[Deck] UW Tempo

[Zlatzman]

Can't say I really understand the desire for japanese cards either, I like reading my cards. Anyway, non-foil Japanese Mother of Runes shouldn't be too hard to find, but if you want foil I guess you need to look a bit around.


Slightly on topic:
I might be testing this deck for a local legacy-tournament on the 19th of August, but haven't really decided what deck to run yet. There hasn't been legacy here for about a year, so I have no idea what the meta will look like. Will give you the results if I do decide to run UW Tempo (alternatives are Zoo, Enchantress or UGr Thresh).

[baghdadbob]

Hey guys i'm testing U/W Tempo and looking for some criticism on my build.

Spells
4x Force Of Will
4x Daze
2x Spell Pierce
4x Swords To Plowshares
4x Brainstorm
3x Aether Vial
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Sword Of Fire And Ice

Creatures
4x Weathered Wayfarer
3x Mother Of Runes
4x Fathom Seer
3x Jotun Grunt
4x Serra Avenger
2x Stone-forge Mystic

Lands
Same as the current build standard except 4x Wasteland.

Some personal preferences I have are....

1) Running S.O.F.I. it has helped me quite a bit against both the zoo match and the merfolk deck, and stops the legend rule from kicking me
in the nuts. Also I beat N/O Bant with a wayfarer with sofi and jitte attached... classic.
2) 3x Grunt he has been a beast in both keeping 'goyf small and really helps me lay the beats down fast. I seem to be playing the beat down
role quite often. Also with 4x Wasteland makes me feel like I'm almost running crucible.
3) 3x Mom. She has been the most often dead card in the deck for me and I run the 4th in the s/b for the zoo match up where she shines.
4) The forth daze hasn't disappointed me yet, and the idea of running 3x makes me feel yucky.
5) The 4th Wasteland. I was running the stock list before with 3x and found myself NEEDING more then 3x especially against landstill decks.

Anyways I'm very impressed with the deck and really enjoy playing it.

[Phoenix Ignition]

After two weeks vacation I'm back and going to play UWT tonight. I'm puzzled to see the lack of activity there, did anybody play the deck at the GP?

I know someone was 4-0-1 with it when I played them. Then they were 4-1-1. I forget his call name on here but we had some good games, I think he said he was banned from responding too much in this thread. I'd like to see the rest of his games, I think he only made one play mistake which wasn't really obvious (blocking my Obstinate Baloth with a Jotun Grunt when he didn't quite know how valuable Grunt would have been to him alive). He said he was friends with Pi4 though, so maybe forbiddian knows something.

[Tinefol]

Went 4-1-1 yesterday, splitting the top4. Been a Tribal day
2-0ed two Merfolks, 2-1 against Goblins, 2-0 against Wildfire, lost to UW fish in a sequence of some screwy topdecks, and drew with TES (he took nearly 30 minutes for 4 turns to go off and kill me game1. He then had Tendrils for 14 on me game2, I took some time to wright that off and we were not able to start game3 due to round timers).

[Nelis]

I played a 35 man tournament yesterday. I went 2-1-2.

Deck:

Creature [20]
4 Fathom Seer
2 Jötun Grunt
4 Mother of Runes
4 Serra Avenger
2 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Weathered Wayfarer

Instant [18]
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares

Artifact [5]
3 AEther Vial
2 Umezawa’s Jitte

Land [17]
4 Flooded Strand
1 Island
3 Plains
3 Tundra
3 Wasteland
1 Windswept Heath
2 Marsh Flats

Sideboard [15]
1 Jotun Grunt
1 Aura of Silence
1 Seal of Cleansing
2 Enlightened Tutor
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Wheel of Sun And Moon
1 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Curfew
3 Submerge

R1: 2-0 Burn He got a gameloss because his deck wasn't ready. I won the 2nd game because he started to burn my creatures. An easy win.

R2: 1-1 Landstill. (without standstill) First game I kept an aggro hand and was able to counter his threats afterwards, second game we went in topdeck mode and eventually I lost. I countered his turn 1 Brainstorm with a Spell Pierce but I basically lost because of his turn 3 Crucible of Worlds (recurring Mishra's and fetch dont help) so maybe I should not have used my Spell Pierce on his Brainstorm.

R3: 1-2 TES. He won game one, I won game 2 on hate, Game 3 I kept a 1 land hand (fetch) with Force of Will backup (+ brainstorm), 1 pieces of hate (thorn) and 1 semi hate (wheel of sun and moon) an Enlightened Tutor and one non land, non blue card. I didn't get a 2nd land at all. When I drew a 2nd blue card I decided to play the brainstorm to look for the 3nd land. I didn't find it so eventually he was able to could go off.

