Building tempo, which colours?
Modern forum
Posted on Jan. 20, 2014, 12:49 p.m. by megawurmple
I want to make a tempo deck, but I can't choose whether to run Grixis or straight up Izzet. Izzet is strong by itself, with Snapcaster Mage , Remand , Lightning Bolt , Vendilion Clique and other such cards running around, but Grixis offers hard kill spells like Terminate that can take down cards that burn can't, at the expense of a more suicidal (and more expensive) mana base. Which do you think is better? Also, what are tempo's main weaknesses in Modern? How can it defend against them?
megawurmple says... #3
I think the Izzet Aggro you mentioned actually functions more as a tempo deck. I was on the receiving end of one yesterday at a GPT (piloted by Timothee Simonet no less) and although it was fairly aggressive, it was actually more dangerous because of the fact that all my stuff kept getting killed by burn or countered. However, I think I will stick with Izzet. It seems more fun (and cheaper).
January 20, 2014 1:21 p.m.
Personally, I like all of my kill spells to be able to go to my opponents face if need be. A lot of seemingly unwinnable games can be stolen through throwing a unexpectedly large amount of burn at their face. So I prefer straight UR to Grixis. For the match-ups where a better removal spell is required you can always bring Dismember out of the sideboard.
Tempo's worst enemies are the pure control decks and a specific subsection of the fair decks. Pure control like UWR just has way more removal spells than you'll typically have threats. The fair decks that can cause problems are anything playing a large amount of larger than modern-average creatures. Stuff like Loxodon Smiter is pretty annoying, worse still if they are packing AEther Vial to make all their threats uncounterable. Although Vendilion Clique in response to the AEther Vial trigger to bounce the guy out of their hand is pretty awesome to do.
As for how to fight them, it depends on what kind of tempo deck you intend to build. There's pretty much two routes right now. A more typical Delver of Secrets Flip /stick a threat and protect it-style deck might bring in some swords to help it grind out games. Sword of Light and Shadow and Sword of Fire and Ice are not only good for making almost anything a threat, but they are good sources of card advantage.
The other option is what's come to be known as Tempo Twin, which is a Splinter Twin combo deck with more controlling elements. The idea being it forces your opponent into an awkward game of playing around you being able to win at any moment, but even if you don't have the combo you can just beatdown slowly.
January 20, 2014 1:21 p.m.
UR is probably the best bet, but I've always like BUG Delver personally. Abrupt Decay , Disfigure , Remand , etc.
January 20, 2014 2:50 p.m.
megawurmple says... #6
Jp3ngu1nb0y BUG is cool, but I'd rather go for a more tempo/burn type build. I appeals to me more.
Slycne Thanks for the input. I'm more likely to go for the first build (ie play a beatstick and then lay down the beats), and I'll give the Swords some thought.
MTG_Player says... #2
Go for Izzet aggro with Young Pyromancer and Delver of Secrets Flip , grixis is more crappy control, tempo is susceptible to aggro like affinity or burn and control, but with counters you are good with combo or midrange.
January 20, 2014 1:14 p.m.