12.14.04   The Shadowclash of Blinding Night and the Tournament of the 5 Civilizations have come and passed in, what proved to be down here anyways, a major month for Duel Masters. We nearly tripled the number of potential players we have from about 10 or 12, to well over thirty, with more coming in each day. 21 People played in the 5 Civilizations tournament. While the main eye candy of the tournament was Trox, Ballom, Alcadeias and company, the surprise to beat them all came in a very deceptive form that had everyone rushing to the dictionary to figure out what the word Tempo meant.

But I’ll save you a trip. Tempo is basically the expected flow of the game. Tempo decks are based around consistently playing threat/answer every turn and ensuring that they are able to do so. Enter random kid with Kool-Aid in hand <<But Hydro! What the heck are you trying to say, expected flow?>> Well my sugar hyped friend, let me explain.

Most card games are designed with an expected flow. Cards are designed around this expected flow. I mean, you don’t expect your opponent to be playing a 4500 power creature turn 1, do you? Didn’t think so. Let’s take the basic Vanilla Fire Creatures…

Turn 1 - Deadly Fighter Braid Claw - 1000 Power

Turn 2 - Immortal Baron Vorg - 2000 Power

Turn 3 - Explosve Dude Joe - 3000 Power

See? This is a basic pattern of turns. Every turn you play a creature, and that creature is expected to get bigger. But your opponent has to be able to defend, right? Lets look at Water blockers in response to these plays…

Turn 1 - Aqua Guard - 2000 Power

Turn 2 - Hunter Fish - 3000 Power

Turn 3 - Phantom Fish - 4000 Power

The blockers are designed so that, on a perfect scale, you will always be able to play a creature that is stronger than the one your opponent played on the same turn. Now, if you always have blockers that are bigger than your opponents creatures, there’s no action, which leads to a boring game. Well you’re lucky WotC doesn’t disappoint and is always willing to throw some Power into Attackers. Like…

Turn 2 - Brawler Zyler - 3000 Attacker

Turn 3 - Golden Wing Striker - 4000 Attacker

Turn 4 - Dome Shell - 5000 Attacker.

Take that stupid Blockers. This allows an aggressive player to find strength necessary to punch through. Now you won’t be attacking with those creatures until a turn later, but it puts the pressure on your opponent to find a solution. In the previous examples, where you would match their creatures attack strength, they now must match yours. However, the Power ratio doesn’t just stay on the same scale. Check out Lights blockers…

Turn 1 - La Ura Giga, Sky Guardian - 2000 Power

Turn 2 - Sarius, Vizier of Surpression - 3000 Power

Turn 3 - Senatine Jade Tree - 4000 Power

Turn 4 - Dia Nork, Moonlight Guardian - 5000 Power

Turn 5 - Szubs Kin, Twilight Guaridan - 6000 Power

Turn 6 - Gran Gure, Space Guardian - 9000 Power

Notice the power jump? The reason for this is where the mana part of tempo comes in. If you play a mana, and a creature every turn, you’ll be able to do that for 5 turns max. Then you won’t have any cards in your hand. I’ll wait since a lot of you are probably doing the math right now. HA! Told Ya! That’s why high-end cost creatures usually have more power than most, since you have to skip a turn of playing something before you play them, minus certain exceptions like Bronze Arm Tribe, which I’m well aware of.

That in mind, Tempo decks usually try to find some way of eliminating the power curve. 4000 or 5000 on turn 3 is better than 3000. Cards that are overpowered but offer better Tempo usually come with drawbacks. Like Onslaughter Triceps is 5000 Power on Turn 3, but makes you destroy a card in your mana zone. This prevents you from the most effective turn 4 play, but gives you more power in response.

Now, the Tempo Deck that took second place at our 5 Civilizations Tournament was Light and Nature based, a combination that Shadowclash supported. The Deck, named LAN (Light and Nature) is a basic Tempo deck, and showed testament down here that even in this game, consistency is key.

3 Aeris, Flight Elemental
2 Deathblade Beetle
2 Supporting Tulip
4 Amber Grass
4 Emerald Grass
4 Exploding Cactus
4 Sword Butterfly
4 Kolon the Oracle
4 Saruis, Vizier of Surpression
4 Fonch the Oracle
4 Holy Awe
2 Sword of Benevolent Light

Judging at first sight can be deceptive. Now, the deck seems very redundant, but it’s the consistency that gets it through. Take a quick look.

Turn 2 - Play either Emerald Grass or Sarius (3000 Blocker)

Turn 3 - Play either Exploding Cactus (Usually 4000 Power) or Sword Butterfly (5000 Attacker)

Turn 4 - Play either Kolon the Oracle or Fonch the Oracle (Small creature plus tap-ability), then attack that creature with Cactus/Butterfly.

Turn 5 - Play Aeris or Deathblade, another big range creature.

Turn 6 - Holy Awe, eliminate your opponents field.

This is how nearly every game panned out for Zach, the kid who took second. Now, I will admit that not every deck should rely on these perfectly synchronized plays, but Tempo decks are designed with just that in mind. You’ll also notice that there are multiples of certain cards at certain situations to ensure that you have them.

8 Turn 2 plays

8 Turn 3 Plays

8 Turn 4 Plays + Amber Grass

5 Turn 5 Plays + Supporting Tulip

4 Turn 6 Plays + Sword of Benevolent Life (2 Cost)

The reason you can downhill the count as the turns increase is that you will have drawn more cards by then, so your odds of drawing the one you need will have gone up. Now, this is a direct reprint of the deck Zach played, and you could increase the turn 5 Plays by one to make the curve slightly more solid. But this should give you a basic idea of how things are supposed to go. If you can consistently make plays that are above that of the basic tempo the game sets, it will reward you. Decks like this also play out very similar each time you play them, so you get into a rhythm of what to do when you play. Tempo, Rhythm, get it? Just like in the music class where you didn’t pay attention.

There are other forms of Tempo decks. Not just blockers and attackers. It can involve bouncing a creature or destroying it, just whatever your deck needs and what turn you need to do it. Here’s an example of a play in which a Water deck would keep threats off the field.

Turn 2 - Spiral Gate - Bounce

Turn 3 - Phantom Fish - Blocker

Turn 4 - Unicorn Fish -Bounce/Creature

Turn 5 - Corile - Bounce/Creature

Turn 6 - Aqua Bouncer - Bounce/Creature/Blocker

Now, because not many cards can fill these gaps, your draws will be less consistent. But when multiple copies of cards that can fill these roles come out, you can build a good tempo deck, like in the one above.

It’s also a very good way of determining what’s needed when tweaking your deck. If a Turn 3 Barkwhip the Smasher is giving your deck problems, find solutions. Obviously Tornado Flame, Crimson Hammer, and Death Smoke won’t be able to defeat a 5000 Power creature that’s tapped most of the time, but cards like Volcanic Arrows and creatures that can attack for 5000+ will be able to. Finding cards that can fit the mold into decks and give you the advantage against your bad matchups is usually what sideboarding is about, but until that day comes for Duel Masters you’ll have to settle for maindecking exactly what your deck needs.

Until Next Time, keep it consistent.

Ronald (Hydromorph) Waclawski

Kian1602@hotmail.com

AOL: hydromorph1602