The Evolution of AnkhSligh: part 2

[MisterShark]

I've been having a rough time winning with my LAS recently and the top offenders are GaT and TnT, of course.
vs. TnT: it's all about getting to your sideboarded Rack and Ruins or Shattering Pulses in time.  No epiphony there; nothing that hasn't been noted before.  Are ya feel'in lucky, punk?
vs. GaT: it's the eight blast sideboard to the rescue until....Quirion Dryad drops.  Bolt it and GaT player plays a few spells to bulk out of burn range in response.  Pyro/ Red El. Blast the spells all you want; they don't need to resolve for the Dryad to don layers and layers of +1/+1 clothes.
Again, no revelation there, but where does this leave us?  I don't want to just lay it down when I see a Dryad hit the table and I'm too far from the finishing line to hope against hope.  So here are our sideboard options for the Dryads as I see it:
 Ensnaring Bridge: I know that it has been sighted previosly in this thread as having negative synergy with Ankhs, but it will work against Dryads.  I know the Ankhs are golden against GaT as the player Gushes lands up and lays em back down, but is it better to win more slowly but more reliably with Bridges/without Ankhs, or keep the Ankhs/forego the Bridges and play the odds that the Dryad will not hit the table before you wrap the victory?  Bridge still has great synergy with the Cursed Scroll, and seems to me to be an acceptable trade off when boarding out Ankhs.  Ankh Sligh is admittedly a slower more controlish version of Sligh than some previous years' Sligh builds, so slowing it down slightly more to trade for the more dependable Bridge/Scroll win against GaT seems O.K. to me. Yes, Bridges are Naturalizable, but no one said you can't lay down more than one to implement a Naturalize contingency plan.  
Powder Keg:  I don't have to explain this one except to say that Kegs boarded in = Ankhs boarded out.  Your Blasts should take care of the Togs, leave the Keg at 2 counters for the Dryads.
So that's my 2 cents on my proposed 2 sideboarding strategies for surviving LAS's worse two matchups, as I see it.  As it was mentioned previously in this thread; Sligh's key to surviving over the years has been it's ability to adapt and be flexible, even if it means changing it's focus (Ahnks to Blasts+Bridges or Blasts+Kegs) mid-match. As for which strategy is the more optimal approach.....  Not sure about that one; I'm doing a stream of consciousness kind of post right now to hopefully get your input.  I will yet need to play-test my ideas.
Your thoughts?

[MolotDET]

The problem with Sonic Burst is this, why play it when if I really needed it, I could maindeck Pyroknesis.  While I couldn't do any damage to a player I could still do four to a creature (or more importantly 3 to one creature and 1 to another, negating MisD and it is never misdirectalbe to you).  It is castable for only a card pitch (not and two mana) and you get to PICK the card you remove.  So it has better synergy with Cursed Scroll and is not always card disadvantage.
     Perhaps, playing a few Nesis maindeck would be good.  I think I might try testing it.

     Seismic Assault is out of the question...

     Powder Keg?  Ensnaring Bridge?  Against TnT or Gat?   Again, Pryroknesis is a the better card in either of these match-ups.  And Rack and Ruin is better, in most cases in your Sideboard.\n\n

[MisterShark]

Quote (MolotDET @ April 18 2003,23:43)   
     Powder Keg?  Ensnaring Bridge?  Against TnT or Gat?   Again, Pryroknesis is a the better card in either of these match-ups.  

