This deck is designed to be played when 8^th Edition rotates in, when things like Disenchant and Engineered Plague will be unavailable to us. Therefore, the sideboard is currently a little under par and will probably be changed quite a bit in the future.

Slide Effects
2 Nekrataal
3 Gravedigger
4 Ravenous Rats
4 Exalted Angel
4 Undead Gladiator
4 Phyrexian Arena
4 Renewed Faith
2 Eternal Dragon
3 Wrath of God
3 Smother
4 Astral Slide
7 Plains
9 Swamp
4 Barren Moor
3 Secluded Steppe

SB: 2 Auramancer
SB: 1 Maggot Carrier
SB: 1 Wrath of God
SB: 4 Story Circle
SB: 2 Aven Cloudchaser
SB: 3 Persecute
SB: 2 Withered Wretch

Slide Effects (so called because of the numerous"comes into play" abilities abused by Astral Slide) is a deck that plays very much like The Ralphie Treatment - however, there are some major differences. Ralphie is more of an aggressive deck, while this is more controllish. (Admittedly, any Slide deck is to some extent controllish, but you know what I mean.) The main idea is to get out a Slide with a Gravedigger in play, and then you can effectively stop any single attacking creature by cycling a Gladiator or Dragon. This also thins your deck via returned Dragon cycling. With two Slides in play, things get really fun: Playing against control? Cycle out a Rats and Gravedigger with a Dragon or Gladiator, draw a card, and make an opponent discard a card for only two (or 1B). Playing against aggro? You can do the same thing with the Nekrataals.

Here are why the cards are in the deck.

2 Nekrataal
These are your reusable removal. Just be careful you don't hit your own Angels by accident.

3 Gravedigger
Yes indeed... Gravedigger. I am using Gravedigger in a serious Standard deck. This is the engine if you want to switch into control. They work great with the Undead Gladiators and Eternal Dragons.

4 Ravenous Rats
With Duress gone and only Cabal Therapy and Blackmail to take its place (Cabal Therapy isn't in here because it too will be rotating out soon, and I wanted to avoid Odyssey Block as much as possible), we needed some disruption. (Ah, yes - let's drop the potential power level of a deck right now so that we can do less work later... - The Ferrett, Not Getting It) How nice that the Rats are being reprinted! They also happen to be reusable. The interaction with Slide is uncannily perfect.

4 Exalted Angel
This is pretty true to form. The angels are simply the fastest, easiest way to win.

4 Undead Gladiator
I love these guys. They cycle, they come back. They cycle and come back again. With an Arena in play, you will always be able to get them back - and, as such, they will be much harder to kill.

4 Phyrexian Arena
Card advantage wins games. Oh no - I said the ultimate Magic cliché! It's true, though. Draw more cards, find more threats (or in some cases, answers to threats). These work extremely well with the Gladiators. The life loss is marginal because you'll just get it back from the Angels anyway.

4 Renewed Faith
In this environment, life gain is (sadly) often the way to win. If you can hold off Sligh, it usually runs out of steam. This is a major roadblock for those goblins (and R/G Beats as well). The cycling ability makes this card really amazing.

2 Eternal Dragon
There are a bunch of double casting-cost things in here, but this is why there are no Cities of Brass. There are more swamps because these can get the plains for you. I've also found that with a Gravedigger and Slide in play, this is an amazing way to thin your deck. They can also be a big flier in the late game, which in never bad.

3 Wrath of God
Destroying all creatures is very handy... Especially when you can Slide yours out.

3 Smother
I think this is the best spot removal there is right now. It kills morphs (usually Angels), Wild Mongrels, Psychatogs, tokens, and more.

4 Astral Slide
Well, a Slide deck would be pretty pointless without it...

2 Auramancer
These are the only cards from the Odyssey Block in the deck, as there is really nothing to replace them (except, perhaps, for Skull of Orm, which is way too expensive).

