i'm fairly new to new to magic, so please forgive me if any of my suggestions seem foolish. when i first started playing magic, a friend of mine and i had come up with an idea for a sliver control deck. i have just built a proxy deck for it, and will hopefully test it out against some friends this weekend, but i wanted to see what some more experience magic players thought of it.
spells 20
4 path to exile
4 swords to plowshare
4 counterspell
2 oblivion ring
2 crucible of worlds
2 rule of law
2 telepathy
lands 23
4 reflecting pool
4 gemstone mine
3 vivid meadow
3 vivid creek
3 forest
3 island
3 plains
total 60
the win condition is to have sliver legion and either sliver queen or brood sliver out and basically build an army and swing for a lot. simple enough, right?
well that alone seemed rather week, thus all the control in the deck. sliver legion was added to help me get my win condition, and though he is not a part of it, haveing a possible 7/7 on turn 5 never hurts. all my bombs are 5 color, so land was an issue. i'm hopeing that with the vivids, reflecting pools, gemhide slivers, and the gemstone mine/crucible of worlds combo, i will have little to no land issues.
i realize that this deck is slow, and has a lot of small creatures, but the control should do something to prevent me from being completely overrun before i can get out some defence, right? and is the anyway for me to protect against something like volcanic fallout before i get legion out? maybe and eldrazi monument or something?
and i'm not so sure about 3 vivid creek and 3 vivid meadow, vs. 2 vivid creek, 2 vivid meadow, and 2 vivid grove.
any ideas, comments, or suggestions you have would be much appreciated. also, i have absolutely no side board, so ideas for that would also be welcomed.
edit: i'm not sure how to make a tagged deck list, so i just created a deck on tapped-out so you all don't have to look up every card.
i realize that this deck is slow, and has a lot of small creatures, but the control should do something to prevent me from being completely overrun before i can get out some defence, right?
Unfortunately, no, not in vintage. You have counterspell, which, at _best_, you can cast on turn 2. But most vintage decks would have already been winning at that point, and frankly counterspell isn't nearly enough. If you have some way of putting out sliver queen on turn 1 (and even then), then you're on the right track.
My suggestion would be to post this deck in casual rather than vintage. There are many players who dabble in slivers and may you can pick up good advice there.
Anyway:
Consider replacing your lands with dual lands. tropical island, underground sea, tundra, and the like. They have next to no drawbacks compared to, say, vivid creek, which comes into play tapped.
Your sliver deck is atypical. Most sliver decks would rather spam out on the lower casting cost slivers (muscle sliver, sinew sliver, crystalline sliver) because it means they can put the pressure on very early. As it is, the earliest turn you can put out sliver queen is on turn 5, and during turns 1 to 4 you're doing next to nothing, and on the odd chance that you do put out queen on turn 5, you're tapped out and can't use your counterspell. Zap goes the sliver queen. They strategy is a bit fragile. Your other slivers aren't too much of a threat and will likely just be ignored.
Telepathy is weak card. As you get more experienced, you will learn to know your what your opponent is playing even without cards like telepathy. It really doesn't do anything.
While crucicle of worls lets your put your lands back into play, it doesn't really contribute to your overall strategy. Replacing your lands with better ones will mean you don't have to worry about them going to the graveyard as you use them up, unlike gemstone mine. If you really like crucible, then include 1 strip mine and wastelands in your deck.
Path to exile is just asking to be spanked. You DO NOT WANT to give lands to your opponent, even if it means killing his creature. You already have swords to plowshares for that.
Rule of law is primarily useful against combo decks. While there are combo decks in vintage, most of them would have finished the game by the time you cast rule of law on turn 3, or can just boince it back to your hand before comboing. You have to find a way to cast it preferably on turn 1 or 2 if your really want it to make a difference. In casual, there aren't really that many combo decks to go around. Overall, its just not worth putting in the main deck most of the time.
