Game Theory: Tempo

Hey everybody. I've decided to put the follow up Card Advantage article off for a bit to talk about Tempo.

Have you ever played against a weenie rush deck? Where they drop one ally on turn one, two on turn two, two on turn three, and you get overrun. That deck utilized the other 'most powerful' concept of Game Theory, tempo.

Tempo: Time is interchangeable with resources. A deck that uses its resources most effectively gains a time advantage. This advantage is referred to as tempo.

Tempo and Card Advantage are the two ways that decks can win. Either a deck is super efficient and manages to destroy its opponent before they can react, or they survive long enough to turn the large amount of options they've created for themselves to win.

Now, these two concepts are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they're related in a lot of ways. When you play Ravenous Bite to save one of your creatures and kill another, you've just gained an advantage. If the creature you've killed costs greater than two resources, congratulations, you've just created a tempo advantage.

Let's take a look at the aforementioned Weenie rush deck.

1x Elendril

4x Tracker Gallen
4x Arcane Shot
4x Into the Maw of Madness
4x Bloodclaw
2x The Defias Brotherhood
4x Kibler's Exotic Pets
2x Sha'lin Nightwind
2x It's a Secret to Everybody
4x Kor Cindervein
4x Ravenous Bite
2x The Love Potion
3x Fury
4x Ancient Bone Bow
4x Milo the Unmerciful
4x Apprentice Teep
4x Latro Abiectus
2x Annihilator
3x The Battle of Darrowshire

That's from memory, and a little off possibly with the numbers, but you get the idea.

If we check this out, we'll see that nothing (except the Furies) costs over 3 resources. We run minimal quests, and maximal allies.

This deck either wins within a few turns, or doesn't. It attempts to create as large of a time advantage as possible, while ignoring the late game. It burns through its hand, utilizing cheap quests to draw more cards once the hand is gone, and plays allies with power greater than their resource cost at the expense of defense.


This deck will take down an unprepared opponent, but Frost Nova and Rain of Fire really hurt it. Similar cards like Multishot are also completely devastating. These cards create huge amounts of card advantage for the caster, and destroy the time advantage the rush deck has.

Also, note that a tempo advantage is created when a cheap effect neutralizes a more expensive one. When you Vanquish an ally that costs 8, you allow yourself to play other cards too. This is another way that decks generate time advantages.


So there you have it, a basic intro to Tempo. This is a difficult concept that took me quite a while to wrap my head around, but it's very, very important.

Until next time, thanks for reading, and I look forward to your comments!