LVL_666 would love to see some kind of control sliver, but would be super op. Maybe because of Quick Sliver it shouldn't have flash, meaning you would need to interact and combo with both of these. You could have a sacrifice as part of the cost though so flash it in, and sac it. Guess it would be blue blue colourless and pay 2 blue and sac? Would be awesome though.

Hey again Doombeard1984, I do agree with you that a control sliver would be considered OP but we also have abilities like Annihilator, Affinity for Artifacts, and deck archetypes like Elfball roaming around. I can see the sensibility of showing restraint, but Slivers have been left far in the dust by new upstarts like the Eldrazi (don't get me started on the likes of Void Winnower or Brisela, Voice of Nightmares) and the older tribes like the Elves have long surpassed Slivers. Something like a crazy control sliver is what the tribe needs to be feared once again. On that, I have done some more thinking on it...and I do agree that a sacrifice effect is needed.

So I did some revising:

CMC: , Flash When you cast this creature, counter target noncreature spell, All other Slivers you control gain ", Sacrifice this creature: Counter target noncreature spell.", 1/1 Power and toughness.

I designed this Sliver to be similar in concept to Necrotic Sliver - as it's Vindicate on a body. With this Sliver I basically made it Negate on a body. It doesn't replace Negate however, as it requires one extra , and the shared ability among slivers requires a sacrifice. The shared ability can only be used by other slivers already in play, therefore that prevents this Sliver from being two counterspells in a row...I think that'd be disgusting. When playing against this, I think forcing the player to have to constantly sacrifice Slivers to keep the one Negate Sliver on board is manageable, and won't break standard. It'll be a beast, but it won't break it. What're your thoughts?

I am not a fan of your proposed Sliver. As it stands, there are only two Slivers in the game with abilities that are not shared across all Slivers - Sliver Queen and Sliver Overlord. Those three abilities involve hive manipulation, which seems fitting for their owners’ respective roles.

I don’t think it makes sense to give your hypothetical Sliver either flash or an ETB ability. Instead, stick with the activated counter/sacrifice ability, and leave it at that.

You could even make its mana cost and then use Countersquall’s ability, if you’re concerned about it not being powerful enough sans ETB.

I’d also bump it up to a 2/2.

LVL_666 and cdkime both of these ideas seems fine. I agree a sac ability like necrotic sliver seems like a sensible move. Means the sacrifice keeps things a little balanced. It could be argued that Root Sliver makes this idea redundant, but us hive players can sometimes lack the interaction with other spells. Means we have to go a little off flavour of the deck and pack it with your standard counterspells etc. This control sliver needs to happen :)

Or, if you wanted to be a little different, you could have a Commit / Memory effect? Use the commit on ETB and memory on sac effect. Don't give it flash though. Just a different idea. Would also give a sliver a dual purpose then.....then again that could be very OP lol

So i must warn everyone: be careful when browsing tapped out on your cell phone while logged in as one false tap and bye bye goes your comment, lol. But to reiterate,the suggestion by cdkime was perfect, and is my dream Sliver:

CMC:, All Slivers you control gain " Sacrifice this creature: Counter target noncreature spell. Its controller loses 2 life." Power and Toughness: 2/2.

Thanks again cdkime!

What do your wins look like? My meta has evolved to seeing Atraxa, Praetors' Voice, Edgar Markov, Meren of Clan Nel Toth, and the ninjitsu commander with some regularity both in single and multiplayer and am having difficulty keeping up if I can't get evasion with Triumph of the Hordes

gvazdaus, typically my wins look like a Heart Sliver + Basal Sliver + Gemhide Sliver/Manaweft Sliver + Sliver Queen infinite mana combo. My meta is Control Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign, Voltron Sram, Senior Edificer, and Goodstuff/Synergy Reki, the History of Kamigawa. The worst of it is that politically, my deck is very weak. My playgroup tends to go for me first, and it quickly becomes a game of Archenemy. Typically the best thing I can do is play a bunch of Slivers and attempt to combo out when the table least expects it. Usually it works a lot better than i'd expect until the Yennett player gets a CounterScepter online, then i'd just be hurtin.

Rarely do I ever swing wide though. In case you were wondering.

Thanks for the reply! Ideally, I try to get Intruder Alarm or Paradox Engine going to drop infinite slivers but it seems like I am much more vulnerable to removal. It feels like everyone is packing a Merciless Eviction these days and everyone delights in watching it hit slivers.

What do you think about swapping Skyshroud Claim for Shard Convergence? I assume the latter putting them into your hand is too slow even though it finds twice as many lands?

Arcean_Novalogic, thanks for the comment. Shard Convergence looks amazing - it finds all the lands which would essentially fix my manabase almost instantly for relatively little mana. However, your assessment was correct - it's far too slow for the "competitiveness" I seek with this build. This card would be busted if it also said "and put them into play tapped", even though I wish it did. The art is so much better than those stupid looking elves in Skyshroud Claim. I really dislike the art, and wish there was a viable other or better option. Thanks again for sharing Shard Convergence, do you have any other cards you'd suggest?

gvazdaus, not a problem. I always love talking about anything Sliver or Sliver deck related. When it comes to facing removal, I can relate. Everyone in my playgroup runs alot of targeted removal, and they are not shy about using it. Then again, so am I :) I run so much blue control because blue is my favorite color in magic, but also I have to be able to counter cards that can outright ruin my boardstate.