Again, as I outlined, Bridge against GaT for it's dryads.  The Dryads get too big too quickly, and sometimes force the mono target for Pyrokinesis, which in turn opens it up to Misdirection.  But even if Misdirection is not in your opponent's hand, he'll usually (if he's a decent GaT player) have enough little, inexpensive or free spells to gro the Dryad before your Pyrokinesis resolves.  Hell, even his first FoW, targeting your Pyrokinesis will grow the freshly cast Dryad to a 2 toughness.  A good LAS player, accessing the GaT-Misdirection risk, will have targeted 1 of the Pyrokinesis' damage elsewhere, leaving only 3 damage headed for the Dryad.  No decent GaT player worth his salt would put that Dryad on the board without being ready to bulk it, at any given time, to a 4 toughness against a LAS player.
As for the Tog; the Blasts are for him, or failing having one in your hand, you can try and fry the Tog before 'declare attackers' phase rolls in, forcing the GaT opponent to bulk it or lose it.  Either way, it should be too big to get by your bridge by the time it would have been legally declared an attacker.  Hence you now have bought yourself some time to hopefully draw that Blast, and you have depleted the GaT players hand.

[dandan]

Quote (dandan @ April 08 2003,09:44)IF for some reason you wanted to dump land from your hand rather than just laying it and taking the pain, you should look at Seismic Assault rather than Sonic Burst. Personally I wouldn't touch either with a bargepole (OK Assault might be OK in a mad metagame where draw 7s fly everywhere).

Just for anyone who has a hard time following my posts, I was referring to a post about Sonic Burst and I suggested that Seismic Assault would be better, although personally I wouldn't run either. I was in no way suggesting changing Ankh Sligh to add Seismic Assault.

[MolotDET]

Ok, one last time.  Bridge only works if you side out Ankhs, and the Tog player is more than likely siding in their Naturalizes so you have a net gain of nothing.  By the time you can lay a bridge, if it doesn’t get countered it will last until the Naturalize hits.
     Also most of your reasoning is under the assumption that the GAT player not only has no Misd in hand but also no counters.  How often does that happen?  Not very often in my experience.  Besides, their ability to turn whatever is in their hand into a counter, almost at will, negates the bridge plan.  Dryads can be grown quite quickly, but pumped to four on the turn it was cast?  Not very often considering the low mana on board ratio GAT usually runs.
     Ankh is your best tool against GAT, why would you lose it?  A Fastbonded land is three damage, if it was a fetch, it’s four.  Barbarian Rings, Fanatics and Scrolls are there to kill the Dryads.  After SB you add Nesis to this assault.  The REB are strictly for stopping Gush and the Togs and perhaps Ancestral.
     I just don’t think that Bridge is possible in the 8 Blast sideboard.  If you are going blasts, Fanatics, Nesis, Rack and Ruin, where do the Bridges fit in?  I personally maindeck the Fanatics but that shifts some PoPs to the SB and still leaves no room for the Bridge.
     Perhaps posting your deck-list would help us understand how you fit in Bridge…

@Dandan – we understood what you were saying.

[Dave Kaplan]

My sideboard may contain any of the following depending on the enviornment at the moment:

Goblin Cadets (If they've been relegated to the board)
Goblin Vandals
Mogg Fanatic
Pyroblast
Pyrokinesis
Rack and Ruin
Red Elemental Blast
Scald

I haven't found anything else effective enough to earn a spot. Ensnaring Bridge is terrible, even if GAT's used up their Naturalizes and it somehow resolves they can get a bounce spell for one of your land's and kill you. Powder Keg is too narrow in my field, maybe in a field of 2 casting cost dorks (although Ankh Sligh isn't viable in that field anyway)

Just my thoughts, any comments?

[MolotDET]

How Molot Caught SARS…

    Ok, I think the speculating that has been going on about the death of Sligh is completely out of control.  Perhaps not here but in several threads in the T1 Mill, people have been talking about Gush based decks basically ending the viability of Sligh.  While I don't think this is true at all, I realize that forcing Sligh back to the 8 REB in its sideboard weakened the deck.
     When Sligh had almost un-winnable match-ups with most combo decks, bad matches against Mask and Grow and 50/50 match-ups against Keeper, URPhid, MonoU and TnT it was bad enough but AoMSligh opened up 4 side-board slots because it was no longer necessary to run all those blasts when you could get away with Scalds.  The insurgence of Tog decks drove Sligh back to the 8 Blast plan, thereby weakening it's sideboard against non-blue based decks.  So you can add Smash and GAT to the above list of bad match-ups, but add LockStock to the list of 50/50 matches.