R4: 1-2 BGW Death and Taxes. I won game 1 on aggro and counterbackup. I wasn't sure what to sideboard so I lost game 2 and 3 (In retrospect I probably should have gone for graveyard hate). Game 3 I countered his turn 1 Aether Vial and his turn 2 Aether Vial but I wasn't able to counter his topdecked turn 3 Aether Vial, eventually we erached topdeck mode but I couldn't put enough pressure on he was able to do some Flickerwisp and Eternal Witness shenanigans and eventually killed me with an Witness, a Flickerwisp and a Kitchen Finks.

R5: 2-0 Pikula, I beat him fairly easy, Wasteland helped me out here.

In all I think I've been a bit unlucky. I could've won round 3 against TES if I would've drawn that 2nd land on game 3. Maybe I should've used the brainstorm on turn 1 to dig for a 2nd land but I'm not sure if that would've been the right play either. I think I could've won round 4 against D&T with the right sideboard tactics.

[Tinefol]

From what I've see here, you seem to misvalue some things you are doing with the deck. Piercing the brainstorm is VERY rarely the right thing to do. You should save pierce to deal with big thinks, Like Jace, Elspeth, Crucible, especially when you're facing Landstill.

In fact I've found it to be a very comforting match, given you play it right. You shouldn't go for tempo win, unless they're stuck on one land. Always use the vial, if you have it, deploy only one threat at a time, so they are forced to use their Wrath of Gods for it, cast Seer when they're tapped, so you stay ahead on cards. Don't counter any removal, unless you can get card advantage off it (like saving Wayfarer to get 2 lands). Rarely you would go into topdeck mode there, usually when I'm playing against control my hand is 6-7 cards all the time. Like once I mulliganed to 5, then was forced to break two standstills, didn't have a 2nd land up to turn 5 or so, and still convincingly won. You really have all the time you want to recover there, these decks are terribly slow.

Same thing with Aether Vial, especially against non-merfolk decks. Don't ever counter it, unless you're sure they're stuck on one land. What you are telling there, is that you let your opponent to exchange TWO of his useless excess vials for your live counters (you probably FoWed once, so its like 0 cards from him to 3 cards of yours, potentially even more, if you've pitched Seer), no wonder you've got into topdeck mode.

[Nelis]

From what I've see here, you seem to misvalue some things you are doing with the deck. Piercing the brainstorm is VERY rarely the right thing to do. You should save pierce to deal with big thinks, Like Jace, Elspeth, Crucible, especially when you're facing Landstill.

Yeah, this was definitely a mistake.

In fact I've found it to be a very comforting match, given you play it right. You shouldn't go for tempo win, unless they're stuck on one land. Always use the vial, if you have it, deploy only one threat at a time, so they are forced to use their Wrath of Gods for it, cast Seer when they're tapped, so you stay ahead on cards. Don't counter any removal, unless you can get card advantage off it (like saving Wayfarer to get 2 lands). Rarely you would go into topdeck mode there, usually when I'm playing against control my hand is 6-7 cards all the time. Like once I mulliganed to 5, then was forced to break two standstills, didn't have a 2nd land up to turn 5 or so, and still convincingly won. You really have all the time you want to recover there, these decks are terribly slow.

I'll try this approach should I encounter Landstill. I didn't overextend and have been beating him with a wayfarer for quite a few lives but because I had to Swords their Mishra's so his life total stayed high enough. But I guess that if I kept my Spell Pierce for his Crucible I wouldn't be in that situation anyway. The thing is that I didn't see any win condition's apart from his Mishra's so I found it hard to know what to do after sideboarding too. The only other scary thing I encountered (and countered) was a Humility and I saw a few Path o Exile and that was it.

Same thing with Aether Vial, especially against non-merfolk decks. Don't ever counter it, unless you're sure they're stuck on one land. What you are telling there, is that you let your opponent to exchange TWO of his useless excess vials for your live counters (you probably FoWed once, so its like 0 cards from him to 3 cards of yours, potentially even more, if you've pitched Seer), no wonder you've got into topdeck mode.

If I remember correctly one vial was countered by a Daze and one by FOW removing a Seer indeed.

But how am I to know that he has 2 more Vials? It was my experience from game 2 that Aether Vial made it possible for him to win because he was able to Flickerwisp his Eternal Witness all the time and generate card advantage by recurring removal and such. I was able to attack his manabase all 3 games but still lost because of Vial. I don't see why I shouldn't counter his Vial.

