The sligh deck will almost always beat control, NECRO, OUTPOST, and most other decks, but has a real problem with big creatures, like Erham.

First of all, I dealt with C.O.P. Red with four Anarchies, three Manabarbs, and speed. As for Conversion, I played the meta-game and assumed no one would play with it. I was right. But if conversion becomes popular, I would simply place a few disenchants in the sideboard. As for Wrath of God, it does hurt, but between Pillages, Strip Mine, and Dwarven Miner, hopefully my opponent won't be able to cast WOG untill around turn 6 or 7 at which point he will only have around 5-8 life left, that is when burn mode is turned on. Besides, why do I have to cast more than 1 or 2 creatures at a time? Not even Icy will stop the Artillery, Canoneers, Librarian, Gorrilla Shaman, or Dwarven Miner! A good Sligh played right should almost always beat Necro, Control, Outpost, Counterspells, etc. Sligh's downfall comes at the hands of big creatures like Erhams or Serras, and although it is difficult, it is not impossible to defeat big creatures if you use keen strategy.

Other specific observations from Chapin on his deck:

1. The Deathspark was an excellent addition and I will continue to use 2 of them. They offered additional protection against Outposts and Emmissaries (With a Bolt), but they truely proved their worth against pump-knights! I would usually get a 3+ card advantage through the Spark. It also helped against control decks. We would get into this situation where I would only bring out 1 creature a turn and he would find a way to kill it. Every turn I would Death Spark before my creature died, slowly killing him like an Underworld Dreams. Another interesting use was against a Prison style deck with Howling Mines and Outposts. Things were looking bad as he had many outpost dudes and I had few lands available. That is when I gave up on creatures altogether and only Bolted or Incinerated him. Until I cast Deathspark and had to discard...a creature...everyturn. Hehe, I actually managed to deal 10 damage (Bolt, Incinerate, 4xDeathspark) before I was completely mobbed by Outpost Dudes. Overall the Death Spark worked exceedingly well.

2. You could consider the 3 Pillage and 1 Strip Mine to be minimal protection against the Outpost, but also consider the 2 Dwarven Miners, the 4 Anarchies, and the 3 Manabarbs. The Miners aren't quite as good as they are in tTpe I, but they provided quite a bit of protection, as often Outpost decks couldn't get the 4th land they needed to Wrath before I killed them, thanks to a 2nd turn Miner.

3. Anything would have been better than the Whelps! They stunk! Actually the Emmissaries wouldn’t be that good either. They are slower more defensive creatures that belong in a deck with few other creatures. I was not worried about them Bolting or Plowing my Whelp, because he cost 4 to bring out, so by the time he comes out they have already used their Bolts, etc. plus even if they Plow him, that is 1 less plow he can use on someone good, like a Librarian! Seriously though, I have since replaced both Whelps and the Hammer as they are too expensive, with a Dwarven Soldier, an Orcish Captain, and a Ball Lighting. Remember, I built this deck at 3:30 in the morning, I was thinking: I wonder if I will ever actually have 5 mana to bring back the Hammer?

4. I think the CoP:Red must have gone out of style or something. I guess it is like Baxter said, you don't need it (Cop Red) if you have a Winter Orb or an Armageddon. Anyway, I also had 4 Anarchies in case my opponent knew about how Manabarbs works now. Off the topic a bit, but I actually had one opponent so flustered by killing him with orcs,etc. that I knocked him completely of his game to the point where in our 2nd game, he was blocking my Iron Claw Orcs with his Blinking Spirit and Blinking and recasting!!!!!

5. Interestingly enough, I was 100% ready for the enviroment in Dallas. My game plan from the beginning was to pretend Erham Djinns don't exist. It worked. I played against 8 people (Out of 10) that ran 4 Outposts Standard. That should tell you something. The other 2 were Necro (easy except 1 game where he had 2nd turn Necro and Tower, Manabarbs was in play, I was on 2 life, he was 1 life with an Aeolipile but no untapped land, I didn't have enough attackers to make it through....then I drew a DEATH SPARK!!!!) and an Ice/Alliances turned type II Deadly Insect/Stormbind Deck with white.

6. Sligh can dominate, but only if the enviroment is like it was at Dallas, Outposts, Control, Necro. My friend, Andrew Wills, is the person who convinced me to play Sligh. He played it in the Masters' Division, started out 4 - 1, but then came crashing down, and dropped out at 4 - 4. Part of this was silly mistakes cause by sleep deprivation, some by just losing the game mentally before it even started, and a big part was that the people with 4 - 1 (Good) records in the Masters' Division were playing with creatures. What was he going to do about a 7+/7+ Maro? I cannot win with it in our area consistently because Erhams are SOOOOOOOO popular around here. It is Erhnamgeddon this Erhnam'n'burnem that. I have been experimenting but the best type II until Jan. 1 is probably Armageddon/Winter Orb or a variation of 1 or the other. They are just too freaking powerful!!!!

-P.Chapin