A PLANESWALKER'S GUIDE TO ALL THINGS SLIVER OVERLORD
"Death couldn't contain the slivers. What made us think we could?"
—Riptide Project researcher
Slivers: a living example of will over substance, by Venser of Urborg the Sojourner, archaeologist, artificer, and planeswalker
"Much has been said of the eusocial, predatory creatures colloquially dubbed 'slivers' since the disaster that befell Otaria. It is commonly agreed between the scholars that escaped the obliteration of Tolaria that the sliver collective was originally found by the crew of the legendary Weatherlight skyship in the artificial plane known as Rath. While it is beyond the scope of this treatise to shed extensive light on Rath, it should be noted that the plane had been used by the nefarious servants of Yawgmoth to collect specimens and all manner of horrors from planes both known and unknown--a fact that effectively obscures their original home plane until new realities are discovered.
"What accounts remain of Gerrard's and Sisay's crews reveal that the slivers had been used by the then-appointed ruler of the plane, Volrath, as a defense against intrusion into his stronghold, and they all were the offspring of a single gigantic specimen simply known as the Sliver Queen. (Similarities with ants and bees are immediately notable.) Sparse logs of exchanges between a sentient silver golem and this Queen indicate that it was sentient as well; if that is the case with other breeds of this species, it has not yet been made known to us.
"At the time of Rath's great overlay onto Dominaria, the stronghold beneath which the Sliver Queen and her brood nested materialized within an Urborg volcano; its caldera being reignited by Coalition forces and Yawgmoth's manifestation over Urborg itself exterminated the whole of the sliver species. Cephalid Empress Llawan led an effort, now commonly known as the Riptide Project, to bring back from extinction the many lifeforms that were effectively annihilated during the Phyrexian War; its catastrophic results are described in detail elsewhere.
"The more recent development of the species warrants attention, however: after being contested by the late planeswalkers Freyalise and Windgrace and my old nemesis, Oleg il-Dal the Weaver King, the sliver collective has once again been free to multiply, but while its numbers have swelled it has not done so to the point of overwhelming the continental landmass of Dominaria as it did with the island realm of Otaria. Why this has not happened is probably a matter of speculation for many a mage and sage, though some point at particular swarms behaving in an uncannily organized and regimented manner more proper of a self-aware community--if this were to be true, then the collective mind of the slivers either is on the threshold of sentience or has already achieved that state."
First things first... to the Caesar render the things that are Caesar's:
Contributions: a TON of people, really, but to be honest, without Gref and DanzBorin this thread wouldn't have gotten this far.
Insightful comments: cmetc1999, iliurgul
Tons of cool ideas: irpotential (make sure you check his decklist here)
***NOTICE***
This is very much a work still in progress. Even if I someday can say it's more or less as complete a resource as I would wish it to be, I still believe it'll be subject to frequent changes and updates.
The decklist I'm currently using is featured on my own profile if you want to take a look at what I'm doing right now.
Why would I want to play slivers?
Venser's treatise continues:
"Details about encounters with the sliver collective can be abundantly gleaned from accounts describing the ravaging of Otaria, and while varying in quality and substance, they all point at the incredible adaptability of their species; no countermeasure ever devised would serve to hold slivers at bay for any significant period of time. A paramount example of this was the fate of the college of wizards that governed the Riptide Project--when it became evident that containment efforts were no longer effective and the only solution to the outbreak was the extermination of the specimens, the hive mind had already evolved resistance to their spellcasting."
If someone asked me that, I'd say: because I've loved them from day 1. Hey, I even went as far as building an impossibly convoluted deck by the time of the Tempest/Urza's Saga cycles for a Nationals qualifier that replaced the then-nonexistent Gemhide Sliver with the then-existent Citanul Hierophants and relied on Aluren and Recycle to win...
*AHEM* But I digress. (Sorry. I kind of do that.) First, I'm sure you would love the Xenomorph-ish feel of slivers. (I know I did when I started playing Magic.) And slivers are cool. No one argues with that.
"How would Volrath sustain the sliver hive underneath his stronghold has been pondered upon by several scholars I have met in my travels. One of them was kind enough to provide references to an arcane item called a 'hivestone', which was probably used by the late evincar in clusters to keep the creatures at bay, but that does not explain how the slivers procured enough sustenance to survive--especially not when considering recent accounts on the current state of the Otarian landmass, stripped down to the bedrock of every living thing other than slivers tunneling and scuttling about. Perhaps the only quality that matches the magnitude of their adaptability is their unimaginable voraciousness."
And yep, there's got to be a catch. More than one. Sadly.
You need to have a very large wallet and not care about spending a load on them. Building a slivers deck on budget is simply not possible. The mana base alone is ridiculously expensive: all 10 fetches, all 10 duals, all 10 shocklands, and 5-7 other lands of your choice... which are usually ridiculously expensive too.
You should not mind playing as de facto Archenemy. The moment you land your third sliver (heck, sometimes just your second, or ever your first!) everyone else on the table will start glancing at you nervously. Board wipes will be tutored, spot removals targeted and cast. Make no mistake, slivers are cool because slivers are scary. Sounds cheesy, right? It may be, but darn if it isn't true.
Collectively, slivers are fragile. Looking for big fatties? Go play wurms or dragons. Most slivers are puny 1/1s or 2/2s. You have few heavy hitters, and they scare everyone into spending their removal at the drop of a hat. If you hope to win, you have to make your slivers work with one another. Look for synergies, experiment, see what works out for you.
And why Overlord and, say, not the Queen?
I said before that slivers are versatile, and the Overlord is the most flexible of the Unholy Trinity. Sliver Legion may be better for aggro, and Sliver Queen is frighteningly deadly as a combo enabler, but builds featuring these as commanders will be woefully reliant on tutors or plain topdecking to get what they need.
The Overlord, on the other hand, may be slower, but suffers from no such weakness.
Not much to discuss about the first ability, really. Pay 3, fetch a sliver card from your deck. (Note that this may include the changeling tribal nonpermanent cards!) Everyone gets to see it. Sounds like a drawback, but if played smart you can turn it to your advantage. Example: fetch Harmonic Sliver and the opposition will be wary of fielding much in the manner of artifacts.
The second ability gets interesting. For a paltry 3, you permanently gain control of something with the sliver subtype. Note that shroud and color protection do interfere with this ability, so to profit from it you have to lower your shields. Flash-casting your slivers can cover this flank. And even if it doesn't, hey, no risk, no glory!
Finally, it's HUGE. 3 unblocked attacks from him, and a player packs up and watches the game from the sidelines. Given a few slivers in play, the Overlord can one-shot anyone. Synergy FTW!
So, Overlord is a toolbox. But what tools does it need?
If you're a maniacal masochist obsessed with detail as I am, you may want to go and dig into the next immediate post the third post of this thread, where I've detailed both an extensive discussion on each sliver there is and on cards any sliver player worth his salt would like to consider. Also, the changelogs will be posted there, mostly for the aggro build since it's the one I'm working on the most right now.
If you've got more common sense and straightforwardness than what I got, then simply read on!
Suppose you convinced me. Now how do I play this?
Gref's contribution is the perfect way to sketch out an answer to this question:
If I had to offer up one strategy for playing slivers I would say play another deck Slivers are really for the sadists that love to torture themselves over deck building and fine tuning.
The sliver archetype rewards planning and follow through. I cannot stress that enough.
All three methods are viable. None of the three will guarantee victory.
Combo
Combo is extremely powerful and extremely fragile. The easiest way to victory via combo usually involves Mana Echoes and Sliver Queen and some sort of "game ender". The game ending cards are often some form of utility sliver. Popular choices include; Necrotic Sliver, Acidic Sliver, and Cautery Sliver.
More often than not a combo deck is loaded with tutors, card draw, mass and spot removal, and counter back up.
*Sliver Overlord can be played as an alternative general for combo. This is much slower as opposed to playing Queen, but allows you to assemble your combo pieces.
Aggro
Aggro is straightforward and simple. Sliver Legion shines here. As each sliver hits the field they get juiced up a bit. This effectively increases the potential threat value on every sliver. Aggro lists are certain to see the highest concentration of slivers compared to Combo or Voltron lists. Clones and Changelings should also find a few spots in the deck.
Tutors, ard draw, spot removal, and counter backup also belong.
*Sliver Overlord can be played here and again, assemble your swarm. Slower for sure, but much more methodical. Relies less on the top deck.
^Sliver Queen can be played here to pump out a token or two every turn and eventually overrun your opponent.
Voltron
Voltron builds are great for putting your opponent on the spot. Sliver Overlord when resolved, puts your opponent on a three turn clock. If that wasn't enough, you can tutor up protection, evasion, and buffing to try and speed things up.
Tutors, top deck manipulators, counter backup, mass and spot removal, and light card draw will see play here.
*Sliver Legion can be used here. Usually accompanied by slivers providing out right evasion, Legion gets big enough to swing through for game in a couple of turns.
That being said, time to start elaborating on our decklists!
I began playing slivers in EDH with a deck using an aggro approach, but power escalation in our pod forced an evolution towards a different strategy. That need birthed this decklist. Be ye warned: when properly built and played, it's a cold-hearted merciless uncaring ***** to play against.
But since you kept reading I'll assume you don't care about that insignificant detail, so combo it is. And that is why, even if our general is the Overlord, having the Queen will never hurt. Her Ladyship is a fearsome combo machine, who will almost always mean game for you if you play her while you have both Gemhide Sliver and Heart Sliver -or their M14 equivalents- over the table.
Given that setup, Intruder Alarm will mean you can have infinite mana of any color, and thus, crank out sliver after sliver ad infinitum. Without number indeed.
Basal Sliver is another way to achieve the same result. Bonus points for being an all-sliver combination
Mana Echoes will mean infinite colorless mana. Plus: you don't even need those two exact slivers on the table; any two will do.
Having infinite slivers does not necessarily win you the match, however! Something as paltry as a Fog can mean your swarm is rendered powerless, only to be obliterated the next turn by a board wipe. Since we can't let that happen, we have to pack one or more of the following:
Of tutors and other ways of rearranging your spellbook
Gref just said: combo strategies are powerful, but fragile. And they have plenty of weaknesses, not the least of which being that you, uh, need to have all the pieces for it to work. And that means: tutors!
At the very least, you should ship Demonic Tutor or its cheaper counterpart, Diabolic Tutor; both will fetch you a single card which you need not revealing, no questions asked.
Finally, Wargate. A bit on the expensive side, right--but it fetches a permanent from your library straight into play. Can be counter-proofed via Boseiju. How cool is that?
Some of the staples of combo decks are cards so reviled that they're banned in certain EDH formats:
If it seems overkill in your book, ditch any one other than the Top. (Or the Top itself if you're on 1v1 French.)
Countermagic: the fine art of ruining someone else's plan
And because you have to both protect your plays and disrupt those of your opponents, I ended up packing a lot of countermagic. Note that learning what to counter and what to let slide is quite the challenge; the more you know about the decks and overarching strategies of your adversaries, the more likely you'll make the right choice. (But that's a topic for another whole thread. I myself would welcome tips on the matter.)
Instead of the good old Counterspell, we're fielding Voidslime. You'll never be short of green mana. And countering abilities can be crucial.
Rewind is one of the most blatantly overpowered counterspells ever made.
Cryptic Command is like a toolbox filled with all flavors of nasty.
If you are either filthy rich or incurably insane (or both) you can consider both Force of Will and Mana Drain. Me, I'm beyond hope, and on top of that, without a penny to my name now.
Hinder and Spell Crumple are especially useful as tucking effects (and thus much reviled).
Render Silent I choose because it's never a bad idea to delay an opponent's plans for an entire turn.
Pact of Negation is unspeakably useful, but a double-edged knife--it can make the temptation to Armageddon the board almost irresistible for an opponent who is able to...
Nonland mana sources, or feeding your Swarm creatively
A reactive strategy -which is, at least in part, what we are pursuing here- has several problems, one of them being that you have to have more mana available than your opponents--if you hope to have enough resources to both make your play and counteract moves by your adversaries, that is. And you fix this issue by having lots of ramp, mana fixers and mana doublers:
Crucible of Worlds has a killer synergy with your fetchlands. Having it in play and keeping it in play ensures you get land drops every turn.
And, out of the many ramp spells available, three stand out in my book No, make it two now.
Hunting Wilds fetches you two forest cards that come into play tapped. For a further 3G, they become creatures. I myself never resorted to this ability, but it may come in handy if you're desperate for defense.
Skyshroud Claim also fetches you two forest cards, but it puts lands into play untapped, and thus potentially costs only 2
Shard Convergence. Given a solid manabase you can search for pretty much anything you need. Ditched out in favor of Krosan Verge.
More cards, more plans, more options
You also *have* to have more hands in card than anyone else. How are you going to profit from that huge mana base you've just built?
Phyrexian Arena is an excellent first choice. 1 card for 1 life--like a miniature Yawgmoth's Bargain, but that one is banned to hell and back, so we settle for this one. I've noted decks packing blue love to steal this.
Rhystic Study is a no-brainer. Whether they choose to pay or not, your opponents lose.
This is the whole logic behind packing Dormant Sliver. Make sure you have a sac outlet available if you want to win via combat damage, however.
More minions and thralls to bolster your ranks
Now, things are starting to shape up a bit, but we're woefully short on our sliver count. So the following terrors join the few we have:
Harmonic Sliver. Sorry, Sharuum, but you're going back to the bench.
Hibernation Sliver. Sometimes you just can't dodge that board wipe. And your meta is overripe with graveyard hate. So, 2 life in exchange for another chance at casting them again? Sign me up, anytime.
Homing Sliver. Your back-up answer to tucking effects for those moments when you can't rely on the Overlord.
Quick Sliver. Slivers with flash. Just imagine it.
Sliver Legion. While seemingly out of place, this one allows for a backup strategy of sorts.
And now, for the slav--errr, thralls to the swarm:
Academy Rector. Having this in play forces your opponents to refrain from attacking you, resort to fliers, or spend resources to exile/bounce it. All good things.
Amoeboid Changeling will let you indulge into the wacky stealy antics blue is so fond of, or turn one of your-non Sliver thralls into temporary members of the swarm for whatever purpose you need.
Eternal Witness. Graveyard recursion that can be itself recursed.
Asset removal instruments: of scalpels and cataclysm devices
So far, we've listed necessary (or useful) pieces and the means to defeat attempts at depriving us of them, but sometimes... well, alright, very often you'll find that the balance of power in the table has dangerously shifted towards another player, and unless the player in question is stopped in his tracks he or she will swamp you. That's why we must pack the Magic equivalent to weapons of mass destruction--board wipes.
All is Dust is ridiculously useful here. Combine it with Harmonic Sliver to fry whatever pesky artifacts survive it and Necrotic Sliver to deal with the Elder Go--err, the Eldrazi.
Cyclonic Rift has supplanted Austere Command for the time being... until it gets banned, that is. Instant-speed bouncing of EVERY NONLAND PERMANENT THAT IS NOT YOURS. It doesn't get much more overkill than this.
Catastrophe is my third and last pick. Having slivers that can both turn your whole swarm into mana rocks and that can naturalize as an ETB effect means that annihilating everyone's land base can mean victory.
And since we're on the WMD topic, we should discuss one of their most glaring weaknesses: collateral damage. You see, massively destructive weapons will kill your enemy, your neighbors, your pets, their pets, innocent bystanders, endangered species, any elephants or parrots in the vicinity, and you. In short, they are about wholesale, indiscriminate destruction. And sometimes that's not just unnecessary, that's inconvenient, not to mention downright suicidal; so, these are our scalpels, razor-sharp instruments of removal.
Bant Charm--any one effect results in a single card out of play.
Hull Breach. Blow up, dispel, OR blow up AND dispel. I can't think of many removal pieces more flexible than this one.
Maelstrom Pulse--another token wiper doubling as a spot removal.
Vindicate--once again, this one needs no explanation.
Back from the grave: overcoming extinction
But it's not always your enemy that gets nuked. Sometimes you're out of counterspells. Or, worse still, you've overreached yourself and are fighting a war against the whole table, and you've exhausted your resources. The result is the same: your whole swarm ends up dead. These cards are meant to help us bring our slivers back into the game, but be warned: both require careful use. It's frighteningly easy to fall into the trap of desperately wanting to get rid of something, only to reanimate another beastie that's even worse.
Odds and bits: hard to label them, hard not to love them
And now, some shenanigans that add to the efficiency of your swarm. You may think these are optional, but trust me, you want to have them in play. It bears noting: they WILL draw fire. Protect them well, or play them when the opposition has exhausted their resources (read: tapped out) and cannot respond.
Training Grounds makes your slivers less demanding, which greatly boosts your Overlord's tutoring capabilities, and potentially turns them into terrifying lockdown machines. I mean, 1 + saccing a sliver to blow up something?
War spares not the brave but the cowardly. - Anacreon
Last, but definitely not least, lands! Given the color identity of your deck, it should not surprise anybody that this is, by far, the most painfully expensive part to build. Especially when considering the starting point:
All 10 duals
All 10 shocklands
All 10 fetchlands
7 misc utility lands
Since the usefulness of duals, shocklands and fetchlands is immediately evident, we're obviously going to focus on the 'utility' lands.
Gaea's Cradle. Given our small creature count, it would stand to reason that the mind-boggling potential of this land is not fully exploited here. Experience says this argument to be plain wrong. Especially when the Queen is in play. <evil grin>
Maze of Ith or Mystifying Maze. Both have a very useful defensive ability, and very different drawbacks. The first one adds no mana, and the second one has a high activation cost (and can potentially backfire on you if the attacking creature has any ETB effect).
Note that I listed more than 7 lands. I run them all and made room for them leaving a few fetches and shocklands out. Which ones get the ax in your build is something for you to consider.
Now that we've made our picks, the fun part--the PLAN!
While it is a generalisation, the main aim in warfare is to organise situations where you can bring overwhelming force to bear and curbstomp your enemy. If you aim to fight fair, you are doing it wrong.
- TVTropes.org on the myth of playing fair
Critical bits
Combo decks like this one depend on a straightforward strategy--put together your combo pieces and protect them as you do that. And your possible winning combos are:
Once you get any one of these combos rolling, it's a mere matter of fetching Necrotic Sliver and blowing up everything in sight.
Note the Queen always being a required piece. This should be enough to realize how big a mistake it is to play her without at least one layer of defense to screen her--be it countermagic, shroud, whatever. However, sometimes she WILL get exiled, despite your best efforts, forcing you to switch to plan B--which amounts to simply playing as many slivers as you can, putting the Legion into play, and assimilating/butchering your enemies one at a time. You can either achieve this the old way, or by raising them all at once via Living Death or Patriarch's Bidding.
I mentioned it already, but it bears repeating--slivers scare people, perhaps to ridiculous extremes IMO. I mean, with beasts like the Eldrazi around, there should be much more threatening things to worry about, right? In theory, yes. But in practice, whenever you play a sliver, everyone will put an abrupt stop to whatever they were doing or thinking about, check what you just cast, reassess what your budding swarm can do, and react accordingly. I've had it happen to me every single time. It almost merits a rule: the opposition won't overlook what slivers can do.
From Rath with love: making your worst fears come true
So, you can't surprise them. That sucks to no end. You can turn this problem on its head by playing into your opponents' fears, though. Hold on to your counterspells and defensive slivers and taunt your enemies into reacting when you can profit from it. Quick Sliver can be one hell of a bait, especially when you have Crystalline Sliver or Root Sliver in hand. When they get used to the idea that targeting your stuff is a waste of good cards, they'll feel far less inclined to do so. Hell, you may even get to slip through a few plays uncontested out of fear of retaliation if you pull it off.
Mindless instruments of death and despair
Another plan is to abuse your removal. Necrotic Sliver and Harmonic Sliver can mean you pack 20+ permanent removal cards. Save your countermagic for threats to your graveyard -you want Living Death to mean game- if the environment is heavy on it, and feel free to spam away if it is not. (Save your tucking effects for commanders, though.) Given our shortage of fatties and our relatively small creature count, you may want to sac slivers on preemptive strikes or, failing that, all-out defense. It would be nice not to reach this stage, though.
Answer 1: Field and protect a mana doubler long enough to get the resources needed to fetch and play all required slivers in the same turn. Mana Reflection is your absolute best friend here, because it makes your little terrors yield twice when Gemhide Sliver is in play. Of course, it's got a target painted over itself the size of a skyscraper, and a fear factor equivalent to an Ebola outbreak, so it's no easy task. Your only defense, short of packing stuff like Privileged Position, is sculpting your hand with as much countermagic as humanly possible.
