With slivers finally back in action after six long years it seems like a lot of people have forgotten the ABC's of a sliver deck.A: Always be ramping.B: Buff the hell out of your slivers.C: Charge, charge, charge.
Here's the game plan:
Turn 1: Mountain -- Striking Sliver is a MUST if you've got it in your hand. If you have the misfortune of not pulling one in your opening hand that's okay because you're gonna start ramping shortly.
Turn 2: Forest -- Hopefully you got out your Striking Sliver and now you're getting ready to ramp. Manaweft Sliver it is. If you're lucky enough to have a second striking sliver in your hand then you can put out a second one but odds are you don't.
Turn 3: Plains -- Play a Blur Sliver on turn 3 and you can tap for an additional three mana to get out Hive Stirrings or any necessary sliver card that will help protect you against an opponent. Alternatively you can just stick with four mana and throw down a Predatory Sliver and a Sentinel Sliver for 5 damage worth of first strike blocking or a Bonescythe Sliver to get ready to charge.
Turn 4: Throw down any land, you already have mana for days -- If you played a Blur Sliver and Hive Stirrings then you're sitting on a potential 9 mana to play hastened slivers that can either tap for mana right away to flood if you're confident in your life total or you can put out some beefy blockers. I am personally fond of Battle Sliver and Bonescythe Sliver at this point to start getting some strong blockers on the field that can do 18 damage to any attacking creatures.
Turn 5: If by this turn you can't instantly crush any opponent with at least 30 damage then you have just experienced a bad draw worthy of the record books and have probably already lost the game.
Since there's only one set of slivers to pull from for standard and also no sliver cycling, the card options are a little limited and standard sliver decks require much more play-it-by-ear strategy than modern sliver decks. You'll find quickly that the most important thing with sliver decks is to mana ramp as fast as you can. Beyond that, maintain as many blockers as the situation demands.
P.S. If you love theme decks this is a great throwback but be ready to put in the coin because a lot of slivers are currently very pricey.
