Azorius Tempo is a new variant of the Enduring Curiosity archetypes, and gained traction with the release of Avatar: The Last Airbender, becoming one of the main competitors in the Standard Metagame this season.
The Decklist
This was the same list used by Kouichi Miyabe to reach first place in the Izzet Explosive Experiment on November 30th. As the name suggests, Azorius Tempo is an archetype that uses cheap creatures with relevant ETB effects to assert board dominance while delaying your opponent's turns, combined with cheap interaction to deal with the main troublesome cards.
This version complements the strategy with Voice of Victory, which, despite being the only creature without Flash, plays a fundamental role in pressuring the opponent while preventing certain types of interaction, even making our creatures with Flash that enter the opponent's turn a greater threat if they are not answered.
Avatar basically brought all the fundamentals for this strategy to succeed today: Aang, Swift Savior as an interaction and win condition, Aang's Iceberg to complement Get Lost in removals, and especially Avatar's Wrath, which, unlike other sweepers, can be used as a way to reuse all the ETBs of your cards a second time when necessary and at a lower cost — in addition to Abandoned Air Temple, which, in a list with so many instant-speed cards, offers the advantage of a permanent power increase at the end of the opponent's turn.
Maindeck
Spyglass Siren is the best blue one-drop we have in the format today and guarantees good top filtering while also being a cheap way to get extra draws with Enduring Curiosity.
Voice of Victory also has good interactions with Enduring Curiosity, since the tokens it puts into play also count as extra draws on empty boards, but its main function is to prevent interactions on your turn while offering an efficient clock.
Floodpits Drowner can be used in many ways, the main one being to remove a blocker from the board at the end of the opponent's turn while guaranteeing two more damage. If the opponent's card is too problematic, we can use it to remove the creature from the board.
Aven Interrupter and Aang, Swift Savior make a good impression of Spell Queller and delay the opponent's main plays for a turn. Aang also has the advantage of being able to be played proactively as a "bounce," and in longer games, we can transform him into a 5/5 that increases the power of all creatures in play.
Tishana’s Tidebinder is still the most versatile Stifle in Standard, capable of permanently "locking down" Planeswalkers, the trigger for Ouroboroid, or even cards like Repurposing Bay.
Enduring Curiosity is one of the best blue cards in the format today, as it offers draw upon combat damage to all your creatures. Being able to use it at instant speed and for a decent cost is a huge bonus for Tempo decks.
Avatar’s Wrath can turn games in our favor by allowing us to exile all creatures in play, putting us ahead with one of them on the board while we can use the ETB effect of the others a second time to prevent the opponent from recovering.
Get Lost and Aang’s Iceberg are our spot removal spells, and both work at instant speed while providing greater scope in dealing with troublesome permanents.
No More Lies is our stack interaction choice due to its cost and scope, but we can opt for more linear cards if the Metagame demands specific answers.
Among the utility lands, Restless Anchorage and Soulstone Sanctuary provide more resilience in longer matches as complementary threats, while Abandoned Air Temple guarantees a significant power boost in games where we are ahead on the clock, since our creatures have small bodies to apply pressure.
In the absence of Hallowed Fountain, Starting Town and Multiversal Passage complement Floodfarm Verge and Meticulous Archive in our dual lands core, with Passage and Archive serving as extra land types to enable the second color of Verge.
Sideboard
Disdainful Stroke is primarily used against Jeskai Control, Reanimator, Omniscience, and Artifact lists, but there are some Simic versions that have sought to increase the mana curve with Quantum Riddler and Sab-Sunen, Luxa Embodied, and in these games, it's possible to use the card as a stack interaction.
Spider-Sense deals with most removals and sweepers in the format while also resolving the trigger of some problematic creatures. Ideal against Dimir Midrange, Jeskai Control, and other archetypes with game-changing triggers.
Seam Rip is our standard answer against any archetype more aggressive and faster than us, whether due to the clock of Red Aggro, or the combination of Badgermole Cub and mana dorks.
The extra Avatar’s Wrath is helpful in mirror matches and games where we can get ahead by exiling all creatures for a turn. It's excellent for removing the +1/+1 counters from Ouroboroid.
Clarion Conqueror permanently locks creatures, Planeswalkers, and artifacts, including mana abilities. Essential against Jeskai Artifacts, it effectively deals with Planeswalkers in white decks and also the mana dorks in lists with Badgermole Cub.
Enduring Innocence guarantees an extra draw per turn due to the versatility of our creatures being used at instant speed combined with the card's trigger, making it an important tool in attrition games. As a bonus, Lifelink makes it an option against Red Aggro.
Ghost Vacuum is our timely answer against Reanimator and also has specific functions against Stormchaser’s Talent decks, which have been focusing more on the late-game plan with the current variants of Izzet Prowess, Lessons and Dimir Bounce.
Sideboard Guide
Simic Aggro
IN
OUT
Dimir Midrange
IN
OUT
Jeskai Control
IN
OUT
Reanimator
IN
OUT
Gruul Leyline
IN
OUT
Izzet Looting
IN
OUT
Wrapping Up
That's all for today!
If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!
Thanks for reading!
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