I'm trying to familiarize myself with the Magic lingo that I never learned as a kid, and I'd appreciate some guidance here:
1. The explanations and comments I've read about tempo have been vague. At first I thought it had to do with timing, like maybe werewolves have tempo; but from the comments I read, I get the impression that tempo is more like card advantage. Is this a really difficult concept to express, or am I just confused?
2. What exactly does it mean that modern is a 'turn 4' format? Does it mean that an average deck wins on T4, or that the best decks win on T4? Does it mean that decks are theorycrafted to win on T4 under ideal circumstances, or that decks can be expected to win on T4 in actual play?
Tempo, the deck archetype, means playing many cheap threats and answers. You cast a few threats then use the rest of your spells to clear the way for them - burn, counters, etc. The cards in tempo are usually very versatile: burn can be used to remove an attacker/blocker or aimed at the head to finish off an opponent; Cryptic Command can stop a combo or tap down all blockers to let your guys through, etc.
PV has an article on tempo (which he calls aggro-control)
Turn 4 means that the best aggro and combo decks win on turn 4 consistently (sometimes before) in goldfishing. Of course, in actual play, you might take more time because you need to play around counters and removal.
The easiest explanation of tempo is trying to generate Time Walks and fractions of Time Walks. Think of it as being able to use part of your turn to completely negate your opponents turn, and then still being able to use the rest of your turn to advance your plan.
Modern is considered a turn 4 format because decks aren't allowed to consistently win before turn 4. It's a power level threshold to the format but "consistently" is vague. Eggs was considered fine from a deck speed perspective even though it could win on turn 3 about 1/3 of the time. Goryo's Vengeance has so far appeared to be considered fine even though it can win on turn 2 or 3 occasionally (not sure on the odds of either of those). Aggro is also considered fine to have the opponent dead on board going into turn 4 (essentially the real game over happened on turn 3). So there's a lot of debate here. The spirit of the rule is that Modern doesn't have and will never have decks like Belcher or Spanish Inquisition, or be a format that requires 0 mana counterspells in order to prevent degenerate turn 1/2 plays.
Tempo isn't really about card advantage, it's more about resource and time advantage. Think of it this way:
Control decks use card advantage engines that allow them to one-for-one their opponent, and then pull ahead. Their goal is to establish control in the early game, and then pull ahead on cards. Once they've managed to stabilise, they use a compact win condition that lets them finish the game quickly and efficiently.
Aggro decks on the other hand, make use of virtual card advantage. Basically, it doesn't matter how many cards you can draw if you die on the 3rd or 4th turn. A slower deck doesn't have time to pull ahead on cards, and in the early game, aggro decks are able to more effectively utilise their resources (resource advantage). In this sense, your opponent is probably drawing dead with cards they can't cast due to not having enough mana. At the same time, all of your threats are able to get in there and quickly win the game. Aggro decks play to resource and time advantage, but generally lack the ability to interact and disrupt their opponents the way control decks do.
Tempo (or aggro-control) decks are kind of like a mishmash of the two strategies, and play out a bit like the opposite of a control deck; rather than try to establish control and then land a win condition, tempo decks lead with their win condition, and then try to ride it to victory by protecting it with counterspells and removal. Tempo decks don't generally pack card advantage, and instead go for virtual card advantage the same way aggro decks do. The best tempo decks will disrupt their opponent's mana development in order to keep the game in its early stages where they have the advantage, and maximise the shelf life of their counterspells (which are usually conditional). This kind of strategy is really only possible with very efficient creatures, ideally ones with evasion so that you can still connect even when the board is cluttered.
So far the explanations have been very good, but here is my input: The main difference between and aggro and a tempo deck.
Aggro, affinity and now zoo, generally try to play as many threats as possible and kill the opponent before they can stabilize. Most usually have some kind of "reach," or some way to deal the last points of damage if their threats do get answered. Zoo and red aggro run burn while affinity has its man lands.
Tempo, basically any delver list in any format, on the other hand wants to land a small number of efficient threats early and then protect said threats, usually through counter spells or removal. Merfolk, legacy version more so then modern, is basically the old definition of a tempo deck; there is a reason tempo decks are often called fish decks. Actually, comparing delver to merfolk is interesting because they fall into opposite sides of the tempo spectrum. Merfolk is the aggressive version and can easily kill someone with multiple unblockable 4/4's where as delver is usually the controlling version which can land one delver and swing with it 6 times while countering/removing all threats.
