This Standard season one of the most evergreen decks in Constructed Magic History will rear it’s head yet again, and become one of the defining decks of the season. That Deck is Sligh.

(For those unfamiliar with the background and history of Sligh, the Beyond Dominia Primers, and a short article by Dave Price in the Sideboard Archives:The History of Sligh, make excellent reading.)

The Golden Age of Sligh was during the Standard Season of 1996. The deck thrived on the abundance of cheap weenies, which complemented the Sligh curve perfectly (Jackal Pup, Mogg Fanatic, Iron Claw Orcs, Mogg Conscripts,) and the broken Cursed Scroll came to the fore. Other goodies like Ball Lightning and Fireblast allowed for frequent fourth turn kills.

Deadguy Red
Main Deck
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Jackal Pup
3 Mogg Conscripts
4 Ironclaw Orcs
4 Fireslinger
4 Ball Lightning
4 Incinerate
4 Fireblast
4 Shock
4 Cursed Scroll
17 Mountain
4 Wasteland

So can Sligh ever return to this “Golden Age”? Probably not but a Top Tier deck is still capable today, despite the best effort’s of R&D.

Let’s see if we can translate the “Deadguy Red” decks into the new T2 Environment.

Mogg Fanatic:

Bloodfire Dwarf: 1/1 for R. R, Sac deals one damage to each creature and player.
Bloodfire Dwarf fits quite nicely here, capable with trading with many weenies (Llanowar Elf, Blurred Mongoose, Squirrel/ Goblin tokens, Diligent Farmhand) with ease. The activation cost is a slight drawback and must be played to minimize losses of your own creatures.

Jackal Pup:

Raging Goblin: Fits nicely in the curve, and is capable of inflicting two points of damage by Turn 2 like the Pup.

Ironlcaw Orcs:

Goblin Raider: A great replacement, you will always be on the offensive with this deck. If you need to block you are probably going to lose anyway.

Mogg Conscripts:

Minotaur Explorer: I love this guy. His cheap casting cost makes him hard to counter and is capable of dealing 6* plus damage before he is dealt with. Better that Mogg Flunkies IMO, his drawback is not a big issue unless faced with a plethora of bounce.

Fireslinger:

Spark Mage: Not as versatile as the Fireslinger, but comes out early and completes his task of trading with opposing weenies and mana creatures quite effectively.

Ball Lightning:

Skizzik, Ember Beast: Skizzik is the obvious replacement but is too high on the mana curve to play four. Ember beast is a fine turn three play.

Cursed Scroll:

Firebolt: Firebolt is definitely no Cursed Scroll, nothing compares with its constant and colourless source of damage. However, Firebolt can normally trade with two opposing creatures.

Incinerate:

Volcanic Hammer: Volcanic Hammer has a good cost to damage ration. The issue of regeneration is not a big issue after the loss of River Boa.

Fireblast:

Nothing even comes close to replacing this,

Something Old: In the tradition of Sligh we will be using a slightly unorthodox, or as some would say sub optimal card: Reckless Charge.

Enchant Creature: R. Target Creature gets +3/+0 and haste until end of turn. Flashback 2R.

This card gives the opponent a chance to make a 2-1 trade but 3+ damage for R is a deal I’m willing to accept. Nice turn 3 play on a Minatour Explorer.

Wasteland:

Barbarian Ring: Imagine if Wasteland was reprinted in this format where most decks are 2-3 colours and using a wide variety of non-basic lands!!! Barbarian Ring is a nice colourless source of damage in a deck that is easily capable of gaining Threshold.

Finally A Decklist:

x4 Bloodfire Dwarf
x4 Raging Goblin
x3 Spark Mage
x4 Goblin Raider
x4 Minotaur Explorer
x2 Ember Beast
x2 Skizzik

x3 Firebolt
x4 Blazing Salvo
x4 Volcanic Hammer
x3 Reckless Charge
x2 Urza’s Rage

x17 Mountain
x4 Barbarian Ring

Mana Curve:
1cc: 21
2cc: 12
3cc: 4
4cc:2

Another advantage of using Sligh is it’s relativey cheap to build. The Urza’s Rage and Skizzik are not necessary components and the rest of the uncommons/commons can be picked up very easily. I’m certainly no deck builder so I’m sure this could undergo a lot of changes by more talented deck builders. (I really want to include Ghitu Fire somewhere)

Thanks for reading if you got this far, your comments are much appreciated.

Ben

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2nd ranked poster in SC

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Good article!

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meyouus: I hate Rites of Initiation, especially in Sligh when your hand empties very quickly.

British Kavu: Like your suggestion, Flameburst is far superior to Volcanic Hammer

Arch-Zealot: I chose Firebolt over Shock, although Shock is superior in some mmatchups. e.g. Stompy and their instant speed pump.

da-odd-templar: Thanks,

Euthyphro: At least someone likes Reckless Charge,

Ben