Grixis Tempo, to those well versed in Magic, is exactly what it sounds like; a deck in the colours Blue, Red and Black that seeks to mess with their opponent's turns in order to gain the upper hand. It is then able to capitalize on their opponent's early disadvantage with cheap, efficient creatures and a steady stream of library manipulation effects to ensure you have answers to your opponent's plays. However, this deck takes that concept a step further in that, unlike other tempo decks, this deck's main threats are 2-drops instead of 1-drops. While this may make this deck less aggressive than it's cousins the creatures used by Grixis are meant to generate additional card advantage and other bonuses. Do not think that Grixis is not as threatening though, each creature is chosen because it is a "must answer threat", a creature that will quickly run away with the game if left unchecked. Whether it be Delver of Secrets smashing in for evasive damage, Dark Confidant providing a steady stream of threats and answers or Young Pyromancer providing a token army each creature brings something unique to the deck while remaining a game winning threat. It is often hard for the opponent to decide what to deal with first, a problem made all the more difficult while their resources are under attack! While there appears to be an optimized list that shows up in various tournaments there are a few ways to go about building the deck and some card choices that are equally viable as the established cards that will be discussed later.
Why play it?
So you've chosen tempo as your preferred strategy and you've bought your Force of Wills, Delver of Secrets, Brainstorms ect.. Why should you build this instead of RUG or BUG? What advantages does this deck bring?
-Tarmogoyf, Nimble Mongoose, Deathrite Shaman and Tombstalker. What do they all have in common besides them being staples in the other tempo decks? They all rely on the graveyard to be full or at least partially full to function. With the recent printing of Deathrite Shaman and Rest in Peace keeping your graveyard full of goodies is harder than ever. The nice thing about Grixis is that it's main threats do not operate off the graveyard at all! Your opponent will be in for a nasty surprise if they prepared for RUG with their Rest in Peace or Relic of Progenitus only to find that their sideboard choice is now useless against you. Another bonus is that you can use the symmetrical Relic of Progenitus yourself!
-You're the type of player who likes to have something to do at every point in the game. Not only are our creatures very threatening they also give us value every turn. Ever Daze your own spell or play Red Elemental Blast on a land? Now you can feel good about it and make a free token! Dark Confidant also keeps the cards flowing as well. With this deck your cards rarely feel truly dead and you rarely run out of cards to play... if all goes well of coarse
-Red and Black are a very unexplored colour combination when it comes to creature strategies. Having access to the Red/Black combination gives use some unique sideboard options combining Red's hatred for Blue and Artifacts with Black's graveyard hate, anti-green sweepers and hand disruption.
-Young Pyromancer gives us some sweet interactions previously unusable by other decks. This guy's sweet and this is currently the only well known Legacy deck that plays it!
Brief History
The deck's history is indeed brief although not for lack of players trying to make the deck work. For a long time if one choose to play tempo the main choices were either Team America (BUG) or Canadian Threshold (RUG). These decks had what tempo needs; cheap, efficient creatures backed by counterspells and removal with cantrips to find what you need. Grixis was left in the shadows. Although it had ample removal (red and black being the game's main sources of it), cantrips and counterspells it's creatures were not up to Legacy's glorious standards. While Dark Confidant was a powerful threat BUG had Tombstalker and RUG had Nimble Mongoose to compliment their main man, Tarmogoyf while Dark Confidant had no such partners. In addition, every time Grixis got a boost BUG and RUG received the same bonus (Delver). However, all that changed with the release of M14. This core set gave Grixis the secondary threat it had been waiting for. Young Pyromancer is slowly proving itself to be the big man the deck needed to finally become viable. Combine this with the coverage it has been given by columnists like Drew Levin and it's not hard to see why Grixis has become a more popular deck able to compete with other tempo strategies!
Card Choices
Critters: The creatures this deck uses aren't just beatsticks. Consider them... your associates. Your friends. You wouldn't let them block and die that easily would you? Of course not! While they may not look like anything special, if you keep them alive, your new buddies will provide you with all the advantage you need to overwhelm your opponent!
Young Pyromancer: The dude who make this deck a thing! Pyroman is able to give you an advantage as soon as he's played. Because of all the free spells and can trips in this deck this creature will have no trouble making you a token army. While they may not look like much, these tokens can either serve as offensive weapons that swarm around your opponents creatures or defensive meat shields that stand in the way of any ground assault. Another interesting point is that producing tokens lets you save creatures in your hand in case of a sudden sweep. While Pyroman may not have the history of other famous 2-drops to back him up he really is very good. Recommended amount: 4
Dark Confidant: Another must kill 2-drop Dark Confidant serves to make sure that you have something to do every turn. From the turn you untap with him he provides you a card every turn at the low cost of (usually) 0-2 life. Not only that, he shines in matchups where Young Pyromancer may not. Is your opponent playing combo? Need answers against control? Send in Dark Confidant first to ensure that you aren't unprepared. At the very least the threat of a Dark Confidant may force your opponent to deal with him right away leaving them 1 less answer for your Pyromancer Recommended amount: 3-4
Delver of Secrets: Ok, this guy is your beater and usually the best thing you can play on the first turn. Playing with 27-28 spells and 4 Brainstorm/Ponder gives this guy a good chance to flip and wreck havoc. Honestly, there's not much to write about him. He's served other tempo decks and he serves us in much the same way. Recommended amount: 4
Grim Lavamancer: Bet you haven't seen this guy in a while. Grim is a repeatable source of small creature removal which is really helpful. Our creatures don't have the highest toughness around so being able to keep the board clear helps them actually attack. Grim gets rid of many problem creatures without spending any card resources including but not limited to Thalia, every merfolk, Shardless Agent, and even Deathrite Shaman. Against larger threats his damage can be combined with lightning bolt to take them down. Grim can even shock players for an unblockable finishing move. All said though Grim is a secondary threat to the creatures listed above. He is mana intensive and still only a 1/1 so you don't want to see that many per game. Recommended amount: 1-2
Alternative Choices
Deathrite Shaman: So far the high placing Grixis lists have been running Grim Lavamancer but Deathrite Shaman can be a wonderful alternative choice. DRS trades the ability to hit creatures with the ability to ramp mana. This can be helpful when you are playing more spells for Young Pyromancer or leaving up Stifle mana after playing your 2 drops. DRS's inclusion also gives you the opportunity to splash Green in the deck for some interesting sideboard choices. If the idea of running 4 colours makes you queasy DRS still makes for a great mono black creature. If used the recommended amount: 2-3
Tombstalker: The big, bad beater. Tombsalker puts your opponent in a bad situation. Tombdaddy's arrival says "deal with me or lose very quickly". He is almost unbeatable in the sky and can survive things that your other associates cannot such as Lightning Bolt, Punishing Fire and Abrupt Decay. So why isn't he an auto include? For one, he costs 8 and if the idea of running Force of Will with Dark Confidant turns you off this probably won't convince you. He is also very graveyard dependant. Keeping a full graveyard is not always easy to do which may make this guy uncastable. Lastly his minimum mana cost of BB can be an awkward thing to achieve. Red is very important to this deck and you will often find that you'll want it before Black. The downsides aside, if you change the manabase around a little and keep an eye out for his arrival with your cantrips you will find that Tombdaddy is a powerful weapon indeed. If used the recommended amount: 1-2
Instants and Sorcerys
You've probably seen our instants and sorceries in other tempo decks before and, yes, they do pretty much the same thing in this deck as they do in the others. That said, I can't just leave out an explanation for them. Besides, each and every one of them makes a creature from Young Pyromancer!