What about my game 3 against TES? Do you think I made the right choice by trying to wait to draw a 2nd land or should I indeed have used the Brainstorm on turn one in hope to find land number 2.

[Tinefol]

It is a correct move to board in relics whenever you see Eternal Witness. You're not losing anything, and they get 2/1 for 3 that does nothing.

What you describe is is some 5+ card combo, like they need two vials, multiple Flickerwisps, Witness and some relevant cards in graveyard. And all that can be stopped by a STP and a relic.
You just don't counter vial against D&T, don't bother doing so. Better deal with what they vial in. In the case, you could've used FoW for something else AND drawn two from Seer. In fact, I board FoW and sometimes Pierces out against regular D&T, not sure about green splash, it depends on what they run.
You're never losing to the vial, it just doesn't have P/T on it. If they get 3 vials, its nearly -2.5 cards for them and they can't shuffle it away. You should have the edge over that.

If you're not applying any pressure against combo, the FoW is just as useless as any card in your hand. They're going to sculpt duress/chant and do whatever they want. By any means, your first worry is deploying a threat - waiting is a losing proposition. You should use brainstorm, the odds you hit another blue card are high as well.

[Nelis]

Thanks for the insights.

You just don't counter vial against D&T, don't bother doing so. Better deal with what they vial in. In the case, you could've used FoW for something else AND drawn two from Seer. In fact, I board FoW and sometimes Pierces out against regular D&T, not sure about green splash, it depends on what they run.

I remember seeing: Aether Vial, Vindicate, Flickerwisp, Eternal Witness, Kitchen Finks, Fleshbag Marauder (from SB), Swords to Plowshares, Unearth. And possibly TOP.

[Tinefol]

That's more like Rock + D&T hybrid then, minus the annoying Pernicious Deed. If it runs Unearth, Relics are a must. Perhaps Crypt as well. I think I'd keep at least 3 FoW and would remove the Pierces.

[Forbiddian]

Lol why do people want cards in Jap, I don't understand. I bet you the Japenese are all like: "Fuck this I need to pimp out my deck with American cards."

Also, I'm surprised UWT wasn't too present at GP. What gives?

My mom in real life is the Japanese version.

[Tinefol]

Posted a sloppy 2-2 record yesterday. It all started with a loss against BGW survival (srsly, I haven't won once vs that deck, mission impossible), then I got screwed against goblins, and ended winning against UW Landstill and GW Maverick.

[Plague Sliver]

Forbiddian, are you still compiling win-loss records for those playing the deck?

I'm wondering how the analysis stands today, given the activity over the past few months.

[Forbiddian]

Forbiddian, are you still compiling win-loss records for those playing the deck?

I'm wondering how the analysis stands today, given the activity over the past few months.

It's a lot of work. If school and women die down for me in a bit, I'll probably go back and compile like 3-4 months of performances or something, but I think some are just going to be lost.

It takes me like 2-3 hours to do it. If you're interested, feel free. If the data were in a more readable format, so I just have to put it into excell, I can enter data really fast.

[Tinefol]

Another tournament and I'm 3-1, finishing 5th (no prizes x_X). Won against BGW Survival (FINALLY! I'm actually more excited by this, than disappointed by 5th place), UR Merfolk, Wildfire.dec, lost to BG Train Wreck.

Compiling the results requires a serious effort, because you have to go back and scan through the many pages of this thread.

[Vacrix]

Well Matt was absent at FNM... someone had to play UWT.

I went 2-2.

Match one - Sean w/ Elves
Game 1: We exchange STP for Lord for a while until eventually I land a Serra Avenger that doesn't have to block something bigger than itself. I even get Jitte online. I play Vexing Sphinx. I only have 2 cards left in hand, but I figure I have the win next turn, and play a Grunt. Unfortunately he plays 2 more blockers and I'm SOL as his Progenitals rape me. In short, Sphinx and Angels fly. Grunts do not. Game loss to misplay.
Game 2: I'm on a mulligan to 6, and boarded in 2 Wing Shards. At some point in the game, probably 6 turns in, I'm completely tapped out sitting on 3 Tundra 1 Plains, an active Jitte with counters. I'm also holding Daze and Force w/ Brainstorm. The problem is he has a Vexing Shusher out... So he plays Choke for 2G, but he forgets to crack his fetch. So I Daze, he responds with Fetch, I respond with Force. He can't pay the G for Shusher, bye bye Choke. Then I Brainstorm into STP his Shusher on my turn. Unfortunately, mad card disadvantage for me, but I'm really afraid of NO and I needed the untapped lands to dig with the other Brainstorm.. to get rid of Shusher before he played NO. Unfortunately, I drew some lands, he Grips my Jitte, and then resolves his NO.
0-1