Answer 2: Bomb everyone else back to the Stone Age first. There are multiple ways to achieve this, but any single one constitutes a case of borderline douchebaggery, and your pod will hate you. Nevertheless, the build packs what's required to achieve the objective: either pair Catastrophe with Gemhide Sliver, or All is Dust with Ghostflame Sliver. The first one will leave everyone with not even a penny on their pockets while you have (hopefully) 4+ slivers to toy with. The second one is more of a reset button that will spare your swarm.
Answer 3: Play kingmaker, or cop. (Or both.) That means turning your slivers into suicide bombs via Necrotic Sliver and liberally abusing them, or using Unnatural Selection and Amoeboid Changeling to turn a creature an opponent controls into a sliver for your mutual advantage (i.e., give shroud to something you want to remain in play, or confer haste to a critter that can potentially knock someone other than you out of play).
What even slivers fear
What's coming up next is a list of some things you may have thought about already; namely, cards that threaten this deck, and are thus primary targets for counterspelling or removal:
Blood Moon and its creature equivalent absolutely rape this deck. Trying to incorporate basic lands to mitigate their impact only resulted in wrecking the mana base, so these two are something to live with you'll definitely not want to live with.
Iona, Shield of Emeria wrecks you if your commander is not in play, whichever color its owner chooses, but if he picks black (removal), blue (countermagic) or white (more removal) you're well and truly screwed. All is Dust can still save you, providing it is not countered.
Stranglehold will hurt everyone across the board, but will hurt you more than most. It negates your commander's potential as a toolbox, your tutors, and your ramp spells and effects. You should only let this one live as long as it stops someone other than you from winning outright.
I've begun to see Humility quite frequently. To my boundless dismay.
If you get a Curse of Exhaustion hung on your neck you may as well concede the game.
Anything that exiles your creatures will tear a big hole into your scheme. This is a major problem the whole build is geared against, but still it bears noting.
(To be expanded. Greatly so.)
What to expect when drawing your first seven cards
An average hand, to be honest. Quite abundant in mana, though lacking in early-game accelerators. One great drawing engine and a potential combo piece, but no ways to protect them. High Market is a dead weight that would be much more useful late in game.
Better, but not impressive. That Arena is tempting--it could give quite an interesting advantage early ingame, providing you draw means to defend it. The slivers are very useful too and will allow you to blow up two threats. And that fetchland can get you blue mana for the countermagic you will inevitably need.
At first glance, this one looks like a godsend. In addition to the obvious benefits of the Lantern, the Top, a fetchland and the Crucible make for land drops and for reshuffling your library -and its first three cards- every turn. The danger here is that such a brutal start will quickly alienate the whole pod against you.
The Swarmlord's Guide to Sliver Supremacy: leading your species to victory
Since handling a kickass hand can be quite delicate in multiplayer EDH -misusing it usually means you get curbstomped early on-, I'm going to assume you draw something similar to the last example. The key word here is restraint: unless your opponents have very bad starts, getting a turn 5 or turn 6 victory versus three other players is very, very hard to achieve. You may attain a few of these on the first few matches you play with this deck if you do it right, but smart adversaries learn fast.
Turn 1
So, of that dream hand, you play Command Tower, cast your Sol Ring, and then pass. You got everything you need at the moment. Study everyone else's first turn carefully - you'll most likely see other Rings, a Top, or more exotic stuff like Burgeoning.
Turn 2
If someone did outdo you, you can think of fielding the Crucible right now; if not, go ahead with the Top. Play the Tundra -- you may or may not have drawn countermagic this turn, but you want the opposition on their toes.
Turn 3
Things start picking up the pace; stuff like Phyrexian Arena will surely hit the table. You are now aiming for a mana doubler, or, failing that, any of your combo pieces (Mana Echoes comes to mind). Be wary of playing critical slivers now. Surely someone else will start racking up threat by ramping up in preparation for big stuff coming up next turn; that will surely trigger a boardwipe or something in the same vein and you don't want your combo pieces on the graveyard. An ideal play now is a Maze of Ith or, even better, the Academy Rector if you get it.
Turn 4
Expect the first heavy hitter entering the battlefield now, or, failing that, the next turn. You probably have more than enough life to take hits at the moment, so by all means, let them take on you -- unless, for example, someone reanimates an Artisan of Kozilek or another scary beast. Doing that essentially equals proclaiming confidence in your chances, and that's an ego to be taken down a peg via counterspell or removal. Watch the reactions across the board, and consider the overall aggro level everyone has attained before deciding to act. Letting it through and hoping someone else gets hit is a risky ploy, though; if the ballsy player also turns out to be a canny bastard he can see through your plays and preemptively deal you a blow that's hard to recover from at this point.
If the threat is not as bad and you still have the Crucible, this is a good time to field it, and profit from the fetchland in hand. Abuse the Top for all it's worth.
Turn 5 and onwards: the mid-game
You're now on a stalling strategy, until you get your combo pieces, which is arguably your weakest phase. You have plenty of counterspells and removal to see you through while you hunt for them. Identifying targets for them is key. Unless someone turns out to be determined to kill you, don't fear taking hits. You're relatively safe until you're brought down to <20 life; at that point, you should make it unmistakably clear that no more dicking around will be allowed. Reduce every other critter to dust if you can, that's what Ghostflame Sliver is here for. If you're feeling really, really lucky, and get all the required cards and slivers, you can use Catastrophe to wreck mana bases; note that doing so puts you on a 5-turn clock on average because when (and if) everyone recovers they'll go straight for your throat.
When to bring the Swarmlord to bear
Your commander is a very 7/7-ish creature. That makes him an imposing and deadly wall if you have need of one, but avoid playing it defensively if you can -- your primary concern should be fetching as many combo pieces with it as possible, and if it gets tucked you'll be in for a world of hurt. If you're not desperate for defense, use tutors to fetch Training Grounds and/or Mana Reflection and play them before summoning the Overlord.
Going in for the kill: late game
You know you can do this when you have drawn a mana doubler and you can cast it and defend it for a turn. This, of course, means you have as much countermagic and removal available as you can hold in your hands.
If you do play Mana Reflection with a few slivers (including your commander) on the board and it survives for an entire turn, you're poised for the strike. Ideally those 'few slivers' would be Crystalline Sliver and Root Sliver to minimize exposure to countermeasures.
Worst case scenario, you need a whopping 29 mana, plus commander tax if it got killed, to cast everything on the same turn, broken down as follows:
WUBRG for the Overlord, plus 2 for each time it died
WUBRG for the Queen
2B for Basal
1G for Gemhide
1R for Heart
3 for each time you use your commander to fetch one of them
If Training Grounds is available, you save 8 -- which still leaves us with the daunting task of gathering at least 21 mana. To squeeze the most out of your worker slivers, you should play Heart or Gemhide first, then Queen, then Basal. If they all get through, you have at least 2 left on your pool, and there's no thing that stops you from using creature abilities, then you've entered a degenerate loop of infinite mana:
Use the 2 to create a Sliver token with the Queen
Tap the token for a single mana of any color
Sacrifice it for BB
Rinse and repeat until you got enough mana to fetch Sliver Legion and create enough tokens to one-shot everyone left
And thus, it's game over. The Swarm conquers!
This looks all well and good... but have you actually *PLAYED* any of this?!
Arright... where do I start... I suppose it begins when I open a Stronghold pack from among the first batch of boosters I bought, and I get a Crystalline Sliver. Whooooooa... Did I just read "Slivers cannot be targeted by spells or abilities"?
I guess I got enthralled by the Swarm back then in '99. I built that idiotic combo T2 deck and piloted it to an 8th place on a Nationals qualifier, and that was my last experience with Standard play for almost a decade. That Slivers had been rotated out was a bummer. (I was asked during the M13 prerelease about that same T2 deck. The irony.)
Fast forward to 2010, when I first learn about EDH. My brother asks me to pick something up for him at a retailer's. I go to the place... and, almost as if baiting me, the Premium Deck Slivers was the centerpiece of the merchandise on sale. I was almost giddy with delight. Snatch, race back home, and see what can I piece together using that and whatever stuff I had around to jump into the fledgling pod with my bro and pals. I can positively say the development of the deck started right there.
First idea was an aggro-ish approach, as in, cram as many slivers in as you can and wait for magic to happen. Alas, not the best of ideas. I mean, when you had to go up against powerhouses like Sisay, Mayael and Augustine, it just... would not work. That was the first decklist I posted in this thread, but, silly me, consistently replaced it without keeping a decent changelog. It would have been wonderful.
Then I go and stumble upon irpotential's decklist. It made me open my eyes wide. I went on to polish my own version of that build for almost a year, but I always found it too fragile and vulnerable to disruption. The final metamorphosis came when I decided to thin the enchantment count and go for counters. However much I hated them. I always thought I was a red player at heart... but given my change in philosophy I cannot be so sure now. A friend of mine once said that however much I hate blue, I play a lot like blue. Stinging.
And so, here we stand. I've been tweaking this build for a long while now. The local EDH scene is not that big, there's gotta be 20 steady players around here, tops, so it's no surprise that the deck has earned some degree of notoriety (as in, 'oh no, not the slivers again...'). A lot of polishing was done on the Cockatrice scene; sometimes I can be found over there, with this exact same nickname... What, you never heard of Cockatrice? Google it right away. I used to do that until the spooky wizards living by the coast shut it down.
In my experience running Queen combo, there are two options available to a savvy player in a tough meta. Your first option, and the one you're probably trying, is to ramp and get your combo gears turning in the first turns of the game. However, a promptly timed Pithing Needle will ruin you. If you're going for this strategy, I've found that free/cheap counterspells can save the day. Force of Will, Pact of Negation, Silence, Orim's Chant, or similar alternatives will prevent a blowout on your combo turn. I also recommend only casting Queen on the turn you intend to win. Depending on your setup, you should be able to cast her, tap one colorless mana, and win. If your opponent responds with a killspell or some other removal, just tap another colorless to continue your chain. This route is heavily dependent on ramp, so I recommend picking up Mana Vault, Mana Crypt, and Grim Monolith. Their drawbacks are negligible when you intend for the game to be over when people are still casting ramp spells.
Alternatively, you can play the game very slowly. You could borrow a 5C control or stax shell to pilot during the early/mid game, then in the late game, once your opponents have run out of gas and you've guaranteed you have a clear line of sight, you can initiate your combo. It's important in this strategy that you don't cast your commander until you're ready to win and that you never cast her without some form of protection, usually with countermagic. I built both of these archetypes earlier this year and experimented with both and I found that while my win/loss was better with a proxied-to-hell fast combo deck, games were more fun and interactive with a stax shell and a combo finish. If you're willing to brave casting the Queen in a stax list, she can make Smokestack a crippling game-winner by generating enough tokens to compensate. You can also run fewer tutors and only high-quality combo pieces if you go the control route because you can afford to wait until the late game to go off.
Footnotes
Once the whole primer is complete, I plan to entirely rewrite it to give it the flavor of a book authored by an in-game legend--Venser of Urborg.
After my primary decklist -combo- is completely polished, I would like to do some brainstorming to create viable lists for aggro and Voltron strategies.
...Or open this spoiler to unleash the Great Devourer!
"They are coming! I feel them scratching inside my mind, scratching, screaming, running, so many - so, so many voices. They're coming for us - flesh, body and soul!"
- Anonymous Imperial astropath
Unlike the control-combo approach, this one is far less of a cutthroat build, favoring tactics that appeal more to Johnny and Timmy players. Which is alright. Competitive formats are awash with Spikes and their antics already.
That does not mean the Tyranid--err, this incarnation of the Swarm is inoffensive. On the contrary, it can be scarily efficient, and has a lot of staying power once it has picked up the pace, on top of several plans for you to pursue.
Given that you want to win by hack-slash-carve-stabbity-chopchop tactics, you are going to need to put as many slivers on the field as quickly as possible -but not as *early* as possible!-, and they have to be big, mean and scary. Cue Sliver Legion. This is your centerpiece for combat damage strategies. Watch your opponents despair as every child of the Hive that joins the fray makes the whole swarm meaner!
In keeping with the previous point, the latest legendary member of the Swarm is a boon. Given careful sculpting of your library, having The First Sliver in play means you can pull an army out of nowhere just by casting one sliver.
Note the extremely low count of nonpermanent spells. There is a reason for that. That reason is called Primal Surge. Unleashing it potentially means LOTS of pain for everyone else. Especially when Purphoros, God of the Forge is in play. 2 damage for everyone else each time a creature of yours joins the fray can get very ugly, VERY fast.
There still is a combo built into the list, but it's a very convoluted one. Sliver Queen + Basal Sliver + Gemhide Sliver + Heart Sliver equals infinite colored mana. Limitless resources equals fielding your whole swarm. Flooding the battlefield with slivers equals assimilating the opposition. They *may* not be seeing it coming - the first time. That being the reason for saving this strategy for late game.
Groundwork: thrall labors and acquired resources
As previously noted, slivers are resource hogs. Having a toolbox commander that can tutor up anything you need has its price. And you need to fetch things to do your work; given a few lucky draws and plays you could put the Overlord on the battlefield as soon as on turn 4, at the cost of scaring the beejezus out of everyone else. Either your budding swarm ends up dead, or you have to pay a lot of life early on if you managed to play Hibernation Sliver.
So that is why you refrain from playing your slivers early on. The early turns are the province of thralls, mana rocks and shenanigans that boost your economy.
Academy Rector probably should hold the title of Chief Thrall. The array of enchantments available for him to turn into (more on this below) is simply staggering. He can bring the wrath of Purphoros on the heads of your enemies, multiply the yield of your lands via Mana Reflection, seek the aid of Karametra if your resources are low, or change the most fundamental of game rules in your favor by means of Omniscience.
Chromatic Lantern turns all your lands into Command Towers. Mind you, the more useful it is, the more tempting it becomes to blow it up - namely, it's a very juicy target when you would otherwise be mana screwed.
Coalition Relic: potentially, two mana of different colors on the same main phase. One of the best mana rocks, ever - and also one that usually stays under the radar, since most of the time there is juicier stuff around for whacking.
Crucible of Worlds. Multiplies the value of fetchlands -a very useful kind of card already- and their deck-thinning potential. This one does get whacked often, though.
Darksteel Ingot - critical for a number of reasons, not the least of which being a target for Harmonic Sliver effects that would usually blow up something else. A mana fixer that never goes away. (Seriously, who would waste targeted removal to exile *this*?!)
Expedition Map has a fundamental advantage over most other ramp effects: it gets you any one land. And, as we will see, there are plenty of targets for it, no matter how late in game you are.
Speaking of Karametra, God of Harvests: listing her as a thrall is bound to incense her worshipers. The means by which a species as alien to religion as slivers would secure her aid are lost on me, but the end results of her auspices are not. Each creature spell you cast fetches you either a forest or a plains. Read again: each one.
Mana Reflection and Omniscience I list together because they have the same purpose: multiplying the yield of available resources. A word of advice: unless the opposition is unusually weak -or just plain dumb-, they will not have a long life once they land, so you have to get the absolute most out of either.
Oracle of Mul Daya. The benefits of playing an extra land per turn should be self-explanatory. (In case they are not: two land drops per turn means having more mana to feed your Swarm. And the Queen's children are always hungry.)
Sakura-Tribe Elder. They 'become a part of the forest after death.' Actually, they may 'become a part of' any other basic land you need, not simply a forest.
Solemn Simulacrum. Puts a basic land straight onto the battlefield when joining the fray. Turns into a card when dying. A most useful bodyguard.
Listing Sword of Feast and Famine here may seem strange at first glance - until you realize how much of a boost it is to have your entire land base available for use twice per turn. And relieving your opponent of cards is almost never a bad thing, Anger and the like nothwithstanding. Gets silly with silvers having double strike and flash.
Yavimaya Elder. On death, may turn into two basic lands and a card. Cue two fewer colors to worry about, on top of increased chances of drawing useful spells on each turn. No master could ask for a more faithful defender.
Phyrexian Arena is, as always, a must, providing cheap card advantage.
What could I possibly say about Survival of the Fittest that has not been said already? The centerpiece of the most amazing aggro-combo T2 deck ever IMHO, it will serve us wonderfully well here to search for thralls beyond the reach of your commander, or for a sliver you need right now for cheap - including the Overlord itself if it gets tucked.
Training Grounds. Foes who overlook the usefulness of something that cuts your ability costs do so at their peril.
Unnatural Selection can help your Overlord to assimilate your enemies' minions into the Swarm - but it's also a wonderful political tool. There are lots of situations when you would profit from an enemy creature having the sliver subtype, especially when an opponent attacks another. Examples: give double strike to an attacker to finish off someone else, or lifelink to a defender you want to remain on the game for just a little longer.
Sadly, there is no permanent version of Vampiric Tutor other than the below-listed Rune-Scarred Demon, and running just one tutor is unacceptable.
How the Swarm deals with threats
Once Primal Surge is cast, you want to get the most bang out of your buck - possibly enough bang to bury the opposition under a living tide of screeching talons or to burn them to ashes via Purphoros. Awesome, awesome plan - with an equally GLARING weakness. Packing as few nonpermanents as possible means a very limited suite of answers to threats:
First on this list is Acidic Slime, a virtual Swiss Army knife that can tackle many threats - and to top it off it also is an intimidating defender.
Detention Sphere serves two purposes: flattening token swarms and targeted removal.
Harmonic Sliver gives every sliver a Naturalize ETB effect. Note that, if there are no targets available other than your own enchantments and artifacts, you must destroy one of yours. Use Karametra, Purphoros and the Darksteel Ingot to discharge those effects safely.
Use Necrotic Sliver to give your swarm suicide bomb capabilities. Having this on the board means setting 3 mana aside to sac it in case someone kills it; if Training Grounds and a manasliver are on the field as well, this horror can make boardwipes very costly - by allowing you to simply tap a sliver for 1 mana and then sacrifice it to destroy a permanent.
Regrettably, the few existing permanent-based mass removal effects are either too convoluted to use (think Magus of the Disk or Oblivion Stone) or too costly (consider Hythonia the Cruel or Dread Cacodemon) or too destructive for our own good (as Nevinyrral's Disk or Pernicious Deed). Thus, the following spells are a necessity - you simply cannot do with a few boardwipes of your own.
Catastrophe is either an emergency reset button, or a potential victory enabler. When your whole swarm can act like manarocks, sacrificing your entire land base to destroy your opponents' is tempting. Just make sure you win shortly afterwards. Nuking a mana base "just because" or to pointlessly extend the game will not make you any friends.
Being an instant, Cyclonic Rift allows for very interesting gimmicks - especially if those precede your turn.
In a pinch -meaning you have no better alternative-, Living Death can act as a sweeper, but since it can potentially raise something even worse from the grave than the creature(s) that warrant using it that way, its usefulness on that role is limited.
Other valued agents
These thralls are mentioned separately because they fulfill niches other than straight-on ramp or resource acquisition.
Amoeboid Changeling works pretty much like Unnatural Selection. Unlike it, you can only use it once per turn, but being a creature with the sliver subtype means it gets all of their abilities.
Eternal Witness serves the critically important purpose of retrieving a card from your graveyard. Synergizes well with Volrath's Stronghold.
The Prophet of Kruphix is insanely good. The enemy is bound to know this, too, so unless you really, really need it, try having her on the field only when you have a way to shield her from removal (via Crystalline Sliver or Sliver Hivelord) or to bounce her to hand (Hibernation Sliver). Mind you, either way requires having either Amoeboid Changeling or Unnatural Selection on the board. Okay, it seems we servants of the Swarm were not the only ones to notice just how much the Prophet was packing. We still have a similar, if less broken, alternative in the form of the Seedborn Muse, and the same considerations apply to her.
Earlier on, I mentioned Purphoros, God of the Forge and His Divine Talent For Violence. There are many creatures on this build. Enough said.
Rune-Scarred Demon: a Demonic Tutor built into a 6/6 flyer. Meant to provide solutions to late-game challenges and to be a glorified blocker.
Sun Titan provides recursion for LOTS of important things.
Her children
I'm not going to repeat myself and drone on and on about how many different slivers there are. Instead, this section is meant to emphasize why the ones below were picked.
Basal Sliver: critical component of the only combo this deck packs, and an emergency source of mana.
Bonescythe Sliver: force multiplier. Having double strike allows for many hilarious plays. Example: think you have it along with Quick Sliver for flash and Heart Sliver for haste, and one of those has a Sword of Feast and Famine equipped. That creature attacks, it is not blocked, opponent discards once, you untap your lands once - and now you flash in, say, Magma Sliver, and suddenly those 3 or 4 points of damage turn into two or three times that much. Now figure what happens if your commander is the one doing the attacking. Three guesses, the first two don't count.
