Sneaking Attacks in Timeless

Updated:
Unlock the power of 'Sneak Attack' in your MTG deck with our guide. Explore strategic insights and card synergies to outmaneuver opponents be victorious.

Why is This Deck?

Timeless is an opportunity for all of us to try the highest power nonsense we can get our hands on, and this deck is absolutely that for me. I love reanimator strategies because they let us cheat gigantic monsters into play well before you're supposed to. Normally, we have to go through the hoops of our graveyard, but Sneak Attack bypasses that and lets us drop gigantic monsters directly into play. Now that every middle-man has been cut out, let's sneak in some fatties.

The Main Gameplan

As you might imagine, our main gameplan is getting a Sneak Attack online and dropping into play either an Atraxa, Grand Unifier or a Worldspine Wurm. If either of these threats hit the field, chances are the game is over by simply going over the top of whatever our opponent has access to.

Card selection is provided from Demonic Tutor and Assemble the Team to make sure we get our combo pieces, and our mana dorks Deathrite Shaman, Delighted Halfling, and Gilded Goose are here to make sure we don't need to wait until turn five to execute the gameplan. Additionally, opponents might be eager to spend removal answering our mana dorks (especially Deathrite Shaman), which means they'll have fewer answers later in the game for our main threats.

Secondary Gameplans

Sneak Attack is a powerhouse card that presents a glass cannon combo that can win on the spot. As a result, sideboards will be ready to deal with it in games two and three. Pithing Needle is this deck's worst enemy because it completely cuts off our primary gameplan. This is partially what the Molten Collapses are for in the sideboard, but more importantly, we have secondary win conditions that don't require the Sneak Attack activation.

Firstly, Natural Order is simply Sneak Attack at home, that lets us leverage our mana dorks for additional value by effectively transforming them into our big threats. Given that our big threats and our mana dorks are both green incidentally, it's a natural fit.

We have another four-drop that can end the game on the spot if left unchecked in Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes. Their title is especially appropriate in this format because they are absolutely heroes in Timeless. Jund midrange decks already use this as a heavy win condition, so we can take advantage if all else fails. Notably, we get to take advantage of Timeless not reflecting the Alchemy rebalances because this planeswalker comes down for only four total mana instead of five.

Threat Density

Every Magic: the Gathering card fits into one of two categories: threats or answers. Threats are the cards that progress your gameplan and put you closer to a win, while answers are cards that prevent your opponent from reaching theirs. Midrange decks, like this one, contain a balance of both, and the player can adjust as needed for a given matchup. This deck does best taking the assertive role and setting the clock early. As a result, it is running more threats than is strictly necessary even beyond what we discussed above.

Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer might look out of place, but it's a must-answer threat that, just like Deathrite Shaman, pulls focus in the early game. And if the monkey goes unanswered, it can help us ramp into a turn three sneak attack turn. We also run Orcish Bowmasters because it is possibly the strongest card in Timeless that's not on the restricted list. It's spot removal on a body that can close a game by itself if left unanswered.

Leveraging these Jund midrange threats gives us the ability to grind out a lot of matchups even if we don't get our combo finish.

Keep it or Ship it?

Because our deck is designed to be more balanced than an all-in combo deck, we run a very significant risk of having dead cards in our hand. Unless it's accompanied by a Sneak Attack, you rarely want an Atraxa or Wurm in your opening hand because this deck will rarely ramp to seven or higher before the opponent presents a lethal threat. You can also see any copy of Once Upon a Time in the opener as a land because it will almost always find you one for free. If you see two lands and a one-mana creature, you'll have options, which is the key. Don't keep any hand where you can't make game actions before turn three. This deck is more vulnerable to fall into that trap than most other decks in Timeless.

Sideboard Thoughts

You may wonder why Blood Moon is a two-of in the sideboard. It's a double-edged sword that we need to be careful with, but against Primeval Titan decks, it's the most powerful card in the entire 75. Given how many tutors we have access to, we'll likely find it if we bring them both in.

Speaking of tutors, a massive threat to this deck is Ashiok, Dream Render. Don't forget about this card's passive because it shuts off Assemble the Team and Demonic Tutor. If you see black and/or blue on the opposite end of the field, Sheoldred's Edict and Molten Collapse are critical includes. You may also consider Lightning Bolt since planeswalkers definitely fit under the “any target” umbrella. We also have three copies of Leyline of the Void in the sideboard to shut down Underworld Breach combo decks cleanly without even spending mana.

Attacking your opponent's hand with cards like Thoughtseize becomes significantly more valuable when you're facing off against decks that rely on counterspells. In these matchups, make sure to bring in the third Thoughtseize along with the third Orcish Bowmasters, and consider The Stone Brain. The one-of Stone Brain is here to combat other combo decks or control decks with a single win con. If you've never stripped a deck of every Teferi, Hero of Dominaria they have, you're missing out.

Conclusion

Like all my decks, my primary goal is to create a fun gameplay experience for you and even your opponent. I believe this deck fits in the current Timeless meta and can deliver some explosive wins if piloted carefully. As always, tweaks here and there are bound to happen as meta shifts, but I hope this 75 gives you a place to start to live your sneaky dreams.

Oh, and Show and Tell is coming to Arena with the next set, so stay tuned for Sneak and Show soon.

