“Dimir Tempo aims to disrupt the opponent early with hand disruption via Thoughtseize and cheap interaction while cantripping into a fast, resilient threat like Murktide Regent or a flipped Tamiyo. The deck leverages free countermagic in Force of Will and Daze to protect its threats and tempo the opponent off their gameplan, often using Wasteland to deny mana while pressing an early advantage. Once a threat sticks, the deck pivots to a soft-lock role, answering anything dangerous while the clock runs out.”
Missing sideboard cards? The full 15-card sideboard runs about $385.
Buy sideboard on ManapoolThis is the mirror, so protecting our own threats and disrupting theirs matters most. Force of Negation gives us a free way to stop a key noncreature spell on their turn, which is crucial since both decks race for tempo. Surgical Extraction can strip Nethergoyf to prevent its escape or remove key cards after Wasteland/graveyard exchanges. Flow State and two Daze come out since in the mirror both sides have countermagic and cantrips already, and we want higher-impact interaction rather than more card selection.
Ocelot Pride Midrange goes wide fast with Cat tokens, Voice of Victory tokens, and Amped Raptor, so Massacre's -2/-2 wipes most of their 1/1 and 2/1 tokens along with Ocelot Pride and Ajani's Cat Warrior form. The extra Fatal Push gives us more cheap answers to Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Guide of Souls, and Ocelot Pride itself before it snowballs. Daze is less useful since their curve is proactive and they can often play through a tempo counter, and cutting one Ponder keeps our removal suite higher without touching the core engine.
Eldrazi floods the board with Thought-Knot Seer, Eldrazi Linebreaker, and token generators like Glaring Fleshraker, so Massacre's -2/-2 sweeps their smaller creatures (though not Thought-Knot Seer, Eldrazi Linebreaker, Reality Smasher, or Sire of Seven Deaths). Orcish Bowmasters punishes Kozilek's Command's card-draw mode and picks off Eldrazi Spawn/Scion tokens. Daze is weak here since Eldrazi runs Chalice of the Void and often doesn't need to be taxed, and their curve isn't fast enough to punish us for tapping out. Brazen Borrower only bounces one threat temporarily against a deck that rebuilds board presence quickly, so it comes out for more sweeping/attrition power.