Crystalline Sliver: shroud. Preferably fielded in response to some targeted effect, given a source of flash present.
Gemhide Sliver: if you ever find yourself thinking that you have too much mana then you are not playing this deck right. Tends to draw a lot of hate, and with good reason.
Heart Sliver: haste is like firepower - the more the merrier.
Hibernation Sliver: Her Ladyship's most favored child. Read more on this below.
Homing Sliver: enables a survival-like effect for slivers only. Immensely useful if your commander gets tucked!
Magma Sliver: potential winning condition, as described earlier.
Manaweft Sliver: again, critical mana source, and one with a large bullseye painted over itself.
Necrotic Sliver: again, as previously described, targeted removal.
Psionic Sliver: source of direct damage. Given afewcomplimentary slivers, it can also turn its fellows into life-draining leeches while surviving or outright ignoring the backlash.
Quick Sliver: simply fundamental. Having flash enables many plays.
Root Sliver: renders countermagic useless. When applied to slivers, at least.
Sentinel Sliver: 2 mana in exchange for granting your whole swarm the ability to attack and defend is laughably cheap. Even more important given the many slivers around with abilities requiring them to be tapped.
Shifting Sliver: the ultimate evasion-giving sliver. Barring the occasional changeling or a mirror match, it makes your swarm unstoppable.
Sliver Queen: paired with Purphoros, Her Ladyship can spell doom for your opponents later in game simply by means of having this Hephaistos expy hit each of them for 2 damage for every sliver that joins the fray.
Telekinetic Sliver: do not restrict yourself to tapping creatures that would kill you or capable of blocking your minions. Consider a combat phase where the defending player needs to block or perish... what could happen if one or more of his/her minions suddenly had a fit?
Where slivers tread
This list boasts a relatively simpler land base than its combo-control counterpart: 2 of each basic land cards, with the exception of a Mountain, of which we pack only one; all 10 dual lands; 8 fetches; and the following 'special' lands:
Cabal Coffers needs Urborg to work properly, which is more of a hindrance than what it looks like, but the results are undeniable.
Given that this is a (mostly) tribal deck, Cavern of Souls works wonders here. Counterproofing and mana fixing for your swarm!
The fastest and most common method is the use of vanguard organisms (...) Genestealers in particular will seek to infiltrate communities and create cults, not only to signal the target is ripe for consumption but to weaken its defenses against the Hive Fleet's arrival.
- Tyranid process of planetary assimilation, early stages
On this particular case, the cultists are our thralls, of which we have more than a dozen. Like their tabletop relatives, our sliver swarm will use them to acquire resources - which translates into using them and their devices to ramp ahead.
I cannot attest that the following is a perfect opening hand, but it has everything needed to jump-start your battle plan:
It may seem obvious, but note that if you have fetchlands on play side to side with a Chromatic Lantern then you need not actually using it to search for lands - even less so with an initial hand such as this. Still, doing so anyway on the basis of thinning your deck is a good idea... and the Lantern gets blasted more often the earlier in game you are.
Play the Tropical Island, tap it, cast Sol Ring, then pass. Mirri's Guile is tempting, but you can play every card in hand without needing to take a look at your library on your initial turn.
Put that Verdant Catacombs on the board, and immediately sacrifice it to search for a green dual of your choice - say, you grab a Bayou. Tap both your lands, plus Sol Ring, and play Yavimaya Elder.
You can either play the land you just drew or the Plains you had in hand, it makes no difference. Now you can use that Mirri's Guile. Hold on to your slivers. Playing them now will only get them killed, and they are both important. Canny players will know it. Leave
mana open for turning that Yavimaya Elder into goodies should someone attack you.
Suppose your Elder survived the previous turn. Draw the Arena, put the land atop your library. Play your last land.
Ideally you would want to play Phyrexian Arena to grab more cards early on, but you are one black mana short. You can now either put the Chromatic Lantern into the battlefield, or sac the Yavimaya Elder to search for a Swamp and another basic land. What to do now hinges on how hostile the table is so far; usually you begin seeing fatties now, so having the Elder around for chump-blocking is attractive - but barring someone trolling the early game you have life to spare now.
I would go ahead with playing the Lantern so I can field the Arena right now, and let the Elder live to fight -and die- another day.
Turn 5
It is not always wise to trigger Mirri's Guile before Phyrexian Arena. If only one card among the three atop your library is useful, then you can draw that card now with the Arena, and then trigger the Guile and see if the fourth card was any good.
But now, we only know the topmost card. Kept track? Eternal Witness is entirely useless now, there is nothing on the graveyard worth recurring. So we trigger Mirri's Guile first anyway:
Now this changes things somewhat. Mana Reflection is exactly as awesome as it sounds - a fact that makes it an irresistible target. And while we are not exactly on the early game anymore, it is quite likely an enemy will have a means to dispel it before you can make significant use of it.
Which is why we draw it with the Arena and then get Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, because land drop. And you could stumble upon Cabal Coffers some time soon.
You now can play the Reflection, and have the means to retrieve it should it gets killed atop your library - so before your next turn, you should sac Yavimaya Elder for the Witness and more ramp (in this case, a Mountain and a Swamp). Putting this mighty enchantment in play will immediately draw the attention of the board your way, so you have to tread carefully now.
Seems like bad luck - we have enough lands in play and in hand, we need more tactical options instead. The sliver is, however, a godsend. You have two critters in hand you can discard for something else with the same subtype. And what we are about to do this turn certainly warrants tucking.
Grab the Tundra and the sliver. Play the dual you just drew. You now have a lot of mana: 6 lands, any of which can give you two mana of any one color you wish -courtesy of Chromatic Lantern, itself worth 2 colored mana too-, plus a Sol Ring that taps for 4 colorless mana. You want to leave that last one in reserve.
Tap 5 lands for 10 mana, cast your commander. It may get tucked. If that happens, do not recover it just yet, unless Mana Reflection gets dispelled, which is very likely now, too; on that case, tap out, use one of the 5 remaining colored mana, and play Homing Sliver so you can pay 3 mana, discard Heart Sliver -you have another haste-giving critter, but no other Amoeboid Changeling-, and retrieve it - but not during your turn. Doing it now will further scare the rest of the table into allying against you.
Worst case scenario, the Reflection is killed too - now that you do recover in your own turn using the remaining mana. The Lantern could also get hit, but at this point you got enough colored lands to care little. A good opponent probably will use that removal somewhere else on the table, but a dumb one who still is scared of you may not.
Keep an eye on your life total, for you surely will take hits now.
Forget the land and draw the other two. Play one of the two basics you got via Yavimaya Elder. Mana count: exactly 10 -7 lands, Chromatic Lantern, Sol Ring-. Tap out, cast your commander, look for Hibernation Sliver, and cast it.
To be concluded!
Follow-up: some further notes on strategy
Recently I added a link on the useful cards section to an article discussing the merits of ramp, the etiquette of land destruction -long story short: if you do it, you'd better do it for the win, not just 'because' or for the lulz- and this notable excerpt:
Quote from Raging Levine »
In Commander, the first person to do something nuts has the responsibility to protect it, and if you can be the second person to do something nuts, then you can probably win because resources are exhausted.
It dawned on me tonight, while cooling down after a grueling Algebra final, that I built the counter-combo list trying to avoid the need for defending my nutty plays. Still, something did fail, given the number of occasions on which I found myself facing the combined might of the rest of the table. Probably the failure was all mine.
But that deck is still tooled for accomplishing that goal alright. This is an advantage an aggro build has not. As you command a horde of critters, you have to claw the opposition to death bit by bit, and stay alive through the whole ordeal. So, either you stonewall behind a defense and chip away at their life total while avoiding the worst of the fighting, or you go proactive and use your swarm as suicide bombs. Playing lots of slivers and going on the rampage is not a good idea, really -- doing that will see your swarm folding to boardwipes and the like faster than you can say Rout. (Unless you can kill everyone wicked fast, but even then it won't be as fast as with a combo.)
And since there's a lot of slivers here I'm going to explore the idea of playing cop. I envision needing Harmonic Sliver, Necrotic Sliver and Volrath's Stronghold to achieve that. Possibly Eternal Witness or Pulmonic Sliver as well. In this case, you always must leave enough mana open for sacrificing at least one sliver. People will feel a lot less inclined to mess you up if you can retaliate by destroying something critical. (That's Mutual Assured Destruction in a nutshell.)
So how do you win? You still attack whenever the opportunity to do some harm without leaving you too exposed presents itself. But now Patriarch's Bidding and Living Death become a lot more important. They're not simply countermeasures against boardwipes (read more on this below), but your winning cards! When you cast either, it should look as if the manure is indeed about to collide with the rotary oscillator. (Bojuka Bog becomes exponentially more dangerous, too...) So instead of drawing the unwanted attention of your pod, your goal is to play kingmaker while the opposition does crazy stuff -- and so expends their energy while you preserve your most powerful cards for your own power play.
The greatest strength of the glass fiend is also its main weakness. On rendering all point defense countermeasures useless, it forces opponents to nuke you. Our little sloth demon lets us keep other minions for a mere 2 life, which you can quickly recoup. Having the right slivers to complement it means that the enemy will waste their WMDs on foes that simply refuse to die:
For years, having lifelink on my slivers was a desirable trait, but not a critical one. Very recently I learned why this should be so. Considering a midgame scenario where you have around 9-10 mana to spend, if you bounce those minions to your hand, most if not all can return to the fray the following turn. Nothing new here. But you would be surprised to see how quickly you may have to spend life again to preserve them, especially if there's no Patriarch's Bidding in hand or if playing it is not a good idea. Long story short: you want your terrors to latch their hungry claws onto your foes and drain them of their every drop of blood. More life = more life to spend = ability to keep bouncing back your minions = they dodge the bullets and return to plague the enemy again and again... I had one particular game when the opposition nuked the table three turns in a row, trying to get rid of my swarm and failing.
Now, why flash or haste and not both? Well, you may very easily have fewer than those 9 mana to spend, and you want flash to make the most out of any resources remaining untapped before your turn. And you want haste to have your slivers recharging your juice the moment they hit the field.
To add insult to injury, if you have insane amounts of mana to spend you may even get Psionic Sliver to play havoc if you can protect them from the backlash, either by bringing Sliver Hivelord or the Sliver Legion to bear. Think of the havoc: tapping a sliver on this context would net you a whopping 5 life without losing it!
There are exactly 96 creatures printed with the sliver subtype... which means there's, at least in theory, 96 slivers to choose from. One of them will be your commander, so we're down to 95. Seems like a lot, right?
At first glance, you'd think, "whoa, so many things a body can do with so many of them!" It would be awesome if we could just dump them all into a deck and fill the remaining spots with lands. (Actually, we can, but we'd get mana starved to begin with.)
So we're forced to pick. Some are better for aggro, others for combo, a few work in Voltron decks, and a few are universally useful. But, as pointed previously, you have to experiment, and what works for someone can be useless to someone else. Hence the breakdown below:
Hidden within the clicking, chittering swarm is a unique mind, still young, but growing more aware as time passes.
Pros:
- Huge bomb
- Ridiculously powerful passive buff (think Coat of Arms on a sliver)
Cons:
- Can be a pain to cast
- Extremely--nah, absolutely-frigging-has-to-go value target
One of the most feared creature cards ever. You would fear it, too, if this frothing mountain of claws and muscle came into play and turned even your lowly 1/1 token into another frothing mountain of claws and muscle. And of course, it's on the same--nope, scratch that, it's leagues over Crystalline Sliver when it comes to how badly everyone wants it dead.
Cons:
- Can be a pain to cast
- Outrageously high value target
Veteran players will go "oh, crap" when Her Lady of the Chittering Swarm hits the table--and rightly so, because she should only see play when you have the rest of the combo pieces into place and a response for anyone daring to counterspell or fry her.
Pros:
- Can turn a lonely blocker into a lifesaving wall
Cons:
- Extremely mana intensive
One of several red-headed stepchildren of the swarm. Seriously, 2 for just +0/+1? Even if you had mana to spare, you would be better off casting something to deal with an assault. Or, failing that, simply using the least valuable of your slivers as a chump blocker, unless it's a trampling attacker and you can't afford to take the hit. All in all, there are MUCH better choices. If you really, really, REALLY must have defense buffs, go for slivers that give passive bonuses instead.
If you're into aggro builds this one is very good to have for obvious reasons. Still, it's one of many slivers with a large target painted on its forehead.
Pros:
- Absorb effectively negates Pestilence-like effects
- Makes all your slivers a bit tougher
Cons:
- Expensive to cast
An odd sliver if there's one, and not particularly useful in my humble opinion. It's essentially an overgrown Plated Sliver that can render the swarm invulnerable to Pestilence. But, 5 mana to cast? Really?
Probably one of the best first turn sliver drops. Brings much needed toughness to the swarm--most of your critters are lowly 1/1s or 2/2s. Very good for aggro or token strategies.
Pros:
- Regeneration in a color that usually does not have it
Cons:
- Expensive ability
Hands-down, the worst regenerator sliver. Not only you got to pay, you have to tap it. It's like the worst of Clot and Crypt mashed together. I'd only pick it if I couldn't live without regen and I didn't have black slivers... but totally worthless otherwise.
Pros:
- Good evasion
- Limited proofing against board wipe
Cons:
- Putting cards atop your library delays you
- Very expensive to cast
Very used to mitigate the worst effects of something wrecking your whole swarm. (You'd better get used to it, it will happen a lot.) If there's a lot of graveyard hate then this is your second best hope of keeping your slivers in the game. Being costly to hardcast is a big minus here.
Cons:
- Limited usefulness in EDH given how many fatties are tossed around
If you've been allowed to rack up on the sliver count, this will allow you to snipe combatants at your leisure. Could prove interesting if you got Hunter Sliver on the table. But its usefulness hinges on just how many slivers you got...
Pros:
- Provides an extra edge in both offense and defense
Cons:
- Fragile
- High value target
The sliver of choice if you want your swarm to have first strike. Shame it's, again, twig-like tough. But of course you'll get that covered. (We hope.)
This one was a clear attempt at creating something more balanced than Crystalline Sliver. 5 mana for a 2/2 that nullifies a color. Not bad. Now put them both together in the table at the same time and not even Earthquakes and the like can kill them.
I've said it enough times already to bore you: slivers are fragile. Well, this addresses that: +0/+2 across the board. Still, unless Doran is in play, just being able to take it usually is not enough to kill off an opponent. Maybe that's why I've never seen it fit to stick one into my builds.
Pros:
- Great for token decks and tactics
- Solid P/T
- Can be used to tremendous effect with Sliver Legion
Cons:
- High priority target
Now this is a strange sliver if there's one. Personally, I have only profited from its ability once or twice. But its potential is undeniable. Still, you have to keep your tokens in the game long enough for it to profit, and, tokens or not, they're still slivers. And contribute to the 3+ Godzilla Threshold.
"The land is weary. Even Skyshroud is depleted. We must find another source of mana—one that is growing despite our withering world."
—Freyalise
Pros:
- Great combo enabler
- Turns all your slivers into mana sources
Cons:
- Extremely high value target
- Very weak
Now, what's not to love about this one? Well, it's very fragile, and it's more efficient at pulling aggro than a Taunting Elf. But, turning every sliver into Birds of Paradise... Whatever your strategy, this one is a must. Just make sure you have a lightning rod around.
One of the strongest slivers (but not the best) when it comes to providing passive bonuses. It is, consequently, a good candidate for targeted removal or counterspelling.
The air was filled with the cracks and snaps of flesh hardening as the new sliver joined the battle.
Pros:
- Strong passive buff
- Very cheap to play
Cons:
- Fragile
- High value target
An aggro build's bread-and-butter. One of the best cost/effective slivers for boosting the stats of your swarm. When stacked with other passive buffers, it can quickly turn a lot of unsuspecting weenies into a lot of pain.
Am I the only one who thinks this dude looks a lot like a Xenomorph?
The directors of the Riptide Project wanted instant results on the sliver experiments. They gottheir wish.
Pros:
- Cheap to play
- Great flexibility
Cons:
- Fragile
- Very high value target
One of the most useful slivers ever. Got Harmonic in play? Bamf, your slivers can Naturalize. An opponent counterspells your Queen? Root Sliver says he can't. Someone terminating your mana sliver? Crystalline Sliver says no can do. Mind you, casting this falls just short of literally taunting your opponents into expending their removal or board-wiping you.
The most expensive of all hasty slivers to put into the battlefield, and not a very tough one either. Its single redeeming grace is that you just require a single G to play it. If you need haste, go with Heart Sliver instead.
Few things are as satisfying as flash-casting this one in response to a counterspell. Its usefulness will be limited, however, if there are no blue decks in the table. Me, I like to think that preparedness makes a body powerful. ^.^
Pros:
- Cheap for its power
- Great defensive ability
Cons:
- Fragile
2 mana for a 2/2 that gives your entire swarm reach? Sounds awesome... BUT! If you're into aggro, you'll rarely find yourself using your critters on the defense. (Unless you have vigilance.) And if you go either combo or Voltron, there are much better cards that badly need this slot.
You think infect is cheap? This one may not be as sexy, right, but you need exactly the same amount of poison counters to knock someone off the game both in Modern and in EDH--yes, only 10 counters. That turns this one from being "meh" to being "oh god oh god keep that thing away from me". Not to mention it's an awesome first turn drop.
Pros:
- Solid P/T
- Allows for overruning the opposition
Cons:
- Very high cost
One of the main drawbacks of playing slivers in EDH is that they're simply too weak; most are 1/1 or 2/2. This one can survive being bolted, and with a few other slivers in play it becomes exponentially more dangerous. But it's not cheap.
Cons:
- Buff useful only when having large numbers of slivers
- No toughness bonus
See, this is what I meant when I was talking about getting slivers with passive buffs. This one is very useful when you're into zerging strategies. The more slivers in table, the merrier it gets, but a word of caution is due: chances of a boardwipe skyrocket after you land your third sliver. And the lack of toughness bonus leaves you more vulnerable to an Earthquake or somethingasawful.
Pros:
- Awesome offense and defense
- Potential winning condition
Cons:
- High cost
- High value target
Aggro builds will love this one. At 6 mana, it's very expensive, though, even more expensive than theunholytrinity. Not to mention that it literally crashes through the Godzilla Threshold.
Pros:
- Survival on a sliver
- Can populate your graveyard really fast if you're into it
Cons:
- Expensive ability
- Savvy players will fry it on the spot
This is the card that comes to the rescue when your commander gets Hindered. Note that it can and does work awesomely as a discard engine if you plan to raiseyour swarmfrom the grave.
Pros:
- Turns your attacking slivers into dedicated creature removal
Cons:
- Requires significant synergy with other slivers to be efficient
- Very weak
If you happen to have buffed your slivers with passive bonuses and cool abilities such as double strike, no critter that isn't shrouded or hexproofed will be safe. Not the best to have if you need to keep your creature count low, though.
Pros:
- Nice P/T
- Can quickly turn a single sliver into a living flamethrower
Cons:
- Depends on number of slivers in play to be effective
- Does not work with Crystalline Sliver in play
The ability looks incredibly deadly on paper... until you realize that you have to leave your slivers in the open to profit from its ability. If you have Quick Sliver in play, it's no big deal, but in EDH that's too large an 'if'. It can pay off big time if you're swinging for a Voltron victory.
Pros:
- Cheap buff
- Cheap regeneration
- Great power/cost ratio
- Smooth interaction with shroud effects
Cons:
- Ability requires a specific land type to trigger
- Moderately high target value
In my opinion, the best regen-giving sliver there is. Cheap, no issues with the glass fiend, and on top of it all, packing a buff! A must if you're into aggro.
By itself, it sounds... just nice. Just factor in a few others and it becomes frightening--but you can't just include everyone, right? It would be dead awesome if it could block another creature, too... but as it stands, there's better stuff to pick.
Pros:
- Ashnod's Altar on a sliver
- Great combo enabler
- Reasonably costed
Cons:
- High value target
This one has attained infamy in my pod as part of a degenerate combo, if a lengthy one... you just need the queen, and a fewothers. After you've pulled off the combo once or twice, it will become a prime candidate for targeted removal.
Pros:
- Regeneration
- Low cost
- Effect does not target (read: smooth interaction with Crystalline Sliver)
Cons:
- Costly ability
- Very weak
Even if there's a ton of removal effects on EDH that treat regeneration like it isn't there, there's another ton of similar stuff that does not. Still, this is not the best choice to get regen effects.