The turn 4 rule is usually for combo decks. For example, splinter twin cannot win before turn 4, but can fairly easily try and go off on turn 4. Storm, before is got nerfed to all hell, could goldfish turn 2 rarely and turn 3 often. Now, I believe storm can still go off turn 2, but it requires a god had with perfect draws, turn 3 isn't much better. Blazing shoal got banned because it lead to semi consistant turn 2 wins with inkmoth nexus/Glistener Elf. Eggs was more for time constraints than power level; when game one can very easily last 0+ minutes, there can be a problem. Sensei's divining top is also banned more so for time constraints than power level; despite being very good, it can lead to turns taking several minutes per turn
You know the card is good when 1/3 of the people say its underpowered, 1/3 say its just right, and the other 1/3 say its overpowered.
Standard GRampG Modern
none atm Legacy 0Afinity0 RGoblinsR Vintage
LOLOL I don't have that kind of money EDH/Commander BGSavra, Queen of the Golgari (tokens/sac)GB WUBRGKarona, False God (allies)GRBUW BSeizan, Perverter of Truth (discard)B WUKangee, Aerie Keeper (bird/ramp)UW
Maybe I got this wrong but I always pictured tempo with something to do with mana effeciency. Force of Will is a tempo card because you pay 0 mana to counter something that most likely costs more. Lightning Bolt can be a tempo card if you hit a Dark Confidant or a Scavenging Ooze because the opponent uses his entire second turn to cast said creatures while you only use fractions of your mana (turn) to negate his progression. Gutshot back when Delver was roaming in Standard is another example. The opponent casts a mana dork, you Gutshot it and casts Delver/Ponder (you've gained tempo because you both negated his turn and progressed you're own game plan).
In chess it's the same. Sometimes it's the right move to sacrifice a piece to "gain tempo" or to generate a dominating position on the board (see Force of Will: you sacrifice card advantage to gain tempo).
its how efficient your answers are. For example, say player A is trying to cast chandra, pyromaster and player B uses mana leak. Essentially what happened is the blue player gained tempo because they spent only 2 mana to answer a 4 mana card. Another example is thoughtseize which nets 0 tempo because your spending 1 mana to answer something that has 0 mana invested into it. Uh one more I guess kitchen finks vs kird ape decks. finks gains tempo by usually trading with at least 1 creature and negating a combat phase or two from the life heal since ape hits for 2 and finks heals for 2. So if they play an ape and attack on their second and third turn(s) finks "answers" what they did turn 1 by trading with the ape and the 4 life finks gives nullifies their 2 combat phases.
Turn 4 means that the best aggro and combo decks win on turn 4 consistently (sometimes before) in goldfishing. Of course, in actual play, you might take more time because you need to play around counters and removal.
Solitaire. Playing a deck against an imaginary opponent who does nothing at all.
It gives you an idea of how fast your deck is, what order to search your lands, what interactions to look out for, and if you're playing combo you can practice going through the motions in a stress-free way.
Tempo, in a sense, is like the pace at which a deck develops its game. If you can imagine your plays as following an imaginary metronome, that should help you get closer to what the idea is. You get from that vague idea the notion of a tempo deck, which aims to mess with the opponent's development and keep them off tempo, throwing them out of balance while you yank the game from under their feet.
The notion of a turn 4 format is that the critical turn is 4. You know how Chess has the concepts of check (king is threatened) and mate (king cannot escape)? Turn 4 in Modern can be thought of as the earliest moment where people try to put you in check.
Tempo, explained simply, is a deck which aims to stay just ahead of the opponent. This is accomplished by using disruptive spells which keep the opponent from developing their board as fast as you and stop them from killing your threats. A good example of this is a deck which looks to play Delver of Secrets early and then use counter spells to keep the opponent from doing anything that will stop the delver from killing them or playing anything that will kill you before the delver can kill them.
Modern is called a turn 4 format because no deck is supposed to be able to kill you consistently before turn 4.
There are actually two definitions of "tempo": as a gameplay concept, and as a deck archetype.
Tempo as a gameplay concept describes how you're advancing your game plan relative to your opponents' plan. For example, if you miss a land drop and your opponent doesn't, then you've lost tempo. If a fast aggro player decides not to attack with his Kird Ape because you would block with your Kitchen Finks, then you've gained tempo, because you've prevented him from advancing his game plan of dealing as much damage as possible each turn.
"Tempo decks" are built to maximize the concept of tempo by dropping an early, efficient threat that doesn't require much help to win you the game (such as Delver of Secrets or Bitterblossom). It creates tempo by knocking your life total down each turn while preventing you from doing anything useful, whether by countering things or burning off creatures.
Some of the other posters described one, and some described the other, so I just want to make sure that's not confusing you. Hope that helps.
Tempo cards also generally do 2 things cheaply, such as countersquall or vapor snag, and the second effect generally furthers the decks game plan. so t1 i say island go, you play forest wild nacatl, i vapor snag at EoT, i tempo'd you out that turn. then the goal is to do that as often as possible until the tempo deck pulls so far ahead you can't recover.
I always think of tempo as being a vague measure of how much mana your present board state is 'worth'.