Match two - Gabe w/ PSI
Game 1: My friend is playing my deck. I open without Force and like 3 Mom's, mull to 6, I have a BS and I'm on the play. Keep. Sure enough, he has the turn 1, though it takes a good 10 minutes. I think it was just as satisfying to watch that happen from Matt's point of view for once. :P
Game 2: I open with Pithing Needle on Belcher, followed by a clock, Force, and then Spell Pierce.
Game 3: I Force his Xantid Swarm, and seriously draw the nuts, Thorn, Avenger. Daze + Force + Spell Pierce destroys him.
1-1

Match three - Micheal w/ NotRock
Game 1: You know how sometimes you joke with someone before the match? Well I started with him like that, and this went on for like 10 minutes while he literally died to Wayfarer's and Mom's, the entire time reminding me about how I'm playing fish. Anyway, easy win, every time he plays something I kill it. He's sitting on Basic land for most of the game, just spinning his top.
Game 2: This goes on for a while. In short, 5 STP gets there (Eternal Witness), along with 0 Grunts or fat guys. I misplayed at some point though, and this game probably could have been won.
Game 3: He spins his top, but he can't spin fast enough! He does tons of tricks with Loam + Top, wastes a lot of time, and then dies. I play through EE and Deed.. without ever seeing a Needle.
2-1

Match four - Eric w/ StaxStompy
Game 1: I swords probably a playset of Sui-chi's, get mana screwed by his Ports, he resolves 3Sphere. I try to stablize having played a Vial the turn before, but he lays down, yes, Razormane Masticore steals the game.
Game 2: I mull a 0 lander into a 0 lander into a 1 lander, get Wasted early and then don't see another land until he already has Chalice @ 1, 3Sphere, and Lodestone Golem.

2-2

Hardly an impressive night. I rarely play control. Unfortunately, UWT is too much fun to play. I get too comfortable with it and then take it easy. Also.. 3 month magic breaks do not a good player make.

Also, Vexing Sphinx was MVP in like every matchup.

[Tinefol]

The day of fail.

Started with a bye, then went 0-1-2. Draws with Landstill and Ichorid (who takes forever to think, despite the judge calls), lost to Goblins (some insane series of topdecks out of the empty table).

[rayaj]

Too bad you didn't have those Tividar's Cruscade in the board that night.

[DalkonCledwin]

a UW Tempo deck piloted by Alex Kiracofe made 15th place (out of 125 players) at the StarCityGames.com Legacy Open in Denver, Colorado this Sunday. The list he was playing is as follows:

Lands
1 Island
2 Plains
2 Arid Mesa
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tundra
3 Wasteland
1 Windswept Heath

Creatures
2 Jotun Grunt
4 Fathom Seer
4 Mother of Runes
4 Serra Avenger
2 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Vexing Sphinx
4 Weathered Wayfarer

Instants
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
2 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares

Artifacts
3 Aether Vial
2 Umezawa's Jitte

Sideboard:
1 Jotun Grunt
1 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Aura of Silence
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
2 Condemn
3 Enlightened Tutor

Source

[five]

a UW Tempo deck piloted by Alex Kiracofe made 15th place (out of 125 players) at the StarCityGames.com Legacy Open in Denver, Colorado this Sunday. The list he was playing is as follows:

Lands
1 Island
2 Plains
2 Arid Mesa
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tundra
3 Wasteland
1 Windswept Heath

Creatures
2 Jotun Grunt
4 Fathom Seer
4 Mother of Runes
4 Serra Avenger
2 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Vexing Sphinx
4 Weathered Wayfarer

Instants
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
2 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares

Artifacts
3 Aether Vial
2 Umezawa's Jitte

Sideboard:
1 Jotun Grunt
1 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Aura of Silence
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
2 Condemn
3 Enlightened Tutor

Source

Yeah, that was me. I could have placed higher if I didn't punt the match during round 6 against ANT. It was a feature match and should be archived soon. Be sure to watch it so you can have a good laugh (facepalm). I will attempt to write a tournament report of sorts sometime soon. I just finished the 14 hr drive back to Phoenix, so I am exhausted atm. Btw AZ MTG star Adam Prosak finished 3rd with Countertop. I drove up with him and two other friends.