For players considering the Slav Defense, often what turns them away is the prospect of the exchange Slav, which is very drawish:

Who wants to face this? Unless your playing Kramnik who wants to slowly milk his 0.06 advantage, white is content with a draw. I am nowhere near GM level yet, but until I am, I am fighting for the full point. As we continue down the main line; the symmetry continues:

I have no intention of playing the above line, so my solution is to play ...e6 before developing my c8 bishop. I'm not saying I invented this "solution" but I adopted this line and I think it leaves more scope for both sides.

I checked my database, and some notable players who used this ...e6 system are Vassily Smyslov, Tigran Petrosian, Vassily Ivanchuk, Alexey Dreev, and Vladmir Malakhov.

I avoid this by playing ...e6 first

2. ...c3 slav has more variation, though interesting, to choose from.

I prefer 2. ...e3 first, until someday I found ways to manage the sidelines or even wield them as weapon.