Example: Casting Unsummon on your opponent's Baneslayer Angel gains you four 'mana' worth of tempo, at the expense of being down a card. Playing a Theros Temple costs one point of tempo as you can't get mana out of it that turn. Ending your opponent's turn with three lands untapped is a waste of three points of tempo.
A 'tempo deck' is a deck that primarily tries to win through throwing away other resources to gain a tempo advantage and holding that long enough to win the game.
Maybe I got this wrong but I always pictured tempo with something to do with mana effeciency. Force of Will is a tempo card because you pay 0 mana to counter something that most likely costs more. Lightning Bolt can be a tempo card if you hit a Dark Confidant or a Scavenging Ooze because the opponent uses his entire second turn to cast said creatures while you only use fractions of your mana (turn) to negate his progression. Gutshot back when Delver was roaming in Standard is another example. The opponent casts a mana dork, you Gutshot it and casts Delver/Ponder (you've gained tempo because you both negated his turn and progressed you're own game plan).
This is the best answer. This is exactly what tempo means. You are able to accomplish more using less mana and time (note that I didn't say less cards, because most tempo cards come at a cost of card disadvantage - think FoW).
Another good example of a tempo card is vapor snag. Bouncing creatures is almost always a card disadvantage, because they can simply play it again next turn. But if you can bounce a 4 mana creature with your 1 mana vapor snag, you gained a massive tempo advantage.
I like the explanation that tempo has a lot to do with the efficiency with which you use your mana. That said, my example of how I understand tempo is going to go against that definition.
Unsummon is cheaper, but the Charm kills their entire draw step. If you are already in the lead, they absolutely are not going to be drawing a way to catch up to you. You keep them on par with where they were last turn and have a chance to pull even further ahead. I'd argue that Azorious Charm is a much more tempo-positive play.
Playing for the Tempo win is of course dangerous because if you are behind, an Unsummon effect keeps them at parity with where they were. They aren't getting better next turn, but they aren't getting much worse, either! Tempo is good at keeping an advantage they have gained, but it's not particularly good at pulling ahead if it ever gets behind.
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1. The explanations and comments I've read about tempo have been vague. At first I thought it had to do with timing, like maybe werewolves have tempo; but from the comments I read, I get the impression that tempo is more like card advantage. Is this a really difficult concept to express, or am I just confused?
2. What exactly does it mean that modern is a 'turn 4' format? Does it mean that an average deck wins on T4, or that the best decks win on T4? Does it mean that decks are theorycrafted to win on T4 under ideal circumstances, or that decks can be expected to win on T4 in actual play?
PV has an article on tempo (which he calls aggro-control)
Turn 4 means that the best aggro and combo decks win on turn 4 consistently (sometimes before) in goldfishing. Of course, in actual play, you might take more time because you need to play around counters and removal.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Modern is considered a turn 4 format because decks aren't allowed to consistently win before turn 4. It's a power level threshold to the format but "consistently" is vague. Eggs was considered fine from a deck speed perspective even though it could win on turn 3 about 1/3 of the time. Goryo's Vengeance has so far appeared to be considered fine even though it can win on turn 2 or 3 occasionally (not sure on the odds of either of those). Aggro is also considered fine to have the opponent dead on board going into turn 4 (essentially the real game over happened on turn 3). So there's a lot of debate here. The spirit of the rule is that Modern doesn't have and will never have decks like Belcher or Spanish Inquisition, or be a format that requires 0 mana counterspells in order to prevent degenerate turn 1/2 plays.
Control decks use card advantage engines that allow them to one-for-one their opponent, and then pull ahead. Their goal is to establish control in the early game, and then pull ahead on cards. Once they've managed to stabilise, they use a compact win condition that lets them finish the game quickly and efficiently.
Aggro decks on the other hand, make use of virtual card advantage. Basically, it doesn't matter how many cards you can draw if you die on the 3rd or 4th turn. A slower deck doesn't have time to pull ahead on cards, and in the early game, aggro decks are able to more effectively utilise their resources (resource advantage). In this sense, your opponent is probably drawing dead with cards they can't cast due to not having enough mana. At the same time, all of your threats are able to get in there and quickly win the game. Aggro decks play to resource and time advantage, but generally lack the ability to interact and disrupt their opponents the way control decks do.
Tempo (or aggro-control) decks are kind of like a mishmash of the two strategies, and play out a bit like the opposite of a control deck; rather than try to establish control and then land a win condition, tempo decks lead with their win condition, and then try to ride it to victory by protecting it with counterspells and removal. Tempo decks don't generally pack card advantage, and instead go for virtual card advantage the same way aggro decks do. The best tempo decks will disrupt their opponent's mana development in order to keep the game in its early stages where they have the advantage, and maximise the shelf life of their counterspells (which are usually conditional). This kind of strategy is really only possible with very efficient creatures, ideally ones with evasion so that you can still connect even when the board is cluttered.
