Didn't get enough last time? Okay, well... Now I'm back with Sligh. This time I'm sure I'll lose a few readers. Once again, I implore you not to disregard this deck, because one person might try this deck and make the 8th seed that you were so desperately looking for.

Something that was noticed lately in the metagame is that most of the creatures that people use have a one or two toughness. Yes, I know that Blastoderm has a five toughness, but that Bird of Paradise is what helped them get it out so quickly. So why aren't Shock and Seal of Fire more popular?

Also, with the talk of Orim's Chant decks being viable, the use of instant-speed burn is going to be VERY necessary in order to win. So what does that give us?

Sligh.

4x Raging Goblin
4x Mogg Sentry
4x Skizzik

4x Chimeric Idol
4x Tangle Wire

3x Shock
3x Seal of Fire
4x Urza's Rage
4x Rhystic Lightning
3x Lightning Blast
2x Hammer of Bogardan

4x Rishadan Port
18x Mountain

Sideboard:
4x Flashfires
4x Boil
1x Shock
1x Seal of Fire
1x Final Fortune
4x Meekstone

I take no credit in the idea of this deck, but I'll credit myself for this particular design. The Mad Man that gave me the idea for this deck was Rob Lawing and the Texas Guildmages. Many members played this deck and they took home over $400.

[Fun fact: Exact number of damage if each spell hits my opponent once (without the kicker on the Rage, and assuming every Rhystic hits for four): 98]

And now, it's time for the card-by-card analysis:

4 Raging Goblin - PING!

4 Mogg Sentry - PING! Counter my spell? WHACK! (Feel like you're watching Batman?)

4 Skizzik - Most of the time this guy is being cast with kicker - but this deck can afford to cast him without kicker. For five mana, we could just reuse our Hammer of Bogardan. This guy is useful to take down a Blastoderm, or to just crack a shot at a creature-less opponent. Either way, this guy can win a game for you.

4 Chimeric Idol - Making efficient use of the three slot, we can bring in this guy. He's colorless damage (getting around the CoP: Red) and allows us to get around a quick Wrath. You'd be surprised how many times I watched this guy get countered. (No I wouldn't - The Ferrett)

4 Tangle Wire - This is very useful against all decks. This will allow you a few turns of nibbling your opponent's life away while being able to cast a Rhystic Lightning for the full amount. If anything else, it feels good to be able to use this card again.

6 Shock Spells - These are to take out an early searcher, Hatchling, Airship, Bird, or Elf. Then, when all else fails, you can just throw them at your opponent. With so many targets and abilities, the count should go up to 8, but I decided to leave those extra two in the sideboard so you can take out the least useful cards and add in these.

4 Urza's Rage - This card can get quite a bit done. From removing Idols to defeating opponents, this card is good with or without it's kicker advantage.

4 Rhystic Lightning - Another card that makes good use of the three-slot, as it can easily deal four damage early on. Most of the time, I throw this at my opponent, but there are those times that you don't want to do that (again, the Idol will die).

3 Lightning Blast - The original design had four, but I couldn't convince myself to have that many. This card is an instant four damage for four mana, which isn't bad by today's standards, but it still is a bit costly for a late game finisher.

2 Hammer of Bogardan - Reusable burn. Is there no greater concept in Sligh? This deck only requires two because it has so much burn in it already. Why should we add to the count? This card can win you the game against certain control decks, as they should have been forced to waste a Wrath or an Angel (which should be rightfully burned) to get rid of your early weenies.

22 Lands - Barely enough for this deck. I want to ensure that we draw enough mana, and at the same time be able to draw enough threats to continuously hurt your opponent. This deck has gone through a few changes in the mana base. At one point I actually tried 24 land, but found myself flooded and without the creatures I wanted. Subsequently, a Blastoderm and a Shivan Wurm dominated me.

4 Flashfires - I decided to try this over Brutal Suppression (DUH!). I can burn away all the rebels, so I'm not worried about them casting it. In the meantime, I can just eat away their life total with silly creatures. This allows me to devastate their side of the board and still be able to do something my next turn. The most common thing I've seen Rebels try to do against me is get down a Sky Marshall and hope to 'Geddon their way to safety. Trust me, it never works.

4 Boil - While Skies will typically 'Geddon themselves by trying to counter all of your burn, you can force them to do that anyway by casting this at the end of their turn. Usually, they are going to HAVE to use a Thwart against it - which is perfectly okay, because it allows you to cast a bigger threat during your turn.

2 Shock Spells - Just to edge your deck towards the little guys.

1 Final Fortune - Aren't you tired of looking back on a match and saying, "Man, if only I had one more turn!" Besides, this gets funny after time is called, as it can potentially give you four of those five turns.

4 Meekstone - Fires and Skies should have a ball trying to get around this card. This is card advantage in a box. The only drawback is that it makes paying the kicker on your Skizzik pretty silly (but necessary if you fear Hull Breach), but all you need is to slow down their offense while Hammering them into submission.

This deck has real possibilities. If the metagame really does shift towards a lot of Chant decks, then this will be the dreaded anti-deck.

Until next time,

Jeff Wrobleski
First Idiot of Magic