Brainstorm: Best card in Legacy. Insures you draw good stuff, protects you from discard, helps shuffle away lands, keeps you from Lava Axing yourself from Dark Confidant. What doesn't this do? Use it. Master it! Recommended amount: 16... but since we can't: 4
Ponder: Brainstorm's little brother. Helps smooth out your draws and scouts future turns. Recommended amount: 4
Force of Will: The most important counterspell but wait!... why do we only run 3? The reason is twofold. First is that Smashing our own face for 5 off of Dark Confidant hurts and we're trying to minimize that chance. Second, spending 2 cards to counter 1 thing is not always the best move. Therefore, we don't always want to draw this off the top every game. If you find yourself needing one though you can always use our many cantrips to find it. Or you can always be ballsy and run 4. Recommended amount: 3-4
Daze: The other free counter. This card forms the unholy trinity of tempo: Daze, Stifle, Wasteland. Using this synergy you can not only keep your opponent off mana but also counter their spells. This also allows us to play our 2 drops while still threatening a counterspell. Recommended amount: 4
Stifle: Part 2 of the tempo plan. This is most often seen countering fetchlands but it can also counter any other ability your opponent throws at you. Stoneforge trying to tutor? No chance! Your opponent trying to pull a Wasteland on you? Punish them harshly! There's rarely a matchup where this doesn't have a use but if you find one you can always pitch this to Force of Will. Recommended amount: 4
Lightning Bolt: Your go to removal spell. An efficient answer to most creatures and it can finish your opponent off. Not complicated but it doesn't have to be. Recommended amount: 4
Gitaxian Probe: Not just for combo anymore! Probe is finding its way into more tempo strategies now and why not? Information is a powerful thing. Ever want to know what your opponent is playing before they draw their first card? How many fetchlands are there to Stifle? What nasty things can your opponent do? Let's find out! Probe doesn't just give info though. It is also a very important card to play after Young Pyromancer to insure he gives us value right away and also fills the graveyard for Grim Lavamancer, DRS and Tombstalker. Recommended amount: 4
Dismember: The necessary evil. Yes, it hurts to draw this from Dark Confidant. Yes, it sucks to pay 4 life for this. However, no other maindeck spell can deal with big critters without any outside assistance and opposing Deathrite Shamans. We'll run it but we don't have to be happy about it! Recommended amount: 1-2
Alternative Choices
Sadly our decklist is pretty tight and most of our spell choices are set in stone. You can play Spell Pierce or Spell Snare in place of Stifle if you meta calls for it but that's pretty much it.
Manabase
Our mana base is very similar to Canadian Thresh's. This deck should run at least 6 sources of blue mana, 8 blue fetchlands, and 4 Wastelands. Some pilots feel that because of our reliance for 2-drops we should go up to 19. This is fine, just add another fetch.
The weird fetchlands are to mask what deck we are playing to give the opponent a false sense of security in an unknown meta. No one expects a Stifle coming off of a Bloodstained Mire or Flooded Strand. Pretty sneaky To bring the deck to 19 lands simply add another fetch. If you use Tombstalker you can make that 19th land a Badlands. Just remember to change your fetchland configuration to allow for easy access to the Badlands.
Sideboard: The sideboard should be constructed to reflect what your meta can throw at you while also addressing this deck's weaknesses. Any of these cards will do you well but give extra heed to Tarmogoyf and Punishing Fire should they be common in your meta. Those 2 give us trouble The amount of a card you use is really up to you.
Perish: Goyf hate. Also can act as a 1 sided sweeper. Be careful if you use DRS though.
Baleful Strix: More goyf hate. This gives us an added bonus in that it draws us a cards. Most goyf decks are card advantage machines and being able to keep up with their draws is important. If they use removal on it, great! Less coming towards the really important guys.
Pyroblast: Blue is everywhere. Might as well counter it. This gives us an added bonus in the it can be played to make a token off of Young Pyromancer if it is not doing anything else at the time.
Cabal Therapy: Very useful against a wide variety of decks. Not only does this have obvious synergy with Gitaxian Probe it can also be flashed back for free if it was played while you have Young Pyromancer. Just sacrifice a token! Not many decks like having 2 cards systematically striped from their hand. Especially combo decks. Missing with this can be costly but with practice you will have better educated guesses as to what your opponent has and what you need to get rid of.
Flusterstorm: Combo hate. This is not only great for disrupting the combo player's setup turns but also for winning the counter war if it ever comes to that. Decks such as High Tide or Omni*blank* that rely on their own counters to protect their combo are in for a nasty surprise.
Surgical Extraction: Mandatory grave hate. Punishing Fire wrecks us so having an answer to it is very useful. This can also be brought in verses combo. Being free makes this Pyromancer's friend as well.
Relic of Progenitus: Symmetrical, cantriping gravehate. We could care less about having our yard removed so we reap only benefits from this.
Force of Will: Don't forget that you can bring a Force from the board if you need it.
Smash to Smithereens: Our premiere artifact removal. Jitte and Batterskull are not our friends.
There are other, more specialized sideboard choices out there so don't be afraid to get creative. This is your deck. If it works for you, use it!
Nice primer, glad Grixis Tempo has an 'official' primer now. I recommend adding why Grixis Tempo over the currently popular UWR Tempo w/ Geist & SFM package.
I'm interested in the list with the DRS from Quizzlemanizzle. At first glance it looked like a 4color Delver build. From what I've witnessed DRS is quite efficient in tempo, and although I don't care for the BUG (TA) tempo stuff, I do like what he offers to more greedy variants. Also, in regard to that same list the Goblin Bombardment in the side is kind of a cool idea. Of course don't know if it is truly efficient, but it looked fun.
I posted this list last night on the original thread, may as well post it here.
The Spell Snare is the only oddball main, and as I explained a complete meta call. I elected to go for the path that can target Stoneforge Mystic, Dark Confidant, Baleful Strix, Elvish Visionary, Tarmogoyf, Young Pyromancer, etc. Sure there's more but you get the point.
The sideboard is what I'm most excited about. Overall, if used correctly 3-6 forms of Hand Disruption, 7 additional counters spells, 7 ways to remove a creature, and a little bit of surprise board control. Fire Covenant is pretty strong.
If I were to drop the Spell Snare and go with the normal main deck Spell Pierce, I'd add 2x Surgical Extraction and maybe the 4th Spell Pierce to the side, although I'd also have considerations for Perish, Tormods Crypt, Grafdiggers Cage, etc.
Good work.
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GBR Elves UBR ANT R Burn
UR Gift Storm GB/GR/GW/G Karn Tron GW Aura RW Burn
GBWUR Child of Alara BWR Kaalia of the Vast UWR Narset, Enlightened Master GWR Uril, the Miststalker
"Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're right." - Henry Ford
"Listen closely as your radio plays
a program of a slightly different strain.
Tonight my listeners, a new power will rise,
unleashed upon you all in this musical disguise.
Your cities turn to ash, for the broadcast is cursed.
The signal is peaking and can't be reversed.
If you choose my children, you can try to hide.
But I strongly suggest you run for your life."
-The Sermon 2, The Creepshow
yaWgnorW
I recommend adding why Grixis Tempo over the currently popular UWR Tempo w/ Geist & SFM package.
It's funny. Never have I ever watched or played a game with or against UWR Tempo. I know someone who took it to a SCG open and didn't do too well (although I attribute this to him not playing the deck he's played every week for many months, Stoneblade). Suffice to say, I know nothing about UWR. If someone wants to write that content, be my guest
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"Listen closely as your radio plays
a program of a slightly different strain.