I picked up some cards for my Sliver deck at the 2 prereleases plus the box I split with 2 friends. At the moment all I need to complete my manabase is a Breeding Pool, Blood Crypt, Steam Vents, Bloodstained Mire, Marsh Flats and Arid Mesa (skipping Scalding Tarn I believe to save on cost though tbh).

I got an Assassin's Trophy, Sacred Foundry, Temple Garden, Overgrown Tomb (via trade), another trade pending for a Watery Grave, 1x Doom Whisperer, 2x Mission Briefing, 1x Underrealm Lich, 2x Nullhide Ferox, 1x Mnemonic Betrayal, 1x Divine Visitation, 1x Impervious Greatwurm, among a few other things.

I meant to add that a few weeks back LVL_666 I opened a pack of battlebond and I got a foil mythic, however it turned out to be just a Grothama, All-Devouring :(. Can you imagine if it was rather a True-Name Nemesis?

_Delta_, that's quite the haul! Unfortunately, I won't be seeing any new cards from Guilds as my wife didn't want me to go to the midnight pre-release. I mean, she did get me the deckbox so i'm kinda obligated right? lol. I'll try and do 2 headed giant sunday, but i'm not liking my odds. Additionally, a friend of mine was wanting to do a case between six of us - 1 box per person. That'd likely run me around $90. I'm on the fence about it, as i'd just prefer to split a regular box. Oh well.

And that blows about the Battlebond pack. I had a similar experience with an Iconic Masters pack- when I opened it I saw the glint of a Foil blue card at the back of the pack. My friend told me to slow roll it, go through each card before it to build up the anticipation. Turns out it was just a foil Windfall. I was so let down. Ah, the joys of cracking packs.

LVL_666 the system tells me you've already considered it, but my only other comment, along the same lines as my last one, I would suggest swapping out Nature's Lore in favor of Farseek. That change is a little more subjective since it would let you get any dual, not just a forest, but it comes into play tapped. I'm guessing you already decided the slower grab to fix two colors isn't as useful as fixing one now. That's probably it for my thoughts here though, this deck is pretty tight as is.

Arcean_Novalogic thanks for the post. One thing I didn't know was that Farseek has a gorgeous looking promo. That alone was enough to give me pause lol, however you were right in your assessment. The slower grab could mean life or death in my meta. Being able to play a T2 Sol Ring, Mystic Remora, Mirri's Guile or have a handy for a potential Swan Song is just too much value to pass up. Thank you again for bringing Farseek to my attention again though, if anything I might just want to get that sweet sweet promo for the collection.

I'm really liking this deck due to all the effort you've put into the primer and card choices.

However, considering that this deck has a few ways to "lock" the gamestate, what do you think about utilizing land destruction such as Armageddon and Ravages of War instead of a couple counterspells? The deck can run without lands if a mana producing sliver is on the battlefield, as well as with a few manarocks in play, and it seems that proactive approach could prove to be more effective when paired with counterspells, as opposed to counterspells only.

SurpriZe, thanks for the comment and +1. I'm always grateful for every bit of interest others have in my decklist/page. In regards to this deck being able to "lock" the boardstate...I'd consider it to be something of a soft lock. A well played/timed Merciless Eviction could put me back to square one- Slivers are the deck's greatest strength, and weakness. In regards to running land destruction, there's something of an unspoken gentleman's agreement in my playgroup - no mass land destruction. However, you have piqued my interest with those suggestions. I'd probably swap in an Armageddon for Swan Song. With Gemhide Sliver in play, mass land destruction would be a minor setback for me, but a major one for my opponents.

You definitely got some gears turning. Thanks again for the suggestion.

@LVL_666 I have a tournament coming up and would really appreciate you having a look at my Slivers Swarm deck. Don't have the card pool to draw from like you do, but would appreciate some insight from the sliver guru himself

Doombeard1984, sorry for the late reply - I will happily take a look at your deck and give my two cents. See you on your deck page!

Hey!

I would like to ask you some stuff about a specific card that im hestitating to put in my own sliver deck for quite some time now. Homing Sliver. How often and in what way do you use it/ is it used? I have the feeling I could undervalue the card and don't see how good it actually is. Paying 3 mana to play it and then paying 3 more mana and another sliver from your hand for a single tutor sounds so slow in my mind. Or is it more often used as a one time tutor directly from the hand with its own slivercycling?

Hey Slayroth,

How often and in what way do you use it (Homing Sliver) is it used?

So at first glance it's fairly easy to miss the value in this little guy. To answer your question I never ever cast this Sliver. I don't see it as creature, but as an instant speed: : Discard this card, search your library for target sliver and put it into your hand. It's a Gemhide/Crystalline/Heart Sliver on demand. It's great because you can use this Sliver to tutor while not having to have your commander on the field (in case you don't have access to ). Yes, it's a one time tutor for the exact answer you need at the time. At least, that's my two cents. Thoughts?

Hi Slayroth and LVL_666!

Completely agree with the value of homing sliver. Has helped me out in a pinch on a few occasions. Also, the ability to counter cycling is really really limited, so it super helpful.