This is very likely the best aggro sliver deck you can build right now. Let me explain why I believe that and why I don't run some cards you might expect in a good sliver deck. Let's take a look at the deck first:
The Deck / Mainboard:
3x Crystalline Sliver - Shroud is essential to protect your slivers from spells like
sword to plowshares
, Path to Exile, etc. If need be I can go up to 4 (1 sideboarded)
3x Galerider Sliver - Albeit less beautiful illustration than the winged sliver this is still a great card. Flying often gets your damage through by itself but it doesn't stack and I didn't need more 1 drops so it's 3 for this guy.
3x Heart Sliver - This guy whipps speed into your deck and puts the pressure on firmly. Doesn't stack so 3 is all you need.
2x Hibernation Sliver - In my search for great sliver decks I was surprised to find this guy missing quite a lot. This is the best answer against removal/boardsweep and therefore a must have. He is your best bet against Terminus and Damnation
+
Dark Ritual
In conjunction with the crystalline you are very well protected.I can put 1 more in if need be (sideboarded).
4x
Leeching Sliver
- This guy is your next best bet if you have all the lords in your deck already. He is not quite as powerful but ensures that your damage gets through.
4x Muscle Sliver / Predatory Sliver / Sinew Sliver - The Lordship of this deck and 4 out of 4 must have to make your slivers HUGE quick. Putting out 3 of these can win you games. They are the backbone of the hive.
3x Phantasmal Image - This guy gets overlooked aswell likely because he's primarily not a sliver. Acts as an additional lord/leeching sliver. Running more than 3 can lead you in a place where you have them twice on the hand and nothing to copy on the field which makes them pretty useless.
4x Sidewinder Sliver - Amazing sliver that effectively acts as a half-lord when blocking. Flanking does stack so have them 2 out on the field and non-flanking creatures get -2/-2 when blocking which is fantastic. Must have 1 drop.
3x Striking Sliver - First Strike is powerful especially if paired with the many lords. If I had a lord-like sliver to replace him with, that was a 1 drop, I would. But they are great and the next best 1 drops. Needless to say, 4 is excessive.
4x Aether Vial - This card is an absolute 4 out of 4 must have. Gets your slivers on the field much quicker and they can't be countered that way, which is very important in competitive play. If you have 2 out at once they are overkill but this rarely happens.
The Landbase is pretty much self-explanatory.
4x Cavern of Souls is a 4 out of 4 must have (can't be countered)
3x Mutavault with the many lords is a great sweeper on its own - running 4 messes up your mana-base consistently though.
If I have to actually mainboard Swan Song then I'll propably swap out the Sliver Hives for City of Brass.
The drawbacks of
Gemstone Mine
/ Mana Confluence / City of Brass don't matter because games rarely go longer than 5-6 turns. (I increased the chance of winning on turn 4 as much as possible, I reckon)
Running EXACTLY 19 lands is the sweetspot for this deck.In my 4-500 playtests I have found that with 19 the times that you wish for 1 more land and the times you lose due to mulligan are very much 1:1.
18 was too little - 20 too much.
By the way I even went so far as to have a 1drop to 2drop ratio in correlation to damage output by the forth turn.
Sideboard:
1x Crystalline / Hibernation Sliver - see above
3x Harmonic Sliver - anti artifacts / enchantments
3x Necrotic Sliver - anti everything else (including, of course, planeswalkers)
4x Swan Song - This card is versatile and the best answer I am aware of to the dreaded Blood Moon and Back to Basics which are common in competitive legacy.
3x Tormod's Crypt - To give them graveyard/dredge lovers something to chew on.
Cards I do not run and why:
Sliver Legion / Sliver Hivelord - Too costly and slow down the deck on average (I want to increase the chance of winning by turn 4 as much as possible). Great for mirror / multiplayer though.
Venom Sliver - Ridicolous with Striking sliver but usually unnecessary and thereby slower than the other options.
Manaweft Sliver / Gemhide Sliver - Great synergy with Heart Sliver to get your slivers out quick or cast a Sliver Legion on turn 3. Amazingly I found that leaving him out didn't slow down my deck at all and made it more effective at dealing damage quick. Great for longer games though.
Virulent Sliver - Great sliver and the ability STACKS in that it triggers seperately meaning Poison 1 - Poison 1 - Poison 1 etc. Can be devastating when tutored up with Sylvan Tutor / Worldly Tutor / Eladamri's Call or copied with Phantasmal Image - but to use him effectively 4xGalerider Sliver; 3xShadow Sliver and tutors would be necessary. (You can build a deck around him alone for casual play and it is a lot of fun and finishes the opponent on turn 4 consistently)
Lotus Petal - Looks like adding a mana petal to any deck makes it better, right? Wrong, I found. I went from 0-4x Petals playtesting and the deck maintained the same speed on turn 4 overall just with LESS threats on the field/hand and LESS damage dealt overall. This can only be due to an overkill in mana - the lands/vials are already sufficient. LP - great for combo; bad for aggro or control.
Any tutors / Collected Company / Defense of the Heart
+
Forbidden Orchard
- just slows down the deck. Without Legion / Manaweft / Virulent tutors are obsolete anyway.
Any card I did not mention is too high costing or too slow or both.
Now this deck might not yet be perfect but it is very close.
My main inspiration came from those two decks, especially ''The Best possible sliver deck''
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/the-best-possible-sliver-deck/
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/sneaky-slivers-15-04-14-1/
The title just challenged me to disprove this provocative title and in fact I was able to albeit not by much but I was able to increase the damage inflincted on turn 4 by quite a bit aswell as threats remaining.
Through this playtesting process I improved it by:
-4xPetal +1x Land (+3xmutavault) -1xGalerider +1xheart
+3xPhantasmal Image.
If you read it all congratulations! ; you did perservere.
I am open to any suggestions, especially concerning the sideboard and I am challenging you to improve this creature-based aggro deck again (without changing the archetype for this matter ;-) )
Please be so kind to leave a comment or so generous as to upvote this deck. I'd appreciate it greatly.
Thanks!
(For anybody facing a sliver mirror:Add 3xVenom, 4xManaweft, 1xLegion, 1xHivelord, 2xBlur Sliver for -3xHeart, -3xCrystalline, -2xHibernation, -3xPhantasmal Image) Peace out!
