Arthur has taken this deck to the final four and beyond in many smaller tourneys at the ‘Slam Pit’ and to the round of eight at Costa Mesa (tough single elim, 106 ppl).

Observations on Arthur’s Sligh deck w/Arthur Kimes, early September ‘96:

This Sligh deck is a mono-red weenie control deck. The first component of the deck is its offensive overload, i.e. 26 weenies (more than most White Weenie decks!). and a complementary dose of Direct Damage (DD), 8 bolts, plus a Death Spark. Six of the Weenies have reusable direct damage, bringingthe count up to 15 sources of DD, almost one quarter of the deck. The second component, Land Destruction (LD) (4 Strips plus 2 Pillage), is used for quick wins against opponents who are slightly mana-screwed - that is, to give them a MAJOR mana screw - to deny one color vs. multi-color decks and to kill dangerous specialty lands (Kjeldoran Outpost, Thawing Glaciers, etc.).

The sideboard is mostly devoted to fighting other deck STYLES, not other colors. So those clever Sleights and Hacks that get sideboaded in before game 2 turn into wasted cards - Anarchy’s notwithstanding.

Four Orcish Artillery are essential in a Necro heavy environment. Three Anarchy's in the sideboard because of the recent infestation of mono-white White Weenie - thanks’s to the World Champion deck. Tormod's Crypt in the sideboard because of a recent trend towards Graveyard manipulation - Krovikian Horror's, Ivory Gargoyles and such.

Notes from Arthur on how a Sligh deck deals with:

1. Permission decks:

Cast a lot of spells. There shouldn't be combos in the deck so if the permission player doesn't counter the Orcish Gunner because he plans to save the counter for the Spirit Link he's in for a surprise. Control Magics aren't scary - what creature in the deck is WORTH stealing? Even the best attacker, the Dragon Whelp, can't be pumped unless he's playing Red also. What's the must counter spell? After sideboarding I bring in Winter Orbs against Permission decks - and probably Manabarbs. It's tough to pay UU and 2 life to counter an Ironclaw. And if he counters the 'barbs then the 'claw hits the table.

2. White Weenie decks:

Bolt the first strikers then attack. Don't worry if his blockers can kill your attackers if his blockers also die. Trading creatures one for one is just fine, you have more creatures than the majority of WW decks. He'll run out before you. And your gunners and Brothers of fire are REUSABLE weenie killers - all of his are one shot deals. Thus you will gain card advantage. Beware the Wrath of God though, playing more than three creatures against any opponent is dangerous.

3. Necro:

Bolt the hyppies. Bolt the orders if he holds them back for blocking. Play Orcish Gunners and watch him cry. Attack with weenies. Don't play too many creatures at once (2 or 3 is fine) unless you have 2 spells which will nail a disk in your hand (and a lot of other cards which will make it unlikely that a Hymn will get both of them). Side in the Manabarbs after the first game - look at their face when you play one. Ghostlike... The Sligh decks that I've played have between 14 and 16 ways to kill an Hypnotic Specter. Hymns hurt but the combo-less nature of the deck means a Hymn just gives him card advantage - he doesn't get the bonus of disrupting your combos as well. A good Necro player will take out his Necropotences for something more worthwhile after the first game - look for Contagions and Terrors/Banishings. In this though, you have already won half the game, by forcing the Necro player to forego a card central to his strategy.

4. Land Destruction (LD):

LD shouldn't be a problem with most of your attacking creatures costing 2 and 3 mana. Thawing Glaciers and Lodestone baubles (standard in my version) make LD a very difficult strategy to pull off. And of course, you can counter with your own LD, which will scare the bejeezus out the LD player (LD’s worst enemy is LD). Against LD, don’t play more than two creatures at a time. LD decks are usually prepared for weenie hordes, and will sideboard heavily after the first game.

5. Ehrnamggedon:

Bolt the elves. Pillage and strip the white mana. If he gets a lot of plains out then work on the green instead. Hold back some land. If all he has out is an Ernie and you have 3 Ironclaws, he's not going to attack and he's not going to 'geddon either. Side in the Meekstones.

6. Ehrnham and Burn'em:

You have more creatures than he has bolts. Side in all your meekstones. Don't cast them until after the Ernie (or whatever) is tapped. Concentrate your LD on the Green mana - he's not going to beat you with just bolts.

7. Stormbind:

Stormbind is a good card against Sligh decks but I've won a lot of games where the opponent has a Stormbind out (and nothing else but land). I just keep playing x/2 and x/1 creatures until he's emptied his hand - I even attack with Mishra's to draw more cards from his hand. Then I drop a Whelp or Storm Shaman and he's in trouble. The lowly Brassman and Walking Wall is especially annoying to the Stormbinder. It's important to keep playing creatures against Stormbind otherwise he can save up his cards and hit YOU with them. Manabarbs work against Stormbind. But I usually wind up siding other cards against decks that use Stormbind - such as meekstones. Decks that have Stormbind usually have big critters too.

-A.Kimes

This is a solid example of a Sligh deck. The Orcish Oriflamme and Marton Stromgald are weaker but viable choices for the main deck. The use of Jokulhaups as a reset button was useful to Stefano in at least one match, and is a reasonable variant choice for the Anarchy (although Winter Orb serves much the same purpose.