     As it is now, Sligh is not truly in bad shape.  After what I witnessed at the TMD championships, I feel that Sligh really doesn't have a bad game against GAT or Smash, but the first game is nearly un-winnable.  For reference, an AoMSligh deck with a substandard side-board (only 4 Pyroblasts? and no Scalds) made top 8 and beat GAT.  After which its pilot played against Hulk Smash (piloted by the infamous JP Meyer) and, if memory serves, managed to eek out a win in game two or just missed the win because he didn’t have enough Blasts to side in.  All of this points to the fact that Tog is a winnable match-up, and that with perhaps only minor adjustment may be added to the list of 50/50 match-ups.  Of course, this may be a very optimistic assessment.

     The truth of the matter is this: When I first took an interest in Sligh and brought in the Ankhs I was happy because it allowed Sligh to run only four hate cards for blue based decks in its sideboard (Scalds), thereby freeing up four slots and making the deck more flexible in other match-ups and thusly, raising the overall strength of the deck in the meta-game.  TnT, nor Mask were able to remove the viability of Sligh with a more all-encompassing sideboard.  The emergence of GrowAtog and Hulk Smash have presently forced Sligh back into the “8 Blast Plan” and basically weakened the decks viability.  The problem with this is that unless you are an amazing Sligh pilot, you are going to be losing quite a bit to Tog decks and you no longer have the flexibility to be able to beat Mask, TnT and random decks in your sideboard.

     To truly solve these problems, I think we need to take a new look at AnkhSligh and use the fundamentals of the deck to figure out the changes that should be made.  The basic fundamentals of AnkhSligh were:

1) creating a more synergistic deck then the previous T1 Sligh,
2) to allow for more flexibility in the sideboard, so that it can run more cards that are good against multiple decks,
3) to create so many must counters against blue based decks that it no longer needed to run the “8 Blast Plan” in its sideboard.

     All of this worked for AnkhSligh in a field ridden with Keeper, TnT, Mask and U/rphiddian.  It even gave Sligh a fighting chance against combo decks but, Tog ruined all of that.  It now takes the excellence of a master to run Sligh in a diverse field and come out anywhere near the top.  For some time I had been toying with using Goblin Welders in AnkhSligh to recur my Artifact mana and speed up the deck.  The problem with this was, AnkhSligh doesn’t have plentiful artifacts to recur and most by themselves are non-offensive.

     I spent the remainder of the month of January and the first half of February poring over almost everything that was ever written about Sligh.  I delved into tech from every format looking for the right answer.  Somewhere in my journeys, I came across a list for a T2 Sligh deck from a couple of years back.

Sped Red - Bryan Hubble

   4 Chimeric Idol
   4 Tangle Wire

   3 Hammer of Bogardan
   4 Kris
   2 Rhystic Lightning
   2 Scorching Lava
   4 Seal of Fire
   2 Shock
   4 Skittish Kavu
   4 Skizzik
   3 Urza's Rage
   21 Mountain
   3 Rishadan Port

     Now, while this deck has about a billion to one shot of becoming viable in T1 as it stands the reemergence of Smokestack decks got me thinking.  Add to that JPmeyer posting this very same list a few weeks ago and I took it as an omen.  I found what notes I had on the deck and started working on it in earnest.  I looked up everything I could find about TangleSligh and Sped Red.