Tonight my listeners, a new power will rise,
unleashed upon you all in this musical disguise.
Your cities turn to ash, for the broadcast is cursed.
The signal is peaking and can't be reversed.
If you choose my children, you can try to hide.
But I strongly suggest you run for your life."
-The Sermon 2, The Creepshow
So I've been playing with this deck every week I could since before its creation to test whether it's truly a worthy inclusion to my collection. I will declare this deck a success! Here's what I arrived at:
"Listen closely as your radio plays
a program of a slightly different strain.
Tonight my listeners, a new power will rise,
unleashed upon you all in this musical disguise.
Your cities turn to ash, for the broadcast is cursed.
The signal is peaking and can't be reversed.
If you choose my children, you can try to hide.
But I strongly suggest you run for your life."
-The Sermon 2, The Creepshow
It's funny. Never have I ever watched or played a game with or against UWR Tempo. I know someone who took it to a SCG open and didn't do too well (although I attribute this to him not playing the deck he's played every week for many months, Stoneblade). Suffice to say, I know nothing about UWR. If someone wants to write that content, be my guest
UWR, like Grixis, dodges the gravehate that can shut down RUG and BUG. This is actually the big reason why people started to move towards UWR because Rest in Peace was all over the place. This was just before the printing of Abrupt Decay mind you, so Miracles was at what was probably its highest point, and they had all the tools to beat RUG; Counterbalance when they are almost exclusively 1cmc, Rest in Peace to stop their graveyard reliant beaters, a one mana Wrath effect, and the second most resilient manabase in the format (High Tide is number one) all wrapped up together in one neat package.
UWR having more expensive threats is actually an advantage when up against Counterbalance, the aforementioned lack of graveyard reliance, and a beater that dodges StP, Punishing Fire really allowed UWR to find a place in the metagame.
So what are the big differences between the two?
Well white gives you access to Swords to Plowshares. UWR has the best answer to Tarmogoyf, KotR, and other fatties basically ever printed. We have to run Dismember and we do so begrudgingly because it can cost us up to seven life just to play (when revealed off Confidant of course).
They also have access to Geist of Saint Traft which gives them a threat that doesn't have to worry about Bolts, Punishing Fires, and the like.
In the two drop slot they also have the option of Stoneforge Mystic, but this isn't a universally played threat in UWR.
Geist of Saint Traft being 3cmc though, which is an advantage against Counterbalance, is often just slow and clunky elsewhere. Legacy has just hordes of creatures with two or more power which often make Geist sit back and do nothing for you. If they run Stoneforge Mystic they changing the flow of their deck even further towards an aggro-control deck.
So they do have some good threats in white, but personally I don't think they can compete with the powerlevel of Confidant. We really do walk a dangerous line with a combination of Confidant, Force of Will, Gitaxian Probe, and Dismember... Greatness at any cost
Regarding Pyromancer, Grixis just straight up uses him better than UWR.
Confidant tag teams very very well with Pyromancer as we all know. The cards Confidant draws insures your token army never stops growing.
There's also the almost disgusting synergy between Pyromancer + Cabal Therapy + Probe that you have access to postboard. And I think that leads well into the other advantage of Black. Black, for as long as I can remember, has always had among the best sideboard options in Legacy. You have the discard available to you to give you the extra edge you need against combo. You have excellent mass removal options from cards like Perish and Engineered Plague. White has the slight edge in gravehate due to the massive power in Rest in Peace, but black is clearly no slouch in this department. Black also has some great cards that can break open the tempo mirrors like Baleful Strix. Heck, I've even won games against a Griselbrand because I had the little robot owl staring him down in the face.
I like UWR when you are expecting decks that can remove every creature you play. Something like Jund can give Grixis nightmares when they have a full set of bolts, Punishing Fires, Abrupt Decays, and Lilianas. Hexproof on Geist goes a long way against these kind of decks. I do really like Grixis over UWR against combo decks though. The addition of Cabal Therapy and the ability and the higher efficiency of Grixis are great against combo.
WeaponX
Still no single basic land? I feel it my duty to encourage people to play at least 1 basic land if they are able to.
I know of no Tempo deck that plays even a single basic. Who among us would honestly run even a single basic island in this deck? We are a low land count, low curve deck. Having many different colours available as early as possible is important.
rowtheboat
Stuff...
This is great Now to put this in my own words somehow...
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"Listen closely as your radio plays
a program of a slightly different strain.
Tonight my listeners, a new power will rise,
unleashed upon you all in this musical disguise.
Your cities turn to ash, for the broadcast is cursed.
The signal is peaking and can't be reversed.
If you choose my children, you can try to hide.
But I strongly suggest you run for your life."
-The Sermon 2, The Creepshow
So I've been playing with this deck every week I could since before its creation to test whether it's truly a worthy inclusion to my collection. I will declare this deck a success! Here's what I arrived at:
Solid list (like wise), the card I think I find the most interesting and want to kick myself for not considering is Sulfur Elemental. It seems like you have an aggro heavy meta.
I really liked having 2 Grim Lava's in my main as well; however I'm currently running 1. I was having a hard time finding what I wanted to drop for that spot.
UWR, like Grixis, dodges the gravehate that can shut down RUG and BUG. This is actually the big reason why people started to move towards UWR because Rest in Peace was all over the place. This was just before the printing of Abrupt Decay mind you, so Miracles was at what was probably its highest point, and they had all the tools to beat RUG; Counterbalance when they are almost exclusively 1cmc, Rest in Peace to stop their graveyard reliant beaters, a one mana Wrath effect, and the second most resilient manabase in the format (High Tide is number one) all wrapped up together in one neat package.
UWR having more expensive threats is actually an advantage when up against Counterbalance, the aforementioned lack of graveyard reliance, and a beater that dodges StP, Punishing Fire really allowed UWR to find a place in the metagame.
So what are the big differences between the two?
Well white gives you access to Swords to Plowshares. UWR has the best answer to Tarmogoyf, KotR, and other fatties basically ever printed. We have to run Dismember and we do so begrudgingly because it can cost us up to seven life just to play (when revealed off Confidant of course).
They also have access to Geist of Saint Traft which gives them a threat that doesn't have to worry about Bolts, Punishing Fires, and the like.
In the two drop slot they also have the option of Stoneforge Mystic, but this isn't a universally played threat in UWR.
Geist of Saint Traft being 3cmc though, which is an advantage against Counterbalance, is often just slow and clunky elsewhere. Legacy has just hordes of creatures with two or more power which often make Geist sit back and do nothing for you. If they run Stoneforge Mystic they changing the flow of their deck even further towards an aggro-control deck.
So they do have some good threats in white, but personally I don't think they can compete with the powerlevel of Confidant. We really do walk a dangerous line with a combination of Confidant, Force of Will, Gitaxian Probe, and Dismember... Greatness at any cost
Regarding Pyromancer, Grixis just straight up uses him better than UWR.
Confidant tag teams very very well with Pyromancer as we all know. The cards Confidant draws insures your token army never stops growing.
There's also the almost disgusting synergy between Pyromancer + Cabal Therapy + Probe that you have access to postboard. And I think that leads well into the other advantage of Black. Black, for as long as I can remember, has always had among the best sideboard options in Legacy. You have the discard available to you to give you the extra edge you need against combo. You have excellent mass removal options from cards like Perish and Engineered Plague. White has the slight edge in gravehate due to the massive power in Rest in Peace, but black is clearly no slouch in this department. Black also has some great cards that can break open the tempo mirrors like Baleful Strix. Heck, I've even won games against a Griselbrand because I had the little robot owl staring him down in the face.
