Premodern: Gruul Sligh - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

Sligh is, in essence, the father of Mono Red Aggro as we know it today. The archetype was created by Paul Sligh during the dominance of Necropotence in Standard (formerly Type 2) and was based on combining creatures with Burn spells to finish the game.

Although the Mono Red version is the most popular deck in Premodern due to its accessibility and ease of play, a Gruul variant has appeared more frequently since the format arrived on Magic Online, offering more flexibility in responding to artifacts and enchantments, as well as more robust threats.

The list above was used by player LucasG1ggs in one of the first Challenges of the format on Magic Online and follows the aggressive pattern of the archetype, but the splash of mainly offers Naturalize, whose value in the maindeck has increased, especially due to archetypes like Enchantress and Stiflenought, in addition to Opalescence lists.

The splash of green also adds more flexibility to the sideboard, and although it reduces the consistency of cards like Fireblast as we theoretically have fewer mountains, it also offers cards like Rancor to increase our pressure.

Maindeck

In a time before Goblin Guide and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Jackal Pup was the most aggressive one-drop in Magic and remains so in Premodern, offering early pressure and punishing slower decks with up to four damage in the first few turns, while its drawback is negligible given our faster clock.

Mogg Fanatic offers versatility in dealing with opponents's X/1s, establishing early pressure, and pulling off the last few damage points in the late game, as well as collaborating with Burn spells and combat damage to deal with bigger threats.

Grim Lavamancer is one of the deck's cornerstones. It converts already used resources into recurring damage, offering reach against decks that try to stabilize behind removals and blockers. In longer games, it's common for it to be the most relevant card and finish games, but it also works to deal with smaller key creatures, such as Priest of Titania.

Wild Mongrel has a decent body for its cost and grows as we discard cards, interacting with our Flashback spells and Grim Lavamancer while also becoming one of the best targets for Rancor.

Call of the Herd offers more gas in long games. A 3/3 token for three mana is already efficient in the format, and repeating that from the graveyard makes the card excellent in attrition games, where Flashback guarantees two bodies for one card.

Lightning Bolt is the best red interaction in the format and, perhaps, in the game. It removes troublesome creatures, opens up opportunities for attacks, and ends games, all in the same slot for one mana.

Incinerate complements the burn package, dealing with threats and maintaining pressure on the opponent's life alongside our other threats.

Firebolt stabilizes the early game against small creatures in Aggro mirrors and then returns from the graveyard to provide extra reach in longer games, as well as being discard fodder for Wild Mongrel.

Fireblast is the finisher. Despite having only five Mountains, the Fetch Lands offer consistency in finding them at the right time to have enough to sacrifice and pay the alternative cost, commonly ending the game.

Rancor transforms all creatures into threats. It speeds up the clock, forces unfavorable blocks, and returns to the hand when the creature dies. Any target is great with it, but our green creatures are preferable as they have larger bodies.

Naturalize in the main deck is a necessity for the Premodern Metagame, which, due to the low individual quality of creatures, opens up space for more strategies focused on or complemented by enchantments and artifacts.

The Fetch Lands feed Grim Lavamancer while providing consistency in the mana base. We are an Aggro deck and don't want to lose access to the necessary colors, so we also complement this package with [Karplusan Forest].

Treetop Village provides an additional threat in longer games, especially against sweepers like Wrath of God, and Wasteland interacts with troublesome lands like Mishra's Factory, Dust Bowl, Gaea's Cradle or the Sol Lands.

Sideboard

Red Blasts are necessary against several archetypes in the format: Stiflenought, Replenish, Landstill, and Psychatog, among others. The split is a need as we want to prevent Meddling Mage from locking our stack interaction.

Simoon is primarily used against Elves and Goblins, and Earthquake has a similar function, with the added bonus of working as a finisher.

The extra copy of Naturalize is complemented by Crumble, which deals with Phyrexian Dreadnought at the lowest possible cost, and Tranquil Domain as targeted hate against archetypes with many enchantments.

Hidden Gibbons punishes blue archetypes or those with many answers at instant speed, offering a 4/4 for . A common side-in against Landstill, Psychatog, Stiflenought, and occasionally good against the versions of Madness.

Tormod's Crypt is a cheap and free answer against graveyards. It can be used against Reanimator and similar decks but also works against Psychatog, Replenish, and RecSur.

Goblins

IN

OUT

Our goal is to make favorable trades until Simoon or Earthquake stabilizes the board. In this game, all Burn spells and cards like Mogg Fanatic and Grim Lavamancer should be treated as spot removal. Focus them on the most troublesome threats and let the blocking and attacking deal with the rest.

Elves

IN

OUT

Just like against Goblins, our goal is to stabilize and clear the board with a sweeper, but here we need to pay attention to Survival of the Fittest, which provides a toolbox of answers for the opponent, and we also want to deal with Sylvan Library to remove their ability to draw better cards than us.

Mono Black Midrange / The Rock

IN

OUT

In both archetypes, our problem is being unable to establish a fast enough clock and being punished with removals, only for the opponent to then generate more card advantage than we can handle. Therefore, Naturalize comes in to deal with Phyrexian Arena and Pernicious Deed. Hidden Gibbons is an option, but I believe the card does very little as a threat and requires very specific conditions to work.

Psychatog

IN

OUT

Psychatog is very reactive and opens up too much space for Hidden Gibbons to be a threat, while Blasts are our best answer against the opponent's key card. Firebolt and Mogg Fanatic are very slow and interact little with the game, while there aren't many relevant targets for Naturalize.

Enchantress

IN

OUT

Earthquake is our best option against Argothian Enchantress, which is usually the opponent's main source of card advantage, while Firebolt again proves too slow for the match.

Mono Blue Stiflenought

IN

OUT

The opponent has ways to secure a protected Phyrexian Dreadnought if we delay too long, so we need to be proactive while guarding against the possibility of a combo-kill in the early turns. Four Blasts ensures that our main spells can resolve, while Hidden Gibbons transforms into a creature with almost anything the opponent can play.

Landstill

IN

OUT

The line against Landstill isn't that different from Stiflenought's, where we need to maintain an aggressive clock while protecting ourselves from their key cards. Rancor is out as the opponent has many cheap removals and ways to deal with the board, and we want to avoid bad topdecks while adding another copy of Naturalize to deal with Humility.

Mono Red Sligh

IN

OUT

Jackal Pup is the worst card against Aggro, and compared to the Gruul variant, Mono Red is much more susceptible to Simoon. A copy of Tormod's Crypt would serve as a safety valve against Grim Lavamancer, but Cursed Scroll and Sulfuric Vortex are means the opponent has to deal with removal-heavy games.

Gruul Sligh

IN

OUT

The Gruul version is much less susceptible to sweepers, so we focus on Tormod's Crypt to remove the opponent's reach with Grim Lavamancer and Call of the Herd.

That's all for today!

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Thank you for reading!