Aggro, affinity and now zoo, generally try to play as many threats as possible and kill the opponent before they can stabilize. Most usually have some kind of "reach," or some way to deal the last points of damage if their threats do get answered. Zoo and red aggro run burn while affinity has its man lands.
Tempo, basically any delver list in any format, on the other hand wants to land a small number of efficient threats early and then protect said threats, usually through counter spells or removal. Merfolk, legacy version more so then modern, is basically the old definition of a tempo deck; there is a reason tempo decks are often called fish decks. Actually, comparing delver to merfolk is interesting because they fall into opposite sides of the tempo spectrum. Merfolk is the aggressive version and can easily kill someone with multiple unblockable 4/4's where as delver is usually the controlling version which can land one delver and swing with it 6 times while countering/removing all threats.
The turn 4 rule is usually for combo decks. For example, splinter twin cannot win before turn 4, but can fairly easily try and go off on turn 4. Storm, before is got nerfed to all hell, could goldfish turn 2 rarely and turn 3 often. Now, I believe storm can still go off turn 2, but it requires a god had with perfect draws, turn 3 isn't much better. Blazing shoal got banned because it lead to semi consistant turn 2 wins with inkmoth nexus/Glistener Elf. Eggs was more for time constraints than power level; when game one can very easily last 0+ minutes, there can be a problem. Sensei's divining top is also banned more so for time constraints than power level; despite being very good, it can lead to turns taking several minutes per turn
Standard
GRampG
Modern
none atm
Legacy
0Afinity0
RGoblinsR
Vintage
LOLOL I don't have that kind of money
EDH/Commander
BGSavra, Queen of the Golgari (tokens/sac)GB
WUBRGKarona, False God (allies)GRBUW
BSeizan, Perverter of Truth (discard)B
WUKangee, Aerie Keeper (bird/ramp)UW
What is goldfishing?
It gives you an idea of how fast your deck is, what order to search your lands, what interactions to look out for, and if you're playing combo you can practice going through the motions in a stress-free way.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
The notion of a turn 4 format is that the critical turn is 4. You know how Chess has the concepts of check (king is threatened) and mate (king cannot escape)? Turn 4 in Modern can be thought of as the earliest moment where people try to put you in check.
Modern is called a turn 4 format because no deck is supposed to be able to kill you consistently before turn 4.
Ux Whirza
Rb Goblins
Legacy
U Urza Stompy
Duel Commander
Sai, Master Thopterist
Tempo as a gameplay concept describes how you're advancing your game plan relative to your opponents' plan. For example, if you miss a land drop and your opponent doesn't, then you've lost tempo. If a fast aggro player decides not to attack with his Kird Ape because you would block with your Kitchen Finks, then you've gained tempo, because you've prevented him from advancing his game plan of dealing as much damage as possible each turn.
"Tempo decks" are built to maximize the concept of tempo by dropping an early, efficient threat that doesn't require much help to win you the game (such as Delver of Secrets or Bitterblossom). It creates tempo by knocking your life total down each turn while preventing you from doing anything useful, whether by countering things or burning off creatures.
Some of the other posters described one, and some described the other, so I just want to make sure that's not confusing you. Hope that helps.
Regarding running a 4-color deck without fetchlands:
MostlyLost on Cockatrice.
Example: Casting Unsummon on your opponent's Baneslayer Angel gains you four 'mana' worth of tempo, at the expense of being down a card. Playing a Theros Temple costs one point of tempo as you can't get mana out of it that turn. Ending your opponent's turn with three lands untapped is a waste of three points of tempo.
A 'tempo deck' is a deck that primarily tries to win through throwing away other resources to gain a tempo advantage and holding that long enough to win the game.
This is the best answer. This is exactly what tempo means. You are able to accomplish more using less mana and time (note that I didn't say less cards, because most tempo cards come at a cost of card disadvantage - think FoW).
Another good example of a tempo card is vapor snag. Bouncing creatures is almost always a card disadvantage, because they can simply play it again next turn. But if you can bounce a 4 mana creature with your 1 mana vapor snag, you gained a massive tempo advantage.
Azorious Charm (mode 3) vs Unsummon cast on the same creature.
Unsummon is cheaper, but the Charm kills their entire draw step. If you are already in the lead, they absolutely are not going to be drawing a way to catch up to you. You keep them on par with where they were last turn and have a chance to pull even further ahead. I'd argue that Azorious Charm is a much more tempo-positive play.
Playing for the Tempo win is of course dangerous because if you are behind, an Unsummon effect keeps them at parity with where they were. They aren't getting better next turn, but they aren't getting much worse, either! Tempo is good at keeping an advantage they have gained, but it's not particularly good at pulling ahead if it ever gets behind.