I like UWR when you are expecting decks that can remove every creature you play. Something like Jund can give Grixis nightmares when they have a full set of bolts, Punishing Fires, Abrupt Decays, and Lilianas. Hexproof on Geist goes a long way against these kind of decks. I do really like Grixis over UWR against combo decks though. The addition of Cabal Therapy and the ability and the higher efficiency of Grixis are great against combo.
Very nice write up on UWR. I recommend having the most relevant parts of this added to the primer. Probably in the area of why Grixis Delver over UWR, or maybe more so of 'when' vs 'why'.
I know of no Tempo deck that plays even a single basic. Who among us would honestly run even a single basic island in this deck? We are a low land count, low curve deck. Having many different colours available as early as possible is important.
I've seen tempo decks attempt to run that one island. It usually doesn't show up much; and I honestly never liked it nor agreed with it. I am with those that say we run 14 lands, not 18. Wasteland should be considered a sorcery, as some say. Its hard to fit in a basic, and honestly a little pointless in a deck such as this. We are designed to fight on 1 land (essentially). Imagine that being a island, and then all the sudden you have that critical choice between Underground Sea and Volcanic Island. You have both colors of cards in your hand (bolt/bob), which do you want to lose? We can survive on one basic but not for long, but we can win on a Volcanic Island for example.
I bring it up because I watched Brian fold to bloodmoon. One island means the game isn't over and the deck is extremely threatening still. Brian himself said he felt a need for one more land and added a fetch. That fetch could easily be an island which plays 60% of the deck.
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------------------- Keep Abiding or Get Mangled ------------------
Waterdragon
making your deck less efficient to be able to work around one strategy is, in my humble opinion, not worth it.
^This is what I've been saying all along. If I let a Bloodmoon resolve it's because I couldn't counter it, not from my inability to play the deck correctly. There's more decks in our meta than Painter's Servant and Parfait and there are other decks can beat you before I can. WeaponX lost to Polymorph. Does that mean he might think it wise to overcompensate to the point of making his deck overall less efficient just to have a chance at beating that deck? No. Like it or not every deck has nearly unwinnable matchups. Ours seems to be weird enchantments and even then we have counters. Anyway, I'm done testing this deck so I'm free to "metagame properly."
yaWgnorW
the card I think I find the most interesting and want to kick myself for not considering is Sulfur Elemental. It seems like you have an aggro heavy meta.
We actually have more combo and general "weird decks" than aggro. Sulfur Elemental is a 1 of to deal with Death and Taxes (a control deck) which happens to be (IMO) my friend's most successful list. This deck is naturally good against combo so I felt that, past the more common sideboard inclusions, I could add more creature removal.
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"Listen closely as your radio plays
a program of a slightly different strain.
Tonight my listeners, a new power will rise,
unleashed upon you all in this musical disguise.
Your cities turn to ash, for the broadcast is cursed.
The signal is peaking and can't be reversed.
If you choose my children, you can try to hide.
But I strongly suggest you run for your life."
-The Sermon 2, The Creepshow
Replacing one land with a different land is hardly over compensating. I'm saying the key card in the deck is red and having having access to one basic island lets you augment pyromancer, beat traditional hate cards, beat wasteland, and all at no cost to the functionality of the deck as a whole.
If a simple change adds that much to the deck, why dismiss it? Not to say many of those situations will arise but the ability to main deck a sideboard card (island) seem worthy of trying.
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Fiiiiiine. I have that odd Bloodstained Mire in there. May as well turn it into an Island for a tournament. Although I'm not sure when I'll actually test it. I wanna play other decks to ya know. heh, maindeck the sideboard Island...
*edit* I can see this working better with decks that run 19 lands anyway
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"Listen closely as your radio plays
a program of a slightly different strain.
Tonight my listeners, a new power will rise,
unleashed upon you all in this musical disguise.
Your cities turn to ash, for the broadcast is cursed.
The signal is peaking and can't be reversed.
If you choose my children, you can try to hide.
But I strongly suggest you run for your life."
-The Sermon 2, The Creepshow
Why run sulfur elemental over dread of night? Dread of Night is 1 mana and does pretty much the same thing AND doesn't die to creature removal. If DnT brings in enchantment hate against us then congrats. I play it as a 1 of and although I have only played it in testing, it seems just fine.
Why run sulfur elemental over dread of night? Dread of Night is 1 mana and does pretty much the same thing AND doesn't die to creature removal. If DnT brings in enchantment hate against us then congrats. I play it as a 1 of and although I have only played it in testing, it seems just fine.
Sulfur Elemental is a decent beatstick, instant speed (read: combat trick), and basically uncounterable. I like Dread of Night in combo, but for any tempo/aggro deck, I feel like I'd rather have the Elemental.
Poppeleseed
Sulfur Elemental is a decent beatstick, instant speed (read: combat trick), and basically uncounterable. I like Dread of Night in combo, but for any tempo/aggro deck, I feel like I'd rather have the Elemental.
Pretty much this. Death and Taxes has the potential to run both creature and enchantment hate and if they deal with either they can get online again. I like the ability to not only put a clock on them but also respond to things such as equip/Karakas activations.
Also, YA ESTABLISHED!!
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Listen closely as your radio plays
a program of a slightly different strain.
Tonight my listeners, a new power will rise,
unleashed upon you all in this musical disguise.
Your cities turn to ash, for the broadcast is cursed.
The signal is peaking and can't be reversed.
If you choose my children, you can try to hide.
But I strongly suggest you run for your life."
-The Sermon 2, The Creepshow
noremac
I just think 3 mana is too much when you want to keep up stifle/bs/wasteland them.
Elemental has flash. You can keep up all 3
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"Listen closely as your radio plays
a program of a slightly different strain.
Tonight my listeners, a new power will rise,
unleashed upon you all in this musical disguise.
Your cities turn to ash, for the broadcast is cursed.
The signal is peaking and can't be reversed.
If you choose my children, you can try to hide.
But I strongly suggest you run for your life."
-The Sermon 2, The Creepshow
as alternatives? Outbreak in has the advantage of relying on lands you're trying to get rid of, outbreak is one-sided a lot of the time. They all get around the issue that noremac brings up, which is that 3 mana in Delver is difficult in the first place as it goes against the purpose of the deck; and it's more difficult against D&T who will be attempting to screw with your mana-base.
Compared to Sulfur, they're also spells for Delver and Pyro
I found these while looking for tech against T1 Empty the Warrens in Forceless decks.
as alternatives? Outbreak in has the advantage of relying on lands you're trying to get rid of, outbreak is one-sided a lot of the time. They all get around the issue that noremac brings up, which is that 3 mana in Delver is difficult in the first place as it goes against the purpose of the deck; and it's more difficult against D&T who will be attempting to screw with your mana-base.
Compared to Sulfur, they're also spells for Delver and Pyro
I found these while looking for tech against T1 Empty the Warrens in Forceless decks.
Eh?
Definitely some choices I didn't know about. Interesting new tech idea...at least new to me.
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GBR Elves UBR ANT R Burn
UR Gift Storm GB/GR/GW/G Karn Tron GW Aura RW Burn
GBWUR Child of Alara BWR Kaalia of the Vast UWR Narset, Enlightened Master GWR Uril, the Miststalker
"Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're right." - Henry Ford
Well, we're not a Force-less deck so I don't see a problem with decks Beltcher.
Cave-In: This literally kills ALL of our guys unless you're running Tombstalker it kills every single creature we run.