Ditched out that argument after DanzBorin noted that Crypt Sliver does require a target being assigned, and thus does not like shroud effects. This one has no such issue, which makes it considerably more useful.
Another regenerative sliver, this one is very useful at that, since you need no mana to activate the ability, and that makes for awesome chump blockers. If you're going to toss in regen into your mix, this is the second-best choice.
Pros:
- Makes a horde much more dangerous
- Low value target
Cons:
- Conditional ability does not help on defense
Mostly overlooked, but a deck geared towards cranking out as many tokens as possible may profit from it. Only useful otherwise as a way of increasing the sliver count.
Pros:
- Amazingly efficient mass discard
- Cheaper than usual sac outlet
- Effective boardwiping deterrent
- Very cheap to play
Cons:
- Ability hurts you too
- Ability costs you a sliver
- Fragile
- Not as useful in 1v1 situations
How come I've overlooked this one? If you manage to sneak this one through late in game, you can deprive your opponents of spells while at the same time you set up a Living Death effect. (And if you have enough mana available, it can discourage opponents of boardwiping you.) Criminal with Synapse Sliver on the table.
Cons:
- Expensive mana cost on top of needing to sac a sliver
- Ability only can be used during your turn
If you positively, definitely need to empty your opponent's hands (as opposed to your opponents'), you need this fellow. However, even in 1v1, I still think Mindlash Sliver to be better.
A sliver shares everything with its hive--even its afflictions.
You really considering this one? Are you serious? Even if you could offset that massive penalty with Essence Sliver on board, it will only make your opponents even more determined to blow your lifelink-giving critter away. Avoid it like -you guessed it- the plague.
Pros:
- Best pumping effect makes for good offense or defense as needed
Cons:
- Very mana intensive
In my opinion, all pumping slivers are a waste of a slot best filled with another of the other 87 slivers available. (Well, make it 74, counting off your commander.) This one is the least worthless of them all, though, and gets to become actually interesting to have in play when you have a Heartstone or something alike on the board. Even then, I would only resort to that if that meant killing a player, or failing that, if I didn't have anything better to play on my hand.
Pros:
- Nice P/T
- Provides an extra edge in both offense and defense
Cons:
- Expensive to cast
Weighing in at 5 mana, this is a bit expensive for what it does. It being a relatively tough sliver should even the odds a bit, but if I was willing to include such an expensive critter, I'd go for double strike instead. If you want first strike too, there are cheaper picks around.
Pros:
- Solid P/T
- Good power/cost ratio
- Great fear factor
Cons:
- High value target
It's not deathtouch, but it's almost there. I've always wanted to have this one and Hunter Sliver in play... and, perhaps, something that gives it first strike, too. Damn, it gets too convoluted to be practical so fast... Besides, it's almost an automatic target for any kind of spot removal around. Nobody likes deathtouch (*groan* yes, I know, it's not 100% deathtouch), and fewer people still like a whole swarm of slivers with poison-coated talons. Worse than the Zerg or the Great Devourer.
Pros:
- Solid P/T
- Good power/cost ratio
- Each kill fattens up your slivers
Cons:
- Ability requires a kill, rather than just allocating damage as in most vampires
- High value target
Nobody likes to have a sliver in play that can mean potentially making every sliver bigger. Even if that ability sounds more awesome than what it actually is. When you got lots of slivers around, it's nice to have, but there are better ones around that are as nice or more in that context.
Pros:
- Helps to keep an eye on opponents and to potentially deprive them of major resources
Cons:
- A bit overcosted
This little critter essentially does a watered-down version of JTMS' first ability: you can't use it to peek at your own library. Still, if you like control-ish strategies, you may find use for it. (Personally, I've always considered it just an odd shenanigan.)
Pros:
- Can add a creature type to benefit from mechanics affecting other creature types
Cons:
- Very specific ability
I'm positively sure there's a ton of uses for this sliver, but you'd have to either put two creature types in your deck or build it with teamplay in mind (2HG, for example). Neither is particularly appealing in my book.
Pros:
- Cheap direct damage
- Potential winning condition
Cons:
- Costs you a sliver unless you've racked up buffs
- Very expensive to cast
You could use this one instead of Acidic Sliver or Cautery Sliver to kill everyone off with your infinite combo, but it's way more expensive than either. Big advantage over the other two is that you'll need no mana to activate its ability.
Pros:
- Can work wonders in a milling strategy
- Foils most tutor effects
- Low cost
Cons:
- Limited usefulness in multiplayer EDH
You'll positively like this one if: A) you're into milling and B) you can mass a horde of tokens to get the most of its ability. I can picture it being very useful in 1v1, but its worth drops quickly when you have to deal with more than one library.
Cons:
- Expensive to cast
- High target value
- Wrecks your defense
Good one, but tricky to use. Only field this if you don't really care about getting hit in combat. (I picture this can mostly happen in: A) 1v1, B) if you somehow managed to keep your Essence Sliver alive, or C) if evading allows you to kill everyone.) I don't really see this one enduring for long if played without any form of defense like shroud or protection -- nobody likes slivers that can swing through defenses like they aren't there.
Cons:
- Expensive to cast
- Very high target value
All the good of Shadow Sliver, without the huge drawback of leaving you out in the cold. Mind you, if that sliver can get some people nervous, this one will scare opponents s***less. Play it under a protectiveumbrella if you can, or if you have some way of giving it some defense in a hurry.
Pros:
- Nice P/T
- Turns all your slivers into Thieving Magpies
Cons:
- Expensive to cast
- High value target
This is one I've always been trying to find where to stick in my builds, even if everyone will literally want it extinct. It being expensive to cast is what I find uncomfortable, even if it's totally justified.
Highly useful both on offense and defense, and highly threatening because of that. I don't like that rather large casting cost, that being one of the facts that keeps it out of my deck. That my deck is a combo deck requiring specific slivers (and just them) does not help either.
This is what you hope to play when you have had enough of getting board-wiped and controlled and want to play a bit of prison yourself. You're going to need anything that nets you sliver tokens for that, though--think Sliversmith, Hivestone, and, of course, her Lady of the Chittering Swarm. (For added hatred, stick in a Seedborn Muse somewhere.) Still, sounds like something overly complicated and a bit fragile to pull off...
Cons:
- Fragile
- Makes your swarm vulnerable to Hurricane effects
The way to go if you want flying slivers (and have carefully considered all the pros and cons of having your whole swarm grow wings) in my opinion. If it's defense you care about, go with Spinneret Sliver instead.
Pros:
- Can end the game if there's enough mana available (again read: infinite combo)
- Can serve as a direct damage/removal source in a pinch
- Can buy you that one turn you need by keeping you or more important slivers alive
- Low cost
Cons:
- Low damage/protection potential
- Usefulness depends on the situation
Another usual winning condition for combo builds. Something of a Swiss Army Sliver; very useful to have in the right situation.
Bred as living shields, these slivers have proven unruly--they know they cannot be caught.
Pros:
- One of the most awesome defenses ever
- Low cost
Cons:
- Extremely high priority target
Whatever your strategy, build or plan, you have to have this. If there's something better than making your whole swarm immune to any targeted effect thrown its way, I don't know what it is. (Wait--hexproof would be better, but that would be beyond overkill.) Still, it won't protect your swarm from board wipes; on the contrary, it makes it even more vulnerable to them, since everyone will be frantically digging/hoping for that.
Pros:
- May save your life in a pinch
- Low cost
- Sac outlet
Cons:
- Ability costs you a sliver
Weird color combination for me to think: "MEDIC!" (But now, there's Planar Chaos for you.) Not as threatening as having outright lifelink on your slivers, but not the most useful ability to have either.
Pros:
- Can help keeping the hands of your opponents empty
Cons:
- Ability is less useful the more cards your opponents have in their hands
- Too many conditions for the ability to actually have any effect
- Usefulness highly dependent on other cards and on game phase
- High cost
This one I'd play late in game when the table is locked in stalemate and everyone had few cards in hand. And if I had a way of looking at my opponents' hands. And if I had lots of slivers... something unlikely given the Godzilla Threshold. In sum: I don't like it.
Cons:
- Not cheap
- Turns all your slivers into walls
- High value target
Very useful if you're into turtling and combo. Cast your slivers into the table, sculpt your hand, load up on responses... until the fateful moment arrives; then, sac it, swarm up and go to town. Smart players will want it out of play quickly.
A sliver with haste that you can sac for a quick buff? Sounds awesome, but it's balanced out by being barely sturdier than a twig and its rather high and tricky cost. In the end, one of the best haste-giving slivers there is.
Pros:
- Can potentially mitigate the worst effects of a board wipe
Cons:
- Unreliable ability
If you're into chaos, this one is right for you. Otherwise, it depends on how big your required sliver count is, and even then, there are better choices in my humble opinion.
Pros:
- Treats most forms of 'protection' like they aren't there
- Low cost
Cons:
- Usefulness is very situational
Your answer to Sword-toting beasties and critters protected against one or more colors. And an awesome way to blast everyone back to the Stone Age if you happen to have All is Dust in your hand.
This is what you hope to topdeck when you can't bring the big bad beast into play and someone just dropped a disk. It would be nice to have anindestructibleartifact on the table for its effect to ground out when there are no suitable targets... other than your own artifacts or enchantments, that is.
Mogglings have been known to play ball with hibernating slivers, completely unaware of their true nature.
Pros:
- Good way of evading removal effects
- Low cost
- Being somewhat of a double-edged knife may prolong its life on the table
Cons:
- Ability can hurt a lot
- Savvy players will know it for what it is
What's 2 life in EDH? That depends on whether you're early or late in the game. If you got life to spare and you just *HAVE* to save that sliver, then this is your best friend. After all, the only life point that matters is the last one.
Though Volrath is long dead, the slivers have become everything he wanted them to be: mindless instruments of destruction and despair.
Pros:
- Vindicate on a sliver
- Potential winning condition
Cons:
- Expensive ability costing both a sliver and a lot of mana
What you need when you positively have to blow up something. Shroud and hexproof will still stop you, but Ghostflame Sliver can help you bypass protection effects. If you're going to cast him, make sure you leave at least enough mana to use its ability once--that will both prolong its table life and allow you to blow something up in the case someone makes the mistake of killing it.
Pros:
- Unique way of discouraging targeted effects
Cons:
- Ability won't protect your sensitive slivers
While awesome on paper, allowing you to draw a card in exchange for blowing up one of your slivers is more than a trade-off for an opponent looking to get rid of, say, Gemhide Sliver.
Pros:
- Awesome offense and defense
- Potential winning condition
Cons:
- High value target
- Moderately expensive to cast
Her Ladyship smiles on this one, however dissimilar to Her kin it may be. Slightly weaker than the vintage version, but much, much leaner. Sneaking this fellow through in combat via Quick Sliver is finally viable. *evil grin*
Galerider Sliver (U, 1/1) - Score: 9/10
Masters of adaptation, galeriders serve multiple purposes useful to the hive. When they're not patrolling their territories, their majestic wings serve to circulate cool air through the vast hive chambers.
The only redeeming quality for this beast is exactly that -- it's a beast. Otherwise, why trample when you can choose to just ignore defenses? Not to mention playing this is going to leave you starved for mana.
Manaweft Sliver (1G, 1/1) - Score: 9/10
"I see in their interconnectedness a strange embodiment of the natural order."
—Dionus, elvish archdruid
Gemhide Sliver in form and function. The Swarm rejoices!
Cons:
- Very expensive to cast
- High value target
For a slight increase in cost, a decent buff upgrade. Unless it would net you a quick victory, I'd cast this late in game -- playing this with nothing to screen it and when short on mana is a total waste against -even marginally- smart opposition.
Predatory Sliver (1G, 1/1) - Score: 8/10
Muscle Sliver in form and function. An almost exact match.
A friend of mine commented that since Essence Sliver's ability is not a keyword but a triggered ability, and the recently spoiled Syphon Sliver's IS a keyword -and thus a static ability-, if both of them were in play you would gain 2 life for each damage dealt.
702.14a Lifelink is a static ability.
702.14b Damage dealt by a source with lifelink causes that source's controller, or its owner if it has no controller, to gain that much life (in addition to any other results that damage causes). See rule 119.3.
702.14c If a permanent leaves the battlefield before an effect causes it to deal damage, its last known information is used to determine whether it had lifelink.
702.14d The lifelink rules function no matter what zone an object with lifelink deals damage from.
702.14e Multiple instances of lifelink on the same object are redundant.
I'm delving on the triggered abilities section of the comprehensive rules but so far what he said seems correct...
He is correct. Lifelink stacks with the old wording.
Thorncaster Sliver (4R, 2/2) - Score: 8/10
A total newcomer, bringing an unique -and deadly- skill to the Swarm! Here, I'll let Tanion do the talking:
Thorncaster Sliver and Vault of the Archangel is going to be INSANELY good. Another form of evasion as you can use the 1 damage of deathouch to kill almost anything.
I see this working nicely with Brood Sliver too, though the impact only gets noticed between rounds... In any case, it's not cheap to cast.
M15 SLIVERS
Yet more additions to the swarm! This section will see frequent updates for obvious reasons.
Two-headed Sliver on steroids. Shame that it also got fatter, too. I'm not really impressed. Even though this is a form of evasion that requires creative blocking, it's not going to stop a determined defender.
Essentially, it turns your slivers into Banishing Light. While its cost is high, its not strictly the worse. Issue is that in 5 colors, we have ways to remove stuff. Its a pass, but I could see a more controlly version playing it.
Well, removal is like haste and mana and firepower, the more the merrier. And this ability stacks: you somehow clone this, and bam, you get two banished baddies for the price of a one. If only it wasn't sooo costly...
This is another piece that probably will see a lot of competitive play; imposing a tax on spells targeting your swarm is a wonderful deterrent to have early on, but as the game progresses and resources become available it's not as effective. But EDH-wise, considering that you won't have more than one copy around -clone effects notwithstanding- and that it's a rare game when all players are starved for mana... 1v1-wise, it may be more useful, but I'm not impressed.
My first reaction upon seeing this was, 'aggro players are going to have a fit over this.' I'm getting the feeling a Modern archetype is slowly shaping up, and it could be realized if the rest of the M15 crop is equally good, but I don't see what could be the value of this fellow on the multiplayer EDH scene. Now, on a 1v1 scenario, on the other hand...
"This is the source, the line unbroken since the calamity that brought such monsters to our shores."
- Hastric, Thunian scout
If there is something that the Swarm folds to, that something consists of cataclysmic spells that strip the board clean of life. No more. Now effects similar to Merciless Eviction and Terminus will be the ones to fear, but those are much fewer...
At long last, the Swarm has produced a strain capable of mortally poisoning anything! While it's barely sturdier than a twig, the possibilities it opens up are endless. Coupled with Psionic Sliver or Thorncaster Sliver, you can snipe targets at your entire leisure. Having Quilled Sliver around means you can get rid of pesky attackers or defenders that neglect their defenses - or you can turn a battle between two opponents on its head! And that's just two things that came to mind at the drop of a hat, a canny player can concoct such horrors by making creative use of this fellow...
Useful non-sliver cards
Having agreed on the fact that you're not going to fill all nonland spots on your list with slivers if you want to have fun with everyone's favorite Alien/Zerg/'Nid expies -something that usually translates into getting terrified looks from your opponents-, you'll need things other than slivers. And for a swarm of insectoid horrors, they're picky.
Aggro engines
This dubious label is meant for those cards that either help you put more slivers on the table or make what is already a scarily powerful horde of frothing beasts even scarier.
I admit, I did not read all 25 pages of this thread, but I wanted to offer up Call to the Kindred as it proved to be very valuable in a tribal deck, specifically for Slivers. It beat out Magus of the Moon without even breaking a sweat.
These are spells only spoken of in whispers, mighty weavings that evoke fear and anxiety in those who hear about them, for they are that powerful--they literally wipe the board clean of one or more types of permanents.
The bread and butter of, uh, combo builds. This is the kind of cards that draw a smile on every player's face. Or a rictus of terror. I can never tell the difference.
Ashnod's Altar - contributed by Toolmakesmedrool (how in the name of the Queen did I forget to put this one here?!) Enchanted Evening
Just in case you feel Harmonic Sliver is not enough of a pain already. And you relish the idea of having every sliver you bring into the table vindicating something for free.
The potential of this piece is monstrous. To name just one thing: coupled with stuff like Amoeboid Changeling or Unnatural Selection, you could use it to punch through almost any defense. And don't get me started on the control-y shenanigans it enables.
The basic idea of Food Chain Sliver is that you run the Food Chain creatures (Misthollow Griffin, Eternal Scourge, and Squee, the Immortal) alongside Food Chain to create infinite colored mana for creatures. Then, you cast The First Sliver until you cascade your whole deck. cEDH decks have complicated loops in order to win the game, but I really like how simple Firebelly Sliver is as an outlet. Alternatively, you could play a whole bunch of Slivers, give them all haste, and then overrun them with theSliver Legion (which is now a $100+ card?!) after functionally drawing your deck.
Normally I'm against equipping slivers because shroud and gear don't get along together, but having your Queen don these is as killer as having Training Grounds active. However, unlike the Grounds, its effects apply, of course, only to the equipped creature. Your call.
The Queen turns this piece of apparent worthless into the stuff of nightmares if you have a Gemhide Sliver you can tap, and two free mana. Which you can then turn into infinite mana of any color.
Again, Queen + any 2 other slivers = win. Mind you, a Fog-like effect can ruin your day if you rely purely on combat damage, so be sure somethingadequateenough is on the table when this one goes off.
Paradox Engine - contributed by Rumpley - Banned as of 7/8/2019
I have to admit, I squeed like a little girl when I saw this one. The things you can do with this! It's like some artifact-y Intruder Alarm that applies to all your stuff.
Play this, name something that got tucked on the bottom of your library, cast Patriarch's Bidding, GG. An obscenely powerful piece of tech, courtesy of a friend I met on the Buenos Aires GP.
Countermagic
Some builds can ditch this altogether, but in some other cases you simply won't be able to set your scheme in motion (reference to Archenemy is entirely coincidental/intentional) if you don't have the ability of telling your enemies to stick their spells elsewhere.
Some would say that a better alternative to counterspelling is simply relieving your opponent of the pesky card in the first place, and that is exactly what these cards do.
Maybe not all of the cards listed here fit that label, but their purpose is broadly similar--get you something you need from your library, or rearrange the first few cards to suit your taste.
A poor man's Top, this trinket may be--but a very useful one nonetheless. Sure, just two cards instead of three, and you have to tap the Ball to activate it, but you can send them to the bottom of your library if you don't like them.
Once I would have said that in a multiplayer environment there are plenty of other, juicier targets for spot removal, but recent experience has told me that's not the case anymore, so use it for all it's worth while you have it on the table.
While it looks awesome on paper, the Rack is useful the more cards you have in hand, something that tends to be rare late in-game, and activating its ability is painfully costly in the first few turns of the game, when mana is better spent on ramping, removal, or counterspelling. Still, it's undeniably useful, even more so if you run Pulmonic Sliver or, again, have the Crucible in play and fetchlands in hand or in your graveyard.
I really can't picture a sliver using its single claw to spin this thing around. (Actually, I find it easier to imagine the little terror wrapped around it, then quickly uncoiling a la Sentinel in Matrix.) But, um, in any case--there's simply no limit to how useful this thing can be, especially when combined with fetchlands and the like. And if you happen to have Crucible of Worlds in play too, you just got yourself an engine for both shuffling and thinning. ANY slivers deck, regardless of strategy, will profit from having a Top.
Ridiculously useful for combo/control. Sure, it likes having lots of mana to spend, but if you manage to ramp on ahead and play your mana rocks you'll find yourself using it time and time again the turn before your untap phase.
While this should probably warrant sections of their own on each primer -and probably they will get featured there in the future-, the basics are essentially similar -- and can be reduced to a simple, inescapable truth: building a manabase for a 5-colored deck is painful.
The dream lands
If you got the cash for them, you want to aim for one of each dual, shockland and fetchland ever printed. There are exactly 10 of each.
Duals are the oldest of the lot, having been featured on Alpha, Beta, Unlimited and Revised.
Fetchlands were featured on Onslaught and Zendikar.
Shocklands are a staple of Ravnica, and as such they made a huge comeback recently.
Now, why want those? Well, duals and shocklands have basic land types (but of course they're NOT basic, duh), meaning you can tutor them via fetchlands and spells like Farseek and Skyshroud Claim. And doing so via fetches thins your deck, increasing the chance you topdeck useful stuff.
