Elite Energy Payoffs Give Rise to New Triumphant Timeless Strategy!

The impact Modern Horizons 3 is having even on formats beyond Modern cannot be overstated. In Pauper, Grixis Affinity abusing the power of Refburbished Familiar has been all the rage. Meanwhile, Eldrazi aggro featuring It that Heralds the End It that Heralds the End Colorless spells you cast with mana value 7 or greater cost {1} less to cast.
Other colorless creatures you control get +1/+1. and Glaring Fleshraker Glaring Fleshraker Whenever you cast a colorless spell, create a 0/1 colorless Eldrazi Spawn creature token with "Sacrifice this token: Add {C}."
Whenever another colorless creature you control enters, this creature deals 1 damage to each opponent. just won a Magic Online Legacy Challenge.

Perhaps the biggest metagame shifts, though, have come on MTG Arena. Modern Horizons 3 is one of the most powerful sets to ever come to the client. As a cautionary measure, Wizards of the Coast preemptively banned 18 cards between the Historic and Brawl formats. However, new cards were given free rein to run rampant on the Timeless format.

Right away, multiple new competitive strategies have arisen. Today, we’re going to discuss one particular deck that has taken the format by storm: Boros Energy. This deck is quite aggressive, but thanks to the Energy package, is also fully capable of winning the long game. A recent Timeless tournament showcased a Boros Energy mirror in the finals, and there’s a lot to like about the archetype.

Elite Energy Package

At its core, this Boros deck is looking to play efficient threats to the board that can run away with the game if left unanswered. Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer Whenever Ragavan deals combat damage to a player, create a Treasure token and exile the top card of that player's library. Until end of turn, you may cast that card.
Dash {1}{R} (You may cast this spell for its dash cost. If you do, it gains haste, and it's returned from the battlefield to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step.) , for instance, threatens to provide a massive mana advantage and even provide card advantage if you’re lucky. Ajani, Nacatl Pariah Ajani, Nacatl Pariah When Ajani enters, create a 2/1 white Cat Warrior creature token.
Whenever one or more other Cats you control die, you may exile Ajani, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control. is a solid new inclusion that puts a decent amount of pressure on the opponent and can singlehandedly swing a game in your favor if it flips.

What gives this archetype its own identity, though, is the presence of multiple strong Energy enablers and payoffs. MH3 gave us a ton of cards that not only generate Energy themselves, but also reward you for stockpiling Energy from other sources.

Guide of Souls Guide of Souls Whenever another creature you control enters, you gain 1 life and get {E} (an energy counter).
Whenever you attack, you may pay {E}{E}{E}. When you do, put two +1/+1 counters and a flying counter on target attacking creature. It becomes an Angel in addition to its other types. is a premier one-drop that helps you accumulate Energy over time when you play more creatures to the board. If unchecked, you can start using your excess Energy to pump any of your attacking creatures and give them evasion. Galvanic Discharge Galvanic Discharge Choose target creature or planeswalker. You get {E}{E}{E} (three energy counters), then you may pay any amount of {E}. Galvanic Discharge deals that much damage to that permanent. acts as a three-damage removal spell at minimum but can take down bigger creatures when necessary if you have extra Energy in reserve. Static Prison Static Prison When this enchantment enters, exile target nonland permanent an opponent controls until this enchantment leaves the battlefield. You get {E}{E} (two energy counters).
At the beginning of your first main phase, sacrifice this enchantment unless you pay {E}. cleanly interacts with any problematic nonland permanent your opponent plays at little cost. Sure, the solution is temporary, but you can keep Static Prison around longer by investing more Energy into it when applicable.

Meanwhile, in attrition wars, it can be wise to save up Energy to help fuel Unstable Amulet Unstable Amulet When this artifact enters, you get {E}{E} (two energy counters).
Whenever you cast a spell from anywhere other than your hand, this artifact deals 1 damage to each opponent.
{T}, Pay {E}{E}: Exile the top card of your library. You may play it until you exile another card with this artifact. . Once again, Unstable Amulet gifts you some Energy up front, making it a relatively low-cost card with immense upside. Amped Raptor is also excellent in resource battles. With such a low curve, Amped Raptor is nearly a guaranteed two-for-one.

