Hello BQNGUS, Great to see another Sliver deck join the hive. Hopefully I can help with some guidance.

So, I think the first thing I need to know is what is the kind of strategy you want to go for? Are you looking for a combo strategy, or more of a go wide attack game plan? A better kind of description would really help with guidance. Also knowing the budget you are kind of looking at would be really useful.

I think the first thing to look at, would be the total number creatures you have put in there. As you said, you have kind of gone "find all the slivers, put them in the deck". Trust me, as a Sliver player, you are going to want some more interaction to handle the backlash you are gonna get from other players. Believe me, Slivers make you arch enemy very often.

For now, I will leave a link to my deck (I have spent many years building this). Maybe it can give you some ideas, even just on how to write this up. Here's my deck... slivers-because-someone-has-to-be-that-guy.

Hopefully will be able to help and, welcome to Hive

DB

Thanks for helping the hive Doombeard1984! My current strategy is simply overwhelming the enemies with strong offense and defense. I'd like to protect my board, so I'll often run Sliver Hivelord instead of The First Sliver, to help keep my slivers safe at the cost of cascading into many slivers quickly.

I'm not against a combo strategy, but I don't want it to be the main focus. If I end up having Basal Sliver, Lavabelly Sliver, and Sliver Queen, I'm down to create and sacrifice infinite sliver tokens to deal infinite damage to my enemies life totals, but I don't search for it often.

As far as budget goes, I don't have unlimited money but I'm willing to upgrade everything over time. I'd say if it's $100 or less it's in my immediate grasp, and if we're talking OG duals, that's a once-per-year-maybe kind of upgrade.

You're spot-on about becoming the archenemy very often. I frequently became the AE in the past when this was only a $50 budget deck! I'm more than happy to change slivers out for better ones, especially if it makes things more interactive.

My three big asks for help are: What slivers do I change out? What lands do I change out? What ramp spells should I add in?

So, let's have a look at the type of things you may want.

Lands: So, I can't afford OG duals really, but have found that shocks and fetches, coupled with the battlebond lands have kind of served me well. Fetches can get pricey, but you by no mean need them all. Having 5 or 6 fetches, all the shock lands (10 to 15 bucks each) and then filling it out with something like the battlebond lands can really sort you out. Cavern of Souls is always good, and can see you have one. Basically, lands coming into play untapped are much better. Quicker access to all that slivery goodness. Personally I would look to change those 3 colour tap lands and things like Rupture Spire piece at a time.

Ramp: So, as we are running 5 colour, we want to ramp and rock efficiently to get our board set ASAP. Chromatic Lantern is good, but I would replace the Pillar of Origins with an Arcane Signet. Its just better and less restrictive. For spells, Farseek, Nature's Lore, Three Visits and Skyshroud Claim all enable you to get land type lands. This will let you get your Breeding Pool or Godless Shrine as it has that land type. This is why shock lands (and to a lesser extent triomes) are so much better. You can even get these with the fetchlands too. Luckily, we also have Gemhide Sliver and Manaweft Sliver to turn all our slivers into our own Birds of Paradise

Slivers: So this is a big list here lol. I'm not going to try and write them all lol. I will say that I would cut several of the ones you have though. I would drop Virulent Sliver and replace with a Triumph of the Hordes. Combat tricks are good. Most of the Megantic Sliver effects I would drop I'm favour of things like Door of Destinies. Crystalline Sliver is great to protect your board a bit. Diffusion Sliver I can't see being relevant in a game of edh, and would rather take interaction like Counterspell etc. I think pairing back the creatures to the key ones is really important. Will free up space for stuff like card draw and interaction. Shifting Sliver is basically unblockable. Defo a good one. Necrotic Sliver means each sliver becomes a Vindicate at the cost of 2 and a sacrifice. Synapse Sliver is good to keep your hand full.

Other cards of note:

So just some good cards to consider.

Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Kindred Discovery card draw is important, The Great Henge your commander makes this cost , Phyrexian Arena again, card draw. Wrath of God, Blasphemous Act or other destroy boardwipes. If your stuff is indestructible, all good. Yawgmoth's Will pricey, but such a good answer if you are boardwiped etc. Patriarch's Bidding you are likely to pay off better than most.

I think that's all I got for now. Please look at other decks with slivers as well to get a good idea of the stuff out there. Hope this is a good start of things to look at

Also... Spiteful Sliver + Blasphemous Act is a fun way to kill people of you have enough slivers in board lol

I love Slivers so like everyone else, I am happy to help another in the Hive. Some quick suggestions on my part: Galerider Sliver, Brood Sliver, Toxin Sliver, Bonescythe Sliver, but most importantly, you need Shifting Sliver.

On the non-sliver side, I highly recommend Descendants' Path and Prismatic Omen

Awesome! I've already added Galerider Sliver, Brood Sliver, Bonescythe Sliver, and Descendants' Path to my cart for purchase later. Is Toxin Sliver better enough than Venomous Sliver for the difference in mana cost? Or is it a redundancy case, where I want multiple options for that buff? Thank you so much for the recommendations on Shifting Sliver and Prismatic Omen, those are DEFINITELY cards I'm adding to my buy-list.

My suggestion? Wheel of Fate. It's fantastic with cascade. The second you hit any 1 cmc sliver and cascade, you can get this card and refill your hand. Or, if you don't want to do that yet, then you can choose to not cast the card and just put it back into your deck for a later cascade.

Your deck still needs some cuts, so here's what I have to say. I would go down to 40 lands. The curve of your deck isn't even all that high, so you'll be fine even going down to 38 lands. Since you have a good fetch/shock/triome mana base, you can cut some of your situationally bad lands such as Thran Quarry, Ancient Ziggurat, Gemstone Mine, Meteor Crater, and Unclaimed Territory. I would also cut out 2 mountains and 1 plains. That should get your deck closer to the right size.

I play slivers, so I second the idea of redundancy by adding Toxin Sliver.

So on the land count, you drop down to like 38 I would suggest. You have some mana rocks, as well as the ability to turn your slivers into dorks. Will free up a lot of space for some more interaction, something that is kinda lacking I believe. Even if it's just protection type things such as Teferi's Protection or Heroic Intervention. Slivers don't like boardwipes, so this could give you some protection

Thanks Doombeard1984 and Lanzo493. Yeah I'm definitely cutting mostly lands. The deck is overpopulated right now at 110 cards so we can all see what I'm working with to make specific cuts. I'll make sure to adjust those as you recommend once they come in the mail.

I'm also considering Strip Mine, Crop Rotation, Worldly Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, and Distant Melody. Do either of you have thoughts on those?

On another note, how do I hyperlink cards and users such as yourselves?

So if you put 2 ['s and then 2 ]'s before and after the card name, you will hyperlink the card. Vampiric Tutor and Worldly Tutor are really good. I run them myself. I don't run Crop Rotation myself as I feel I don't really want to be putting my lands in the graveyard. As for Distant Melody in a game of EDH, I would rather have constant sources of drawing, and card tutoring. Not a single use draw. Thinks like Phyrexian Arena, Greed or The Great Henge give you repetitive draws at a cost or a trigger. Just my opinion

Adding on to what Doombeard1984 said, you can hyperlink a username the same way. [ [ username ] ]. Without the spaces. There’s a thing that says “comment tutorial” below the box you type a comment in that’ll give you even more tips.

Crop Rotation is good if you have multiple tutor targets, such as Ancient Tomb, Gaea's Cradle, Cavern of Souls and whatnot. Otherwise, I wouldn’t run it. I love Distant Melody. It’s great, but not as good as consistent card draw like Phyrexian Arena. Still great since the thing you need with The First Sliver is more slivers to cascade with.

You might like Vanquisher's Banner in the deck, it's a small buff but you get free cards everytime you play a sliver.

