The most influential deck to come out of the US Nationals was Dave Price's Deadguy Red deck. Although he was mathematically eliminated from the finals by a disappointing showing during the Mirage/Visions/Weatherlight draft portion of the Nationals event, Dave wanted to show off his hours of playtesting, and blasted his way through the tough second day.

This version of Deadguy Red earned Dave an undefeated record at Magic's toughest Type II event:

Dave Price's "Deadguy Red" Deck
4 Goblin Vandals 3 Goblin Digging Team 4 Ironclaw Orcs 2 Dwarven Soldier 4 Ball Lightning 2 Viashino Sandstalkers 4 Lava Hounds	4 Incinerate 4 Hammer of Bogardan 4 Fireblast 3 Kaervak's Torch
4 Dwarven Ruins 18 Mountain	Sideboard: 4 Anarchy 4 Detonate	Sideboard (cont): 4 Straw Golem 3 Pyrokinesis

The unusual thing about Dave's deck is that it is a pure beatdown machine. Previous incarnations of the Sligh deck were based on control and selective card advantage. For example, the prototype version of Sligh designed by Jay Schneider, was able to gain many-for-one card advantage by its use of Orcish Artillery against small-toughness creatures. Pat Chapin's deck at Dallas continued this trend by his inclusion of Death Spark, Dwarven Miner, and Hammer of Bogardan. Classic Sligh decks of this sort aimed to establish board advantage by a combination of creature-kill (Lightning Bolt, Incinerate, etc.) and utility measures (Pillage, Shatter, and so forth).

By stark contrast, Price's deck simply aimed to kill the opponent. Creatures were not chosen for their overall versatility, but rather for how much damage they were able to do. Consider the use of Dwarven Soldier: although conventional tactics such as the Dwarven Miner or Orcish Librarian would have maintained the Sligh standard with regards to creature utility, only the Soldier had the 2 power in which Dave was interested, supplementing the 4 Ironclaw Orcs. The Orcish Artillery-style creatures, previously ubiquitous by 4 or 5 in previous incarnations, were totally absent in this deck. Instead, Dave went with Ball Lightning and Viashino Sandstalker at the 3 casting cost slot, because their power exceeded their toughness, a key element with regards to Daves choice of "beatdown" creatures.

Even the use of Kaervek's Torch is telling: while Fireball has always been considered the Cadillac of red X-sorceries, the Torch is harder to stop with permission, and hence, more likely to deal damage. Damage, not card economy, was important in the Deadguy Red deck.

This divorce in style, from a creature-based control strategy, to a damage/celerity offense was based on the environment of the US Nationals. Red had been neutered somewhat by the printing of the Fifth Edition, and lost its most prevalent card: the Lightning Bolt. Moreover, the then-recent inclusion of Ice Age returned to the environment cards like Icy Manipulator, Demonic Consultation, and Swords to Plowshares. The Deadguy Red deck took these elements as its primary points of construction.

Quoth the Beatdown King:

"The decision to play a beatdown red deck in US Nationals, instead of a control red deck like I used to qualify for Paris, was largely a result of the loss of Lightning Bolt, which is an efficient removal spell, and the gain of Fireblast, which is not well suited for removal but is an excellent card to finish the game with."
-Dave Price

Moreover, the use of eccentric strategies, like heavy celerity and direct damage, was almost totally a product of the US Nationals environment. Where Necropotence decks would return with powerful (but dangerous) cards like Demonic Consultation and Infernal Darkness, the mono-red beatdown deck was a powerful choice: imagine that Fireblast was not only a killer finishing spell, but two Hymns to Tourach! Moreover, the reintroduction of Swords to Plowshares almost totally removed the drawback of Lava Hounds. In an environment where this would be the primary creature elimination spell, the Lava Hounds were simply a 4/4 celerity creatures for 4 mana--unspeakably efficient.

From this standpoint, we must almost consider the Deadguy Red deck to be an animal that exists outside the standard "Sligh" archetype. While the Sligh deck exists as a theory, like Weissman's control theory, the card synergy of the Necropotence deck, or that buzzword we call card advantage, Dave's deck was primarily a metagame decision used to win a particular tournament.

Quoth the Beatdown King:

"I played that deck in one tournament, US Nationals. Sure, I tested it and tested it before hand, but it was not designed for an environment where players would bust out second turn Freewind Falcon on a regular basis, or have mad Honorable Passages in the sideboard; it was designed for a control heavy environment in which most of the players would disdain cards that wrecked my deck."
-Dave Price

While the Deadguy Red deck was without a doubt among the game's most powerful and successful decks, it had perhaps gained too much credibility based on one tournament environment. What was a great success for Dave Price may have been problematic for the next wave of players, copying his style.

Like the deck that arguably "put Sligh on the map," Pat Chapin's Dallas deck, this one used only 1 Ball Lightning. It de-emphasized beatdown, and focused more on creature elimination and the utility aspect of creatures. Even its sideboard had cards like Bottle Gnomes!
Quoth Gray Matter's Head Judge:

"How can a mono-red deck be good without Ball Lightning? If you play with Ball Lightning, you lose to Honorable Passage."
-Tony Parodi

The mono-red creature strategy has proven itself as viable and valuble since Pro Tour Dallas, having been represented at the top in each constructed format since then. Beatdown King Dave Price has even won the recent Pro Tour Los Angeles 3 with a Tempest-only variant. As Stronghold brings forth new options like Shock and more of those crazy Moggs, the future of this deck archetype is exciting. If a Pro Tournament can be won with a stack of Giant Strengths and no real way to remove Chill or Circle of Protection: Red, only one thing can be said of this simple archetype:

"Sligh is here to stay."