Outbreak: Is good against goblin tokens sure but are we still talking about the Death and Taxes matchup? If so, what are you naming. Not human I hope cause that, again, kills all our guys as well.
I like my wraths to be one-sided
*Edit* Pyrokinesis is cool if you're not scared of topdecking it with Bob
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Listen closely as your radio plays
a program of a slightly different strain.
Tonight my listeners, a new power will rise,
unleashed upon you all in this musical disguise.
Your cities turn to ash, for the broadcast is cursed.
The signal is peaking and can't be reversed.
If you choose my children, you can try to hide.
But I strongly suggest you run for your life."
-The Sermon 2, The Creepshow
I don't really like any of those options. As Brian has stated, they kill all of our guys. They are cards that were not even on my radar though so I will keep them in mind.
You're in black/redson.
You'll kill your stuff and you'll like it.
If we're not being silly; your spot removal should help you get to the point where wipes/partial wipes are unnecessary. If you, however, get stuck under a Mom, Thalia, Mangara tricks, etc.. an outbreak for 1-mana may be just what you want, losing your board position (which is an exaggeration because you'll still have your Delvers and elementals)
PK can also do it nicely
(just like in 40k, AMIRYT? No ork players in here? Tough crowd.)
but to be honest; if you nail everything on their side of the board except a mirran crusader (for which you have bolt/StoP) and you have a bunch of elementals left over to swing through; it's worth it.
If you *really* hate wipes like that Electrickery could get you in for 1 mana less than Sulfur while having all of the benefits of being instant/sorcery, though I think that's playing it too safe. You *are* in black/red and one-sided wraths are not only an oxymoron but quite rare.
EDIT:
They're also $0.25-$0.50 jank, so quite easy to acquire and test at no risk. PK is used on occasion in vintage and can be pretty dang nice if you have the red to support it. I just like Outbreak as a means to an end without losing a real card.
That all said, you can also single out MoR by naming "Cleric", single out Thalia with "Soldier", etc..
Grixis Tempo, to those well versed in Magic, is exactly what it sounds like; a deck in the colours Blue, Red and Black that seeks to mess with their opponent's turns in order to gain the upper hand. It is then able to capitalize on their opponent's early disadvantage with cheap, efficient creatures and a steady stream of library manipulation effects to ensure you have answers to your opponent's plays. However, this deck takes that concept a step further in that, unlike other tempo decks, this deck's main threats are 2-drops instead of 1-drops. While this may make this deck less aggressive than it's cousins the creatures used by Grixis are meant to generate additional card advantage and other bonuses. Do not think that Grixis is not as threatening though, each creature is chosen because it is a "must answer threat", a creature that will quickly run away with the game if left unchecked. Whether it be Delver of Secrets smashing in for evasive damage, Dark Confidant providing a steady stream of threats and answers or Young Pyromancer providing a token army each creature brings something unique to the deck while remaining a game winning threat. It is often hard for the opponent to decide what to deal with first, a problem made all the more difficult while their resources are under attack! While there appears to be an optimized list that shows up in various tournaments there are a few ways to go about building the deck and some card choices that are equally viable as the established cards that will be discussed later.
Why play it?
So you've chosen tempo as your preferred strategy and you've bought your Force of Wills, Delver of Secrets, Brainstorms ect.. Why should you build this instead of RUG or BUG? What advantages does this deck bring?
-Tarmogoyf, Nimble Mongoose, Deathrite Shaman and Tombstalker. What do they all have in common besides them being staples in the other tempo decks? They all rely on the graveyard to be full or at least partially full to function. With the recent printing of Deathrite Shaman and Rest in Peace keeping your graveyard full of goodies is harder than ever. The nice thing about Grixis is that it's main threats do not operate off the graveyard at all! Your opponent will be in for a nasty surprise if they prepared for RUG with their Rest in Peace or Relic of Progenitus only to find that their sideboard choice is now useless against you. Another bonus is that you can use the symmetrical Relic of Progenitus yourself!
-You're the type of player who likes to have something to do at every point in the game. Not only are our creatures very threatening they also give us value every turn. Ever Daze your own spell or play Red Elemental Blast on a land? Now you can feel good about it and make a free token! Dark Confidant also keeps the cards flowing as well. With this deck your cards rarely feel truly dead and you rarely run out of cards to play... if all goes well of coarse
-Red and Black are a very unexplored colour combination when it comes to creature strategies. Having access to the Red/Black combination gives use some unique sideboard options combining Red's hatred for Blue and Artifacts with Black's graveyard hate, anti-green sweepers and hand disruption.
-Young Pyromancer gives us some sweet interactions previously unusable by other decks. This guy's sweet and this is currently the only well known Legacy deck that plays it!
Brief History
The deck's history is indeed brief although not for lack of players trying to make the deck work. For a long time if one choose to play tempo the main choices were either Team America (BUG) or Canadian Threshold (RUG). These decks had what tempo needs; cheap, efficient creatures backed by counterspells and removal with cantrips to find what you need. Grixis was left in the shadows. Although it had ample removal (red and black being the game's main sources of it), cantrips and counterspells it's creatures were not up to Legacy's glorious standards. While Dark Confidant was a powerful threat BUG had Tombstalker and RUG had Nimble Mongoose to compliment their main man, Tarmogoyf while Dark Confidant had no such partners. In addition, every time Grixis got a boost BUG and RUG received the same bonus (Delver). However, all that changed with the release of M14. This core set gave Grixis the secondary threat it had been waiting for. Young Pyromancer is slowly proving itself to be the big man the deck needed to finally become viable. Combine this with the coverage it has been given by columnists like Drew Levin and it's not hard to see why Grixis has become a more popular deck able to compete with other tempo strategies!
Card Choices
Critters: The creatures this deck uses aren't just beatsticks. Consider them... your associates. Your friends. You wouldn't let them block and die that easily would you? Of course not! While they may not look like anything special, if you keep them alive, your new buddies will provide you with all the advantage you need to overwhelm your opponent!