I don't love seeing 3-plus-mana ramp cards, even the best ones like Cultivate and Chromatic Lantern feel too slow. A few signets (Rakdos Signet and its ilk) would do you well, and even a Rampant Growth should find a home. As mentioned prior to my own comment, Path and Swords really can't be beat in the removal category--worth making space for.

For as much value as Averna gives you, it isn't nearly good enough to risk breaking the Cascade chain for. Would cut.

Again, I don't think I'm first in saying that Heroic Intervention is a must-have, from its easy castability to its catch-all protection. Great card.

Love the deck, excited to see it continue to evolve!

Hey BQNGUS, I just want to say that your deck is one of the best I've seen. I'm only 13 now, but when I get a job, guess what MTG deck I'm getting next??!

I'm wondering if there's a more budget friendly way to go about this kind of deck. Can you help?

Rampant Growth , Path to Exile , Swords to Plowshares , and Heroic Intervention will undoubtedly be added to this deck at some point in the near future. I

Averna, the Chaos Bloom is too good here. They're well worth breaking the cascade chain one time. For 3 mana, they provide lands consistently, easily making them one of the best forms of ramp in a cascade deck. They're simply explosive.

KITTYMANHunkGTI I am not able to help, outside of checking out Mitch's budget brew on YouTube. His channel is called Commander's Quarters. This deck started as his budget sliver brew he made, and then I just spent tons of money to get lands. Thankfully when I bought Sliver Legion and Sliver Queen they were far less expensive at the time (I purchased Sliver Queen for ~$60).

I've made some cuts!

Changed Maelstrom Nexus for Descendants' Path . It's 2 mana value lower, requires 4 less colors, still casts, and doesn't care if it casts a MV greater than or equal to a creature I control.

Changed Shared Animosity for Rhystic Study . They're the same cost, but drawing cards/taxing my opponents is more important than making the hive deal more damage.

Changed Leave / Chance for Teferi's Protection . There have been multiple improvements in card draw and Chance was never used in gameplay. Leave forces me to cast all my board again.

Changed Ready / Willing for Cyclonic Rift . I needed more one-sided boardwipes, and have plenty of other forms of defense that makes Ready/Willing too redundant.

Changed Watery Grave for Vampiric Tutor . Going down to 37 lands is fine, and part of the manabase that's out of balance. Vampiric Tutor is the most powerful tutor, no explanation necessary.

Changed Polluted Delta for Overgrown Tomb (apparently it wasn't actually in the deck). Just updating imbalanced manabase, I don't need every fetch in this deck.

Changed Apex Devastator for Vanquisher's Banner . V Banner is 1/2 the cost and provides card draw upon casting. Apex Devastator was fun, and it can explode very well, but it's better elsewhere.

Changed Fury Sliver for Bonescythe Sliver . Just mana reduction costs, they both provide doublestrike. I may reconsider adding Fury Sliver back in for redundancy.

Changed Cleaving Sliver for Brood Sliver . Creating additional slivers at no cost is better than +2/+0, right?

Changed Commander's Sphere for Realmwalker . Additional sliver and card advantage, as well as scouting the top-card for cascade potential.

Changed Pillar of Origins for Prismatic Omen . Pillar of Origins is a mana rock for about 1/2 the spells in the deck, Prismatic Omen color fixes all my lands for all of the spells in the deck.

Changed Averna, the Chaos Bloom for Shifting Sliver . Averna was fun, and the mana ramp was explosive, but let's give no-non-slivers a chance to see how it impacts cascades.

Changed Explosive Vegetation for Reflections of Littjara . Reflections of Littjara doubles Mana Echoes, Distant Melody, Lavabelly, Manaweft/Gemhide, Opaline, Sedge, Spiteful, and Thorncaster effects.

Spells being considered that I own currently; Hollowhead Sliver , Doomskar , & Pyre of Heroes .

Spells being considered that are being purchased soon; Necrotic Sliver , Root Sliver , Bloom Tender , Pulmonic Sliver , Spoils of Victory , Darksteel Mutation , Synapse Sliver , Magma Sliver , Intruder Alarm , Horned Sliver , and Amoeboid Changeling .

