Sligh
Sligh is a sub-archetype of the aggro archetype, so named after Paul Sligh, who took second place with it in an Atlanta PTQ in 1996. The philosophy of the "Sligh principle" was already invented in 1994 by Jay Schneider. Sligh popularized the idea of a mana curve. It was constructed to cast the best possible creature on each sequential turn and to always be able to utilize all of its mana. It is the ancestor of the modern "AiR" ("All In Red") and "RDW" ("Red Deck Wins") aggro decks.
Sligh decks are generally red-based aggressive decks that use small and cheap creatures on early turns to quickly diminish the opponent's life total. If the creatures are not enough, burn spells are used to finish the opponent off. The burn spells also double to remove blockers. Sligh decks also commonly employ one form or another of Land destruction to slow down the opponent once the creatures are on the table, and keep the opponent from generating mana and playing answers to the creatures. The deck generally attempts to use all of its available mana during every single turn and win the game somewhere around turn 5.
Decks and players that subscribe to the "Sligh principle" are referred to as "Sligh decks" and "Sligh players", respectively.
Sample deck
| “ | It all started at a PTQ in Atlanta, during the first high point of Necropotence's long and decorated history. An odd looking deck with some atrocious synergies made us re-think how Magic is played, how we should put together decks, and when a game begins.
This deck was played by Paul Sligh to a second place finish in that PTQ, which explains the moniker "Sligh". In those days, second place would pick up a PT slot, so, along with a tiny bit of Internet hype, the name stuck. In reality, the deck (alternately called "Geeba" or "The Orcish Librarian Deck") was designed by Jay Schneider, a significant deck builder even today, whereas Sligh's namesake has been little seen or heard from in the past eight years. |
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