[Deck] UW Tempo

Third time playing UW Tempo here in Vienna, first time winning our weekly Wednesday Legacy Tournament with it - last week I went 2-0-2, today, I got lucky finishing 3-1-0. I was paired against Bant Survival feat. Loyal Retainers/Iona, Shield of Emeria (2-1 or 2-0, I don't recall any more), Aggro Loam (2-0, won this quite easily this time due to not being a moron when deciding about which hands to keep and less luck on my opponent's initial hands), GW Survival feat. Retainers/Iona (1-1, we didn't play the third match but ID'd instead of starting right into the first extra-turn) and Trisomy 21 (2-1, with me being rather lucky game three).

I varied the standard list a bit today, running my usual three Jotun Grunt main board (Grunt = awesomesauce!), replacing a Jitte by Sword of Fire and Ice, my last Knight of the White Orchid by Stoneforge Mystic, and adding a second Stoneforge Mystic for a total of 61 cards mainboard. SFM really is a nice addition to the deck, though I don't think I'll keep running SoFaI (I boarded it out every single game I played postboard, never actually drawing into/playing it preboard, and SFM going straight for Umezawa's Jitte every time I played her). Maybe Sword of Light and Shadow warrants inclusion, but Mother of Runes is already doing much in these cards' departments anyway, and Jitte really just outclasses the Swords by a margin…

Lessons learned: I'm a little underwhelmed by Wheel of Sun and Moon right now, but that may be because of me misplaying it somewhat. It seemed like appropriate graveyard hate versus Trisomy 21, but it actually did surprisingly little in that matchup. I do like the tutorable SB options a lot. SFM is a really, really solid card that I'm going to introduce into my Death & Taxes list as well. I may opt for a singleton Karakas (maybe MB, maybe SB) to tutor for by means of Weathered Wayfarer to rectify a resolved Iona (although that never happened to me, yet).

Don't ever play 61 cards in this kind of deck. Maximizing the chance of getting your best 1-drop is absolutely essential.

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Originally Posted by colo

Third time playing UW Tempo here in Vienna, first time winning our weekly Wednesday Legacy Tournament with it - last week I went 2-0-2, today, I got lucky finishing 3-1-0. I was paired against Bant Survival feat. Loyal Retainers/Iona, Shield of Emeria (2-1 or 2-0, I don't recall any more), Aggro Loam (2-0, won this quite easily this time due to not being a moron when deciding about which hands to keep and less luck on my opponent's initial hands), GW Survival feat. Retainers/Iona (1-1, we didn't play the third match but ID'd instead of starting right into the first extra-turn) and Trisomy 21 (2-1, with me being rather lucky game three).

I varied the standard list a bit today, running my usual three Jotun Grunt main board (Grunt = awesomesauce!), replacing a Jitte by Sword of Fire and Ice, my last Knight of the White Orchid by Stoneforge Mystic, and adding a second Stoneforge Mystic for a total of 61 cards mainboard. SFM really is a nice addition to the deck, though I don't think I'll keep running SoFaI (I boarded it out every single game I played postboard, never actually drawing into/playing it preboard, and SFM going straight for Umezawa's Jitte every time I played her). Maybe Sword of Light and Shadow warrants inclusion, but Mother of Runes is already doing much in these cards' departments anyway, and Jitte really just outclasses the Swords by a margin…

Lessons learned: I'm a little underwhelmed by Wheel of Sun and Moon right now, but that may be because of me misplaying it somewhat. It seemed like appropriate graveyard hate versus Trisomy 21, but it actually did surprisingly little in that matchup. I do like the tutorable SB options a lot. SFM is a really, really solid card that I'm going to introduce into my Death & Taxes list as well. I may opt for a singleton Karakas (maybe MB, maybe SB) to tutor for by means of Weathered Wayfarer to rectify a resolved Iona (although that never happened to me, yet).

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Hi there, it's Philipp, the GW Survival player :)

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Originally Posted by TooCloseToTheSun

Out of curiosity how was Elspeth in testing?