Galerider Sliver is being purchased soon and will be changed for Winged Sliver .

Hello B0NGUS. Made some big changes to your brood. Looking good. You also have some good options in the spells you are considering for future iterations. I think making the right move in looking for the most mana efficient version of each sliver you want to play is the right call. Tell me, is the cascade effect still the one you want as your commander? Have you considered changing commander at all? I only ask as this is something worth considering as your deck evolves. I guess should need to ask yourself, which sliver legend is the most key to going off. Take it easy, and stay safe

Hey thanks Doombeard1984 !

The cascade effect is still the one I want as my commander, for the most part. Every now and then I swap them out but leave the deck the same. If a group I play with is boardwipe heavy, I'll often switch to Sliver Hivelord. If the group is combo heavy, I'll switch to Sliver Queen. But almost always I'm playing The First Sliver for the fun of it. I hear they're quite competitive too? I've been considering bringing this to a cEDH or near-cEDH level.

I have looked at cEDH and often thought what it would take. From the looks of it, you are looking at a The First Sliver + Food Chain for cEDH sliver fun. I also think your interaction and counter magic needs to be on point for it think Force of Will , Force of Negation , Mana Drain , Fierce Guardianship etc. Probably also looking at OG duals and full set of fetches. Just a bit too rich for my blood lol. Oh, and then you got your fast mana like Chrome Mox , Mox Opal , Mox Diamond and Mana Crypt etc. Only way I'm doing all of that, is through proxies lol

Agreed Doombeard1984. I do have Force of Will, Mana Drain, Fierce Guardianship, and Mana Crypt, but they're all in other decks right now. Folks in my playgroup HATE proxies, which is fine I guess, though I don't agree with their viewpoints, so I wouldn't be able to run a Mox Diamond. Though of course if I do take it to cEDH level, proxies are part & parcel with the culture so no one would bat an eye at a competitive table.

Changed Crypt Sliver for Clot Sliver as I want to swing in with my slivers, and tapping them to regenerate slows my offense and defense. Paying 2 generic mana is more expensive, but I don't have to worry about if they're already tapped or holding up any slivers for the right time.

Also changed all the basic lands to premium foils from Double Masters as well as the full--alternative-art Cultivate. I figure I might as well start foiling the whole deck soon once I get the rest of my current upgrades in and before Modern Horizons 2.

Hi B0NGUS,

Your deck came up in the feed so thought I would drop in and see how its going. Seeing a few alterations. Here is a bit of food for thought though:

• Diffusion Sliver out for Crystalline Sliver - Dont make it cost more for your enemies to target your stuff. Make it so they cant lol
• Talon Sliver out for Striking Sliver . Its a better costed version of the same card.
• Grow from the Ashes out for either Nature's Lore or a Skyshroud Claim . These would enable you to get a shock land, not just a basic, and Skyshroud enables you to get 2 or them. Even works with the Triomes.

Just some ideas. Also a question for you. How are you getting on using the Sliver in disguise in the deck. You finding it is helping your plays? I have considered it, as it gives access to the top of my library as well as being a Sliver in most ways. I probably run a load less slivers and so would be a bit less effective, but I am curious about the results.

Heya Doombeard1984! I love the new look of your username! You're spot on. I almost have Crystalline Sliver , and will swap those immediately when I do. I was considering switching to some sort of reverse curve for slivers to cascade into more specific lines, which is initially why I reduced my 1-MV spells to so few. If I pop a sliver for 1 cost, at this point it would always be Galerider Sliver . Though it's probably nuts to try to do that with the deck so I'm likely going to make that switch as well. 100% on the Grow from the Ashes to either Nature's Lore or Skyshroud Claim . I'll switch to Skyshroud Claim!

And for Realmwalker I haven't gotten them in my hand or on my battlefield yet to see their effect, but I really like it for seeing the top card. I have plenty of fetches, so I can see the top to plan a cascade, and shuffle if I don't like it.