(Again: these *ARE* expensive. Not to mention if you want to pimp out your deck and go for as many foils as you can. I would if I had the money...)
Note that not only you don't have to ship all 30 (you'll want to leave a few out to make room for interesting auxiliary lands, a choice of which I'll describe later), but doing so is not the best of ideas.
Filter lands
These take one mana and turn it into a combination of two colored mana. Great mana fixers, in particular those featured on Shadowmoor and Eventide.
Pain lands
Tap one of these for colorless mana, or for one of two colors of mana AND take 1 damage. Horizon Canopy and Murmuring Bosk I featured because the first has interesting mechanics, and the other one because it counts as a forest -- which means you can dig for it via fetches and ramp magic. One of the best lands for EDH, ever.
Taplands
Probably some of the cheapest alternatives around. They enter play tapped, which is going to slow you down some, but while you try to get the juicier stuff they will do the job. Most ramp gimmicks won't be able to dig for these, though.
The Alara shard lands in particular are very, very good!
Check lands
Like taplands, but better: fulfill a condition and they come into play untapped. They come in several different flavors -- one checks whether you got 2 or fewer other lands, and the other looks for a basic land type among your lands in play.
Scrylands
The newest kids on the block, courtesy of Theros. These are taplands with a decent bonus... at first glance, having a look at your library is never a bad thing, especially if you're counting on a topdeck to save you. (If you got to that point, it's bad news.) But that comes with all the drawbacks of a standard tapland (enters the battlefield tapped, few ramp gimmicks can fetch it).
Karoo lands
These will slow you down a lot, but the tradeoff is nice: a land that taps for two mana of different colors instead of one. The ones featured on the first Ravnica cycle do not need you return an untapped land to your hand, and so are much better. Do keep in mind, however, that they are juicy targets for Frenzied Tilling and Strip Mine.
Panoramas
Fetchlands that look for not two, but three land types. That's the good news. The bad -- you can only get basic lands, and they enter the battlefield tapped. You can still tap one of these for colorless mana in a fix, though.
More cheap fetch lands
Further alternatives to the ultra-expensive ones from Onslaught and Zendikar. They all have their drawbacks -- the Mirage ones come into play tapped, and Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse search for basic lands only, putting them into play tapped.
Lairs
Featured on Planeshift, lairs tap for your choice of three different colors, requiring you to return another land that is not a Lair to your hand. Note that the returned land need not be tapped, you can still use it before playing one of these.
Pentacolored lands
Hands down, Command Tower is the absolute best of the lot, given the nature of EDH -- you can always tap it for one mana of any color in your commander's color identity, which means it's always useful! Other than that, no land card that gives you mana of any color without drawbacks or preconditions has been yet printed. (Let's hope it never is.)
Kudos to Jonathan Chick for suggesting Unclaimed Territory as a budget pick for this section.
Utility lands
This is a one-size-fits-all, catch-all term for lands you don't ship merely for mana. You want these because they allow for insane stuff to happen, or are a ramp spell in land's clothing, or let you get stuff back from your graveyard, or shield you from countermagic... in short, they do stuff.
If there's one thing I've learned from my experience as a thrall to the Swarm is that slivers are hungry. Ravenously hungry. So, anything that helps you keep them sated enough for them to tear your opponents to pieces will help.
If you run all 5 colors, rest assured: mana can and will be an inexhaustible source of headaches. While this can be partially mitigated by a good (read: ridiculously expensive) mana base, sometimes you need an extra "oomph."
Slang for "nonland mana sources". You'll need a few of these--they are ramping devices, mana fixers, and insurance in case someone Armageddons the table. (And boy howdy, does it happen.)
It feels so awesome to have. I know, I have one. But I can't bring myself to use it. If you're mana screwed in the early stages of the game and you draw this, a smart player would go out of his way to nuke it--and so make sure you stay mana screwed.
While I still fear this one's got an aggro factor worse than a tank's, being on the wrong end of a Blood Moon several times in a row made me wish I had it with me. Nothing like hard-earned experience to change a body's mindset on something.
One of the most useful mana rocks, ever. Can yield two mana of any color (as opposed to two mana of any one color) in the same turn. Need I say more about how critical this is on a 5-color deck?
Unless someone decides to exile it, it's never going away. And it serves a critical role as an outlet for Harmonic Sliver effects in case there are no targets other than your own stuff in the table. A must!
3 mana of any one color. Costs 5 mana to cast. Juiiiiiiiicy target. Useful, yes, but IMHO odds are someone is blowing it up or stealing it before you get the chance to use it a second time. Include it at your own peril.
This + Top + Sol Ring + 3 lands + <insert ramp spell here> = god hand. You'd better set up a defense against an early assault very quickly, for it will be coming if you play that hand outright.
An amazing backup plan is to ship one or more of these cards as a way to recover quickly from board sweeps. Or worse, fill your mortuary with stiffs outright and bring them back from the grave all at once. Mind you, if you expect to pull this one off, at the very least you'll need countermagic to protect your play and/or graveyard removal stuff to make sure you're the only one reanimating bodies.
Those powerful beings bring their own bag of tricks to spice up your gameplay, but at a price. In my own humble experience, playing one is a surefire way of drawing unwanted attentions, so if you're going to call upon the help of any, you will need ways to defend them.
Most of Domri's incarnations are great. I'm hard-pressed to pick which one I like the most, to be honest. I list the named version because all of his abilities are helpful in one way or another, and he's cheap to boot.
In all truth, with the exception of Garruk Relentless, all the incarnations of everyone's (?) favorite green walker are of use to the Swarm. This one, in particular, would be better than the rest simply because of economy issues. Think of the fun to be had with Cabal Coffers or Gaea's Cradle in play!
Slang for spells that net you a larger manabase by filling your hand with land cards or putting them into play outright. Be careful here -- the player with the most resources is always looked upon warily by the rest of the pod.
Doesn't look like much... but read again! If your commander is in play, it reads: "3: steal target creature while laughing maliciously at its former owner."
What you use when you have to blow something up, and that thing only. Well, maybe you have to destroy something else too, but you can only have so many cards in your hands... um, well, you, er, get the idea.
However awe- and fear-inspiring the slivers may be, sometimes there's a situation that demands the talents of someone who belongs not to the Swarm. (Yet.)
How to build your deck if you are one Sliver Queen short
AEferyamma asked, what should you ship to replace Her Ladyship?
In short, nothing... not having a Queen practically nullifies most combo strategies. There are a couple you still can try out:
Pack Aggravated Assault. 5 slivers with vigilance that you can tap for mana means infinite attacks. This, of course, makes Gemhide Sliver or Manaweft Sliver absolutely critical, along with Blur Sliver or Heart Sliver (haste), Sentinel Sliver or Synchronous Sliver (vigilance) and Galerider Sliver or Winged Sliver (evasion). You'll still need one more sliver, or a mana doubler (think Mana Reflection). Given how convoluted this is, I don't think you can seriously consider this plan on a deck that does not run any kind of countermagic. EDIT: instead of trying to field so many of the little horrors, you need having mana to activate the Assault, equip one with Sword of Feast and Famine, and attack.
I kind of discovered new ways of infinite combo without The Holy Sliver Queen when I was trying Morophon, the Boundless. With Morophon in your battlefield, you need Hibernation sliver, Lavabelly sliver and Syphon sliver (or Essence sliver or other lifelink source like Whip of Erebos) Then you pay 2 life return to your hand any sliver without colorless in their mana cost, play it again and again, gaining 1 life for Lavabelly and 1 life for lifelink, and deal 1 damage to any player in this infinite process. Far from ideal, but nice to have other ways to combo with only slivers without the Queen involved.
Oh, and you can Vindicate everything with Morophon, the Boundless, Necrotic sliver, Pulmonic Sliver, Dormant sliver and Basal sliver, by playing Necrotic and sacrifice it for BB mana in response to draw a card trigger of dormant. Then draw Necrotic itself thanks to Pulmonic, play it again by paying one of the B mana generated before and you get infinite B mana and/or infinite triggers of Necrotic sliver. Yeah, it's easier with Sliver Queen, but sometimes we need to find other unpredictable ways.
Maybe there *are* more combos you can try without having the Queen; the moment I learn of one I'm writing it down here.
Aggro-oriented decks will not miss Her Ladyship nearly as much; you may be interested in playing kingmaker or cop. As I've mentioned elsewhere, now that there are duplicate slivers for many critical things, you can think of fielding Necrotic Sliver to turn everything else into suicide bombs. Also think how you can steer the table using Amoeboid Changeling and Unnatural Selection to give sliver abilities to an opponent's creature -as opposed to simply using them to set up a theft via Overlord-; if that backfires, Telekinetic Sliver could help... providing your slivers don't have shroud yet.
Nice resources + links
This small section is devoted to listing everything sliver-flavored I come across that I find noteworthy:
Make sure you check out DanzBorin's and Gref's decklists for ideas! They've provided invaluable advice and insight and have arrived to quite different conclusions. You should take a good look at them.
MaxwellP has put together a list that serves as a starting point for your budding swarm; you can upgrade it as you find the more expensive pieces of either build. Check it out here
There's also desofight's list if you are looking for budget manabases. He reports consistent performance so I may have to take back what I wrote on the subject...
Fr0sty711 has built a list apt for social gaming, the kind of thing that was once called kitchen table Magic. Look it up here!
Changelog, or the beginning of one
I plan on posting here all future changes to the decklists, plus whatever I can piece together of how the whole build evolved since its original inception. I've given up on that last line... too many blanks I can't fill, but I'm leaving this as a reminder: never overwrite lists.
I'm not totally convinced of these changes, but I just couldn't let go of the idea of sneaking Brood Sliver through during the combat phase and using the tokens to raise hell... and Mindlash Sliver is a wonderful boardwipe deterrent. After all, I don't think this deck will consistently play out with lots of cards in hand, and even if it does, it can be used to set up a Living Death. Oh, and that's one less combo card.
Sword of Feast and Famine is on the maybeboard... if only I can get over my reluctance to use artifacts with creatures that (most assuredly will) get shroud and if I can make room for it.
07/06/2013
I noticed that the Primal Surge-ish approach only results in the matchups getting worse the more opponents I'm up against, so I ditched that strategy. *nods towards Mockingbird*
i've come to the conclusion that this deck just needs a lot of tech. the slivers needed are a given. this goes for anything that directly compliments slivers.
i've come to the conclusion that this deck just needs a lot of tech. the slivers needed are a given. this goes for anything that directly compliments slivers.
With the exception of Sylvan Library and Volrath's Stronghold, all of these cards are either on my wishlist or on the mail... I'm still kicking myself for not seeing the Stronghold earlier
Be sure to post a link to your deck once you update it! I haven't yet made up my mind on how to modify my current decklist...
im really trying to break down an overlord list similar to miscalcul8drisks momir vig primer. this guy has the deck down to the t. i want a sliver list in that vain. a sliver list that competitive and hated.
a majority of lists on mtg seem to aggro too hard. to me that is unviable as you only need to get through with overlord (or queen) three times to win the game. less if you stick a fury sliver.
with a general that tutors the slivers should be about 25 max. everything else is up for grabs.
mana fixing is extremely important as you want to hit your general turn 5 if you can safely.
draw is the next big thing imo. you tutor slivers everything else is left up to chance unless you fix your chances.
i guess i should also state my deck is trying to find a competitive balance between single and multiplayer.
the rest is what non sliver creatures/cards do you want.
here is my list as it stands. the most recent changes happened today and more are to come in the near future.
To the above poster. I like the fact that you are reducing the sliver count. Too many sliver decks run a lot of bad slivers just because they are slivers.
Since you have Overlord, you can search for any sliver you want, some of these I just don't see why you would ever search for, or by the time you wanted to, the game would already be in your favor.
Some of it seems overkill or not needed. I will explain my opinions below.
Muscle Sliver - Don't think this card does enough for a spot in the deck, unless it's 1v1 and you are trying to swarm early. Sliver Legion does way more.
Shifting Sliver - I imagine I would search for the things that make my slivers big and nasty before this. And once that happens, it doesn't matter much if they can block when you have lifelink, trample, and they are huge to boot, let em block
Talon Sliver - I think that your stuff properly boosted will outclass most fatties, and first strike isn't strictly necessary.
Fury Sliver - Win more card /shrug. Could be a cool trick, but I think the slivers already basically have the ability to tap and "win target game" by the time you tutor this card or the one above.
Winged Sliver - Already have Pulmonic, which is strictly better in multiplayer imo, don't really need the speed of earlier cast.
Of course, maybe these guys are just a tool box for ya. Understandable, good to have them if you don't have other cards you want in the deck. I, personally, would rather create 2 tokens with queen, rather than pay 3 to search and 2 to cast a 2CC sliver. Then for bigger guys that cost 6 to cast 3 to search, you could make 4 tokens. With legion out it is a better benefit that way
However, if you do consider it, here are some cards I think that would be good to add:
Synchronous Sliver - I would value vigilance over double strike or first strike. Creatures that can attack and block are more versatile. You have Seedborn Muse, but he isn't a sliver so he wont be as hard to kill as he won't have shroud and board sweep evasion. Muse is also a huge target.
Mirror Entity - Not much to say about this guy, simply amazing.
thanks for the insight, i definitely have a few things to consider.
fury sliver is for sure, a cheap trick. if overlord isn't blocked twice its game. it can help me attain victory in the face of defeat. at the end of the day though he can be cut. synchronous will likely take this spot.
shifting sliver allows slivers to block, so horned sliver will probably be on the cut.
pulmonic definitely does flying better.
not sure how i feel about muscle and sinew, they add beef.
back to this later, gotta work.
edit: as far as cards i need. lands are the biggest. 10 revised duals will run about 600 dollars and 4 more onslaught fetches. i do plan on getting these in the near future. my piggy banks is getting full.
then its just a few more tutors and tweaking and this deck should be broken in half.
Great build, Gref... To be honest I don't really like reducing the sliver count that much, but it's pretty solid. I'd see some of cmetc's additions in, though.
I suppose the land list is on budget... I'd go for Zendikar fetches and the like.
Gonna fiddle with it a little and then post an updated decklist on the thread starter.
the 15 other lands right now are all m10/11 duals and some scars duels. a couple vivid lands, bojuka bog, and a pain land here and there.
edit: since both generals are 5 color, i suggest playing overlord a bit with a streamlined list of slivers and see how you like it.
i was thinking about doing this with queen. for me, i would run even less slivers with queen. i would only want the ones that add mana and let me combo off and cram the deck with as many tutors as i could.
crux, your new list is what i like to see. streamlined, efficient, powerful. your slivers are closer to what mine should be.
I've never seen absorb before, it looks useful though. I usually take a beating, so gaining life after telling someone no is awesome.
Did you have aura shards in your old list? that is a card I'm looking into as harmonic sliver may backfire.
I'd like to hear your opinion on Queen and Overlord after you test your new list a bit.
edit: i realize you were pointing me towards the queen lists in your last post. ill always opt for Overlord if i have a choice. Donald Mcdonalds queen list is funny though. 1v1 combo lol.
Don't give me the credit, most of the work was yours If you like Absorb, you'll love Undermine...
What would you like first, the insult or the injury?
I've ran the Queen as my general for months and, odd as it may seem, she worked better on my original decklist than the Overlord. I'm gonna print some decent proxies for the new deck, try it out, and tell you the results.
EDIT: Oh yeah, Aura Shards was definitely in. Good point, there. Originally I tossed in the Harmonic to combo with Enchanted Evening, then forgot to put it on the list... whoops. Gonna work on it.
Eternal Witness or Recollect? You can't have both, I guess... furthermore, I'm looking to replace either of them with something better.
Academy Rector is nice, but adding him in reduces the sliver count... Dunno, I like the whole tribal favor. You already said you're up for going nearly sliverless, so be my guest
Mutavault would be cool. What would you sack off the decklist?
Gemstone Mine... whooo, the good ol' times. When I started playing MtG this was a staple on every Standard deck. Again, nice, but I can't think of the card it would replace.
Farseek... Either you have Shard Convergence or this. I really can't pick. The first one for accel, the other for deck thinning...
I don't think the number of non-slivers justifies having Conspiracy on the deck. I may be wrong, so give it a try and tell me what happens.
EDIT: I'm seeking to replace Aluren with something else. I can't shake off my mind a particularly brutal curbstomp at the hands of a Mayael deck that played its general for free. <grimace>
EDIT 2: I just noticed what you wrote about most of those cards being functional replacements... sorry And yeah, sorting the whole deck alphabetically was a considerable discomfort in the rear end.
Something I said early may have mislead you, my list will more then likely never drop below 19 actual slivers. My offhand queen deck comment may have brought this about. Slivers are definitely the core of my deck.
Anyways, I have some explaining to do regardless about some cards I suggested.
Farseek - this would replace expedition map is it essentialy does the same thing and then some.
Eternal Witness - its arguable what is better considering the 1GG cost, but it can be bounced under the right conditions and offer multiple recursions.
Mutavault - this card just looks good on paper. it's cost ($) really puts me off though as it doesn't do much for the deck. if i did put one in, I would cut bojuka bog.
Gemstone Mine - in a perfect deck with 20 duals and 10 fetch, this falls into the 5 other lands. personal preference is the deciding factor here.
Academy Rector / Trinket Mage - if you find yourself with a few slivers or any other card that seems to be a dead draw or not having enough impact, these are two cards I would put in. I think they speak for themselves though.
Phyrexian Arena - considering your thoughts on Aluren, this seems like a suitable replacement.
Conspiracy - not necessary at all, but bestowing the benefits of your slivers on everything else you control is a perk.
ill post some more thoughts in a bit as this is becoming an essay ( not that i mind)
I don't mind doing some more brainstorming on this... my playgroup already hates me and bands against me whenever I bring slivers to the table, so why not turn it up to eleven?
those are cards I had been looking at extensively. Mirari's Wake specifically. I would say it is the better card overall.
My problem; is the acceleration required, and does it take priority over mana fixing?
The longer ideas like these brew in my head, I start to seriously analyze and nitpick every little pro and con.
For instance if you told me I had to put in either of those, I already have two cards I would ditch for them (Oversold Cemetery / Prismatic Omen) Which brings me to my next point.
Prismatic Omen has done little for me. Every time I cast Idyllic Tutor, I am looking for Sylvan Library.
Well, with half the mana base being duals or shocklands and the other half being fetches, artifacts and five-color lands, I guess we can safely ditch the Omen.
The Cemetery would be useful in the event of a board sweep. Probably re-instating Patriarch's Bidding in its place would be better?
anything specific you are trying to use/abuse with it?
i think we should collaborate on a master list with no budget in mind. i foresee some bumps in the road coming up with one list using two minds, but i think it would be most beneficial for those looking to play Overlord EDH.
i work nights so expect my posts to be delayed and late in the evening, unless i have a day off.
—Riptide Project researcher
First things first... to the Caesar render the things that are Caesar's:
***NOTICE***
This is very much a work still in progress. Even if I someday can say it's more or less as complete a resource as I would wish it to be, I still believe it'll be subject to frequent changes and updates.
The decklist I'm currently using is featured on my own profile if you want to take a look at what I'm doing right now.
Why would I want to play slivers?
If someone asked me that, I'd say: because I've loved them from day 1. Hey, I even went as far as building an impossibly convoluted deck by the time of the Tempest/Urza's Saga cycles for a Nationals qualifier that replaced the then-nonexistent Gemhide Sliver with the then-existent Citanul Hierophants and relied on Aluren and Recycle to win...
*AHEM* But I digress. (Sorry. I kind of do that.) First, I'm sure you would love the Xenomorph-ish feel of slivers. (I know I did when I started playing Magic.) And slivers are cool. No one argues with that.
Next, and last: sliver decks are versatile, and then some. Whether you want to build a swarm of screeching Alien-like beasts, a towering mountain of muscle and sinew that can hit anyone for massive damage, or a ridiculously efficient combo machine, you can go for any of them.
What's the catch?
And yep, there's got to be a catch. More than one. Sadly.
And why Overlord and, say, not the Queen?
I said before that slivers are versatile, and the Overlord is the most flexible of the Unholy Trinity. Sliver Legion may be better for aggro, and Sliver Queen is frighteningly deadly as a combo enabler, but builds featuring these as commanders will be woefully reliant on tutors or plain topdecking to get what they need.
The Overlord, on the other hand, may be slower, but suffers from no such weakness.
So, Overlord is a toolbox. But what tools does it need?
