This series of articles will
be devoted to the most basic deck designs in PEZ. The articles will analyze the
decks, teach you the basic building blocks and analyze the most attractive
cards to put in your own builds. The point is not to build the decks for you
but to give new players a feel for the deck and experienced players a list of
odd cards that I think may prove to be ‘good tech’ in the hands of a witty
rogue. A lot of this is a list of card names (I will try to go from the usual
choices to the most unusual) – including full card text would land me in an
asylum – use www.crystalkeep.com
(this is the official PEZ source for rulings, rarity, and card text) to find
full card text for cards that interest you. I hope you enjoy them and please
post the decks you build on our Peasant Magic Archive!
The Basic Peasant Part 2 –
Sligh (Part 1 of 2)
There are days that I feel
old. One of the things that always makes me feel old is when someone shows me
their new Sligh design. Usually this is a bunch of burn and cheap creatures and
I have to shake my head and sigh. This is not Sligh - if only people would pay
attention to their M:tG history. Well, what is Sligh?
Sligh was born way back in
‘96 (this was a few years after we were all trading away our Moxes for Serra
Angels; you have to go way back for that kind of action). It was the stupidest
deck of its time using cards that nobody except newbies played. Magic has never
been the same since. I should note that it was originally called Geeba not
Sligh (Paul Sligh was the first to pilot it and that kind of caught on). It is
a very specific type of deck build with very specific rules and conventions -
more on that latter.
Anyway, those people that
don’t equate any Red deck with Sligh often claim that Sligh is all about the
mana curve. They say that this is what defines a Sligh deck. Yes, this is true
but only to an extent. Sligh does use a very specific mana curve and we will
detail that in a minute. What is important to note are the other critical
aspects of Sligh: 1) every card (other than, in most cases, lands) is capable
of winning the game, 2) Every card can generate advantage (either card or cost)
and 3) No combos because combos are bad.
If you want to build a Red
deck that doesn’t perfectly fit these conventions don’t worry about it. This
article will help you out anyway and its not like you can’t win if your Red
deck isn’t Sligh.
The nice thing about building
Sligh in PEZ is that you don’t lose a whole lot. Sure Goblin Piledriver and
Blistering Firecat (or for players like me: Orcish Librarian and Mana Barbs)
are out. But the core of the deck remains. Really, it is the deck building
rules that make Sligh playable not the cards (well, to some extent anyway).
The Build and the Curve
All I need, well almost, to
teach you about Sligh is in the following table (these are my numbers,
traditional Sligh numbers will be enclosed []):
Land: 21-24 (14-18 Mountains)
[23-26 (15-17 Mountains)]
1 Cost Creatures: 10-14
[9-13]
2 Cost Creatures: 7-9 [6-8]
3 Cost Creatures: 3-5
4 Cost Creatures: 0-3 [1-3]
X Cost Spells: 0-3 [2-3]
Low Cost Burn: 8-12 [8-10]
As much as I harped on it
before, breaking the curve a bit doesn’t disqualify a deck as Sligh. As with
all rules you have to know when a specific situation, format, or environment
will alter the rules and you better be flexible and go along with it. Anyway,
the point of that chart is to make the most efficient use of your mana. The
ideal is to use all your mana every turn and the proper curve makes that
possible. Because of the speed in PEZ, I have tried to shift the curve to the
left (lower cost) just a smidgen.
The next step is, of course,
deciding what goes in. It is absolutely essential that you find the most
effective card for each slot. That last word is important - when building decks
that try to stay tight to a curve the cards are important to a degree, but it
is the slot they fill that is most important. Remember - find the best card for
the slot not the slot for the best cards.
This begs the question of
what is an efficient or effective card. For creatures look for the following:
1) Power is greater than CC, 2) They have a direct damage ability, 3) They
grant some form of board control or card advantage. If a creature doesn’t have
at least one of these things going for it then leave it out. For spells, you
want the most efficient cards that can remove another card (especially a
creature) from the board. There are some possible cards that will break this
rule but you will never hurt yourself by sticking to it.
Things to Keep in Mind
When in doubt between two
cards, always look to the more aggressive of the two. If you can’t determine
which would be better, figure out which card is useful in the most situations
and against the most decks. You can also create a chart and look at which card
produces the most damage over the fewest number of turns (for permanents at
least).
As much as Sligh is about
beat down, don’t forget that most Sligh decks also control the board. If you
ignore board control too much you will quickly find yourself losing games.
All burn in Sligh is for
targeting creatures first. No spell that only targets an opponent should be
included, but spells that allow for any target should be preferred.
Your creatures shouldn’t be
blocking and you should always have more life than the opponent. Don’t worry
about defense or about taking damage. The object is to dismantle the opponent
long before you die. Also, never fear trading creatures with an opponent, in
most matches 1:1 trades will favor you.
Combos are bad. They are not
your friend. Every card should be good on its own and provide some advantage on
its own. If cards work well together that is fine but they must be just as good
as any other card choice to be included in the deck.
As much as I dislike the idea
of ‘Shock and Awe’ tactics in real life that is what you should be thinking
when you design Sligh.
Next Week
Next week I will walk through
the card list for you all. See you then!
Jason Chapman –
chaps_man@hotmail.com