For a control sliver deck, I'd start along the lines of:
sorry, i did not see the casual section. i just posted here because it didn't fit in standard, extended, or legacy. i have posted the same thing casual now.
and thank you for the advice, i will take it into account.
here is the basic list of what i have so far.
creatures 17
2 sliver legion
2 sliver queen
2 sliver overlord
3 plated sliver
4 gemhide sliver
4 brood sliver
spells 20
4 path to exile
4 swords to plowshare
4 counterspell
2 oblivion ring
2 crucible of worlds
2 rule of law
2 telepathy
lands 23
4 reflecting pool
4 gemstone mine
3 vivid meadow
3 vivid creek
3 forest
3 island
3 plains
total 60
the win condition is to have sliver legion and either sliver queen or brood sliver out and basically build an army and swing for a lot. simple enough, right?
well that alone seemed rather week, thus all the control in the deck. sliver legion was added to help me get my win condition, and though he is not a part of it, haveing a possible 7/7 on turn 5 never hurts. all my bombs are 5 color, so land was an issue. i'm hopeing that with the vivids, reflecting pools, gemhide slivers, and the gemstone mine/crucible of worlds combo, i will have little to no land issues.
i realize that this deck is slow, and has a lot of small creatures, but the control should do something to prevent me from being completely overrun before i can get out some defence, right? and is the anyway for me to protect against something like volcanic fallout before i get legion out? maybe and eldrazi monument or something?
and i'm not so sure about 3 vivid creek and 3 vivid meadow, vs. 2 vivid creek, 2 vivid meadow, and 2 vivid grove.
any ideas, comments, or suggestions you have would be much appreciated. also, i have absolutely no side board, so ideas for that would also be welcomed.
edit: i'm not sure how to make a tagged deck list, so i just created a deck on tapped-out so you all don't have to look up every card.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/sliver-legion-control/
Unfortunately, no, not in vintage. You have counterspell, which, at _best_, you can cast on turn 2. But most vintage decks would have already been winning at that point, and frankly counterspell isn't nearly enough. If you have some way of putting out sliver queen on turn 1 (and even then), then you're on the right track.
My suggestion would be to post this deck in casual rather than vintage. There are many players who dabble in slivers and may you can pick up good advice there.
Anyway:
Consider replacing your lands with dual lands. tropical island, underground sea, tundra, and the like. They have next to no drawbacks compared to, say, vivid creek, which comes into play tapped.
Your sliver deck is atypical. Most sliver decks would rather spam out on the lower casting cost slivers (muscle sliver, sinew sliver, crystalline sliver) because it means they can put the pressure on very early. As it is, the earliest turn you can put out sliver queen is on turn 5, and during turns 1 to 4 you're doing next to nothing, and on the odd chance that you do put out queen on turn 5, you're tapped out and can't use your counterspell. Zap goes the sliver queen. They strategy is a bit fragile. Your other slivers aren't too much of a threat and will likely just be ignored.
Telepathy is weak card. As you get more experienced, you will learn to know your what your opponent is playing even without cards like telepathy. It really doesn't do anything.
While crucicle of worls lets your put your lands back into play, it doesn't really contribute to your overall strategy. Replacing your lands with better ones will mean you don't have to worry about them going to the graveyard as you use them up, unlike gemstone mine. If you really like crucible, then include 1 strip mine and wastelands in your deck.
Path to exile is just asking to be spanked. You DO NOT WANT to give lands to your opponent, even if it means killing his creature. You already have swords to plowshares for that.
Rule of law is primarily useful against combo decks. While there are combo decks in vintage, most of them would have finished the game by the time you cast rule of law on turn 3, or can just boince it back to your hand before comboing. You have to find a way to cast it preferably on turn 1 or 2 if your really want it to make a difference. In casual, there aren't really that many combo decks to go around. Overall, its just not worth putting in the main deck most of the time.
For a control sliver deck, I'd start along the lines of:
4 sinew sliver
4 crystalline sliver
3 winged sliver
3 aether vial
3 counterbalance
3 sensei's divining top
4 swords to plowshares
4 tropical island
2 savannah
3 wasteland
1 strip mine
Note that that skeleton of a deck isn't really that great either for vintage.
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
and thank you for the advice, i will take it into account.