Young Pyromancer: The dude who make this deck a thing! Pyroman is able to give you an advantage as soon as he's played. Because of all the free spells and can trips in this deck this creature will have no trouble making you a token army. While they may not look like much, these tokens can either serve as offensive weapons that swarm around your opponents creatures or defensive meat shields that stand in the way of any ground assault. Another interesting point is that producing tokens lets you save creatures in your hand in case of a sudden sweep. While Pyroman may not have the history of other famous 2-drops to back him up he really is very good. Recommended amount: 4
Dark Confidant: Another must kill 2-drop Dark Confidant serves to make sure that you have something to do every turn. From the turn you untap with him he provides you a card every turn at the low cost of (usually) 0-2 life. Not only that, he shines in matchups where Young Pyromancer may not. Is your opponent playing combo? Need answers against control? Send in Dark Confidant first to ensure that you aren't unprepared. At the very least the threat of a Dark Confidant may force your opponent to deal with him right away leaving them 1 less answer for your Pyromancer Recommended amount: 3-4
Delver of Secrets: Ok, this guy is your beater and usually the best thing you can play on the first turn. Playing with 27-28 spells and 4 Brainstorm/Ponder gives this guy a good chance to flip and wreck havoc. Honestly, there's not much to write about him. He's served other tempo decks and he serves us in much the same way. Recommended amount: 4
Grim Lavamancer: Bet you haven't seen this guy in a while. Grim is a repeatable source of small creature removal which is really helpful. Our creatures don't have the highest toughness around so being able to keep the board clear helps them actually attack. Grim gets rid of many problem creatures without spending any card resources including but not limited to Thalia, every merfolk, Shardless Agent, and even Deathrite Shaman. Against larger threats his damage can be combined with lightning bolt to take them down. Grim can even shock players for an unblockable finishing move. All said though Grim is a secondary threat to the creatures listed above. He is mana intensive and still only a 1/1 so you don't want to see that many per game. Recommended amount: 1-2
Alternative Choices
Deathrite Shaman: So far the high placing Grixis lists have been running Grim Lavamancer but Deathrite Shaman can be a wonderful alternative choice. DRS trades the ability to hit creatures with the ability to ramp mana. This can be helpful when you are playing more spells for Young Pyromancer or leaving up Stifle mana after playing your 2 drops. DRS's inclusion also gives you the opportunity to splash Green in the deck for some interesting sideboard choices. If the idea of running 4 colours makes you queasy DRS still makes for a great mono black creature. If used the recommended amount: 2-3
Tombstalker: The big, bad beater. Tombsalker puts your opponent in a bad situation. Tombdaddy's arrival says "deal with me or lose very quickly". He is almost unbeatable in the sky and can survive things that your other associates cannot such as Lightning Bolt, Punishing Fire and Abrupt Decay. So why isn't he an auto include? For one, he costs 8 and if the idea of running Force of Will with Dark Confidant turns you off this probably won't convince you. He is also very graveyard dependant. Keeping a full graveyard is not always easy to do which may make this guy uncastable. Lastly his minimum mana cost of BB can be an awkward thing to achieve. Red is very important to this deck and you will often find that you'll want it before Black. The downsides aside, if you change the manabase around a little and keep an eye out for his arrival with your cantrips you will find that Tombdaddy is a powerful weapon indeed. If used the recommended amount: 1-2
Instants and Sorcerys
You've probably seen our instants and sorceries in other tempo decks before and, yes, they do pretty much the same thing in this deck as they do in the others. That said, I can't just leave out an explanation for them. Besides, each and every one of them makes a creature from Young Pyromancer!
Brainstorm: Best card in Legacy. Insures you draw good stuff, protects you from discard, helps shuffle away lands, keeps you from Lava Axing yourself from Dark Confidant. What doesn't this do? Use it. Master it! Recommended amount: 16... but since we can't: 4
Ponder: Brainstorm's little brother. Helps smooth out your draws and scouts future turns. Recommended amount: 4
Force of Will: The most important counterspell but wait!... why do we only run 3? The reason is twofold. First is that Smashing our own face for 5 off of Dark Confidant hurts and we're trying to minimize that chance. Second, spending 2 cards to counter 1 thing is not always the best move. Therefore, we don't always want to draw this off the top every game. If you find yourself needing one though you can always use our many cantrips to find it. Or you can always be ballsy and run 4. Recommended amount: 3-4
Daze: The other free counter. This card forms the unholy trinity of tempo: Daze, Stifle, Wasteland. Using this synergy you can not only keep your opponent off mana but also counter their spells. This also allows us to play our 2 drops while still threatening a counterspell. Recommended amount: 4
Stifle: Part 2 of the tempo plan. This is most often seen countering fetchlands but it can also counter any other ability your opponent throws at you. Stoneforge trying to tutor? No chance! Your opponent trying to pull a Wasteland on you? Punish them harshly! There's rarely a matchup where this doesn't have a use but if you find one you can always pitch this to Force of Will. Recommended amount: 4
Lightning Bolt: Your go to removal spell. An efficient answer to most creatures and it can finish your opponent off. Not complicated but it doesn't have to be. Recommended amount: 4
Gitaxian Probe: Not just for combo anymore! Probe is finding its way into more tempo strategies now and why not? Information is a powerful thing. Ever want to know what your opponent is playing before they draw their first card? How many fetchlands are there to Stifle? What nasty things can your opponent do? Let's find out! Probe doesn't just give info though. It is also a very important card to play after Young Pyromancer to insure he gives us value right away and also fills the graveyard for Grim Lavamancer, DRS and Tombstalker. Recommended amount: 4
Dismember: The necessary evil. Yes, it hurts to draw this from Dark Confidant. Yes, it sucks to pay 4 life for this. However, no other maindeck spell can deal with big critters without any outside assistance and opposing Deathrite Shamans. We'll run it but we don't have to be happy about it! Recommended amount: 1-2
Alternative Choices
Sadly our decklist is pretty tight and most of our spell choices are set in stone. You can play Spell Pierce or Spell Snare in place of Stifle if you meta calls for it but that's pretty much it.
Manabase
Our mana base is very similar to Canadian Thresh's. This deck should run at least 6 sources of blue mana, 8 blue fetchlands, and 4 Wastelands. Some pilots feel that because of our reliance for 2-drops we should go up to 19. This is fine, just add another fetch.
Sample manabase:
3 Volcanic Island
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Flooded Strand
4 Wasteland
The weird fetchlands are to mask what deck we are playing to give the opponent a false sense of security in an unknown meta. No one expects a Stifle coming off of a Bloodstained Mire or Flooded Strand. Pretty sneaky To bring the deck to 19 lands simply add another fetch. If you use Tombstalker you can make that 19th land a Badlands. Just remember to change your fetchland configuration to allow for easy access to the Badlands.
Sideboard: The sideboard should be constructed to reflect what your meta can throw at you while also addressing this deck's weaknesses. Any of these cards will do you well but give extra heed to Tarmogoyf and Punishing Fire should they be common in your meta. Those 2 give us trouble The amount of a card you use is really up to you.
Perish: Goyf hate. Also can act as a 1 sided sweeper. Be careful if you use DRS though.
Baleful Strix: More goyf hate. This gives us an added bonus in that it draws us a cards. Most goyf decks are card advantage machines and being able to keep up with their draws is important. If they use removal on it, great! Less coming towards the really important guys.
Pyroblast: Blue is everywhere. Might as well counter it. This gives us an added bonus in the it can be played to make a token off of Young Pyromancer if it is not doing anything else at the time.
Cabal Therapy: Very useful against a wide variety of decks. Not only does this have obvious synergy with Gitaxian Probe it can also be flashed back for free if it was played while you have Young Pyromancer. Just sacrifice a token! Not many decks like having 2 cards systematically striped from their hand. Especially combo decks. Missing with this can be costly but with practice you will have better educated guesses as to what your opponent has and what you need to get rid of.
Flusterstorm: Combo hate. This is not only great for disrupting the combo player's setup turns but also for winning the counter war if it ever comes to that. Decks such as High Tide or Omni*blank* that rely on their own counters to protect their combo are in for a nasty surprise.
Surgical Extraction: Mandatory grave hate. Punishing Fire wrecks us so having an answer to it is very useful. This can also be brought in verses combo. Being free makes this Pyromancer's friend as well.
Relic of Progenitus: Symmetrical, cantriping gravehate. We could care less about having our yard removed so we reap only benefits from this.
Force of Will: Don't forget that you can bring a Force from the board if you need it.
Smash to Smithereens: Our premiere artifact removal. Jitte and Batterskull are not our friends.
There are other, more specialized sideboard choices out there so don't be afraid to get creative. This is your deck. If it works for you, use it!