     So, I went back to the Sligh Laboratory still working with the fundamentals for AnkhSligh and came up with this…

SARS (Sped Ankh Red Sligh)

4 Ankh of Mishra
4 Tangle Wire
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Gorilla Shaman
4 Goblin Welder
4 Mogg Fanatic
2 Chimeric Idol *
4 Chain Lightning
4 Incinerate
2 Price of Progress
1 Black Vise
1 Sol Ring *
1 Strip Mine
4 Waste Land
2 Barbarian Ring
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Diamond *
12 Mountain

SB:
4 Scald
3 Rack and Ruin
3 Pyrokinesis
3 Tormod’s Crypt *
2 Price of Progress
     (cards marked with * may be in need of replacement)

     Once again the deck has mad synergy and the flexibility in its sideboard.  The damage dealing inherent in its creature-base is no longer evident but its creatures, for the most part, are still usable when tapped.  Against control the deck still has a boat load of must-counters and now, countering many of the decks spells is not really ensuring that they won’t hit the board.  The deck plays even more control-like than any previous AnkhSligh and its attacks are so varied that it gives many decks fits.  Of course it no longer has the blinding speed of previous Sligh decks but it makes up for it with control elements and the use of Welders with Sol Ring and Black Lotus allows for quite a bit of late game speed.
     Nothing here in is really a new idea but these cards have never been brought together in this way before.  

------------------------------------------------

     This deck is by no means fully tested.  I have been working on it for the past few months and the results have been promising but, I needed to get the idea out so that others of you, who might be interested, can do some of the leg work for me.

      Now, I know that something not completely verified should be posted in the EVF but, when I started this thread about “The Evolution of AnkhSligh” this was sort of what I was leading up to.  I was hoping that some of you with more slanted views of Sligh would come out and post some of your ideas here.

     Once again, I was planning on a sort of extended vacation from Sligh theory but Tog forced me back in.  So, what do you guys think??    


BTW, yes Dave I think that those will be the only viable cards for a Sligh sideboard for the forseeable future with the exception of perhaps Tormod's Crypt.\n\n

[dandan]

I am very surprised to see a Tangle Wire deck that doesn't use Black Vise. Was this an oversight or did you drop it because it 'just' does damage?

Not wanting to sound like a cracked record but the more artifacts you put in Sligh, the better Mishra's Factories become. In addition you can use them to fetch artifacts with Welders although that is a minor effect. Idols and Factories don't mix though.

To be honest I have been becoming more and more interested in your fast mana AnkhSligh as I have noticed that an early Ankh against GAT improves the mtachup a lot. I was on the verge of emailing you to see where you were at with MolotDETAnkhSligh (MAS). Now I see you have TangleAnkhSligh (TAS).

[MolotDET]

As I told you in PM, the omission of Vise and the inclusion of Fork was an oversight and I have fixed the list to reflect the actual deck list.

     And, I have been thinking of using the Factories in this build for the reason you mentioned but, as I said I haven't enough time in with it, so I am not sure what is optimal just yet.

     On the fast mana:  I have put it back in my AnkhSligh build for exactly the reasons you mentioned.  I also noted that the fast mana still allowed for the use of Scalds, though I think the 8 Blasts are still better there.

EDIT: Ofcourse this new deck WILL be running Pyrostatic Pillar once that is released.\n\n

[LimDul]

I have been testing this deck for quite a while now and have to say that its synergy is actually MAD. Since over here in Europe there are lots of GAT builds around, I really appreciate the decks ability to cast a first turn Ankh followed by a  Wire   .

Coming down to some problems I came across:
It often takes this deck too long to push through those 20 dmg. Since for the evolution of this deck gaining control means loosing of aggressive potential, I overthought some exclusions previously made. I think there need to be more permanent dmg sources, so I would despite its horrible synergy with Wire think about running at least two scrolls. Also the lack of a power 2 creature really gives the opponent too much time to defend himself.
The problem is what to cut in order to fit in another Idol and/or a few Jackal Pubs...

I found that PoP has in many matchups become less effective than it has always been, as a lot of decks newadays run a few basics. Facing Sligh these decks will often use their Searchlands (if they use them at all against an Ankh ) to fetch these basics, so the PoP in most cases doesn't grow bigger than four.
My assumption: -2 PoP MD, -1Tormod's Crypt SB, +1 PoP SB, +2 dmg sources maindeck.
I wouldn't be exacetly sure which to use, though.

Please discuss...