I remember when I played this deck a while ago (I think I went 3-2-0) that I barely ever had four lands in play and when I did the game was almost over.

Also for those looking for one, Wildfire seems to be a really bad match up for this deck.

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I've actually tested Elspeth as a singleton in this deck. It was terrible.

When I play this deck, I should always thrive to develop or at least break the symmetry early game. Obviously, Elspeth is too expensive and not "I win" enough to warrant ramping up to four mana for, and doesn't do anything for development. How I like to look at this deck is that I want to spend my opening turns developing and stunting my opponent's development. From there, it gets to the middle game. In the middle game, you want to trade your opponent down and come out of the middle game and into the late game, where you have the edge (e.g. weak beater with a Jitte). If I ever get into the late game, I am either losing or winning. There is no ambiguity for me in the late usually, so it's usually decided, unless I'm slowrolling against Landstill. So could Elspeth be good in the middle game if she's bad in the late game? No, because everything I want Elspeth to do, Jitte does better. Even if you draw into Elspeth in the late game, Elsepth would be like every other card in the deck and you would have won or lost, because Elspeth isn't that powerful in the context of this deck. If I wanted a late game bomb in this deck, it needs to be a Yawgmoth's Will like it was in Slaver, but Slaver is suboptimal in this format due to lack of T1 brokenness.

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Originally Posted by colo

Third time playing UW Tempo here in Vienna, first time winning our weekly Wednesday Legacy Tournament with it - last week I went 2-0-2, today, I got lucky finishing 3-1-0. I was paired against Bant Survival feat. Loyal Retainers/Iona, Shield of Emeria (2-1 or 2-0, I don't recall any more), Aggro Loam (2-0, won this quite easily this time due to not being a moron when deciding about which hands to keep and less luck on my opponent's initial hands), GW Survival feat. Retainers/Iona (1-1, we didn't play the third match but ID'd instead of starting right into the first extra-turn) and Trisomy 21 (2-1, with me being rather lucky game three).

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Do you mean 3-0-1 (i.e. 3 wins, 0 losses, 1 draw)? Either way, nice job and thanks for the tournament report. It's nice to see UW Tempo doing well overseas. Keep me posted how you're doing.

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I varied the standard list a bit today, running my usual three Jotun Grunt main board (Grunt = awesomesauce!), replacing a Jitte by Sword of Fire and Ice, my last Knight of the White Orchid by Stoneforge Mystic, and adding a second Stoneforge Mystic for a total of 61 cards mainboard. SFM really is a nice addition to the deck, though I don't think I'll keep running SoFaI (I boarded it out every single game I played postboard, never actually drawing into/playing it preboard, and SFM going straight for Umezawa's Jitte every time I played her). Maybe Sword of Light and Shadow warrants inclusion, but Mother of Runes is already doing much in these cards' departments anyway, and Jitte really just outclasses the Swords by a margin…

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Yeah, I came to the same conclusion. That's why I'm rolling 2 SFM, 2 Jitte. There just aren't many situations where I'd tutor a Sword, and whenever I had Jitte up, I didn't really want to spend 3 then 2 to get another equipment up. All the equipment other than Jitte is terrible next to Jitte, and 2/2 is the right number if you're just using Jitte. Although I've said it before: SoLS is definitely better than SoFI.

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Lessons learned: I'm a little underwhelmed by Wheel of Sun and Moon right now, but that may be because of me misplaying it somewhat. It seemed like appropriate graveyard hate versus Trisomy 21, but it actually did surprisingly little in that matchup. I do like the tutorable SB options a lot. SFM is a really, really solid card that I'm going to introduce into my Death & Taxes list as well. I may opt for a singleton Karakas (maybe MB, maybe SB) to tutor for by means of Weathered Wayfarer to rectify a resolved Iona (although that never happened to me, yet).