1 Maggot Carrier
These are what will win you games against any decks packing Ensnaring Bridge.

4 Story Circle
Burn? Nope. Fatties? Not today.

2 Aven Cloudchaser
Playing against both Wake and Slide sucks, so this gets really annoying for them.

3 Persecute
This card really does just wreck some decks. I like it better than Cabal Therapy, only because Duress isn't legal anymore.

2 Withered Wretch
I hate Quiet Speculation as much as the next man.

I just designed it very recently, and my playtesting is not quite as extensive as I would have liked (about ten games against each deck), but in the testing I have done, the results are very good.

U/G
4 Aquamoeba
2 Arrogant Wurm
4 Basking Rootwalla
1 Phantom Centaur
4 Wild Mongrel
2 Wonder
4 Careful Study
4 Circular Logic
3 Deep Analysis
2 Quiet Speculation
1 Ray of Revelation
3 Roar of the Wurm
3 Unsummon
1 Upheaval
2 City of Brass
10 Forest
10 Island

Sideboard:
1 Wonder
1 Turbulent Dreams
1 Roar of the Wurm
3 Phantom Centaur
3 Ravenous Baloth
2 Ray of Revelation
2 Stupefying Touch
2 Upheaval

Pre-sideboard: 50/50
With sideboard: 70/30

U/G is relatively easy to beat. If you can get a Slide past the Logics, you win. They can try for an Upheaval, but you can just Slide your stuff out. Flying Wurms aren't nearly as frightening as they used to be - after all, they don't come back after a Slide. Mongrels you can handle easily. Phantom Centaurs, on the other hand, are quite nasty: If they get more than one out, hope to God you cycle into a Wrath, or just try to keep it from attacking with a slide.

The deck really sideboards itself in this matchup. The best idea is usually:

-3 Ravenous Rats
+2 Withered Wretch
+1 Wrath of God

It's fairly straightforward. Nekrataal kills Wurms (arrogant bastards!), occasionally Mongrels, and Rootwallas. Wretches make the Specs kinda useless, and Wrath... Well, Wrath is Wrath.

R/G
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Viashino Sandstalker
3 Phantom Centaur
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Call of the Herd
4 Elephant Guide
4 Firebolt
4 Violent Eruption
3 Volcanic Hammer
2 Barbarian Ring
7 Forest
3 Mossfire Valley
6 Mountain
4 Wooded Foothills

Sideboard:
2 Flaring Pain
3 Caller of the Claw
3 Krosan Reclamation
2 Nantuko Vigilante
4 Sulfuric Vortex

R/G is a little tougher than U/G because it is a little more explosive (except, of course, for the whole Careful Study, Walla Walla opening). The loss of Llanowar Elves has slowed it down a bit - but on the whole, it is still very fast, and Slide doesn't like fast decks. If you can get an Angel out, you will usually be okay - but you probably wouldn't want to play one on turn 3. If you lose game one, though, it's no problem, because your sideboard has everything you need.

-2 Nekrataal
-4 Ravenous Rats
-1 Gravedigger
-1 Undead Gladiator
+1 Wrath of God
+4 Story Circle
+2 Aven Cloudchaser
+1 Maggot Carrier

You can leave the Nekrataals in if you want - but I find that even with a Slide in play, they get burnt out too easily and come out too late. The Story Circles are your best weapon here: They can stop the bleeding from whatever's cutting you most. Bring in the Cloudchasers to destroy the Sulfuric Vortexes, because they are serious pains. All in all, after sideboarding, this is a piece of cake.

Sligh/Goblin Bidding
4 Goblin Piledriver
3 Goblin Sharpshooter
4 Goblin Sledder
4 Goblin Warchief
3 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Skirk Prospector
4 Sparksmith
4 Firebolt
4 Patriarch's Bidding
3 Smother
2 Barbarian Ring
4 Bloodstained Mire
12 Mountain
2 Shadowblood Ridge
Sulfurous Springs
3 Swamp

Sideboard:
2 Starstorm
3 Flaring Pain
2 Gempalm Incinerator
1 Smother
1 Siege-Gang Commander
2 Stabilizer
4 Sulfuric Vortex

This is one of the toughest decks to face; it is just so blindingly fast. Save your Smothers for Warchiefs after a Bidding so that you can get a turn to Wrath... But that's about all you can do. Nekrataals help a bit because of first strike, but a singleton toughness hurts it a lot. After sideboarding, it gets a little easier - but not much.

