For those who enjoy playing exciting combo decks, Timeless is an excellent format choice. This MTG Arena format was designed to allow players to utilize all the broken stuff that the platform has to offer. As more and more busted combo cards and sources of fast mana get added to the client via Special Guest slots and bonus sheets, Timeless has only gotten more combo centric.
This past weekend, a Timeless tournament took place, giving players an opportunity to test their decks at a more competitive level. As expected, combo decks were dominant, but the winning decklist was pretty intriguing. It has a lot in common with Oops! All Spells decks in other formats but also features a nifty Vampires package that gives you an alternate way to win.
This archetype is extremely powerful. If you want to consistently end games in the first couple turns of the game, look no further.
Oops! All Spells Primary Gameplan
The main engine behind the Oops! All Spells deck in Timeless is none other than Balustrade Spy. Balustrade Spy is a weird card that on the surface looks like a mediocre mill spell. After all, in most situations, Balustrade Spy simply won’t mill that many cards.
However, Balustrade Spy is worded in such a way where if you have no Lands in your deck, you can target yourself and mill your entire deck in one go! Thanks to the existence of modal double-faced cards, it’s trivial to make this a reality.
Cards like Agadeem’s Awakening and Boggart Trawler let you hit your first couple Land drops just fine without messing with the combo. From there, both Dark Ritual and Chrome Mox accelerate you towards Balustrade Spy so you can cast it ahead of schedule.
Once you successfully resolve Balustrade Spy, you’ll want to target yourself with the trigger and mill your deck. In doing so, you’ll mill over four copies of Creeping Chill. This means that right off the bat, your opponent will lose a boatload of life.
On top of that, you’ll also mill over playsets of Silversmote Ghoul and Prized Amalgam. Thanks to Creeping Chill, all your copies of Silversmote Ghoul will enter play at the beginning of your end step. This will in turn trigger your Prized Amalgams, which will enter on your opponent’s end step in time for you to attack for a ton of damage on your next turn.
Because you do still need to untap and draw before you can win by attacking, you’ll find copies of Worldspine Wurm and Progenitus in the decklist. When you mill your deck, these two cards will get shuffled back into your deck. This prevents you from losing by drawing from an empty library.
To ensure you don’t lose to an opposing board wipe or combo in the interim, if you have any leftover mana after resolving Balustrade Spy, you can use Reanimate to resurrect Grief and strip your opponent of their important resources.
Grief is an essential piece of the puzzle, as it also can take away opposing pieces of interaction prior to casting Balustrade Spy. In some cases, you can even Evoke Grief, and before it goes to the graveyard, cast Sacrifice. You’ll net four black mana, which conveniently is enough to cast Balustrade Spy. This deck has a lot of tricks to it, and we’re just getting started.
Vampire Versatility
While Balustrade Spy definitely serves as this deck’s primary win condition, it isn’t the only card that can take over games. This deck also utilizes the brutal combination of Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord and Saint Elenda.
For those that played Pioneer when Sorin was legal, you know how incredible Sorin’s -3 ability can be if you cast the Planeswalker early. Not only can this deck put Sorin into play as early as turn one, but you also get access to an even stronger top-end Vampire than Vein Ripper.
As a 4/7 with Lifelink, Saint Elenda is difficult for some strategies to remove. When it enters, you get to cast your choice of cards from Saint Elenda’s Spellbook for free. You get a nice choice of interaction. Above all, though, all four options gain you four life. So, Saint Elenda’s final ability is guaranteed to trigger and net you an Avatar token.
Notably, Sorin serves double duty in this deck. Besides cheating in Saint Elenda, you’re free to put in Balustrade Spy if you have it, since it’s a Vampire too. The difference between three and four mana is huge in a Dark Ritual deck, and executing your combo a turn sooner is key in a combo-heavy environment.
On top of that, because of the threat of Balustrade Spy being cheated into play, if your opponent has counter magic lined up, they’re forced to counter Sorin first. This only makes it easier to resolve Balustrade Spy in the future.
Speed and Resiliency
All in all, this version of Oops! All Spells gets most of its edge from its blazing fast kills. Many decks simply can’t contend with your combo if you can go off on turn one or two.
This includes Show and Tell combo, which finished second, third, and fourth in this tournament. Show and Tell combo may have Mana Drain in the mix, but the deck is at your mercy if you have Dark Ritual and Balustrade spy in your opening hand.
This deck is still vulnerable to graveyard hate pieces like Leyline of the Void. The good news, though, is that you can still beat Leyline in games two and three by bringing in Goblin Charbelcher. Goblin Charbelcher is more mana intensive and is itself weak against Leyline of Sanctity, so bringing it in isn’t your first choice. Regardless, having outs to opposing hate pieces is crucial.
Both Charbelcher combo and Show and Tell combo are extremely popular choices in Timeless right now. Oops! All Spells gives you a great shot at racing these combo decks, making it a strong metacall. Versus Belcher combo, you even have the luxury of targeting your opponent with Balustrade Spy to mill them right away and win faster, since that deck also plays no actual Lands.
Timeless is a wild environment, and as long as players aren’t super prepared for it, Oops! All Spells can dominate the field of other combo decks.