I went 3-1 last night:
0-2 vs BR Reanimator (lost game 1 on turn 1, game 2 on turn 2, unmask destroyed me before they went off)
2-1 vs ANT (Ethersworn Canonist won me both my games, landed it on turn 3 and turn 2 respectively)
2-1 vs Vial Smasher (won one of my games after my opponent tapped out to drop EE on 2, which I then played Harmonic Sliver after to steal the game)
2-1 vs Jeskai Stoneblade (this was a tough match up, my 1 loss was due to drawing my crystalline sliver the turn after he 1 for 1 removed 4 slivers the turn prior, and lost tempo from there from a batterskull with jitte on it, BOTH of my wins were due to EoT Collected Company, one of which was after he exploded an EE to wipe my board, I was able to swing back for lethal)
Something to note is that in nearly all my games, I won due to crystalline sliver. I almost always had turn 1 vial, but it also almost always ate an abrupt decay, which I'm completely O.K. with since my lords stayed alive.
In terms of how I piloted the deck, I tended to err on the side of caution, foregoing a turn 1 galerider to just land-go since I knew it was going to eat removal (if I had a turn 2 Crystalline Sliver in hand). I definitely played a lot safer than usual, and it ended up rewarding me in terms of win %. I didn't go for any turn 4 aggro wins, but really just to win mid-game. I only played aggressively against storm since the race is all that mattered and they don't bother using removal on slivers.
Now for Some breakdown on the cards that I did like, and those that I didn't:
Manaweft Sliver was an all-star last night, which impressed me more than I thought it would. Although, I didn't get a chance to use it to cast my Coco, he was an easy sliver to swing into a Baleful Strix with since I really didn't mind losing it (as a 3/3 or 4/4 due to lords). Also, a turn 2 Manaweft Sliver can cause some misplays on the opponent's behalf, sometimes they jump to remove it (while my hand of lords stay safe), or they don't, allowing me to drop 2-3 lords the next turn (if i had vial out turn 2). I often chose to play manaweft on turn 2 over any lord, only prioritizing a turn 2 Crystalline Sliver over it. It was also good to know that I wasn't as dependent on drawing a land if I had one in my hand, so keeping a 1 lander and vial felt way less sketchy (although vial always ate a turn 2 decay).
Venom Sliver was lackluster all night, but this might've been due to playing match ups where the card doesn't shine. I managed to get it out at one point with talon sliver against the jeskai stoneblade deck, but since I didn't have crystalline/Diffusion Sliver out to protect them it almost didn't matter anyways. It felt cute but not great. It did however stall a Batterskull for 1 or 2 turns, but I ended up losing the game afterwards anyways. After seeing last nights performance with them, I think I'll be dropping them for sidewinder slivers since they seem a lot better against baleful strixs and early snapcaster blocks (snapcaster was super annoying since it'll flash in and block my 2/2 lord).
Collected Company never came up in the first 3 match ups. I either didn't draw it, won without casting it, or lost super hard with the card in my hand (before turn 4). I never felt that I didn't have enough mana for it which was great!! It won both of my games against stoneblade which blew them out of the water. I won after they spent all their resources clearing my board state, only to recover right after they did and swing for lethal the turn after. It was amazing. The issue of it getting countered didn't really come up (all of them resolved), since they either exhausted their counters on vial or early lords, or they boarded them out incorrectly because they saw cavern but not coco in the early rounds, or I protected it with FoW. That being said, please remember that the sample size of casting a coco was n = 2. I got to live the dream of swinging in with a single crystalline on board, only to have my opponent respond by flash-blocking with a snapcaster, to be met with a coco that ripped 2 lords off the top 6, allowing me to win combat. I followed up the turn after with a second coco to swing in for lethal (like 13 damage or so).
Deck changes: -3 Venom Sliver, -1 Talon Sliver, +1 Diffusion Sliver, +3 Sidewinder Sliver