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Wheel is best against Ichorid, where it rapes them in the face, a lot harder than Crypt or Relic or something else. It has some niche applications against like Solidarity or Painter or something, and other than that it functions reasonably well as Yard hate (against like Lands). In the US at least, Ichorid is still quite big, and Wheel is definitely worth it as a 1-of.

If you never see Ichorid, you should sub wheel out of the board for something else (and BFT should also come out for Perimeter Captain), but if Ichorid is at least reasonably possible, then I recommend it.

Have you tested Winter Orb in this shell at all? It doesn't work great with Wastelands, but it does work great with the Seer and Daze.

I watched you play at PT:SD against Lou, and really like the deck.

Just wondering why is that Flickerwisp not part of this list ?

Is bec. it its high casting cost ? It provides good combo for Knight of the White Orchid and Stoneforge Mystic.

I think jitte is a big part in terms of aggro control and aggro clock for this deck.

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Originally Posted by saspook

Have you tested Winter Orb in this shell at all? It doesn't work great with Wastelands, but it does work great with the Seer and Daze.

I watched you play at PT:SD against Lou, and really like the deck.

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Omg, I'm so embarrassed. That was the only match ANYBODY watched and I make two really horrible plays but the deck bails me out. Nobody watched me donut Dreadstill or sweep Merfolk in 10 minutes (although understandable, that guy smelled so bad I wouldn't have watched the game if you'd paid me), but everyone was there to watch me punt a Jotun Grunt away.

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Originally Posted by Forbiddian

Do you mean 3-0-1 (i.e. 3 wins, 0 losses, 1 draw)? Either way, nice job and thanks for the tournament report. It's nice to see UW Tempo doing well overseas. Keep me posted how you're doing.

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Yes, I do mean that, and yeah, I will :)

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Originally Posted by Forbiddian

Wheel is best against Ichorid, where it rapes them in the face, a lot harder than Crypt or Relic or something else. It has some niche applications against like Solidarity or Painter or something, and other than that it functions reasonably well as Yard hate (against like Lands). In the US at least, Ichorid is still quite big, and Wheel is definitely worth it as a 1-of.

If you never see Ichorid, you should sub wheel out of the board for something else (and BFT should also come out for Perimeter Captain), but if Ichorid is at least reasonably possible, then I recommend it.

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Yes, I can see its utility there - it's just that I used it incorrectly, as I was too afraid of the Loam engine getting started at all. We do have our share of Ichorid around here (our local meta is actually well-developed and rather diverse :)), so I def. won't cut Wheel - the application versus Painter/Grindstone-based decks is also a neat one.

*waves* @ Philipp :D Thanks for playing, nice as always!

What place Perimeter Captain actually has in UW tempo?
I'm not testing enough this deck (exams and flue kept me away from magic for a bit), and thus I can't really compare it to BFT. On paper, PC sees stronger vs DS, GoyfSligh, Zoo (which is one of the top decks atm). Useless vs burn (the noncreature version), weaker vs goblins. BFT is good vs golin and ofc great vs burn, which isn't a very difficult MU once you find jitte and counter vortex which you cannot respond maindeck if it resolves. What do your testing show?

Also, I wait with impatience for a sb guide :) And in the while I try to rememeber where I stored my cards :(

EDIT: tx@moonlight, maybe I choose the wrong sarch string for I didn't find that results, and I don't have much time atm to read the whole thread :)

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...ead.php?15562-[Deck]-UW-Tempo/page10

post #197 contains a sideboard guide.
It might be usefull to stop remembering/searching, and read the whole Thread first..... ;)

@ ghusta - He was stating to run it if your meta is not infested with Ichorid. Against other misc aggro decks, it stalls things out quite effectively. Mom + captain = 2 life every turn they attack.

Not to mention, a 0/4 can defend pretty well against goyfs and the like if you are running Jotun Grunt maindeck, which we are.

You should run Perimeter Captain as a 4-off in that case though ;)
Having two on the field is insane!! Blocking with both results in 8 life gained!

No prob Ghusta ;)

Yeah, if you don't have Ichorid, PC cockblocks the hell out of Zoo.

