Prowess And Tempo

Monastery Swiftspear is one of the best Magic cards printed in the last three years.

From a sheer power perspective, this card eclipses every red card in the format; it can often punch way above its weight, and it has the potential to be
explosive. As a critical piece of the R/G Landfall combo deck (yes, it is a combo deck), the Swiftspear interacted well with inexpensive spells,
making it a player even into the midgame. One Titan’s Strength means you’re trading way up against a Siege Rhino, but if you don’t block, you’re taking
five to the face.

Brian DeMars’ deck was an outstanding choice for week one. Now that
we’re looking at weeks four and five, people have answers. Now that the metagame has shifted away from these kinds of strategies, the Swiftspears seemed to
get shelved, too, in favor of Crackling Doom, Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy, and, you know, the Doctor.

Will not be bad until it rotates.

But that’s not where the Swiftspear belongs.

I’m not saying we need to revive DeMars’ list, but I think there’s some mileage left.

A couple weeks ago, I covered a Grixis Devoid tempo list. Based on
some experimentation since then, the tempo elements have actually proven to be the strongest part of this kind of strategy. Black wasn’t particularly
strong, but the red and the blue worked well together.

If we have a red core to use Monastery Swiftspear’s low cost, prowess, and haste, we can use blue spells to push the power of this and other efficient red
creatures. Brian’s deck can be an inspiration for an all-new aggro deck that features an entirely new color.

U/R Tempo

Matt Higgs

Miscellaneous on 10-27-2015

Standard

Creatures (18)

Lands (22)

Spells (20)

Sideboard

Creatures

The Swiftspear just feels too good; it’s better than a Raging Goblin in stats and through prowess, and it costs no additional investment whenever you cast
a noncreature spell. It just gets bigger. The haste is also a great surprise element late in the game; you don’t normally cast a one-drop on turn 4 and
your opponent gets nervous. Zurgo Bellstriker is just efficient. Two power on one-mana creatures has always been good, and the ability to dash it in is
probably its best asset.

Ire Shaman was superb in the Grixis list, both for its evasion and its ability to replace itself. Here, it’s a perfectly fine two-drop; just keep them from
having two blockers and it’s a Phantom Warrior. Makindi Sliderunner, directly ported from the successful Landfall list, has the potential to be amazing for
two reasons. First, landfall is considerably better on lower-costed creatures; you are more likely to draw (and play) more lands as the game goes on.
Second, the trample sneaks up on you. With fetchlands, you’re able to put a lot of pressure on in a hustle, and blockers become less relevant. Sporting
eight such lands makes that all the easier. Finally, Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest rounds out the creature base. As a three-drop legendary creature without
haste, you’d want to keep them limited, but once you untap, you should win on turn 4. Take one of the hard-to-block creatures and double their power, or
target Shu Yun himself for a huge swing of damage.

Spells

Titan’s Strength is the key ingredient in today’s red decks; Lightning Strike can’t provide the unconditional damage spell we came to, well, tolerate.
Thus, this is where we sit. Being one mana, adding double strike to the mix, and having an innocuous but critical scry effect is really important these
days. You always want to have one (or pretend you have one) when you play this deck, so might as well slot the whole set. Temur Battle Rage gives you the
option to make enormous blowouts. Clutch of Currents, the main reason to splash blue, gives so much power in a world where creatures have to stay in play
to be relevant (that is, enters-the-battlefield effects aren’t nearly so common.) Rush of Ice is a worse Clutch, but it serves a similar function and can
be an effective alternative for bounce-resistant creatures, e.g. Siege Rhino. Treasure Cruise, combined with fetchlands and lots of one-mana spells, helps
refill your hand easily once you’ve run out of steam. Tempo decks, and aggro decks in general, often can’t keep up on card parity as the game goes on and
your spells get subjectively weaker. Retreat to Valakut is the best “Retreat” option for this list as it puts the pedal to the middle on aggression. The
power boost also synergizes with double strike effects in the deck. Finally, the two singletons act as trials; Crater’s Claws and Wild Slash are removal,
for sure, but being able to close a game after you exhaust your tempo spells is critical.