If you're a maniacal masochist obsessed with detail as I am, you may want to go and dig into
the next immediate postthe third post of this thread, where I've detailed both an extensive discussion on each sliver there is and on cards any sliver player worth his salt would like to consider. Also, the changelogs will be posted there, mostly for the aggro build since it's the one I'm working on the most right now.If you've got more common sense and straightforwardness than what I got, then simply read on!
Suppose you convinced me. Now how do I play this?
Gref's contribution is the perfect way to sketch out an answer to this question:
That being said, time to start elaborating on our decklists!
Open this spoiler for info on the combo list...
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Coalition Relic
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
Children of the Hive
1 Basal Sliver
1 Crystalline Sliver
1 Dormant Sliver
1 Gemhide Sliver
1 Ghostflame Sliver
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Heart Sliver
1 Hibernation Sliver
1 Homing Sliver
1 Manaweft Sliver
1 Necrotic Sliver
1 Quick Sliver
1 Root Sliver
1 Sliver Hivelord
1 Sliver Legion
1 Sliver Queen
Thralls to the Swarm
1 Academy Rector
1 Amoeboid Changeling
1 Eternal Witness
Sorceries
1 All is Dust
1 Catastrophe
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Hull Breach
1 Hunting Wilds
1 Living Death
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Patriarch's Bidding
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Vindicate
1 Wargate
1 Bant Charm
1 Cryptic Command
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Hinder
1 Mana Drain
1 Mortify
1 Pact of Negation
1 Plasm Capture
1 Putrefy
1 Render Silent
1 Rewind
1 Spell Crumple
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Voidslime
Enchantments
1 Intruder Alarm
1 Mana Echoes
1 Mana Reflection
1 Mirari's Wake
1 Mirri's Guile
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Rhystic Study
1 Sylvan Library
1 Training Grounds
1 Unnatural Selection
Lands
1 Badlands
1 Bayou
1 Blood Crypt
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Breeding Pool
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Command Tower
1 Flooded Strand
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Godless Shrine
1 High Market
1 Krosan Verge
1 Marsh Flats
1 Maze of Ith
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plateau
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Taiga
1 Temple Garden
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Watery Grave
1 Windswept Heath
The basics, or what makes a glass cannon
But since you kept reading I'll assume you don't care about that insignificant detail, so combo it is. And that is why, even if our general is the Overlord, having the Queen will never hurt. Her Ladyship is a fearsome combo machine, who will almost always mean game for you if you play her while you have both Gemhide Sliver and Heart Sliver -or their M14 equivalents- over the table.
Having infinite slivers does not necessarily win you the match, however! Something as paltry as a Fog can mean your swarm is rendered powerless, only to be obliterated the next turn by a board wipe. Since we can't let that happen, we have to pack one or more of the following:
Of tutors and other ways of rearranging your spellbook
Gref just said: combo strategies are powerful, but fragile. And they have plenty of weaknesses, not the least of which being that you, uh, need to have all the pieces for it to work. And that means: tutors!
Some of the staples of combo decks are cards so reviled that they're banned in certain EDH formats:
If it seems overkill in your book, ditch any one other than the Top. (Or the Top itself if you're on 1v1 French.)
Countermagic: the fine art of ruining someone else's plan
And because you have to both protect your plays and disrupt those of your opponents, I ended up packing a lot of countermagic. Note that learning what to counter and what to let slide is quite the challenge; the more you know about the decks and overarching strategies of your adversaries, the more likely you'll make the right choice. (But that's a topic for another whole thread. I myself would welcome tips on the matter.)
Nonland mana sources, or feeding your Swarm creatively
You also have to have mana rocks. My picks, out of the list:
And, out of the many ramp spells available,
three stand out in my bookNo, make it two now.Shard Convergence. Given a solid manabase you can search for pretty much anything you need.Ditched out in favor of Krosan Verge.More cards, more plans, more options
You also *have* to have more hands in card than anyone else. How are you going to profit from that huge mana base you've just built?
More minions and thralls to bolster your ranks
Now, things are starting to shape up a bit, but we're woefully short on our sliver count. So the following terrors join the few we have:
And now, for the slav--errr, thralls to the swarm:
Asset removal instruments: of scalpels and cataclysm devices
And since we're on the WMD topic, we should discuss one of their most glaring weaknesses: collateral damage. You see, massively destructive weapons will kill your enemy, your neighbors, your pets, their pets, innocent bystanders, endangered species, any elephants or parrots in the vicinity, and you. In short, they are about wholesale, indiscriminate destruction. And sometimes that's not just unnecessary, that's inconvenient, not to mention downright suicidal; so, these are our scalpels, razor-sharp instruments of removal.
Back from the grave: overcoming extinction
But it's not always your enemy that gets nuked. Sometimes you're out of counterspells. Or, worse still, you've overreached yourself and are fighting a war against the whole table, and you've exhausted your resources. The result is the same: your whole swarm ends up dead. These cards are meant to help us bring our slivers back into the game, but be warned: both require careful use. It's frighteningly easy to fall into the trap of desperately wanting to get rid of something, only to reanimate another beastie that's even worse.
Odds and bits: hard to label them, hard not to love them
And now, some shenanigans that add to the efficiency of your swarm. You may think these are optional, but trust me, you want to have them in play. It bears noting: they WILL draw fire. Protect them well, or play them when the opposition has exhausted their resources (read: tapped out) and cannot respond.
The domains of the Swarm
Since the usefulness of duals, shocklands and fetchlands is immediately evident, we're obviously going to focus on the 'utility' lands.
Now that we've made our picks, the fun part--the PLAN!
Critical bits
Combo decks like this one depend on a straightforward strategy--put together your combo pieces and protect them as you do that. And your possible winning combos are:
Once you get any one of these combos rolling, it's a mere matter of fetching Necrotic Sliver and blowing up everything in sight.
Note the Queen always being a required piece. This should be enough to realize how big a mistake it is to play her without at least one layer of defense to screen her--be it countermagic, shroud, whatever. However, sometimes she WILL get exiled, despite your best efforts, forcing you to switch to plan B--which amounts to simply playing as many slivers as you can, putting the Legion into play, and assimilating/butchering your enemies one at a time. You can either achieve this the old way, or by raising them all at once via Living Death or Patriarch's Bidding.
I mentioned it already, but it bears repeating--slivers scare people, perhaps to ridiculous extremes IMO. I mean, with beasts like the Eldrazi around, there should be much more threatening things to worry about, right? In theory, yes. But in practice, whenever you play a sliver, everyone will put an abrupt stop to whatever they were doing or thinking about, check what you just cast, reassess what your budding swarm can do, and react accordingly. I've had it happen to me every single time. It almost merits a rule: the opposition won't overlook what slivers can do.
From Rath with love: making your worst fears come true
So, you can't surprise them. That sucks to no end. You can turn this problem on its head by playing into your opponents' fears, though. Hold on to your counterspells and defensive slivers and taunt your enemies into reacting when you can profit from it. Quick Sliver can be one hell of a bait, especially when you have Crystalline Sliver or Root Sliver in hand. When they get used to the idea that targeting your stuff is a waste of good cards, they'll feel far less inclined to do so. Hell, you may even get to slip through a few plays uncontested out of fear of retaliation if you pull it off.
Mindless instruments of death and despair
Another plan is to abuse your removal. Necrotic Sliver and Harmonic Sliver can mean you pack 20+ permanent removal cards. Save your countermagic for threats to your graveyard -you want Living Death to mean game- if the environment is heavy on it, and feel free to spam away if it is not. (Save your tucking effects for commanders, though.) Given our shortage of fatties and our relatively small creature count, you may want to sac slivers on preemptive strikes or, failing that, all-out defense. It would be nice not to reach this stage, though.
Massing the Swarm
One important question that I feel should not go unanswered is how to field your combo pieces to reduce likelihood of disruption. No easy way out here, I'm afraid. But, since all good things come in threes (and also bad things, and also things neither good nor bad), I have put together three (3) courses of action for your delight:
What even slivers fear
What's coming up next is a list of some things you may have thought about already; namely, cards that threaten this deck, and are thus primary targets for counterspelling or removal:
to live withyou'll definitely not want to live with.What to expect when drawing your first seven cards
Sample hand 1
An average hand, to be honest. Quite abundant in mana, though lacking in early-game accelerators. One great drawing engine and a potential combo piece, but no ways to protect them. High Market is a dead weight that would be much more useful late in game.
Sample hand 2
Better, but not impressive. That Arena is tempting--it could give quite an interesting advantage early ingame, providing you draw means to defend it. The slivers are very useful too and will allow you to blow up two threats. And that fetchland can get you blue mana for the countermagic you will inevitably need.
Sample hand 3
At first glance, this one looks like a godsend. In addition to the obvious benefits of the Lantern, the Top, a fetchland and the Crucible make for land drops and for reshuffling your library -and its first three cards- every turn. The danger here is that such a brutal start will quickly alienate the whole pod against you.
The Swarmlord's Guide to Sliver Supremacy: leading your species to victory
Since handling a kickass hand can be quite delicate in multiplayer EDH -misusing it usually means you get curbstomped early on-, I'm going to assume you draw something similar to the last example. The key word here is restraint: unless your opponents have very bad starts, getting a turn 5 or turn 6 victory versus three other players is very, very hard to achieve. You may attain a few of these on the first few matches you play with this deck if you do it right, but smart adversaries learn fast.
Turn 1
So, of that dream hand, you play Command Tower, cast your Sol Ring, and then pass. You got everything you need at the moment. Study everyone else's first turn carefully - you'll most likely see other Rings, a Top, or more exotic stuff like Burgeoning.
Turn 2
If someone did outdo you, you can think of fielding the Crucible right now; if not, go ahead with the Top. Play the Tundra -- you may or may not have drawn countermagic this turn, but you want the opposition on their toes.
Turn 3
Things start picking up the pace; stuff like Phyrexian Arena will surely hit the table. You are now aiming for a mana doubler, or, failing that, any of your combo pieces (Mana Echoes comes to mind). Be wary of playing critical slivers now. Surely someone else will start racking up threat by ramping up in preparation for big stuff coming up next turn; that will surely trigger a boardwipe or something in the same vein and you don't want your combo pieces on the graveyard. An ideal play now is a Maze of Ith or, even better, the Academy Rector if you get it.
Turn 4
Expect the first heavy hitter entering the battlefield now, or, failing that, the next turn. You probably have more than enough life to take hits at the moment, so by all means, let them take on you -- unless, for example, someone reanimates an Artisan of Kozilek or another scary beast. Doing that essentially equals proclaiming confidence in your chances, and that's an ego to be taken down a peg via counterspell or removal. Watch the reactions across the board, and consider the overall aggro level everyone has attained before deciding to act. Letting it through and hoping someone else gets hit is a risky ploy, though; if the ballsy player also turns out to be a canny bastard he can see through your plays and preemptively deal you a blow that's hard to recover from at this point.
If the threat is not as bad and you still have the Crucible, this is a good time to field it, and profit from the fetchland in hand. Abuse the Top for all it's worth.
Turn 5 and onwards: the mid-game
You're now on a stalling strategy, until you get your combo pieces, which is arguably your weakest phase. You have plenty of counterspells and removal to see you through while you hunt for them. Identifying targets for them is key. Unless someone turns out to be determined to kill you, don't fear taking hits. You're relatively safe until you're brought down to <20 life; at that point, you should make it unmistakably clear that no more dicking around will be allowed. Reduce every other critter to dust if you can, that's what Ghostflame Sliver is here for. If you're feeling really, really lucky, and get all the required cards and slivers, you can use Catastrophe to wreck mana bases; note that doing so puts you on a 5-turn clock on average because when (and if) everyone recovers they'll go straight for your throat.
When to bring the Swarmlord to bear
Your commander is a very 7/7-ish creature. That makes him an imposing and deadly wall if you have need of one, but avoid playing it defensively if you can -- your primary concern should be fetching as many combo pieces with it as possible, and if it gets tucked you'll be in for a world of hurt. If you're not desperate for defense, use tutors to fetch Training Grounds and/or Mana Reflection and play them before summoning the Overlord.
Going in for the kill: late game
You know you can do this when you have drawn a mana doubler and you can cast it and defend it for a turn. This, of course, means you have as much countermagic and removal available as you can hold in your hands.
If you do play Mana Reflection with a few slivers (including your commander) on the board and it survives for an entire turn, you're poised for the strike. Ideally those 'few slivers' would be Crystalline Sliver and Root Sliver to minimize exposure to countermeasures.
Worst case scenario, you need a whopping 29 mana, plus commander tax if it got killed, to cast everything on the same turn, broken down as follows:
If Training Grounds is available, you save 8 -- which still leaves us with the daunting task of gathering at least 21 mana. To squeeze the most out of your worker slivers, you should play Heart or Gemhide first, then Queen, then Basal. If they all get through, you have at least 2 left on your pool, and there's no thing that stops you from using creature abilities, then you've entered a degenerate loop of infinite mana:
And thus, it's game over. The Swarm conquers!
This looks all well and good... but have you actually *PLAYED* any of this?!
Arright... where do I start... I suppose it begins when I open a Stronghold pack from among the first batch of boosters I bought, and I get a Crystalline Sliver. Whooooooa... Did I just read "Slivers cannot be targeted by spells or abilities"?
I guess I got enthralled by the Swarm back then in '99. I built that idiotic combo T2 deck and piloted it to an 8th place on a Nationals qualifier, and that was my last experience with Standard play for almost a decade. That Slivers had been rotated out was a bummer. (I was asked during the M13 prerelease about that same T2 deck. The irony.)
Fast forward to 2010, when I first learn about EDH. My brother asks me to pick something up for him at a retailer's. I go to the place... and, almost as if baiting me, the Premium Deck Slivers was the centerpiece of the merchandise on sale. I was almost giddy with delight. Snatch, race back home, and see what can I piece together using that and whatever stuff I had around to jump into the fledgling pod with my bro and pals. I can positively say the development of the deck started right there.
First idea was an aggro-ish approach, as in, cram as many slivers in as you can and wait for magic to happen. Alas, not the best of ideas. I mean, when you had to go up against powerhouses like Sisay, Mayael and Augustine, it just... would not work. That was the first decklist I posted in this thread, but, silly me, consistently replaced it without keeping a decent changelog. It would have been wonderful.
Then I go and stumble upon irpotential's decklist. It made me open my eyes wide. I went on to polish my own version of that build for almost a year, but I always found it too fragile and vulnerable to disruption. The final metamorphosis came when I decided to thin the enchantment count and go for counters. However much I hated them. I always thought I was a red player at heart... but given my change in philosophy I cannot be so sure now. A friend of mine once said that however much I hate blue, I play a lot like blue. Stinging.
And so, here we stand. I've been tweaking this build for a long while now. The local EDH scene is not that big, there's gotta be 20 steady players around here, tops, so it's no surprise that the deck has earned some degree of notoriety (as in, 'oh no, not the slivers again...'). A lot of polishing was done on the Cockatrice scene;
sometimes I can be found over there, with this exact same nickname... What, you never heard of Cockatrice? Google it right away.I used to do that until the spooky wizards living by the coast shut it down.Some further advice you definitely want to read
Footnotes
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
- Anonymous Imperial astropath
1 Basal Sliver
1 Blur Sliver
1 Bonescythe Sliver
1 Crystalline Sliver
1 Essence Sliver
1 Galerider Sliver
1 Gemhide Sliver
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Heart Sliver
1 Hibernation Sliver
1 Homing Sliver
1 Magma Sliver
1 Manaweft Sliver
1 Necrotic Sliver
1 Psionic Sliver
1 Quick Sliver
1 Root Sliver
1 Sentinel Sliver
1 Shifting Sliver
1 Sliver Hivelord
1 Sliver Legion
1 Sliver Queen
1 Synapse Sliver
1 Syphon Sliver
1 Telekinetic Sliver
1 The First Sliver
Genestealer Cult (13)
1 Academy Rector
1 Acidic Slime
1 Amoeboid Changeling
1 Eternal Witness
1 Karametra, God of Harvests
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
1 Rune-Scarred Demon
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Sun Titan
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Coalition Relic
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Expedition Map
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
Enchantments (10)
1 Detention Sphere
1 Into the Wilds
1 Mana Reflection
1 Mirri's Guile
1 Omniscience
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Sylvan Library
1 Training Grounds
1 Unnatural Selection
Instants (2)
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Vampiric Tutor
Sorceries (4)
1 Catastrophe
1 Living Death
1 Patriarch's Bidding
1 Primal Surge
Domains of the Swarm (36)
1 Badlands
1 Bayou
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Command Tower
1 Deserted Temple
2 Forest
1 Flooded Strand
1 Gaea's Cradle
2 Island
1 Krosan Verge
1 Marsh Flats
1 Maze of Ith
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
2 Plains
1 Plateau
1 Polluted Delta
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
2 Swamp
1 Taiga
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
The basics: from a single spawn...
Unlike the control-combo approach, this one is far less of a cutthroat build, favoring tactics that appeal more to Johnny and Timmy players. Which is alright. Competitive formats are awash with Spikes and their antics already.
That does not mean the Tyranid--err, this incarnation of the Swarm is inoffensive. On the contrary, it can be scarily efficient, and has a lot of staying power once it has picked up the pace, on top of several plans for you to pursue.
Groundwork: thrall labors and acquired resources
As previously noted, slivers are resource hogs. Having a toolbox commander that can tutor up anything you need has its price. And you need to fetch things to do your work; given a few lucky draws and plays you could put the Overlord on the battlefield as soon as on turn 4, at the cost of scaring the beejezus out of everyone else. Either your budding swarm ends up dead, or you have to pay a lot of life early on if you managed to play Hibernation Sliver.
So that is why you refrain from playing your slivers early on. The early turns are the province of thralls, mana rocks and shenanigans that boost your economy.
Mystical aids
How the Swarm deals with threats
Once Primal Surge is cast, you want to get the most bang out of your buck - possibly enough bang to bury the opposition under a living tide of screeching talons or to burn them to ashes via Purphoros. Awesome, awesome plan - with an equally GLARING weakness. Packing as few nonpermanents as possible means a very limited suite of answers to threats:
Regrettably, the few existing permanent-based mass removal effects are either too convoluted to use (think Magus of the Disk or Oblivion Stone) or too costly (consider Hythonia the Cruel or Dread Cacodemon) or too destructive for our own good (as Nevinyrral's Disk or Pernicious Deed). Thus, the following spells are a necessity - you simply cannot do with a few boardwipes of your own.
Other valued agents
These thralls are mentioned separately because they fulfill niches other than straight-on ramp or resource acquisition.
The Prophet of Kruphix is insanely good. The enemy is bound to know this, too, so unless you really, really need it, try having her on the field only when you have a way to shield her from removal (via Crystalline Sliver or Sliver Hivelord) or to bounce her to hand (Hibernation Sliver). Mind you, either way requires having either Amoeboid Changeling or Unnatural Selection on the board.Okay, it seems we servants of the Swarm were not the only ones to notice just how much the Prophet was packing. We still have a similar, if less broken, alternative in the form of the Seedborn Muse, and the same considerations apply to her.Her children
I'm not going to repeat myself and drone on and on about how many different slivers there are. Instead, this section is meant to emphasize why the ones below were picked.
Where slivers tread
This list boasts a relatively simpler land base than its combo-control counterpart: 2 of each basic land cards, with the exception of a Mountain, of which we pack only one; all 10 dual lands; 8 fetches; and the following 'special' lands:
Unleashing the Great Devourer
On this particular case, the cultists are our thralls, of which we have more than a dozen. Like their tabletop relatives, our sliver swarm will use them to acquire resources - which translates into using them and their devices to ramp ahead.
I cannot attest that the following is a perfect opening hand, but it has everything needed to jump-start your battle plan:
It may seem obvious, but note that if you have fetchlands on play side to side with a Chromatic Lantern then you need not actually using it to search for lands - even less so with an initial hand such as this. Still, doing so anyway on the basis of thinning your deck is a good idea... and the Lantern gets blasted more often the earlier in game you are.
Turn 1
Draw: Amoeboid Changeling.
Play the Tropical Island, tap it, cast Sol Ring, then pass. Mirri's Guile is tempting, but you can play every card in hand without needing to take a look at your library on your initial turn.
Turn 2
Draw: Heart Sliver
Put that Verdant Catacombs on the board, and immediately sacrifice it to search for a green dual of your choice - say, you grab a Bayou. Tap both your lands, plus Sol Ring, and play Yavimaya Elder.
