CoK Sligh-"returning to the roots"
Part-one
by-Jeremy Pickett(aka slighbrarian)



 It's been a while since I last updated the Slighbrary(eight months to be exact) and I know
for a fact that alot of you are itching to hear what I've got to say about the new set
Champions of Kamigawa. I actually quit playing magic for a bit and concentrated on other 
desires,mainly my History Major at UMUC. As to what has brought me back is the fact that
Champions of Kamigawa has a historical theme(Japanese Mythology) to it. This intriguied 
me.Then I heard some rumored red cards and a new Legend rule and I was drawn in again.
 All this however doesn't compare in importance to the oodles of sweetness that Champions
of Kamigawa has given the Sligh/Geeba players of the world such as you and I. For the
first time in a while I,amongst others,actually cannot decide which route of the deck we 
should take. Yes thats right, we have multiple designs for Sligh and Geeba that are equally 
good. This has to be a first!
 Myself and Jay Schneider, whom I dub "Father Geeba"(sorry I had to Jay), and I have been
discussing a couple of strong builds for the upcomming rotation. I intend on playing one of 
these at States, pending I can go of course. We both have solid arguments about certain cards.
Mainly over the builds though. I'll run down the decklists for all of you to rummige through
and decide for yourself which you think can most likely hande the big decks(Raffinity,TNN,U/W
control,and MBC). I'll write about Jay's version today.

 Sligh(as discussed by Jay)

14x Mountain
4x Great Furnace
4x Blinkmoth Nexus
2x Stalking Stones
   (24 land)
4x Akki Avalanchers
4x Myr Servitor
4x Hearth Kami
4x Slith Firewalker
   (16 Creatures)
4x Magma Jet
4x Bonesplitter
4x Pulse of the Forge
4x Echoing Ruin(he said maybe on these)
4x Shrapnel Blast
   (20 others spells)

A couple of card notes for those that haven't seen Champions of Kamigawa:

Akki Avalanchers-R(common)1/1
Sacrifice a land: Akki Avalanchers gets +2/+0 until end of turn. Play this ability only once each turn.
Hearth Kami-1R(common)2/1
X, Sacrifice Hearth Kami: Destroy target artifact with converted mana cost X.

 As you can see these are clearly two of the best creatures in a while for Sligh as well
as Geeba. Obviously, this is a very efficient and cheap to build Sligh deck that can race
Raffinity about 33% of the time. Believe me when I say this is probably the only deck that
can possibly win that much against Rafffinity. Bonesplitter doesn't look like it will do much
but slapping this onto a Akki or Servitor can really make an opponent panic to destroy the 
creature that has Bonesplitter attached. Akki can also be devastating because of it's ability
to sac a land and gain another +2/+0 until end of turn. So essentially, while not advised you
could potentially attack with a 5/1 Avalancher on turn two. Servitor also has a neat ability
to jump back into play if it's in the graveyard and another Servitor is in play during your 
upkeep. Also note it works if your opponent has them also.
 Slith Firewalker is a stick on it's on if it damages the opponent it grows. Bonesplitter on
this can really hurt also. it's either a 4/2 next turn or a 2/2 depending on your opponents
choice of dealing with it.Hearth Kami I believe will help immensly against the overpowering
Raffinity. Being able to attack and block(I know this a no-no but against Affinity it's 
sometimes needed) and then sac itself to destroy lands or any other artifact you can afford to
destroy is what I call utility. It borders on the same lines as Goblin Tinkerer from Mirage,
only better IMHO.
 Red never has really had a way to manipulate it's library efficiently, barring the Orcish
Librarian of course. But having the ability attached to a burn spell is ridiculous. While
the Jet is a higher costing Shock you also get to look at the top 2 cards of your library and
either put them on top or bottom in any order. Shrapnel Blast is a game ender. A 5 damage sac
an artifact kill spell. Note it has synergy with Servitors also. Pulse of the Forge can become
a recurring four points a turn against Affinity. It's also really good against Tooth and Nail(TNN) 
 While I can tell you about all the gifts we have gotten from Champions of Kamigawa, there are
as always, those difficult to fight past cards. Mainly decks this time around in Raffinity, but
anything with white now has an equivalent to our Pulse in Pulse of the Fields,gaining 4 life a
turn.We are in an environment that's extremely fast due to Affinity, basically meaning if you
cannot beat Affinity somewhat then play for fun and not tournaments. IMHO Sligh as well as Geeba
which I will talk about in a day or so can compete in the Champions Standard.

AS always any feedback can be directed to my email: slighbrarian@hotmaildotcom