"T1/Peasant" Beast/Slide

[jeek]

The Format:
5 Uncommons between deck and sideboard, the rest Commons
Type I's B/R List Applies
Most Recent Rarity applies

Here's a fun little deck I managed to come up with... as with other slide decks, most of the card choices also cycle to work with the Slide itself... I'm still tuning this for this Saturday. Advice/pointers are welcome, especially for something like the creation of the sideboard.

// Gw Beast/Slide
// another bad jeek creation

// Mana (Land)
4 Tranquil Thicket
4 Secluded Steppe
7 Forest
5 Plains

// Acceleration
4 Krosan Tusker
3 Harrow
4 Llanowar Elf
3 Fyndhorn Elf
4 Werebear
2 Noble Templar
4 Wirewood Guardian

// Typical Slide Evilness
4 Cartographer
4 Astral Slide
4 Renewed Faith

// Beatdown
// 4 Krosan Tusker
// 4 Werebear
// 4 Wirewood Guardian
4 Barkhide Mauler

I was running black in the form of 2 Gravediggers, 2 Swamps, and 4 of the black cycleland, but the deck, although it could do some nifty things, was extremely slow. Ended up cutting black entirely for an extra forest, plus the 7 Llanowars. The land count is low due to the extraordinary amount of acceleration/land search in the deck. The odds are very good, if you make it to turn 8-9, there will be no basic land left in your deck.

Strategy:
Accelerate out some beasts, then swing for the kill. If you're lucky, get a slide or 4 into play, use them to deal with your opponent's creatures, then swing for the kill.

A Few Notes:
Renewed Faith: Not very attached to this. Will readily replace it with something better.

Harrow: I tried Sprouting Vines... too slow. Plus this lets me get rid of a cycleland that I had to play on turn 1 or 2.

Possible Sideboarding Choices I've Got in Mind:
Naturalize - Deals with evil things for me.
Phantom Centaur (x1) - Deals with Black. Would run more, but I got that whole "5 Uncommons Only" Thing
Surprise Blue Splash for: Man'o'War, Choking Tethers, Dragon Wings, Wonder, Cloud of Faeries...

[Ephraim]

If you're not fond of Renewed Faith, you may prefer a more aggressive build. You might try Wild Dogs. They're a great first turn play and the cycling is beneficial even without a deck that centers around Astral Slide.

I'm not fond of the idea of putting one's Uncommons in the sideboard. PEZ is all about doing the most you can with you Uncommons. If they're not in your maindeck, they're not helping you as much as they could be.

It is also my experience that some of the most annoying spells you will face will be Enchantments and Artifacts. They're particularly problematical for my pet deck, so I run 3 Devout Witness in the maindeck. I don't know if you need that kind of protection, but I wouldn't rule out 2+ Naturalize/Disenchant in the maindeck. One of the most obnoxious things a deck like this can run across is a fog machine deck. It's a U/G deck with Isochron Scepter, Moment's Peace, various control elements, and an evasive kill (creatures with shadow or unblockable creatures). You've got decent beats, but no way to deal with a fog machine.

[jeek]

Replaced the Renewed Faith with Wild Dogs, and 1 Plains with a Crop Rotation. Trying to figure out how to fit in some sex monkeys or something to deal with artifacts...

If you're not fond of Renewed Faith, you may prefer a more aggressive build. You might try Wild Dogs. They're a great first turn play and the cycling is beneficial even without a deck that centers around Astral Slide.

[xaos]

Replaced the Renewed Faith with Wild Dogs, and 1 Plains with a Crop Rotation. Trying to figure out how to fit in some sex monkeys or something to deal with artifacts...

what artifacts are you so afraid of?  It's only Mirrodin block that has common artifacts, and I think the unc/rare artifacts are the ones really to be worried about, save skullclamp, which might be really damn good

[baumann]

For reference, the decks that immediatly spring to mind as the best in the format are:

Dead Guy Red (Goblin Grenade or no?)
ElfBall
Prozen Tide (Prosperity + High Tide engine + Brain Freeze)

Can this race or disrupt any of these long enough to win?

Dead Guy Red usually have dealt about 22-25 damage on turn 4-5, so I suspect the possible solutions in this deck - critters, lifegain, slide - to be unsufficient.

Elfball doesn't really care as long as you can't hit their Priest, you can't really disrupt them.

Prozen Tide is stopped by the inclusion of Gaea's Blessing somewhere. IF you feel that the deck is somewhere in your meta, you have to include this, even if that means cutting some other uncommon (In my recollection, Blessing is uncommon - correct me if I'm wrong).

The peasant magic scene is dominated by sub-optimal players and deck constructers, which only leads to the conclusion that scrub-decks are a large portion, including such memories as White Weenie, RG Beatz etc.

/b

[Ephraim]

Frozen/Prozen Tide takes a dedicated effort to beat. Typically, just one or two copies of Gaea's Blessing isn't enough. Skillful Tide players work around Gaea's Blessing with relative ease. Somebody in your meta might be playing it because of the stakes, but although it's powerful, it isn't particularly popular. PEZ tends to be a more social format, so people who could play Tide don't necessarily do so. Also, it isn't a particularly easy deck to play - and particularly with the rules you've told me that your store has instituted (Most Recent Printing, instead of lowest commonality), it's going to have a lot of trouble going off (because it won't have Merchant Scroll at its disposal.)

I can't really corroborate baumann's fear of Dead Guy Red or Elfball. Elfball should be strong, using Skullclamp in four of the Uncommon slots, but at least over at the PEZ boards, it hasn't seen a lot of discussion - perhaps because it's a combo deck inferior to Tide.

Dead Guy Red (also known in Peasant, like everywhere else, as Stupid Red Burn/Sligh) is fast, but easily hated out. You and I already spoke about that, on IRC and you said you were going to sideboard Rune of Protection: Red and Crimson Acolyte.

I would also like to suggest you have something in your sideboard against mono-black control. RoP: Black might not be necessary, but three or four Obsidian Acolyte could swing games in your favour, when facing Pestilence.

[baumann]

Dead Guy Red isn't Stupid Red Burn, since it runs a higher amount of creatures. Neither is it Sligh, since that is built a little different.
Remember, the turn 4 kill is the consistant average, and even the turn 2 ROP might not be enough to race it.
 
Elfball doesn't die nearly as easy to counters as Tide would since it can also play the beatdown when facing heavy control.

[baumann]

Dead Guy Red isn't Stupid Red Burn, since it runs a higher amount of creatures. Neither is it Sligh, since that is built a little different.
Remember, the turn 4 kill is the consistant average, and even the turn 2 ROP might not be enough to race it.
 
Elfball doesn't die nearly as easy to counters as Tide would since it can also play the beatdown when facing heavy control.

[Tristal]

Given that you only seem to have 4 uncommons maindeck, you could throw in a Krosan Verge or an Elfhame Palace as your fifth.