Lands
Running all duals and fetches for efficiency. Artifact lands in place to turn on
Mox Opal
or lose something in case
Harmonic Sliver
gets hungry. Basics are there to benefit from
Settle the Wreckage
or
Path to Exile
, or group hug effects. I am under no delusion that five basics will save me from
Blood Moon
or
Back to Basics
which would hose this deck.
The Hive
This deck is built to run off creatures as mana.
Gemhide Sliver
and
Manaweft Sliver
are almost have-to-plays in a five color deck. This makes combat tricky. I don't view too many of the slivers as "chump blockers" given their ability to produce mana. Ideally you have a one drop into a mana sliver and effectively double your mana base. The other very redundant ability is Haste. I play three slivers that grant it. Haste means using those creatures the turn they come down.
Firewake Sliver
is not in here but could be if there was something to cut. The weakest of the two drops,
Muscle Sliver
should be cut, but it's the first sliver I ever pulled from a Tempest pack. Dang it sentimentality.
Crystalline Sliver
is an all-star, although the first build of this deck featured
Syphon Sliver
and
Hatred
and Shroud really hosed the deck.
Frenetic Sliver
is there to dodge Exile effects or maybe hang on during a boardwipe or sac loop.
Hollowhead Sliver
gets your tutor targets off the top of the library and into your hand.
Harmonic Sliver
is the deck's only way of addressing artifacts or enchantments, so best to have
Sliver Hivelord
and/or
Crystalline Sliver
prior to popping it.
Basal Sliver
exists to enable
Sliver Queen
shenaningans with
Lavabelly Sliver
.
Spiteful Sliver
is part of a game-winning combo.
Bonescythe Sliver
enables efficient Poison/Infect wins and
Shifting Sliver
provides the evasion. Of the legends, Hivelord/Queen are incredibly useful.
Sliver Legion
is usually fodder for
Chrome Mox
.
Slivers notably absent:
Necrotic Sliver
- I never had him with expendable slivers. If someone has a way to efficiently wipe boards, I'm all ears.
Root Sliver
- if you are burning counters on slivers, good. Probably means someone else is going to win.
The First Sliver
- It doesn't add much in my eyes, maybe another target for
Chrome Mox
Dormant Sliver
- I pretend it's the mana cost. Honestly, probably should slot in as it makes slivers seem less threatening and draws cards
Removal
One of the weak spots of the deck. There is some spot creature removal and then you transition to mass permanent removal. My meta sees a decent amount of planeswalkers which is why there is
Cataclysm
instead of
Wrath of God
since Cataclysm sacrifices all walkers.
Harmonic Sliver
is the only form of enchantment removal I pack, so
All Is Dust
conveniently gets rid of everything. If you can swing it, responding to your own
All Is Dust
with
Teferi's Protection
is the way to go.
Terminate
has put in work but should be
Assassin's Trophy
or an O-ring-like effect.
Reality Shift
is nasty and I've contemplated adding
Imprisoned in the Moon
for greater effect.
Cyclonic Rift
is missing because I hate that card.
Interaction
End of the story is there's always room for more. From
Counterspell
to
Disallow
and
Mana Drain
, it never hurts to have more options. The issue is space.
Ramp
Running a bunch of zero-drop artifacts that tap for colors supplemented by
Dark Ritual
and
Cryptolith Rite
with
Gaea's Cradle
somewhere in the 99.
Mana Crypt
and
Mana Vault
are slick but in the beginning, I don't have a lot of need for generic mana. Cards like
Nature's Lore
seem useful but I can't find a cut.
Draw
Another weak spot in the deck.
Mirri's Guile
lets you play fast and loose with lands and sets up your draws.
Sylvan Library
is a draw engine at the cost of life, which can become troublesome. As a sliver player, you eat a lot of hate and early game focus.
Rhystic Study
is fantastic. "Are you going to pay" is annoying but I'll trade annoying for another card in hand.
Sensei's Divining Top
can do admirable work in the place of Guile and can draw your tutored card off the top. This deck plays a mostly full tutor package, the difficulty is getting the card off the top of the library for Vampiric/Mystical/Enlightened. I've considered adding
Scroll Rack
to dig for needed cards and
Necropotence
to make sure I have a full grip at all times. I'm open to thoughts.
Graveyard
This deck for the most part pretends it doesn't exist. You have
Patriarch's Bidding
to get those slivers back that failed
Frenetic Sliver
coin flip,
Elixir of Immortality
to try everything again, and
Shred Memory
but let's face it, that's getting Transmuted. A good friend plays a lot of graveyard decks, so I feel hesitant to play straight graveyard hate like
Tormod's Crypt
,
Rest in Peace
, or
Planar Void
, however, the more I lose, the less I care.
Winning
Couple of ways:
-
Brute force- Set up
Intruder Alarm
with
Sliver Overlord
+/-
Training Grounds
alongside a haste sliver and mana sliver. Drop all slivers, end all lives. Have yet to win a 4 person game this way.
-
Blasphemous Act
- Get
Spiteful Sliver
out there with enough other slivers to drop everyone's life total.
-
Infect/Poison:-
Virulent Sliver
with
Bonescythe Sliver
with evasion and watch the poison counters stack up. Can use
Triumph of the Hordes
to speed this up or simply Triumph with evasion. A quick combo that relatively few see coming is
Triumph of the Hordes
,
Blasphemous Act
, and
Spiteful Sliver
. All you need are two other slivers and it's gg baby. Not a popular win, but an unexpected one. May benefit from holding counterspell in hand and made me flirt with
Boseiju, Who Shelters All
to make sure it pops. This is how I usually win.
-
The Queen- Use
Sliver Queen
with
Basal Sliver
and
Lavabelly Sliver
to end everyone's life. You need to make that first token, then it's good night sweet prince.
