[Article] Breakdown - SCG $5K, October 2009

[Hanni]

Sligh and Zoo are two fundamentally different decks. The color splash has absolutely nothing to do with one being Sligh and one being Zoo. That is rediculous. R/G/w Sligh is the best version of Sligh, but it's still Sligh.

The difference? Zoo is primarily an aggro deck with a large amount of creatures and just enough burn to kill some blockers or finish the opponent off in the end game. Sligh is primarily a burn deck with a large amount of burn and just enough creatures to swing for some very efficient damage per mana cost guys in the early game.

I completely disagree with everyone saying that Sligh sucks and that Zoo is the natural evolution. They are different decks; if anything, I'd say Sligh is the natural evolution of Burn. Sligh is far more aggressive than Zoo and has a much faster clock. It's late game is weaker than Zoo but stronger than Burn, it's clock is faster than both Zoo and Burn, and it's a very powerful deck and strong deck choice in such an aggro heavy metagame. The manabase is also much more stable than Zoo's, which makes it a strong(er) choice in a metagame full of Stifle/Wasteland-fueled tempo decks like Canadian Thresh.

For reference:

R/G/w Naya Sligh

// Lands
4 [ON] Wooded Foothills
4 [ZEN] Arid Mesa
4 [B] Taiga
1 [A] Plateau
1 [U] Savannah
4 [RAV] Mountain (2)
1 [8E] Forest (3)

// Creatures
2 [TO] Grim Lavamancer
4 [ZEN] Goblin Guide
4 [ALA] Wild Nacatl
4 [FUT] Tarmogoyf

// Spells
4 [A] Lightning Bolt
3 [LRW] Tarfire
4 [LG] Chain Lightning
4 [TSP] Rift Bolt
4 [FD] Magma Jet
4 [DLM] Incinerate
4 [VI] Fireblast

// Sideboard
SB: 4 [EX] Price of Progress
SB: 4 [CFX] Path to Exile
SB: 4 [SHM] Vexing Shusher
SB: 3 [TSP] Krosan Grip

For the most part goyf sligh runs crappy cards, and zoo run good cards. So if you see bad cards like Goblin Guide, Figure of Destiny, Rift Bolt, or (shudder) Tarfire, then you probabyl are dealing with goyf sligh. If you see good cards like path to exile, sylvan library, and qalsali pridemage, then you are probably dealing with zoo.

In such an aggressive deck like Sligh, Goblin Guide > Kird Ape. The deck runs too many burn spells that it has to run what you think are suboptimal burn spells like Tarfire, Rift Bolt, Magma Jet, and Incinerate. It's unfair to assume that, just because those burn spells are less efficient burn spells than Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning, makes them crappy cards. It's also unfair to assume that Kird Ape > Goblin Guide, when Guide's drawback is irrelevant when the opponent is dead before it matters. The deck performs very well, and while Zoo is a great deck, Sligh could just as easily be a DTB if people actually played it.

The deck is so aggressive early on with its beat package and runs more than enough burn to wipe away all early blockers, quickly switching to a straight burn plan once the opponent's life total drops down enough to kill them before they can mount any type of counter-offensive. Considering that the format is well informed that the metagame is heavy with aggro, and is running cards like Firespout sometimes even in the maindeck, I think its fair to assume that Sligh has its niche against certain matchups.

But hey, I'm not worried about convincing anybody, so you can have whatever opinion you want.

[Arrowni]

LED wouldn't even be in the deck without that card. I think using both cards together will always turn the situation into a kill or die one.