[Deck] GWb Slide. Viable?

[daugarten]

So I developed an Astral Slide deck and I'm truly in love with it. It's performs amazingly well and is incredibly fun (and challenging) to play. I'm new to MTG (less than a year) and I'm hoping to compete soon. This deck smashes casual format but I think it needs to be much faster to deal with Legacy decks. I have tested it a bit against Merfolk, Zoo, and Reanimator. The games are tough, but definitely not too shabby. Around 50% against Merfolk/Zoo, and near impossible against Reanimator (getting a Sundering Titan, Iona, or Annihilator Eldrazi's consistently by turns 1-3).

I guess I need some input on making this deck viable... or at least a consensus that it simply won't cut it in Legacy. To deal with it's (lack of) speed I've included gross amounts of life gain which have proven very effective. There are also a small handful of tricks to get more lands out in the first 3 turns. I'm trying to hold onto my black splash because I've seen Unearth win me far too many games, but I'm certainly open-minded. I'm hoping I can use this in a tournament and catch the field by surprise :)

Please be gentle, but honest!


Creatures:
2x Exalted Angel
4x Eternal Witness
4x Aven Riftwatcher
3x Kitchen Finks

Enchantments:
4x Astral Slide

Spells:
4x Unearth
4x Edge of Autumn
3x Life from the Loam
3x Wrath of God
2x Crop Rotation

Lands:
4x Tranquil Thicket
4x Secluded Steppe
3x Barren Moor
4x Flagstones of Trokair
3x Temple Garden
3x Overgrown Tomb
3x Godless Shrine
1x Forest
1x Plains
1x Swamp


I have a sideboard made up... but to be honest I don't know the meta in my area yet. I've got some Cabal Therapies/Cranial Extraction, Gaea's Blessing, a 4th Wrath of God, Engineered Explosives, and Tormod's Crypt.

[Sturtzilla]

Hey daugarten!

WOOT FIRST POST! I used to play G/W eternal slide in standard way back in the day. I have over the past few years kept up with the deck by adding new ideas to it from the newest releases. I have a few concerns with your above build.

1. Lands

1.1 I noticed that you are running 27 lands. This struck me as a bit high even taking into account the use of Life from the Loam and the fact that many of the lands are for the use of cycling. I would suggest cutting back a bit on the cycling lands for deck space to run more acceleration or threats.

1.2 I will try to be gentle on this one... when playing in legacy with a multicolor deck you really want to run dual lands. If running dual lands you most likely would want to run some fetches as well. To elaborate you would want Savannah, Bayou, and Scrubland in place of the shock lands listed above.

1.3 All of the land search above seems like it could be abused a bit more. Crop rotation could be utilized to find a specific non-basic land to give better advantage. Some thoughts would be Gaea's Cradle or Karakas.

2. Creatures

2.1 I don't personally see the reason for running the Aven Riftwatcher. Sure it will allow you to gain a decent amount of life but I don't think it will really help you win the game.

2.2 With the above list's fixation on the use of land search effects, why are you not running Knight of the Reliquary. This guy allows for mana fixing, abuse of land utility, and get big and scary. He also becomes a great win con for the deck which can be brought back with Unearth.

3. Cycling Choices

3.1 Why are you running so few non-land cyclying options? There are some good cyclers out there like Renewed Faith, Decree of Justice, and Krosan Tusker.

4. Spells

4.1 You are in the colors that would allow for the use of Vindicate and Maelstrom Pulse or the lesser versions Mortify and Putrefy. These could provide some useful removal for the deck.

Those are just a few ideas that I have had. I hope it helps.

I might try something like this:

Creatures: 14
4x Eternal Witness
4x Knight of the Reliquary
3x Kitchen Finks
3x Krosan Tusker


Enchantments: 6
4x Astral Slide
2x Pernicious Deed


Spells: 18
3x Unearth
4x Edge of Autumn
4x Renewed Faith
3x Wrath of God
4x Vindicate


Lands: 22
3x Tranquil Thicket
3x Secluded Steppe
3x Flagstones of Trokair
4x Windswept Heath
2x Savannah
2x Bayou
2x Scrubland
1x Forest
1x Plains
1x Swamp

[(nameless one)]

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?10626-%5BDeck%5D-Astral-Slide-vs-Legacy-take-78

Morgan coke has done a great job on Astral Slide