Turn 3
Draw: Island
You can either play the land you just drew or the Plains you had in hand, it makes no difference. Now you can use that Mirri's Guile. Hold on to your slivers. Playing them now will only get them killed, and they are both important. Canny players will know it. Leave
mana open for turning that Yavimaya Elder into goodies should someone attack you.
Turn 4
Top 3 cards:
Suppose your Elder survived the previous turn. Draw the Arena, put the land atop your library. Play your last land.
Ideally you would want to play Phyrexian Arena to grab more cards early on, but you are one black mana short. You can now either put the Chromatic Lantern into the battlefield, or sac the Yavimaya Elder to search for a Swamp and another basic land. What to do now hinges on how hostile the table is so far; usually you begin seeing fatties now, so having the Elder around for chump-blocking is attractive - but barring someone trolling the early game you have life to spare now.
I would go ahead with playing the Lantern so I can field the Arena right now, and let the Elder live to fight -and die- another day.
Turn 5
It is not always wise to trigger Mirri's Guile before Phyrexian Arena. If only one card among the three atop your library is useful, then you can draw that card now with the Arena, and then trigger the Guile and see if the fourth card was any good.
But now, we only know the topmost card. Kept track? Eternal Witness is entirely useless now, there is nothing on the graveyard worth recurring. So we trigger Mirri's Guile first anyway:
Now this changes things somewhat. Mana Reflection is exactly as awesome as it sounds - a fact that makes it an irresistible target. And while we are not exactly on the early game anymore, it is quite likely an enemy will have a means to dispel it before you can make significant use of it.
Which is why we draw it with the Arena and then get Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, because land drop. And you could stumble upon Cabal Coffers some time soon.
You now can play the Reflection, and have the means to retrieve it should it gets killed atop your library - so before your next turn, you should sac Yavimaya Elder for the Witness and more ramp (in this case, a Mountain and a Swamp). Putting this mighty enchantment in play will immediately draw the attention of the board your way, so you have to tread carefully now.
Turn 6: Assault
Since we shuffled our library to grab the lands off Yavimaya Elder, again we trigger Mirri's Guile first:
Seems like bad luck - we have enough lands in play and in hand, we need more tactical options instead. The sliver is, however, a godsend. You have two critters in hand you can discard for something else with the same subtype. And what we are about to do this turn certainly warrants tucking.
Grab the Tundra and the sliver. Play the dual you just drew. You now have a lot of mana: 6 lands, any of which can give you two mana of any one color you wish -courtesy of Chromatic Lantern, itself worth 2 colored mana too-, plus a Sol Ring that taps for 4 colorless mana. You want to leave that last one in reserve.
Tap 5 lands for 10 mana, cast your commander. It may get tucked. If that happens, do not recover it just yet, unless Mana Reflection gets dispelled, which is very likely now, too; on that case, tap out, use one of the 5 remaining colored mana, and play Homing Sliver so you can pay 3 mana, discard Heart Sliver -you have another haste-giving critter, but no other Amoeboid Changeling-, and retrieve it - but not during your turn. Doing it now will further scare the rest of the table into allying against you.
Worst case scenario, the Reflection is killed too - now that you do recover in your own turn using the remaining mana. The Lantern could also get hit, but at this point you got enough colored lands to care little. A good opponent probably will use that removal somewhere else on the table, but a dumb one who still is scared of you may not.
Keep an eye on your life total, for you surely will take hits now.
Turn 7: Beachhead
Mirri's Guile yields this:
Forget the land and draw the other two. Play one of the two basics you got via Yavimaya Elder. Mana count: exactly 10 -7 lands, Chromatic Lantern, Sol Ring-. Tap out, cast your commander, look for Hibernation Sliver, and cast it.
To be concluded!
Follow-up: some further notes on strategy
Recently I added a link on the useful cards section to an article discussing the merits of ramp, the etiquette of land destruction -long story short: if you do it, you'd better do it for the win, not just 'because' or for the lulz- and this notable excerpt:
It dawned on me tonight, while cooling down after a grueling Algebra final, that I built the counter-combo list trying to avoid the need for defending my nutty plays. Still, something did fail, given the number of occasions on which I found myself facing the combined might of the rest of the table. Probably the failure was all mine.
But that deck is still tooled for accomplishing that goal alright. This is an advantage an aggro build has not. As you command a horde of critters, you have to claw the opposition to death bit by bit, and stay alive through the whole ordeal. So, either you stonewall behind a defense and chip away at their life total while avoiding the worst of the fighting, or you go proactive and use your swarm as suicide bombs. Playing lots of slivers and going on the rampage is not a good idea, really -- doing that will see your swarm folding to boardwipes and the like faster than you can say Rout. (Unless you can kill everyone wicked fast, but even then it won't be as fast as with a combo.)
And since there's a lot of slivers here I'm going to explore the idea of playing cop. I envision needing Harmonic Sliver, Necrotic Sliver and Volrath's Stronghold to achieve that. Possibly Eternal Witness or Pulmonic Sliver as well. In this case, you always must leave enough mana open for sacrificing at least one sliver. People will feel a lot less inclined to mess you up if you can retaliate by destroying something critical. (That's Mutual Assured Destruction in a nutshell.)
So how do you win? You still attack whenever the opportunity to do some harm without leaving you too exposed presents itself. But now Patriarch's Bidding and Living Death become a lot more important. They're not simply countermeasures against boardwipes (read more on this below), but your winning cards! When you cast either, it should look as if the manure is indeed about to collide with the rotary oscillator. (Bojuka Bog becomes exponentially more dangerous, too...) So instead of drawing the unwanted attention of your pod, your goal is to play kingmaker while the opposition does crazy stuff -- and so expends their energy while you preserve your most powerful cards for your own power play.
The Swarmlord's most favored minion...
...is not Crystalline Sliver. Not in this context, at least.
This award goes to Hibernation Sliver.
The greatest strength of the glass fiend is also its main weakness. On rendering all point defense countermeasures useless, it forces opponents to nuke you. Our little sloth demon lets us keep other minions for a mere 2 life, which you can quickly recoup. Having the right slivers to complement it means that the enemy will waste their WMDs on foes that simply refuse to die:
Now, why flash or haste and not both? Well, you may very easily have fewer than those 9 mana to spend, and you want flash to make the most out of any resources remaining untapped before your turn. And you want haste to have your slivers recharging your juice the moment they hit the field.
To add insult to injury, if you have insane amounts of mana to spend you may even get Psionic Sliver to play havoc if you can protect them from the backlash, either by bringing Sliver Hivelord or the Sliver Legion to bear. Think of the havoc: tapping a sliver on this context would net you a whopping 5 life without losing it!
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
There are exactly 96 creatures printed with the sliver subtype... which means there's, at least in theory, 96 slivers to choose from. One of them will be your commander, so we're down to 95. Seems like a lot, right?
At first glance, you'd think, "whoa, so many things a body can do with so many of them!" It would be awesome if we could just dump them all into a deck and fill the remaining spots with lands. (Actually, we can, but we'd get mana starved to begin with.)
So we're forced to pick. Some are better for aggro, others for combo, a few work in Voltron decks, and a few are universally useful. But, as pointed previously, you have to experiment, and what works for someone can be useless to someone else. Hence the breakdown below:
WUBRGThe Unholy TrinityWUBRG
Sliver Legion - Score: 9/10
Hidden within the clicking, chittering swarm is a unique mind, still young, but growing more aware as time passes.
Pros:
- Huge bomb
- Ridiculously powerful passive buff (think Coat of Arms on a sliver)
Cons:
- Can be a pain to cast
- Extremely--nah, absolutely-frigging-has-to-go value target
One of the most feared creature cards ever. You would fear it, too, if this frothing mountain of claws and muscle came into play and turned even your lowly 1/1 token into another frothing mountain of claws and muscle. And of course, it's on the same--nope, scratch that, it's leagues over Crystalline Sliver when it comes to how badly everyone wants it dead.
Sliver Overlord - Score: 9/10
The end of evolution.
Pros:
- Amazing toolbox enabler
- Can steal changelings and the like
- Fits as commander in literally any build or strategy
- Huge bomb
Cons:
- Can be a pain to cast
- Makes your opponents desperate to see it blown off the table
The most flexible of the unholy trifecta. Since it's our commander of choice, we're discussing His Lordship elsewhere, aren't we?
Sliver Queen - Score: 9/10
Her children are ever part of her.
Pros:
- Amazing combo engine
- Huge bomb
Cons:
- Can be a pain to cast
- Outrageously high value target
Veteran players will go "oh, crap" when Her Lady of the Chittering Swarm hits the table--and rightly so, because she should only see play when you have the rest of the combo pieces into place and a response for anyone daring to counterspell or fry her.
Armor Sliver - Score: 3/10
Pros:
- Can turn a lonely blocker into a lifesaving wall
Cons:
- Extremely mana intensive
One of several red-headed stepchildren of the swarm. Seriously, 2 for just +0/+1? Even if you had mana to spare, you would be better off casting something to deal with an assault. Or, failing that, simply using the least valuable of your slivers as a chump blocker, unless it's a trampling attacker and you can't afford to take the hit. All in all, there are MUCH better choices. If you really, really, REALLY must have defense buffs, go for slivers that give passive bonuses instead.
Essence Sliver - Score: 7/10
Pros:
- Lifelink
- Good power/cost ratio
Cons:
- High value target
If you're into aggro builds this one is very good to have for obvious reasons. Still, it's one of many slivers with a large target painted on its forehead.
Lymph Sliver - Score: 4/10
Pros:
- Absorb effectively negates Pestilence-like effects
- Makes all your slivers a bit tougher
Cons:
- Expensive to cast
An odd sliver if there's one, and not particularly useful in my humble opinion. It's essentially an overgrown Plated Sliver that can render the swarm invulnerable to Pestilence. But, 5 mana to cast? Really?
Plated Sliver - Score: 6/10
Pros:
- Low cost
- Low value target
Cons:
- Fragile
Probably one of the best first turn sliver drops. Brings much needed toughness to the swarm--most of your critters are lowly 1/1s or 2/2s. Very good for aggro or token strategies.
Poultice Sliver - Score: 3/10
Pros:
- Regeneration in a color that usually does not have it
Cons:
- Expensive ability
Hands-down, the worst regenerator sliver. Not only you got to pay, you have to tap it. It's like the worst of Clot and Crypt mashed together. I'd only pick it if I couldn't live without regen and I didn't have black slivers... but totally worthless otherwise.
Pulmonic Sliver - Score: 6/10
Pros:
- Good evasion
- Limited proofing against board wipe
Cons:
- Putting cards atop your library delays you
- Very expensive to cast
Very used to mitigate the worst effects of something wrecking your whole swarm. (You'd better get used to it, it will happen a lot.) If there's a lot of graveyard hate then this is your second best hope of keeping your slivers in the game. Being costly to hardcast is a big minus here.
Quilled Sliver - Score: 6/10
Pros:
- Cheap creature removal
Cons:
- Limited usefulness in EDH given how many fatties are tossed around
If you've been allowed to rack up on the sliver count, this will allow you to snipe combatants at your leisure. Could prove interesting if you got Hunter Sliver on the table. But its usefulness hinges on just how many slivers you got...
Sidewinder Sliver - Score: 6/10
Pros:
- Good attacking debuff
Cons:
- Fragile
Another nice first turn drop. Again, good if you're into aggro or token strategies, but not as much if you go combo or voltron.
Sinew Sliver - Score: 8/10
Pros:
- Strong passive buff
- Very cheap to play
Cons:
- Fragile
- High value target
Timeshifted version of Muscle Sliver, with all its perks and drawbacks. Another must for aggro builds.
Talon Sliver - Score: 7/10
Pros:
- Provides an extra edge in both offense and defense
Cons:
- Fragile
- High value target
The sliver of choice if you want your swarm to have first strike. Shame it's, again, twig-like tough. But of course you'll get that covered. (We hope.)
Ward Sliver - Score: 6/10
Pros:
- Awesome defense
Cons:
- Expensive to cast
- High value target
This one was a clear attempt at creating something more balanced than Crystalline Sliver. 5 mana for a 2/2 that nullifies a color. Not bad. Now put them both together in the table at the same time and not even Earthquakes and the like can kill them.
Watcher Sliver - Score: 6/10
Pros:
- Seriously toughens up your slivers
Cons: none
I've said it enough times already to bore you: slivers are fragile. Well, this addresses that: +0/+2 across the board. Still, unless Doran is in play, just being able to take it usually is not enough to kill off an opponent. Maybe that's why I've never seen it fit to stick one into my builds.
Brood Sliver - Score: 6/10
Pros:
- Great for token decks and tactics
- Solid P/T
- Can be used to tremendous effect with Sliver Legion
Cons:
- High priority target
Now this is a strange sliver if there's one. Personally, I have only profited from its ability once or twice. But its potential is undeniable. Still, you have to keep your tokens in the game long enough for it to profit, and, tokens or not, they're still slivers. And contribute to the 3+ Godzilla Threshold.
Fungus Sliver - Score: 5/10
Pros:
- Can potentially make your slivers more deadly
Cons:
- Ability is easy to sidestep
For your slivers to profit from this ability, they have to survive. Useful if you have lots of passive bonuses, but not the best choice if you don't.
Gemhide Sliver - Score: 9/10
"The land is weary. Even Skyshroud is depleted. We must find another source of mana—one that is growing despite our withering world."
—Freyalise
Pros:
- Great combo enabler
- Turns all your slivers into mana sources
Cons:
- Extremely high value target
- Very weak
Now, what's not to love about this one? Well, it's very fragile, and it's more efficient at pulling aggro than a Taunting Elf. But, turning every sliver into Birds of Paradise... Whatever your strategy, this one is a must. Just make sure you have a lightning rod around.
Horned Sliver
Pros:
- Trample
- Low cost
Cons:
- Fragile
- Vulnerable to cheap board wipe effects
The low-cost alternative to Battering Sliver: cheaper to cast, but weaker. Unless buffed, a Massacre or similar effects will kill it outright.
Might Sliver - Score: 7/10
Pros:
- Huge buff
Cons:
- Expensive to cast
- High value target
One of the strongest slivers (but not the best) when it comes to providing passive bonuses. It is, consequently, a good candidate for targeted removal or counterspelling.
Muscle Sliver - Score: 8/10
The air was filled with the cracks and snaps of flesh hardening as the new sliver joined the battle.
Pros:
- Strong passive buff
- Very cheap to play
Cons:
- Fragile
- High value target
An aggro build's bread-and-butter. One of the best cost/effective slivers for boosting the stats of your swarm. When stacked with other passive buffers, it can quickly turn a lot of unsuspecting weenies into a lot of pain.
Quick Sliver - Score: 8/10
The directors of the Riptide Project wanted instant results on the sliver experiments. They got their wish.
Pros:
- Cheap to play
- Great flexibility
Cons:
- Fragile
- Very high value target
One of the most useful slivers ever. Got Harmonic in play? Bamf, your slivers can Naturalize. An opponent counterspells your Queen? Root Sliver says he can't. Someone terminating your mana sliver? Crystalline Sliver says no can do. Mind you, casting this falls just short of literally taunting your opponents into expending their removal or board-wiping you.
Reflex Sliver - Score: 5/10
Pros:
- Haste
Cons:
- Expensive to cast
- High value target
The most expensive of all hasty slivers to put into the battlefield, and not a very tough one either. Its single redeeming grace is that you just require a single G to play it. If you need haste, go with Heart Sliver instead.
Root Sliver - Score: 7/10
Pros:
- Negates counterspelling
Cons:
- Expensive to cast
Few things are as satisfying as flash-casting this one in response to a counterspell. Its usefulness will be limited, however, if there are no blue decks in the table. Me, I like to think that preparedness makes a body powerful. ^.^
Spinneret Sliver - Score: 7/10
Pros:
- Cheap for its power
- Great defensive ability
Cons:
- Fragile
2 mana for a 2/2 that gives your entire swarm reach? Sounds awesome... BUT! If you're into aggro, you'll rarely find yourself using your critters on the defense. (Unless you have vigilance.) And if you go either combo or Voltron, there are much better cards that badly need this slot.
Virulent Sliver - Score: 8/10
Pros:
- Turns your whole swarm into poisoners
Cons:
- Fragile
- High value target
You think infect is cheap? This one may not be as sexy, right, but you need exactly the same amount of poison counters to knock someone off the game both in Modern and in EDH--yes, only 10 counters. That turns this one from being "meh" to being "oh god oh god keep that thing away from me". Not to mention it's an awesome first turn drop.
Barbed Sliver - Score: 4/10
Pros:
- Can turn that single unblocked sliver into a huge pain
- Passable passive threat effect ("Will he or won't he...?")
Cons:
- Extremely mana intensive, again
Makes all slivers firebreathing. The polar opposite of Armor Sliver, but slightly better. Again: there are better choices out there.
Battering Sliver - Score: 5/10
Pros:
- Solid P/T
- Allows for overruning the opposition
Cons:
- Very high cost
One of the main drawbacks of playing slivers in EDH is that they're simply too weak; most are 1/1 or 2/2. This one can survive being bolted, and with a few other slivers in play it becomes exponentially more dangerous. But it's not cheap.
Bladed Sliver - Score: 6/10
Pros:
- Nice passive strength boost
Cons:
- Buff useful only when having large numbers of slivers
- No toughness bonus
See, this is what I meant when I was talking about getting slivers with passive buffs. This one is very useful when you're into zerging strategies. The more slivers in table, the merrier it gets, but a word of caution is due: chances of a boardwipe skyrocket after you land your third sliver. And the lack of toughness bonus leaves you more vulnerable to an Earthquake or something as awful.
Bonesplitter Sliver - Score: 6/10
Pros:
- Great passive bonus
- Great power/cost ratio
Cons:
- Buff useful only when having large numbers of slivers
- No toughness bonus
- High priority target
Another nice addition to your ranks if you're into all-out offense and swarming. Make sure you play something to shield it before it lands, though.
Fury Sliver - Score: 6/10
Pros:
- Awesome offense and defense
- Potential winning condition
Cons:
- High cost
- High value target
Aggro builds will love this one. At 6 mana, it's very expensive, though, even more expensive than the unholy trinity. Not to mention that it literally crashes through the Godzilla Threshold.
Heart Sliver - Score: 8/10
Pros:
- Great combo enabler
- Haste
- Low cost
Cons:
- High value target
- Very weak
You *HAVE* to have haste. Period.
Homing Sliver - Score: 7/10
Pros:
- Survival on a sliver
- Can populate your graveyard really fast if you're into it
Cons:
- Expensive ability
- Savvy players will fry it on the spot
This is the card that comes to the rescue when your commander gets Hindered. Note that it can and does work awesomely as a discard engine if you plan to raise your swarm from the grave.
Hunter Sliver - Score: 5/10
Pros:
- Turns your attacking slivers into dedicated creature removal
Cons:
- Requires significant synergy with other slivers to be efficient
- Very weak
If you happen to have buffed your slivers with passive bonuses and cool abilities such as double strike, no critter that isn't shrouded or hexproofed will be safe. Not the best to have if you need to keep your creature count low, though.
Magma Sliver - Score: 7/10
Pros:
- Nice P/T
- Can quickly turn a single sliver into a living flamethrower
Cons:
- Depends on number of slivers in play to be effective
- Does not work with Crystalline Sliver in play
The ability looks incredibly deadly on paper... until you realize that you have to leave your slivers in the open to profit from its ability. If you have Quick Sliver in play, it's no big deal, but in EDH that's too large an 'if'. It can pay off big time if you're swinging for a Voltron victory.
Sedge Sliver - Score: 8/10
Pros:
- Cheap buff
- Cheap regeneration
- Great power/cost ratio
- Smooth interaction with shroud effects
Cons:
- Ability requires a specific land type to trigger
- Moderately high target value
In my opinion, the best regen-giving sliver there is. Cheap, no issues with the glass fiend, and on top of it all, packing a buff! A must if you're into aggro.
Two-Headed Sliver - Score: 5/10
Pros:
- Cheap evasion
Cons:
- Fragile
- Not the best evasion there is
By itself, it sounds... just nice. Just factor in a few others and it becomes frightening--but you can't just include everyone, right? It would be dead awesome if it could block another creature, too... but as it stands, there's better stuff to pick.
Basal Sliver - Score: 7/10
Pros:
- Ashnod's Altar on a sliver
- Great combo enabler
- Reasonably costed
Cons:
- High value target
This one has attained infamy in my pod as part of a degenerate combo, if a lengthy one... you just need the queen, and a few others. After you've pulled off the combo once or twice, it will become a prime candidate for targeted removal.
