Standard Deck Tech: Mono Blue Tempo

In the wake of Meathook Massacare's ban, Standard has started becoming more varied again. Mono Black lists have phased out entirely, opting instead to move into Esper and Grixis lists to access more powerful cards in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty and Streets of New Capenna. However, our Dominaria United has given life to a fringe deck that's started making waves: Mono Blue Tempo.

Delver of Secrets is a mainstay in older formats- namely in Legacy which offers support with Murktide Regent. Murktide Delver is far and above the strongest deck in Legacy, since the deck's namesake comes out cheaper and becomes stronger when you use Delve to cheat it out early. Like in the Legacy lists, Standard Delver seeks to create big threats from lots of instants and sorceries. DMU brought us Tolarian Terror: a 5/5 that grows cheaper for each Instant and Sorcery in your graveyard. While it's not quite Murktide, Terror acts as a reliable beater and can stick thanks to it having Ward 2. Though that's not the only tool that Delver got- enter Haughty Djinn, a 3 CMC creature that discounts your instants and sorceries, and gains power for each one cast. This alongside classic Delver keeps pressure on the board and pushes for a turn four or five win.

Supporting your pay-offs is a massive list of Instants to seize control of the board and keep the hand filled. While your threats scale on both Instants and Sorceries, most lists opt to keep tempo by cutting the slower spells. Impede Momentum makes some sideboards, though most of the blue sorceries are simply bad. Shore Up, Slip out the Back, and Negate act to keep your threats safe- the former two offering hexproof and the latter simply countering their removal. Turn one Delver protected by a turn two Negate can pull into an early lead that slower control or midrange shells will have to fight for. The power bonuses Shore Up from aren't anything to scoff at either, cinching extra damage on turn and living in the graveyard to power out a Terror or to empower a Djinn. 

Make Disappear and Fading Hope are your primary options for removal. As usual, Blue has to be proactive with their removal, getting few ways to nix threats once they hit the board. Make Disappear can act as a non-conditional Spell Pierce for one more mana, and for the price of one creature, can win the counter war in the mirror. Fading Hope has been on the sideboards of decks running blue, but in Tempo lists, the card offers both protection and removal. The scry is a fine ribbon, and is sometimes relevant when it can help flip your Delvers. In Tempo lists, you want to be as proactive as you can when deciding what gets the counterspells- you're leveraging your mana cost advantage without the health tax that burn lists come with. As such, anything that prevents your creatures from getting in should be the number one target. With a generous curve, you're looking for lethal on turn five and six, with some lucky turn four lethals with a particularly spicy start. Bounces should usually be cast with counterspell backup, meaning you'll have to play shields down for your first three turns. The mana here should prioritize developing threats that will chip at the life total while you secure the mid-game. 

Tempo is all about front-loading a threat and supporting it, and it can be a tough archetype to master. It's a bit different from the mono-red lists that seek to simply burn out the opponent, as you're having to nurture your Delvers and Djinns until they can close out your games. The biggest advantage you have here is the sheer quantity of cards you have at low mana cost. Djinn's discount is powerful, and the draw of Consider and Impulse enable you to find the answers not currently in your hand. You won't be fully refueling like in other Izzet lists, so being able to realize what answer you need for the board is critical. It's best to keep one counter, one bounce, and one threat in hand if you're in advantage. When you're falling behind or are even, you may prioritize a Tolarian Terror over something like a Fading Hope since sticking a threat buys you time to draw into your own removal or a further threat. Tempo asks a lot of its pilots, but the deck looks like it's on a rise, and we may see further support in the coming sets as evidenced by the BRO spoiler Surge Engine.