It comes down turn 1, blocks all of their creatures at a profit, they can't answer it, and if you get two out, the lifegain gets absolutely ridiculous.


BFT is better against Goblins and infinitely better against Ichorid/Burn. If your meta is missing some or all of those decks (but still has a lot of Zoo), you should roll Perimeter Captain (which is also great against Belcher, if you ever see that).

He Empties for 10 tokens on the play. Game over, right?

Your turn you play PC. He swings you for 10, you go to 13. On your turn, you play a Fathom Seer or SFM or something, he swings for 10, you go to 7 (9 tokens left). On your turn, you play another creature. He swings you for 9, you block 3, go to 3 (7 tokens left). At this point, it's clear that you live. You do need consecutive creature drops (although a lot of guys can fill in), but it's not impossible. Double Perimeter Captain can let you survive an Empty for 14.

''Sacrifice Burrenton Forge-Tender: Prevent all damage a red source of your choice would deal this turn.''
He can save a turn against progenitus tho.. Seems like a positive point too.

Forbiddian, have you test Retribution of the Meek? If so, how was he?
Seems pretty solid against almost every large evil critter in the game.
Pitty it can't be cast when Iona on white resolved though.

So, what guys would you want this to take care of that swords doesn't? Progenitus - anything else?

Goyf will normally be a 3/4 against us, and if it's bigger we can swords it. Piledriver and Wakethrasher are both tiny on controllers turn. Terravore is a possibility, but again, we can just swords it.

I prefer a vesuvan shapeshifter in main to deal with large legendary dudes. It also deals with iona, as they should name white against us.

Tarmogoyf (it will be 4/5 more often than you think (atleaste here in the netherlands), especialy mid-late game)
Progenitus
Knight of the reliquary
Phyrexian Dreadnought
Terravore
Countryside Crusher
Tombstalker
less but still facing:
Reanimated fatty's
Baneslayer angel
demigod
angeltokens (enchantress)
Tribal-with-Dubble-lord-situations
Sea drake (and any creature with heavy equipment on it, like SoFI/SoLS)
Affinity.deck critters

Most of them can be shut down with a swords, but you only have 4 swords and only 9 counters (4 hard counters).. Facing 2 or more of those evil guys listed above is never funny. Mom might help, but you dont have her online (or alive) all the time..

Retribution of the Meek has proven itself in Death & Taxes' sideboard very well for me, because it's an awesome card when fatties are about. The problem I see with it in UW Tempo is that you cannot tutor for it, and that you also cannot allocate as many slots as it'd take (at least 3 imo) for it to be effective - at least not without severly weakening the board against other matchups. It probably boils down to a meta choice.

The fact that it boosts Tarmogoyf due to it being a sorcery doesn't really matter much, as Tarmogoyf will usually be about 3/4 without sorceries in the graveyard, and 4/5 when Retribution of the Meek's effect resolves → BINGO! :)

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Originally Posted by colo

The fact that it boosts Tarmogoyf due to it being a sorcery doesn't really matter much, as Tarmogoyf will usually be about 3/4 without sorceries in the graveyard, and 4/5 when Retribution of the Meek's effect resolves → BINGO! :)

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It doesn't work that way, unless you mean you're going to cast two of them.

I've been testing Knight of the Holy Nimbus in the 1-of slot over Knight of the White Orchid. Let me say that KotHN is pretty sweet. Granted, I haven't played with KotWC yet, but KotHN is fucking scary against Zoo and Merfolk. Against Merfolk, it's obviously bigger than their dudes, but it also trades with 3/3s in case you can't find a way to remove a Lord. Against Zoo, it killed Kird Apes and traded with Nacatls. Also, in the Zoo match up, the regeneration makes a big difference: Zoo will have to either decide to trade for the Knight and stunt it's own development for a Turn, or ignore it. Either one is really good for me. I've also had Zoo cast Path on KotHN against me, and it was truly satisfying.