Tempo

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Tempo is a term to describe the pace at which one plays threats. It is often used in conjunction with mana acceleration. Aggro decks as well as Midrange decks generally win with tempo, and often trade card advantage to gain it. Often when in relation to a player's deck, tempo is simplified to "Speed" which refers to the absolute "fastest" tempo a single deck can produce (not necessarily the one most optimal for the match.)

The concept of tempo is to dissect the more intricate means of how and when lands and spells are played, as opposed to the "race" which approaches aggressive strategies haphazardly. A player who has a strong understanding of tempo can often put the game state in their favor without having to resort to copious amounts of card advantage or card utility for contingency's sake during the game. Tempo is not specific to any one color, nor does it favor a specific color for having the "best tempo", as tempo exists merely to scale the game's pace and allow it's reader a better understanding of how to seek victory.

The term has its roots in musical notation, where it means the rate of movement between sounds in relation to one another, it was later adopted into Chess where it found it's origin in Magic: The Gathering as the gaining or losing position and productivity in relation to victory.

An example of a tempo deck is a Delver of Secrets deck, which is very popular in the formats of legacy, modern and standard. It tends to have a large number of instants and sorceries that Delver of Secrets will trigger off of with quite a bit of disruption.

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