Tempo is a term normally seen in Magic, and while in WoW the rules have changed the basic principles remain the same. Tempo is more or less as the law of physics for games like Magic and WoW. While I don’t pretend to be an expert in interpreting tempo, I do understand the concepts. My understanding is that tempo is governed through different variables, all of which control the progress of the player. The player who achieves the most progress wins. Meaning that whoever gains enough tempo, wins. Progress is measured at the end of each turn as positive, negative or zero; much like the stock market.
 

            So what are these variables? How does a player manipulate them? How is all this babble practical? Card advantage is a term I bring up quite frequently, and it is the chief variable in manipulating progress. Card advantage is just looking at how many effects you get per the costs you pay. One effect for one cost is the basic progress, the more effects per cost the quicker you progress. Parvink is the prime example of positive progress. For one cost of 3 mana, you get a creature, a card, and a protector. If that were your only play that turn, your progress will grow three times as much as it would have had you played something like Anika Berlyn. Paying a cost of 6 for a simple creature achieves only one thing, earning just a one for one progress.
 

            Up till now I’ve described positive card advantage, and even costs that outweigh the effects still count as positive progress even though it is slower than normal. What is negative progress? Negative progress is for the most part something controlled by your opponent’s answer to your positive progress. Going back to your only move that turn, playing the Parvink, if your opponent were to kill it on your turn you would lose progress by losing a protector and a creature; thus losing tempo. According to how many resources you’ve lost in your opponent’s action, determines what you lose as far as progress. There are few cases in which you can cause negative progress on yourself, such as to destroy your own resource through your own effect.  
 

            Negative and positive progress are easily explained, but what about the answer or better known to other players as the counterspell. The opponent pays a cost and you pay a cost, however because your effect the opponent gains no progress. Your effect on the other hand gains you no progress yourself. So to deny your opponent progress through counters is a way to prevent your opponent’s progress but it does no help you gain it either. The question here is what would help you win the game? The answer would be cards most effective to the goal of your deck. In the case of the discard deck, Mind Spike is an excellent source of card advantage, for one cost you achieve your discard and at the same time gain removal decreasing the opponent’s progress. As to another topic that’s come up frequently in deck building, the value of healing. While in the past I have not given much value to it, there is an avenue of use I had not considered previously. If the plan is to consider your life total as a resource, then an increase in resources is a form of card advantage. For one cost if you were to gain 2 life, you’ll gain 2 more resources. Such is the case with the Warlocks, where many of their effects depend on removing life from your hero.
 

            There are many other topics and aspects of tempo, but I do hope this information has provided enough information to build a stronger aspect on this cornerstone of gaming. For information on progress, tempo and all of it’s aspects visit this site:

Progress Theory: A New Way of Looking at Magic

http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~mdevine/mtg/progress/progress-theory.html

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, safe journeys, and a happy new year.

 

-Alex