s success is indicative of a larger problem. As players continue to fight combo with combo, the format only becomes more and more constricted. Typical reactive elements in other formats that keep combo in check, such as Force of Will or Force of Negation, aren’t available on MTG Arena.
A restriction on Ancient Tomb wouldn’t stop combo from being top tier in Timeless. That being said, it may help prevent this race to the top where players try to beat speed with speed and open up the metagame a bit more.
Up to this point, only three cards in total have been restricted, and none have been banned. The bar is clearly very high for another card to join the list, but with the health of the format at stake, we feel Ancient Tomb meets the criteria.
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