Magic: The Gathering history is punctuated by cards that defy the fundamental "four-of" rule. From the swarm tactics of Relentless Rats to the burn density of Dragon's Approach, these cards create unique deck-building puzzles. However, Slime Against Humanity, introduced in the Murders at Karlov Manor set, represents a significant evolution of this archetype. Unlike its predecessors, which often struggle against specific types of interaction or graveyard hate, this green sorcery scales with a level of resilience rarely seen in common-rarity cards.

Defining the Mechanical Superiority of Slime Against Humanity

At a glance, Slime Against Humanity appears straightforward: for {2}{G}, you create a 0/0 Ooze creature token with trample and put X +1/+1 counters on it. The value of X is two plus the total number of cards you own in exile and in your graveyard that are Oozes or are named Slime Against Humanity.

The genius of this design lies in its dual-zone tracking. Traditionally, "relentless" decks are vulnerable to cards like Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void. If a player's graveyard is exiled, their power level resets to zero. Slime Against Humanity renders this strategy largely ineffective. Because it counts cards in exile, exiling a player's graveyard actually preserves their board-scaling potential rather than deleting it. This creates a psychological and tactical nightmare for opponents: do they leave the graveyard alone and face recursion, or do they exile it and witness the next Ooze token enter the battlefield as a massive, trampling threat anyway?

The Mathematical Growth Curve

In a typical deck running 30 to 35 copies of Slime Against Humanity, the power curve follows a predictable but terrifying trajectory. The first cast creates a 2/2 or 3/3 token. By the mid-game, it is common to see 8/8 or 10/10 Oozes for a mere three mana. In late-game scenarios, especially in formats like Commander where games last longer, these tokens can easily reach 20/20 or higher. The addition of trample as a native keyword ensures that these stats are not just for show; they force unfavorable blocks and end games rapidly.

Technical Rulings and Stack Interactions

Understanding the granular rules of Slime Against Humanity is essential for high-level play. There are three critical areas where players often miscalculate the value of X.

The Resolution Sequence

According to official Gatherer rulings, a sorcery is not put into the graveyard until it has finished resolving. Consequently, the specific copy of Slime Against Humanity currently being cast does not count itself toward the X value. If your graveyard and exile are empty, the first Slime will always be a 2/2. This subtle distinction matters in competitive play where a single point of power or toughness can dictate whether a creature survives a Lightning Bolt or an Abrade.

The Face-Down Exception

In formats where cards like Gonti, Canny Acquisitions or certain "Impulse draw" effects are present, cards may end up in exile face-down. The rules are clear: face-down cards in exile have no characteristics. Even if you, the owner, are permitted to look at them and know they are copies of Slime Against Humanity, they do not contribute to the counter count. This makes mechanics like Manifest or Disguise slightly counter-synergistic with the Slime game plan.

Format Legality and Personal Collections

While the card text allows "any number," this does not override format legality or event rules. In a Limited environment (Draft or Sealed) for Murders at Karlov Manor, you are only allowed to use the copies you actually opened in your card pool. You cannot supplement your draft deck with thirty copies from your personal collection. However, in Singleton formats like Commander, the "any number" clause successfully overrides the one-card limit, allowing for the specialized "Slime decks" that have become a viral sensation in the community.

Analyzing Market Dynamics: Secret Lair vs. Common Printings

The card's popularity has created a fascinating split in the secondary market. The standard common version from Murders at Karlov Manor remains relatively affordable, usually hovering between $1.00 and $2.50 depending on local demand. This makes the deck highly accessible for budget players or those looking to experiment with "relentless" mechanics in Pauper.

Conversely, the Secret Lair drops, featuring art by Jon Vermilyea and Ashley Dreyfus, have seen prices soar. Since a functional Slime deck requires 25 to 40 copies of the card, "blinging out" a deck with specialized art versions is a massive financial undertaking, sometimes costing thousands of dollars for a single deck. This creates a status-symbol element within the Ooze tribal community that is rarely seen with common-rarity cards.

Optimal Commanders for the Slime Engine

Choosing a commander for a Slime Against Humanity deck is not about finding the best Ooze; it is about finding the best engine to facilitate casting three-mana sorceries repeatedly.

Aeve, Progenitor Ooze: The Storm King

Aeve is widely considered the premier choice for SAH decks. As a legendary Ooze with the Storm keyword, Aeve benefits immensely from the low mana cost of SAH. A typical turn involves casting three or four Slimes, followed by Aeve. Because the SAH tokens are Oozes, they contribute to the power scaling of Aeve itself. This creates a board state that is wide (via Storm copies) and tall (via SAH counters).

Flubs, the Fool: The Discard Engine

Flubs represents a high-risk, high-reward strategy. The goal here is to empty the hand as fast as possible to trigger Flubs' card-draw ability. Since a SAH deck is mostly comprised of the same card, Flubs allows you to chain multiple Slime casts in a single turn. Even if you discard a Slime to satisfy Flubs' requirement, the discarded card still increases the power of the next Slime you cast from your hand.

Umori, the Collector: The Mana Discount

For players who want consistency, Umori is the ideal companion or commander. By choosing "Sorcery" as the card type, every Slime Against Humanity in your deck now costs {1}{G}. Reducing the cost by 33% allows for explosive turns where you can cast three Slimes for six mana, effectively doubling your board presence compared to a standard build.