-4 Ravenous Rats
-3 Phyrexian Arena
+1 Wrath of God
+2 Withered Wretch
+4 Story Circle

Ah, the joy of the universal Circle of Protection! It's amazing how one card can make all the difference. (Until they draw Flaring Pain - The Ferrett, jes' sayin') The Wretches will get burned out, so be careful with them... But they single-handedly stop a bidding. If your mana is a little short, just remove the Warchief and keep a Wrath handy.

Roshambo
4 Twisted Abomination
4 Undead Gladiator
2 Visara the Dreadful
4 Death Pit Offering
4 Decree of Pain
4 Infest
4 Chainer's Edict
2 Skeletal Scrying
4 Smother
4 Natural Affinity
4 Grand Coliseum
10 Swamp
4 Tainted Wood
4 Temple of the False God
2 Unholy Grotto

This is a deck I've played against a number of times online. It uses Natural Affinity and Infest to destroy your lands, while Death Pit Offering theirs. While it may work well against some decks, it does not do to well against ours. First, we can Slide our lands out. Second, we can fetch more lands with the dragon. After sideboarding, it becomes even more of a cakewalk.

-2 Nekrataal
-1 Wrath of God
-2 Gravedigger
+3 Persecute
+2 Aven Cloudchaser

Here is where Persecute shines. It is amazing how many times I have completely obliterated someone's hand with it. And Aven Cloudchaser completely ruins their plan as well; they could set off an Armageddon, but why would they want to when you draw more cards than them, and probably have creatures in play?

Slide
1 Eternal Dragon
3 Exalted Angel
4 Krosan Tusker
2 Teroh's Faithful
4 Astral Slide
1 Gilded Light
4 Lightning Rift
4 Renewed Faith
4 Slice and Dice
3 Wrath of God
2 Forest
4 Forgotten Cave
4 Mountain
3 Nantuko Monastery
5 Plains
4 Secluded Steppe
1 Sungrass Prairie
4 Tranquil Thicket
1 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills

Sideboard:
2 Anurid Brushhopper
2 Auramancer
2 Boil
3 Naturalize
3 Dwarven Blastminer
2 Moment's Peace

These games can take a while - but while they have Rifts, you have more kill. Ravenous Rats are godly here; they cycle something, they lose whatever they just drew (unless they have a Rift out, of course). It's hilarious! The sideboard gives you stuff to help:

-3 Wrath of God
-3 Gravedigger
-3 Smother
+3 Persecute
+4 Story Circle
+2 Auramancer

Once again, Story Circle to the rescue! If they can't destroy it, they can't Rift you. If they do destroy it, you get if back with Auramancer. Isn't this fun? I left the Nekrataals in there because they are Angel, Cleric, and Dwarf killing machines. The Cloudchasers stay in the sideboard because sometimes they have been known to destroy my own enchantments.

I believe those are the decks to beat after the rotation. Tog is crippled by the loss of Counterspell, and it hurts Wake pretty bad as well. MBC is probably the one that gets hit the worst, though; it loses Duress and Corrupt, both staple cards. Elves I am not so sure about, but they should not be a problem anyway - just Wrath and Slide out the tokens from the Caller.

If you have ever played with a Slide deck, you should have little trouble adjusting to Slide Effects. It is an extremely solid deck that I hope people enjoy playing with. It is lots of fun, relatively simple to play, and has no real auto losses. It is almost an autowin against U/G, it wins the match against regular slide, and can handle R/G. I believe it can do extremely well in the future. Plus, when Odyssey rotates out, it loses almost nothing. I hope you enjoy playing the deck as much as I do!