Lands

You might notice the prevelance of black mana producers, but I decided to make the deck strictly red and blue. Both fetchlands used can fetch either red or
blue, making black the critical pivot color despite the fact that this deck does not need a Swamp. Red is by far the critical color, so the land base is
heavily weighted in that direction.

Sideboard

This time, I did put some thought into those extra fifteen. Stubborn Denial seems like the greatest way to stonewall a spell that your opponent’s
holding. Even without the ferocious condition, you can stunt a Languish or End Hostilities if they’re playing on curve. Fiery Impulse is an essential trick
for the aggressive mirror match or, in conjunction with a first- or double-striking creature, it can be used to finish off a big-toughness creature. Three
damage for one mana is still pretty good, even if it’s just pointed at a creature. Scab-Clan Berserker has been a card I’ve wanted to test after the
rotation of Eidolon of the Great Revel, and being a 3/3 gives it a considerable level of relevance. Outpost Siege helps make those long games shorter, and
Rending Volley is the perfect way to answer Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy, Dragonlord Ojutai, Mantis Rider, and Butcher of the Horde, a card I’ve seen resurge after
months of dormancy.

I got my licks in with this deck at a Wednesday night, and I was impressed with the potential, but downright embarrassed with the execution.

I played against three decks: Grixis Dragons, Five-Color Bring to Light, and Dark Jeskai, and I beat all but the final opponent, but that doesn’t mean I
was happy with the way the games went. In game 3 of the first match of Grixis Dragons, I only won because my opponent fetched a Battle land without the
basics for it to enter the battlefield untapped, thus leaving himself a mana short to cast Tasigur, the Golden Fang and a removal spell at the game’s
critical juncture. In round two, my opponent did not draw his sideboard cards or nearly enough copies of Siege Rhino. By the third round, though, my luck
had run out and I was smashed into the earth. By then, I already saw my deck’s glaring mistakes and was already brainstorming ideas to fix it before I was
dealt the final blow in round three.

First off, the deck was somewhat inconsistent; I had to mulligan nearly every hand, many of which had one land, a one-drop, and Titan’s Strength to tempt
me. Tempo decks get considerably worse with every card they don’t get to draw, so this has a much larger impact than normal. Second, ferocious was almost
never active. Turns out this deck basically can’t have four-power creatures for more than one turn. It didn’t impact any maindeck cards very often, but it
was crippling for Stubborn Denial, which is a strictly worse Force Spike without a big critter. Finally, the deck didn’t create pressure. In a tempo deck,
that means a lot of velocity. Removing blockers only matters if you hit hard enough to deal twenty damage.

Wild Slash (which got me two games by itself), Scab-Clan Berserker, and the awaken cards were great, and the creature base was close, but a couple
adjustments of both the creature and spell base could really make it sing.

U/R Tempo

Matt Higgs

Test deck on 10-27-2015

Standard

Creatures (18)

Lands (23)

Spells (19)

Sideboard

This deck might have a better chance; it’s built for our metagame (slower, control/midrange-focused matchups), but you can adjust it to your liking.
Treasure Cruise was pretty much always castable, and the best versions of each spell have been highlighted and multiplied to fit. Adding two Evolving Wilds
gives me more landfall triggers and it doesn’t really impact the ability to cast your spells on time. Abbot of Keral Keep seems like a better fit than Ire
Shaman. Wild Slash proved to be a critical player, and there’d rarely be a time where I wouldn’t want it. Out of the side, Mage-Ring Bully becomes a decent
threat when your opponent won’t have many creatures to attack or block with. It can also fearlessly attack into anti-aggro cards like Arashin Cleric.

I think that this version looks a lot better, but that’ll be for this week’s testing bevy to confirm or deny. In the meantime, I have another tempo list
for you, especially if you don’t have any fetchlands lying around.

Mono-Blue Tempo

Matt Higgs

Test deck on 10-27-2015

Standard

Creatures (19)

Lands (24)

20 Island
4 Skyline Cascade

Spells (17)

Sideboard

No card in this list runs more than $5.00 each, and the majority are under a buck. You still get all the board manipulation, and although you have to leave
prowess at the curb, a 4/1 for two mana makes up for it a bit.

Tempo is looking better and better every week, and prowess and landfall are both great ways to get there. Where have you been applying these two great
mechanics?