Rate this article
Graham, also known as HamHocks42 on the internet, is a Twitch streamer who adores Magic: the Gathering in all its forms and tries to find the fun, even in the most competitive and sweaty environments.

Check out more content by HamHocks42

Explore the top cards from Tarkir: Dragonstorm for Magic: The Gathering Standard. Discover new strategies and meta shifts in this competitive spoiler analysis.
Tarkir: Dragonstorm Cards for Standard So Far
Tarkir: Dragonstorm will be launching on Magic: the Gathering Arena on Tuesday, April 8th, so until we get our hands on the products, jank lovers like myself and, possibly, yourself are stuck speculating on which cards will be good enough to cut it in Standard. So far, with only a few days of preview season under our belts, a few have caught my attention as powerful enough to possibly make the cut. A lot of the current meta, think of as Gruul Mice and Esper Pixie, are very tuned decks and I don't expect these to get many new toys that will be faster or more consistent than their current pieces. That said, I believe (or vainly hope) that a few new archetypes will get the support they need to step up and challenge the current meta in a fun way. Let's look at what those are. Midrange
Explore the unique Aetherspark in Magic: The Gathering's Historic Brawl. Discover its synergy with colorless creatures, ramp strategies, and Eldrazi payoffs.
Brawl Break: The Aetherspark
The Aetherspark is one of the goofiest types lines on any Magic: the Gathering card we've ever seen before. A Legendary Artifact Planeswalker – Equipment is certainly a novel string of words , and because the word “planeswalker” is in there, the card is eligible to be a Brawl commander. So, of course, I built it. How to Even Begin?
Explore the Radiant Lotus Combo in Standard Magic: The Gathering. Discover artifact synergies, mana generation, and strategic plays for Best of 1 matches.
Radiant Lotus Combo in Standard
The best cards in Standard are making it difficult to brew these days, but where there's a will, there's a way. The current meta is dominated by "This Town Ain't Big Enough" and "Up the Beanstalk" piles, but other cards like Simulacrum Synthesizer and The Mightstone and Weakstone are powerhouse value engines in their own right if we can find a shell for them that works. We also have an absolute haymaker in Radiant Lotus that I'm finally willing to brew with and, I've got to say, I'm impressed. The Wincon
Discover our first impressions of Tarkir: Dragonstorm with highlights on new cards - Mox Jasper & Stormscale Scion. Explore the impacts on MTG Standard play
Our First Impressions of Tarkir: Dragonstorm
Last week, Wizards of the Coast gave us a first look at the next Standard release, Tarkir: Dragonstorm, and that gives us an opportunity to analyze, overreact, and wildly speculate on what the future holds, which is an opportunity I rarely pass up. This first look was only nine cards from the Standard set itself, but it includes some eye-catching mechanics, so let's get into it. For this article, I plan to analyze how these cards will impact Standard first and foremost. The Headliner
Explore a unique Abzan Reanimator deck in MTG Standard featuring Atraxa, Grand Unifier, and Zombify. Unleash powerful reanimation with strategic twists.
Abzan Reani-Midrange
The quest for a quality reanimator deck is never-ending for graveyard junkies like myself, and a Standard that includes Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Zombify is just begging for it. So today, I have a fresh take on the archetype in Abzan with a bit of a twist. The Main Threats
Explore the Speedbrood's transformation into vehicles in our Magic: The Gathering Standard BO1 deck. Discover top strategies for competitive play.
Insects in Standard Best-of-One
One of the racing teams competing for the Aetherspark in Aetherdrift is the Speedbrood, a species of insects that have such a strong connection with speed itself that they literally transform into vehicles upon achieving their version of enlightenment. Well, that means they're well represented as a draft archetype in DFT and we're able to take advantage of it and ultimately build a pretty slick Standard deck that can hang in best-of-one (BO1) pretty well, even if it would likely falter in games two and three if we tried it in BO3. The Win Conditions Our primary finisher is Aatchik, Emerald Radian, which gives us a gigantic board state just for entering the battlefield, and each insect we have suddenly pings our opponent upon death. This makes blocking them a challenge and almost guarantees they'll give you the chance to push damage. Obviously, for us to get Aatchik's enters-the-battlefield (ETB) trigger to maximum value, we'll need to run lots of artifacts and creatures in our deck, along with ways to fill the graveyard. More on that below.
Explore the top cards from Tarkir: Dragonstorm for Magic: The Gathering Standard. Discover new strategies and meta shifts in this competitive spoiler analysis.
Tarkir: Dragonstorm Cards for Standard So Far
Tarkir: Dragonstorm will be launching on Magic: the Gathering Arena on Tuesday, April 8th, so until we get our hands on the products, jank lovers like myself and, possibly, yourself are stuck speculating on which cards will be good enough to cut it in Standard. So far, with only a few days of preview season under our belts, a few have caught my attention as powerful enough to possibly make the cut. A lot of the current meta, think of as Gruul Mice and Esper Pixie, are very tuned decks and I don't expect these to get many new toys that will be faster or more consistent than their current pieces. That said, I believe (or vainly hope) that a few new archetypes will get the support they need to step up and challenge the current meta in a fun way. Let's look at what those are. Midrange
logo

By joining our community, you can immerse yourself in MTG Arena gameplay. Watch matches, engage with content, comment, share thoughts, and rate videos for an interactive experience.

Follow Us

LATEST VIDEOS