All these cards are strong individually, but they give you the luxury of deciding where to sink your extra Energy depending on the matchup. Want to be aggressive and break board stalls? Guide of Souls delivers. Need to play a long game? Store your Energy and generate card advantage with Unstable Amulet. This flexibility makes the Boros Energy deck much more powerful and synergistic than might appear at first glance.

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Plethora of Options

Interestingly, while the Energy package is clearly quite powerful and popular in Timeless right now, there are a lot of different options to make up the supporting cast. In the Timeless tournament we mentioned where two Boros Energy decks met in the finals, each deck had some key differences.

The decklist that went undefeated had a rather aggressive slant, playing no cards with mana value greater than two. Ocelot Pride is extremely impactful in the mirror match. It enables you to go wide, which is quite nice in conjunction with Guide of Souls. Nurturing Pixie Nurturing Pixie Flying
When this creature enters, return up to one target non-Faerie, nonland permanent you control to its owner's hand. If a permanent was returned this way, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. lets you return Ajani or Amped Raptor to your hand, then replay them to generate additional board presence. Most importantly, the deck’s low curve also lets you make use of Lurrus of the Dream-Den Lurrus of the Dream-Den Companion — Each permanent card in your starting deck has mana value 2 or less. (If this card is your chosen companion, you may put it into your hand from outside the game for {3} as a sorcery.)
Lifelink
Once during each of your turns, you may cast a permanent spell with mana value 2 or less from your graveyard. as a Companion, which is a huge boon in grindy games.

That being said, other players chose to eschew Lurrus in favor of Jegantha, the Wellspring Jegantha, the Wellspring Companion — No card in your starting deck has more than one of the same mana symbol in its mana cost. (If this card is your chosen companion, you may put it into your hand from outside the game for {3} as a sorcery.)
{T}: Add {W}{U}{B}{R}{G}. This mana can't be spent to pay generic mana costs. . While Jegantha is certainly not the powerhouse Lurrus is, running it as the Companion of choice lets you utilize cards like Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury When Phlage enters, sacrifice it unless it escaped.
Whenever Phlage enters or attacks, it deals 3 damage to any target and you gain 3 life.
Escape—{R}{R}{W}{W}, Exile five other cards from your graveyard. (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its escape cost.) and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker Fable of the Mirror-Breaker (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter.)
I — Create a 2/2 red Goblin Shaman creature token with "Whenever this token attacks, create a Treasure token."
II — You may discard up to two cards. If you do, draw that many cards.
III — Exile this Saga, then return it to the battlefield transformed under your control. that have higher mana values. Both these cards excel against Scam and midrange strategies. Blood Moon Blood Moon Nonbasic lands are Mountains. is another decent three-drop option out of the sideboard against Primeval Titan Primeval Titan Trample
Whenever this creature enters or attacks, you may search your library for up to two land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle. decks. Ultimately, there are a lot of directions players can take the Boros Energy shell depending on the metagame they expect.

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Ways to Fight Against Boros Energy

Boros Energy decks naturally play to the board quickly but are fully capable of grinding through lots of removal. This is part of what makes the deck so scary to play against and so difficult to hate out. Still, that doesn’t mean Boros Energy decks don’t have their weaknesses.

Combo decks built around Goblin Charbelcher Goblin Charbelcher {3}, {T}: Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a land card. This artifact deals damage equal to the number of nonland cards revealed this way to any target. If the revealed land card was a Mountain, this artifact deals double that damage instead. Put the revealed cards on the bottom of your library in any order. or Show and Tell Show and Tell Each player may put an artifact, creature, enchantment, or land card from their hand onto the battlefield. are not easy to race, and most of the interactive elements that Boros Energy decks have access to don’t line up too well. Some archetypes can also exploit the fact that Boros Energy decks (especially Lurrus builds) play a lot of very small creatures. A single Toxic Deluge Toxic Deluge As an additional cost to cast this spell, pay X life.
All creatures get -X/-X until end of turn. from Rakdos Death’s Shadow Death’s Shadow This creature gets -X/-X, where X is your life total. shells can be devastating.

In this sense, Boros Energy is far from broken, and there’s plenty of room for players to adapt. However, Boros Energy’s sudden rise to stardom showcases the huge influence MH3 is having on the Timeless format already. MH3 is chock full of powerful cards, so it’ll be interesting to see what other breakout strategies emerge over time.

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