Sample Decklists
Eric Rill, Starcity Games, 1st Place
4 Dark Confidant
4 Delver of Secrets
1 Grim Lavamancer
4 Young Pyromancer
Lands (18)
4 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
2 Dismember
3 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Stifle
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
2 Baleful Strix
1 Grim Lavamancer
3 Flusterstorm
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Submerge
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Bonfire of the Damned
3 Cabal Therapy
1 Perish
quizzlemanizzle, mtgsalvation.com
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Deathrite Shaman
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Dark Confidant
Spells (27)
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Stifle
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Daze
3 Force of Will
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
1 Goblin Bombardment
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Force of Will
1 Bonfire of the Damned
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Tropical Island
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Cabal Therapy
phazonmuant , mtgthesource
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Dark Confidant
2 Tombstalker
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Dismember
3 Force of Will
4 Daze
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
1 Stifle
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
1 Badlands
3 Wasteland
1 Electrickery
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Smash to Smithereens
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Extirpate
1 Perish
2 Flusterstorm
Of course these are all decks done with preferances in mind along with meta's. Build yours to suit your purpose and have fun with it!
97% of the Primer Credit goes to Biran_The_Impaler
And I did the card tags.
If wizards would print a green, black and white version of Hydroblast and Blue Elemental Blast Painter could be done in every color.
RRImperial PainterRR
UUUUMonoOmniTellUUUU
BGURWDredgeWRUGB
I'm interested in the list with the DRS from Quizzlemanizzle. At first glance it looked like a 4color Delver build. From what I've witnessed DRS is quite efficient in tempo, and although I don't care for the BUG (TA) tempo stuff, I do like what he offers to more greedy variants. Also, in regard to that same list the Goblin Bombardment in the side is kind of a cool idea. Of course don't know if it is truly efficient, but it looked fun.
I posted this list last night on the original thread, may as well post it here.
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Young Pyromancer
4x Dark Confidant
1x Grim Lavamancer
Spells 29
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Brainstorm
3x Ponder
3x Gitaxion Probe
4x Stifle
3x Spell Snare
4x Daze
4x Force of Will
4x Wasteland
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Polluted Delta
3x Underground Sea
3x Volcanic Island
3x Spell Pierce
2x Flusterstorm
3x Submerge
2x Pyroblast
2x Fire Covenant
3x Cabal Therapy
The Spell Snare is the only oddball main, and as I explained a complete meta call. I elected to go for the path that can target Stoneforge Mystic, Dark Confidant, Baleful Strix, Elvish Visionary, Tarmogoyf, Young Pyromancer, etc. Sure there's more but you get the point.
The sideboard is what I'm most excited about. Overall, if used correctly 3-6 forms of Hand Disruption, 7 additional counters spells, 7 ways to remove a creature, and a little bit of surprise board control. Fire Covenant is pretty strong.
If I were to drop the Spell Snare and go with the normal main deck Spell Pierce, I'd add 2x Surgical Extraction and maybe the 4th Spell Pierce to the side, although I'd also have considerations for Perish, Tormods Crypt, Grafdiggers Cage, etc.
Good work.
UBR ANT
R Burn
GB/GR/GW/G Karn Tron
GW Aura
RW Burn
BWR Kaalia of the Vast
UWR Narset, Enlightened Master
GWR Uril, the Miststalker
*Edit* "Manabase" should be bolded like the other headings
*Edit edit* found the credits. My name is spelled wrong lol
a program of a slightly different strain.
Tonight my listeners, a new power will rise,
unleashed upon you all in this musical disguise.
Your cities turn to ash, for the broadcast is cursed.
The signal is peaking and can't be reversed.
If you choose my children, you can try to hide.
But I strongly suggest you run for your life."
-The Sermon 2, The Creepshow
If wizards would print a green, black and white version of Hydroblast and Blue Elemental Blast Painter could be done in every color.
RRImperial PainterRR
UUUUMonoOmniTellUUUU
BGURWDredgeWRUGB
It's funny. Never have I ever watched or played a game with or against UWR Tempo. I know someone who took it to a SCG open and didn't do too well (although I attribute this to him not playing the deck he's played every week for many months, Stoneblade). Suffice to say, I know nothing about UWR. If someone wants to write that content, be my guest
a program of a slightly different strain.
Tonight my listeners, a new power will rise,
unleashed upon you all in this musical disguise.
Your cities turn to ash, for the broadcast is cursed.
The signal is peaking and can't be reversed.
If you choose my children, you can try to hide.
But I strongly suggest you run for your life."
-The Sermon 2, The Creepshow
RGOmnath, Locus of ManaRG
URThe Locust godUR
Modern
UWMiraclesUW
Legacy
BGIce Station Zebra (Living Fins)BG
UBRGrixis ControlUBR
RGLandsRG
a program of a slightly different strain.
Tonight my listeners, a new power will rise,
unleashed upon you all in this musical disguise.
Your cities turn to ash, for the broadcast is cursed.
The signal is peaking and can't be reversed.
If you choose my children, you can try to hide.
But I strongly suggest you run for your life."
-The Sermon 2, The Creepshow
-----The Legacy Flowchart-----
Tiny Leaders Overlord
UWR, like Grixis, dodges the gravehate that can shut down RUG and BUG. This is actually the big reason why people started to move towards UWR because Rest in Peace was all over the place. This was just before the printing of Abrupt Decay mind you, so Miracles was at what was probably its highest point, and they had all the tools to beat RUG; Counterbalance when they are almost exclusively 1cmc, Rest in Peace to stop their graveyard reliant beaters, a one mana Wrath effect, and the second most resilient manabase in the format (High Tide is number one) all wrapped up together in one neat package.
UWR having more expensive threats is actually an advantage when up against Counterbalance, the aforementioned lack of graveyard reliance, and a beater that dodges StP, Punishing Fire really allowed UWR to find a place in the metagame.
So what are the big differences between the two?
Well white gives you access to Swords to Plowshares. UWR has the best answer to Tarmogoyf, KotR, and other fatties basically ever printed. We have to run Dismember and we do so begrudgingly because it can cost us up to seven life just to play (when revealed off Confidant of course).
They also have access to Geist of Saint Traft which gives them a threat that doesn't have to worry about Bolts, Punishing Fires, and the like.
In the two drop slot they also have the option of Stoneforge Mystic, but this isn't a universally played threat in UWR.
Geist of Saint Traft being 3cmc though, which is an advantage against Counterbalance, is often just slow and clunky elsewhere. Legacy has just hordes of creatures with two or more power which often make Geist sit back and do nothing for you. If they run Stoneforge Mystic they changing the flow of their deck even further towards an aggro-control deck.
So they do have some good threats in white, but personally I don't think they can compete with the powerlevel of Confidant. We really do walk a dangerous line with a combination of Confidant, Force of Will, Gitaxian Probe, and Dismember... Greatness at any cost
Regarding Pyromancer, Grixis just straight up uses him better than UWR.
Confidant tag teams very very well with Pyromancer as we all know. The cards Confidant draws insures your token army never stops growing.
There's also the almost disgusting synergy between Pyromancer + Cabal Therapy + Probe that you have access to postboard. And I think that leads well into the other advantage of Black. Black, for as long as I can remember, has always had among the best sideboard options in Legacy. You have the discard available to you to give you the extra edge you need against combo. You have excellent mass removal options from cards like Perish and Engineered Plague. White has the slight edge in gravehate due to the massive power in Rest in Peace, but black is clearly no slouch in this department. Black also has some great cards that can break open the tempo mirrors like Baleful Strix. Heck, I've even won games against a Griselbrand because I had the little robot owl staring him down in the face.
I like UWR when you are expecting decks that can remove every creature you play. Something like Jund can give Grixis nightmares when they have a full set of bolts, Punishing Fires, Abrupt Decays, and Lilianas. Hexproof on Geist goes a long way against these kind of decks. I do really like Grixis over UWR against combo decks though. The addition of Cabal Therapy and the ability and the higher efficiency of Grixis are great against combo.