The Mimeoplasm: The Toolbox Approach

While SAH is a sorcery, it creates Oozes. The Mimeoplasm allows access to Sultai (Black/Green/Blue) colors, which provides the best self-mill and card selection in the game. Using Blue to cast Intuition to find three copies of SAH—two of which go to the graveyard—is a highly efficient way to prime the engine. Furthermore, The Mimeoplasm can enter the battlefield as a copy of a utility creature while getting its counters from an Ooze token that was previously destroyed.

Strategic Depth in Pauper and Competitive Play

In the Pauper format, Slime Against Humanity occupies a unique niche. Most Pauper decks rely on efficient removal like Cast Down or Galvanic Blast. However, SAH decks can out-grind these removal spells. Once the count of Slimes in the graveyard reaches five or six, every single top-decked sorcery becomes a must-answer threat.

The primary challenge in competitive play is the "Sorcery speed" restriction. Because you cannot cast SAH on an opponent's turn, you are vulnerable to board wipes like Toxic Deluge or Farewell. To mitigate this, successful pilots often incorporate protection like Heroic Intervention or Tamiyo's Safekeeping. The goal is not to cast as many Slimes as possible, but to ensure that each token that lands actually gets to swing for damage.

Synergy with Self-Mill and Discard

You do not need to cast every Slime Against Humanity for it to be useful. In fact, many high-level decks use Slime Against Humanity as "fodder."

  • Delve Mechanics: Cards like Hooting Mandrills or Dig Through Time can exile Slimes from the graveyard to pay for mana costs. Since the Slime counts exile, this is "free" mana that doesn't reduce your tokens' power.
  • Forage: The new Forage mechanic from Bloomburrow allows players to exile cards from their graveyard to trigger effects. SAH is the perfect fuel for this, as it maintains its value even after being consumed by the forage cost.
  • Looting: Faithless Looting or Careful Study allow you to pitch Slimes directly into the graveyard to find lands or protection spells, simultaneously fixing your hand and buffing your future tokens.

Counter-Strategies: How to Beat the Slime

If you are facing a Slime deck, traditional graveyard hate is not the answer. To effectively neutralize the threat, you must look toward "naming" effects or "taxing" effects.

  1. Declaration in Stone: This is perhaps the best answer to a Slime board. Because all the tokens share the same name (Ooze), a single Declaration in Stone can wipe an entire army of Slimes while only giving the opponent a few Clue tokens.
  2. Unmoored Ego / Deadly Rollick: While Deadly Rollick handles a single threat, Unmoored Ego can strip every copy of Slime Against Humanity from the opponent's library. Since these decks usually run very few alternative win conditions, an early Unmoored Ego is often an immediate "concede" button for the Slime player.
  3. Taxing Effects: Cards like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or Vryn Wingmare increase the cost of sorceries. Forcing a Slime deck to pay four mana for a 2/2 or 3/3 drastically slows their momentum, allowing faster Aggro or Combo decks to win before the Oozes become unmanageable.

The Evolution of the Ooze Tribe

Before Slime Against Humanity, Ooze tribal was a disjointed mess of "growth" creatures like Experiment One and graveyard hate creatures like Scavenging Ooze. There was no cohesive glue to hold the deck together. SAH changed this by providing a consistent, low-mana-value threat that bridges the gap between the early game and the late game.

The inclusion of Trample is the card's most underrated feature. Many "large creature" decks in MTG fail because they can be infinitely blocked by 1/1 Squirrels or Soldier tokens. SAH bypasses this "chump blocking" problem entirely. It forces the opponent to have hard removal or lose the game. In a format like Commander, where life totals are 40, being able to consistently swing with a 12/12 Trampler starting on turn 5 or 6 is a legitimate clock that demands respect.

Conclusion: A New Standard for Relentless Cards

Slime Against Humanity is more than just a meme card for casual tables. It is a masterclass in resilient card design. By leveraging both the graveyard and the exile zone, it circumvents the most common weaknesses of tribal and relentless strategies. Whether you are building a budget Pauper deck or a high-powered Aeve Commander list, the card offers a level of consistency that few other sorceries can match. As long as players continue to find new ways to mill, discard, and exile their own libraries, the Slime will continue to grow, proving that sometimes, the simplest strategies are the hardest to stop.

Summary of Key Features

  • Resilience: Counts both Graveyard and Exile, making it resistant to graveyard wipes.
  • Native Trample: Ensures large tokens aren't stuck behind small blockers.
  • Scaling: The value of X increases exponentially as the game progresses.
  • Versatility: Legal in nearly every major format, including Standard, Pioneer, Modern, and Pauper.
  • Deck Building: Allows any number of copies, enabling highly focused, linear strategies.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Slime Against Humanity count itself when resolving?
No. As per the official rulings, the card is not put into the graveyard until the spell has finished resolving. Therefore, the +1/+1 counters are calculated before the current copy hits the graveyard.

Can I run 40 copies of Slime Against Humanity in a Commander deck?
Yes. The card's text "A deck can have any number of cards named Slime Against Humanity" overrides the standard Singleton rule of the Commander format.

What happens if my Ooze tokens are bounced to my hand?
Tokens cannot exist in the hand. If a token is bounced (e.g., via Unsummon), it ceases to exist as soon as it leaves the battlefield. You do not get the card back, and the counter count in your graveyard does not increase because the token is not a card.

Do face-down exiled cards count toward X?
No. Face-down cards have no name or types. Even if the owner knows they are Slime Against Humanity, they do not contribute to the count until they are turned face-up (which rarely happens in exile).

Is there a limit to how big the Ooze token can get?
Mathematically, the limit is only restricted by the number of copies in your deck and any Ooze creatures in your graveyard/exile. In a dedicated deck, it is quite possible to create 30/30 or 40/40 tokens.