Several months ago, I wrote about the health of the Timeless format) after it was ignored during ban season. With the format's first Arena Championship behind us (and still no bans), it's time to take another look.

1. We Still Need Bans

The bonus sheets from Edge of Eternities and Avatar: The Last Airbender shook-up the Timeless meta-game in a big way. Blue decks are back in business thanks to Force of Negation, Ancient Tomb has empowered a host of decks across the tier-list-spectrum, and Strip Mine is... here. But despite some big changes, and despite a relatively unpopular deck winning the recent Arena Championship, the meta-game remains fairly stale. Energy is by far the most popular deck. It doesn't really care about Force of Negation or Strip Mine. It can function perfectly well on two lands, and reasonably well on one. It has very few non-creature spells, and is usually going to be happy if you two-for-one yourself to counter a Galvanic Discharge. The deck is just way too consistent and way too resilient. Something needs to go. I stand by Amped Raptor as the most egregious card in the deck, but please just do something about energy.

2. Force of Negation is Great, but it's Not Enough.

Recent bonus sheets have shown that Wizards is willing to push the boat out for splashy eternal staples. FON was a great addition to Timeless, but Flare of Denial being the next best counter in the format means Blue decks can only be so good in a format where games are often over in a couple of turns. It's time to let Force of Will loose. Timeless is closer to Legacy and Vintage than it has ever been, but as games become quicker and more powered-up, catch-all answers are required. If you're not going to ban the likes of Dark Ritual, players need a way to fight back. If you're not going to do anything about energy being the best deck for well over a year, we need to be able to reliably counter Ajani, Nacatl Pariah // Ajani, Nacatl Avenger.

3. Play Black

Black is clearly the best color in Timeless right now. It's at least a bit part player in every top deck except for Mono-Red and is an integral part of most decks. Boros Energy is a deck, but it's generally better to stretch your mana base for Orcish Bowmasters and Juggernaut Peddler. The Blue decks I've been talking about previously are all always Blue-Black, occasionality splashing White. Obviously Necropotence decks are heavily, if not entirely, Black and although it had a meagre showing at AC10, Golgari midrange is a very popular and very successful ladder deck. Black has the best answers, a lot of the best threats and most of the best combos. It is the best at almost everything that matters in the format and you need a very good reason to not play it.

4. Play Best-of-Three

Timeless is a format where the sideboard is extremely important. There are a lot of decks with very linear game plans, and you can't account for all of them. Losing to Chrome Mox, Ritual, Balustrade Spy before you've even played a land is very frustrating, but at least you can easily hate it out via side-boarding in games two and three. Even in less extreme examples, you'll be happy to have access to Toxic Deluge against the energy decks but you won't want it in your main deck in case you run into Mono-Black. Having graveyard hate can be game-breaking and Disruptor Flute is vital against some decks but dead against others. If you want to enjoy the format, I highly recommend playing matches where you can make the most of these silver bullets.

5. Mana Bases Matter

Obviously, this is true in any format, but with Strip Mine and Blood Moon being big players in the format, you are going to need some basics. Look, the prison deck is miserable to play against in general, but at least if you have an island or a swamp to fetch, you can maybe cast some spells.

How does the risk/reward equation stack-up for Ancient Tomb if you think you'll be facing a lot of aggressive energy decks? It's a no-brainer for Show And Tell decks, who either end the game with three-mana or lose immediately, but it's not as clear-cut for everyone. What happens if your Chrome Mox gets countered? Can you afford surveil lands?

At the same time, you need to consider what effect Strip Mine has on your own deck if you include it. It might feel like an automatic four-of in every deck but it's not. The Mono-Black decks often eschew it completely because they need a Black source on turn one. Other decks play 2-3 copies, depending on their colour requirements.