I know of no Tempo deck that plays even a single basic. Who among us would honestly run even a single basic island in this deck? We are a low land count, low curve deck. Having many different colours available as early as possible is important.
This is great Now to put this in my own words somehow...
a program of a slightly different strain.
Tonight my listeners, a new power will rise,
unleashed upon you all in this musical disguise.
Your cities turn to ash, for the broadcast is cursed.
The signal is peaking and can't be reversed.
If you choose my children, you can try to hide.
But I strongly suggest you run for your life."
-The Sermon 2, The Creepshow
Solid list (like wise), the card I think I find the most interesting and want to kick myself for not considering is Sulfur Elemental. It seems like you have an aggro heavy meta.
I really liked having 2 Grim Lava's in my main as well; however I'm currently running 1. I was having a hard time finding what I wanted to drop for that spot.
Very nice write up on UWR. I recommend having the most relevant parts of this added to the primer. Probably in the area of why Grixis Delver over UWR, or maybe more so of 'when' vs 'why'.
I've seen tempo decks attempt to run that one island. It usually doesn't show up much; and I honestly never liked it nor agreed with it. I am with those that say we run 14 lands, not 18. Wasteland should be considered a sorcery, as some say. Its hard to fit in a basic, and honestly a little pointless in a deck such as this. We are designed to fight on 1 land (essentially). Imagine that being a island, and then all the sudden you have that critical choice between Underground Sea and Volcanic Island. You have both colors of cards in your hand (bolt/bob), which do you want to lose? We can survive on one basic but not for long, but we can win on a Volcanic Island for example.
UBR ANT
R Burn
GB/GR/GW/G Karn Tron
GW Aura
RW Burn
BWR Kaalia of the Vast
UWR Narset, Enlightened Master
GWR Uril, the Miststalker
-----The Legacy Flowchart-----
Tiny Leaders Overlord
^This is what I've been saying all along. If I let a Bloodmoon resolve it's because I couldn't counter it, not from my inability to play the deck correctly. There's more decks in our meta than Painter's Servant and Parfait and there are other decks can beat you before I can. WeaponX lost to Polymorph. Does that mean he might think it wise to overcompensate to the point of making his deck overall less efficient just to have a chance at beating that deck? No. Like it or not every deck has nearly unwinnable matchups. Ours seems to be weird enchantments and even then we have counters. Anyway, I'm done testing this deck so I'm free to "metagame properly."
We actually have more combo and general "weird decks" than aggro. Sulfur Elemental is a 1 of to deal with Death and Taxes (a control deck) which happens to be (IMO) my friend's most successful list. This deck is naturally good against combo so I felt that, past the more common sideboard inclusions, I could add more creature removal.
a program of a slightly different strain.
Tonight my listeners, a new power will rise,
unleashed upon you all in this musical disguise.
Your cities turn to ash, for the broadcast is cursed.
The signal is peaking and can't be reversed.
If you choose my children, you can try to hide.
But I strongly suggest you run for your life."
-The Sermon 2, The Creepshow
If a simple change adds that much to the deck, why dismiss it? Not to say many of those situations will arise but the ability to main deck a sideboard card (island) seem worthy of trying.
-----The Legacy Flowchart-----
Tiny Leaders Overlord
*edit* I can see this working better with decks that run 19 lands anyway
a program of a slightly different strain.
Tonight my listeners, a new power will rise,
unleashed upon you all in this musical disguise.
Your cities turn to ash, for the broadcast is cursed.
The signal is peaking and can't be reversed.
If you choose my children, you can try to hide.
But I strongly suggest you run for your life."
-The Sermon 2, The Creepshow
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=298966
On Thunderous Wrath
Keon on MODO
Sulfur Elemental is a decent beatstick, instant speed (read: combat trick), and basically uncounterable. I like Dread of Night in combo, but for any tempo/aggro deck, I feel like I'd rather have the Elemental.
Edit: Let's move this guy up
Have any questions or concerns? Come take a dip in my pool.
Pretty much this. Death and Taxes has the potential to run both creature and enchantment hate and if they deal with either they can get online again. I like the ability to not only put a clock on them but also respond to things such as equip/Karakas activations.
Also, YA ESTABLISHED!!
a program of a slightly different strain.
Tonight my listeners, a new power will rise,
unleashed upon you all in this musical disguise.
Your cities turn to ash, for the broadcast is cursed.
The signal is peaking and can't be reversed.
If you choose my children, you can try to hide.
But I strongly suggest you run for your life."
-The Sermon 2, The Creepshow
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=298966
On Thunderous Wrath
Keon on MODO
Elemental has flash. You can keep up all 3
a program of a slightly different strain.
Tonight my listeners, a new power will rise,
unleashed upon you all in this musical disguise.
Your cities turn to ash, for the broadcast is cursed.
The signal is peaking and can't be reversed.
If you choose my children, you can try to hide.
But I strongly suggest you run for your life."
-The Sermon 2, The Creepshow
-Outbreak
-Cave-In or PyroKinesis
as alternatives? Outbreak in has the advantage of relying on lands you're trying to get rid of, outbreak is one-sided a lot of the time. They all get around the issue that noremac brings up, which is that 3 mana in Delver is difficult in the first place as it goes against the purpose of the deck; and it's more difficult against D&T who will be attempting to screw with your mana-base.
Compared to Sulfur, they're also spells for Delver and Pyro
I found these while looking for tech against T1 Empty the Warrens in Forceless decks.
Eh?
Look, Fetch, Draw, Look
Draw
Fetch
Look
Definitely some choices I didn't know about. Interesting new tech idea...at least new to me.
UBR ANT
R Burn
GB/GR/GW/G Karn Tron
GW Aura
RW Burn
BWR Kaalia of the Vast
UWR Narset, Enlightened Master
GWR Uril, the Miststalker
Cave-In: This literally kills ALL of our guys unless you're running Tombstalker it kills every single creature we run.
Outbreak: Is good against goblin tokens sure but are we still talking about the Death and Taxes matchup? If so, what are you naming. Not human I hope cause that, again, kills all our guys as well.
I like my wraths to be one-sided
*Edit* Pyrokinesis is cool if you're not scared of topdecking it with Bob
a program of a slightly different strain.
Tonight my listeners, a new power will rise,
unleashed upon you all in this musical disguise.
Your cities turn to ash, for the broadcast is cursed.
The signal is peaking and can't be reversed.
If you choose my children, you can try to hide.
But I strongly suggest you run for your life."
-The Sermon 2, The Creepshow
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=298966
On Thunderous Wrath
Keon on MODO
You'll kill your stuff and you'll like it.
If we're not being silly; your spot removal should help you get to the point where wipes/partial wipes are unnecessary. If you, however, get stuck under a Mom, Thalia, Mangara tricks, etc.. an outbreak for 1-mana may be just what you want, losing your board position (which is an exaggeration because you'll still have your Delvers and elementals)
PK can also do it nicely
If you *really* hate wipes like that Electrickery could get you in for 1 mana less than Sulfur while having all of the benefits of being instant/sorcery, though I think that's playing it too safe. You *are* in black/red and one-sided wraths are not only an oxymoron but quite rare.
EDIT:
They're also $0.25-$0.50 jank, so quite easy to acquire and test at no risk. PK is used on occasion in vintage and can be pretty dang nice if you have the red to support it. I just like Outbreak as a means to an end without losing a real card.
That all said, you can also single out MoR by naming "Cleric", single out Thalia with "Soldier", etc..
Look, Fetch, Draw, Look
Draw
Fetch
Look