Clot Sliver - Score: 7/10
Pros:
- Regeneration
- Low cost
- Effect does not target (read: smooth interaction with Crystalline Sliver)
Cons:
- Costly ability
- Very weak
Even if there's a ton of removal effects on EDH that treat regeneration like it isn't there, there's another ton of similar stuff that does not. Still, this is not the best choice to get regen effects.Ditched out that argument after DanzBorin noted that Crypt Sliver does require a target being assigned, and thus does not like shroud effects. This one has no such issue, which makes it considerably more useful.
Crypt Sliver - Score: 7/10
Pros:
- Regeneration
- Low cost
Cons:
- Very weak
Another regenerative sliver, this one is very useful at that, since you need no mana to activate the ability, and that makes for awesome chump blockers. If you're going to toss in regen into your mix, this is the second-best choice.
Frenzy Sliver - Score: 5/10
Pros:
- Makes a horde much more dangerous
- Low value target
Cons:
- Conditional ability does not help on defense
Mostly overlooked, but a deck geared towards cranking out as many tokens as possible may profit from it. Only useful otherwise as a way of increasing the sliver count.
Mindlash Sliver - Score: 7/10
Pros:
- Amazingly efficient mass discard
- Cheaper than usual sac outlet
- Effective boardwiping deterrent
- Very cheap to play
Cons:
- Ability hurts you too
- Ability costs you a sliver
- Fragile
- Not as useful in 1v1 situations
How come I've overlooked this one? If you manage to sneak this one through late in game, you can deprive your opponents of spells while at the same time you set up a Living Death effect. (And if you have enough mana available, it can discourage opponents of boardwiping you.) Criminal with Synapse Sliver on the table.
Mindwhip Sliver - Score: 6/10
Pros:
- Provides targeted discard effect
- Sac outlet
Cons:
- Expensive mana cost on top of needing to sac a sliver
- Ability only can be used during your turn
If you positively, definitely need to empty your opponent's hands (as opposed to your opponents'), you need this fellow. However, even in 1v1, I still think Mindlash Sliver to be better.
Plague Sliver - Score: 1/10
A sliver shares everything with its hive--even its afflictions.
You really considering this one? Are you serious? Even if you could offset that massive penalty with Essence Sliver on board, it will only make your opponents even more determined to blow your lifelink-giving critter away. Avoid it like -you guessed it- the plague.
Spectral Sliver - Score: 5/10
Pros:
- Best pumping effect makes for good offense or defense as needed
Cons:
- Very mana intensive
In my opinion, all pumping slivers are a waste of a slot best filled with another of the other 87 slivers available. (Well, make it 74, counting off your commander.) This one is the least worthless of them all, though, and gets to become actually interesting to have in play when you have a Heartstone or something alike on the board. Even then, I would only resort to that if that meant killing a player, or failing that, if I didn't have anything better to play on my hand.
Spitting Sliver - Score: 6/10
Pros:
- Nice P/T
- Provides an extra edge in both offense and defense
Cons:
- Expensive to cast
Weighing in at 5 mana, this is a bit expensive for what it does. It being a relatively tough sliver should even the odds a bit, but if I was willing to include such an expensive critter, I'd go for double strike instead. If you want first strike too, there are cheaper picks around.
Toxin Sliver - Score: 7/10
Pros:
- Solid P/T
- Good power/cost ratio
- Great fear factor
Cons:
- High value target
It's not deathtouch, but it's almost there. I've always wanted to have this one and Hunter Sliver in play... and, perhaps, something that gives it first strike, too. Damn, it gets too convoluted to be practical so fast... Besides, it's almost an automatic target for any kind of spot removal around. Nobody likes deathtouch (*groan* yes, I know, it's not 100% deathtouch), and fewer people still like a whole swarm of slivers with poison-coated talons. Worse than the Zerg or the Great Devourer.
Vampiric Sliver - Score: 6/10
Pros:
- Solid P/T
- Good power/cost ratio
- Each kill fattens up your slivers
Cons:
- Ability requires a kill, rather than just allocating damage as in most vampires
- High value target
Nobody likes to have a sliver in play that can mean potentially making every sliver bigger. Even if that ability sounds more awesome than what it actually is. When you got lots of slivers around, it's nice to have, but there are better ones around that are as nice or more in that context.
Mesmeric Sliver - Score: 6/10
Pros:
- Helps to keep an eye on opponents and to potentially deprive them of major resources
Cons:
- A bit overcosted
This little critter essentially does a watered-down version of JTMS' first ability: you can't use it to peek at your own library. Still, if you like control-ish strategies, you may find use for it. (Personally, I've always considered it just an odd shenanigan.)
Mistform Sliver - Score: 4/10
Pros:
- Can add a creature type to benefit from mechanics affecting other creature types
Cons:
- Very specific ability
I'm positively sure there's a ton of uses for this sliver, but you'd have to either put two creature types in your deck or build it with teamplay in mind (2HG, for example). Neither is particularly appealing in my book.
Mnemonic Sliver - Score: 6/10
Pros:
- Turns slivers into emergency draw if need be
- Sac outlet
Cons:
- Costly ability
Standard sac-for-an-effect sliver. A lifesaver when you need that one card and you don't care sacrificing your whole horde to take your chances.
Psionic Sliver - Score: 5/10
Pros:
- Cheap direct damage
- Potential winning condition
Cons:
- Costs you a sliver unless you've racked up buffs
- Very expensive to cast
You could use this one instead of Acidic Sliver or Cautery Sliver to kill everyone off with your infinite combo, but it's way more expensive than either. Big advantage over the other two is that you'll need no mana to activate its ability.
Screeching Sliver - Score: 6/10
Pros:
- Can work wonders in a milling strategy
- Foils most tutor effects
- Low cost
Cons:
- Limited usefulness in multiplayer EDH
You'll positively like this one if: A) you're into milling and B) you can mass a horde of tokens to get the most of its ability. I can picture it being very useful in 1v1, but its worth drops quickly when you have to deal with more than one library.
Shadow Sliver - Score: 6/10
Pros:
- Great evasion
Cons:
- Expensive to cast
- High target value
- Wrecks your defense
Good one, but tricky to use. Only field this if you don't really care about getting hit in combat. (I picture this can mostly happen in: A) 1v1, B) if you somehow managed to keep your Essence Sliver alive, or C) if evading allows you to kill everyone.) I don't really see this one enduring for long if played without any form of defense like shroud or protection -- nobody likes slivers that can swing through defenses like they aren't there.
Shifting Sliver - Score: 8/10
Pros:
- Best evasion ability on a sliver
Cons:
- Expensive to cast
- Very high target value
All the good of Shadow Sliver, without the huge drawback of leaving you out in the cold. Mind you, if that sliver can get some people nervous, this one will scare opponents s***less. Play it under a protective umbrella if you can, or if you have some way of giving it some defense in a hurry.
Synapse Sliver - Score: 7/10
Pros:
- Nice P/T
- Turns all your slivers into Thieving Magpies
Cons:
- Expensive to cast
- High value target
This is one I've always been trying to find where to stick in my builds, even if everyone will literally want it extinct. It being expensive to cast is what I find uncomfortable, even if it's totally justified.
Synchronous Sliver - Score: 7/10
Pros:
- Vigilance greatly boosts your defense
Cons:
- Expensive to cast
- High value target
Highly useful both on offense and defense, and highly threatening because of that. I don't like that rather large casting cost, that being one of the facts that keeps it out of my deck. That my deck is a combo deck requiring specific slivers (and just them) does not help either.
Telekinetic Sliver - Score: 6/10
Pros:
- Great control engine
Cons:
- Expensive to cast
- High value target
This is what you hope to play when you have had enough of getting board-wiped and controlled and want to play a bit of prison yourself. You're going to need anything that nets you sliver tokens for that, though--think Sliversmith, Hivestone, and, of course, her Lady of the Chittering Swarm. (For added hatred, stick in a Seedborn Muse somewhere.) Still, sounds like something overly complicated and a bit fragile to pull off...
Winged Sliver - Score: 7/10
Pros:
- Good evasion
Cons:
- Fragile
- Makes your swarm vulnerable to Hurricane effects
The way to go if you want flying slivers (and have carefully considered all the pros and cons of having your whole swarm grow wings) in my opinion. If it's defense you care about, go with Spinneret Sliver instead.
Metallic Sliver - Score: 4/10
Pros:
- Raises the sliver count
- Colorless
Cons:
- No abilities whatsoever
- Very fragile
If it wasn't for the cost and the artifact creature type, I'd use these as sliver tokens.
Venser's Sliver - Score: 3/10
A pretentious Metallic Sliver. And even less useful a card than it is. I can't even use it as a token.
Acidic Sliver - Score: 7/10
Pros:
- Can end the game if there's enough mana available (read: infinite combo)
- Good source of removal and direct damage
Cons:
- Ability costs you a sliver
Chosen winning condition of many combo builds.
Cautery Sliver - Score: 6/10
Pros:
- Can end the game if there's enough mana available (again read: infinite combo)
- Can serve as a direct damage/removal source in a pinch
- Can buy you that one turn you need by keeping you or more important slivers alive
- Low cost
Cons:
- Low damage/protection potential
- Usefulness depends on the situation
Another usual winning condition for combo builds. Something of a Swiss Army Sliver; very useful to have in the right situation.
Crystalline Sliver - Score: 9/10
Bred as living shields, these slivers have proven unruly--they know they cannot be caught.
Pros:
- One of the most awesome defenses ever
- Low cost
Cons:
- Extremely high priority target
Whatever your strategy, build or plan, you have to have this. If there's something better than making your whole swarm immune to any targeted effect thrown its way, I don't know what it is. (Wait--hexproof would be better, but that would be beyond overkill.) Still, it won't protect your swarm from board wipes; on the contrary, it makes it even more vulnerable to them, since everyone will be frantically digging/hoping for that.
Darkheart Sliver - Score: 7/10
Pros:
- May save your life in a pinch
- Low cost
- Sac outlet
Cons:
- Ability costs you a sliver
Weird color combination for me to think: "MEDIC!" (But now, there's Planar Chaos for you.) Not as threatening as having outright lifelink on your slivers, but not the most useful ability to have either.
Dementia Sliver - Score: 4/10
Pros:
- Can help keeping the hands of your opponents empty
Cons:
- Ability is less useful the more cards your opponents have in their hands
- Too many conditions for the ability to actually have any effect
- Usefulness highly dependent on other cards and on game phase
- High cost
This one I'd play late in game when the table is locked in stalemate and everyone had few cards in hand. And if I had a way of looking at my opponents' hands. And if I had lots of slivers... something unlikely given the Godzilla Threshold. In sum: I don't like it.
Dormant Sliver - Score: 7/10
Pros:
- Very useful draw engine
Cons:
- Not cheap
- Turns all your slivers into walls
- High value target
Very useful if you're into turtling and combo. Cast your slivers into the table, sculpt your hand, load up on responses... until the fateful moment arrives; then, sac it, swarm up and go to town. Smart players will want it out of play quickly.
Firewake Sliver - Score: 7/10
Pros:
- Haste
- Sac outlet
Cons:
- High cost
- Very weak
A sliver with haste that you can sac for a quick buff? Sounds awesome, but it's balanced out by being barely sturdier than a twig and its rather high and tricky cost. In the end, one of the best haste-giving slivers there is.
Frenetic Sliver - Score: 5/10
Pros:
- Can potentially mitigate the worst effects of a board wipe
Cons:
- Unreliable ability
If you're into chaos, this one is right for you. Otherwise, it depends on how big your required sliver count is, and even then, there are better choices in my humble opinion.
Ghostflame Sliver - Score: 6/10
Pros:
- Treats most forms of 'protection' like they aren't there
- Low cost
Cons:
- Usefulness is very situational
Your answer to Sword-toting beasties and critters protected against one or more colors. And an awesome way to blast everyone back to the Stone Age if you happen to have All is Dust in your hand.
Harmonic Sliver - Score: 9/10
"Since the last sliver arrived, even our mightiest relics splinter into shards as soon as we bring them against the hive."
—Llanach, Skyshroud ranger
Pros:
- Naturalize on a stic--er, sliver
Cons:
- Extremely high value target
- Very weak
This is what you hope to topdeck when you can't bring the big bad beast into play and someone just dropped a disk. It would be nice to have an indestructible artifact on the table for its effect to ground out when there are no suitable targets... other than your own artifacts or enchantments, that is.
Hibernation Sliver - Score: 8/10
Mogglings have been known to play ball with hibernating slivers, completely unaware of their true nature.
Pros:
- Good way of evading removal effects
- Low cost
- Being somewhat of a double-edged knife may prolong its life on the table
Cons:
- Ability can hurt a lot
- Savvy players will know it for what it is
What's 2 life in EDH? That depends on whether you're early or late in the game. If you got life to spare and you just *HAVE* to save that sliver, then this is your best friend. After all, the only life point that matters is the last one.
Necrotic Sliver - Score: 8/10
Though Volrath is long dead, the slivers have become everything he wanted them to be: mindless instruments of destruction and despair.
Pros:
- Vindicate on a sliver
- Potential winning condition
Cons:
- Expensive ability costing both a sliver and a lot of mana
What you need when you positively have to blow up something. Shroud and hexproof will still stop you, but Ghostflame Sliver can help you bypass protection effects. If you're going to cast him, make sure you leave at least enough mana to use its ability once--that will both prolong its table life and allow you to blow something up in the case someone makes the mistake of killing it.
Opaline Sliver - Score: 5/10
Pros:
- Unique way of discouraging targeted effects
Cons:
- Ability won't protect your sensitive slivers
While awesome on paper, allowing you to draw a card in exchange for blowing up one of your slivers is more than a trade-off for an opponent looking to get rid of, say, Gemhide Sliver.
Spined Sliver - Score: 3/10
Pros:
- Makes slivers more dangerous the more blockers they face
Cons:
- Ability will not stop a determined defender
Amazing art. Otherwise, completely useless in my opinion. Even more so in EDH, where large creatures are the norm rather than the exception.
Victual Sliver - Score: 4/10
Pros:
- Cheap to cast
- Sac outlet
- Ability can save you in a pinch
Cons:
- Expensive ability costs you both mana and a sliver
Even if I was desperate for life I'd still prefer using Darkheart Sliver instead of this one.
These are set apart because they only share their abilities with slivers you control. (No further comments on that.)
Battle Sliver (4R, 3/3) - score: 6/10
Bonesplitter Sliver revisited. Tougher, costlier, and a selfish bastard.
Pros:
- Great passive bonus
Cons:
- Buff useful only when having large numbers of slivers
- Expensive to cast
- No toughness bonus
I see it wreaking a lot of havoc as a finisher on T2, but fails to impress me for EDH.
Blur Sliver (2R, 2/2) - Score: 7/10
The Heart Sliver equivalent.
Pros:
- Great combo enabler
- Haste
Cons:
- High value target
- Moderately expensive to cast
Again: haste is a MUST. That said, I'm still picking the oldie over this one.
Bonescythe Sliver (3W, 2/2) - Score: 7/10
Fury Sliver finally made useful!
Pros:
- Awesome offense and defense
- Potential winning condition
Cons:
- High value target
- Moderately expensive to cast
Her Ladyship smiles on this one, however dissimilar to Her kin it may be. Slightly weaker than the vintage version, but much, much leaner. Sneaking this fellow through in combat via Quick Sliver is finally viable. *evil grin*
Galerider Sliver (U, 1/1) - Score: 9/10
Masters of adaptation, galeriders serve multiple purposes useful to the hive. When they're not patrolling their territories, their majestic wings serve to circulate cool air through the vast hive chambers.
Winged Sliver put through a diet.
Pros:
- Good evasion
- Ridiculously cheap to cast
Cons:
- Fragile
- Makes your swarm vulnerable to Hurricane effects
Getting the swarm on the skies is not going to get any cheaper than this.
Groundshaker Sliver (6G, 5/5) - Score: 4/10
A muscle-obsessed Horned Sliver.
Pros:
- Trample
- Unusually strong for a sliver
Cons:
- Very high casting cost
The only redeeming quality for this beast is exactly that -- it's a beast. Otherwise, why trample when you can choose to just ignore defenses? Not to mention playing this is going to leave you starved for mana.
Manaweft Sliver (1G, 1/1) - Score: 9/10
"I see in their interconnectedness a strange embodiment of the natural order."
—Dionus, elvish archdruid
Gemhide Sliver in form and function. The Swarm rejoices!
Megantic Sliver (5G, 3/3) - Score: 7/10
Might Sliver's bigger cousin.
Pros:
- Biggest sliver-based buff (+3/+3)
Cons:
- Very expensive to cast
- High value target
For a slight increase in cost, a decent buff upgrade. Unless it would net you a quick victory, I'd cast this late in game -- playing this with nothing to screen it and when short on mana is a total waste against -even marginally- smart opposition.
Predatory Sliver (1G, 1/1) - Score: 8/10
Muscle Sliver in form and function. An almost exact match.
Sentinel Sliver (1W, 2/2) - Score: 8/10
Synchronous Sliver put through a murderous weight loss plan.
Pros:
- Amazingly cheap
Cons:
- High value target
Hands down, some of the best additions IMO. Going to add some much needed defensive capabilities to the swarm.
Sliver Construct (3, 2/2) - Score: 3/10
Metallic Sliver bigger cousin. A complete waste of a slot on EDH.
Steelform Sliver (2W, 2/2) - Score: 4/10
The M14 version of Plated Sliver.
Pros:
- Low value target
Cons:
- Bonus has a low impact
- High cost for what it does
All the bad of Plated Sliver and none of the good. I'm getting only one -- and it goes straight to my collector's binder.
Striking Sliver (R, 1/1) - Score: 8/10
You're too busy recoiling in fear to realize that it's already hit you.
Pros:
- Provides a decisive edge in both offense and defense if dropped early on
Cons:
- Fragile
- High value target
Save for the Galerider, the best first-turn drop. Imagine what happens if you start your game putting this in play.
Syphon Sliver (2B, 2/2) - Score: 8/10
When the hive must feed, every appendage becomes an additional mouth.
Essence Sliver after hurling itself headfirst into the dark side.
Pros:
- High value for its cost
- Lifelink
Cons:
- Very high value target
I see this one paired with its older sibling, rather than supplanting it.
EDIT: and with good reason! Lifelink, a static ability, stacks with Essence Sliver's ability, which is a triggered ability.
Thorncaster Sliver (4R, 2/2) - Score: 8/10
A total newcomer, bringing an unique -and deadly- skill to the Swarm! Here, I'll let Tanion do the talking:
I see this working nicely with Brood Sliver too, though the impact only gets noticed between rounds... In any case, it's not cheap to cast.
Yet more additions to the swarm! This section will see frequent updates for obvious reasons.
Belligerent Sliver (2R, 2/2) - Score: 5/10
Two-headed Sliver on steroids. Shame that it also got fatter, too. I'm not really impressed. Even though this is a form of evasion that requires creative blocking, it's not going to stop a determined defender.
Constricting Sliver (5W, 3/3) - Score: 6/10 (Source)
Well, removal is like haste and mana and firepower, the more the merrier. And this ability stacks: you somehow clone this, and bam, you get two banished baddies for the price of a one. If only it wasn't sooo costly...
Diffusion Sliver (1U, 1/1) - Score: 6/10
This is another piece that probably will see a lot of competitive play; imposing a tax on spells targeting your swarm is a wonderful deterrent to have early on, but as the game progresses and resources become available it's not as effective. But EDH-wise, considering that you won't have more than one copy around -clone effects notwithstanding- and that it's a rare game when all players are starved for mana... 1v1-wise, it may be more useful, but I'm not impressed.
Leeching Sliver (1B, 1/1) - Score: 6/10 (Source)
My first reaction upon seeing this was, 'aggro players are going to have a fit over this.' I'm getting the feeling a Modern archetype is slowly shaping up, and it could be realized if the rest of the M15 crop is equally good, but I don't see what could be the value of this fellow on the multiplayer EDH scene. Now, on a 1v1 scenario, on the other hand...
Sliver Hivelord (WUBRG, 5/5) - Score: 9/10 (Source)
"This is the source, the line unbroken since the calamity that brought such monsters to our shores."
- Hastric, Thunian scout
If there is something that the Swarm folds to, that something consists of cataclysmic spells that strip the board clean of life. No more. Now effects similar to Merciless Eviction and Terminus will be the ones to fear, but those are much fewer...
Venom Sliver (1G, 1/1) - Score: 8/10
At long last, the Swarm has produced a strain capable of mortally poisoning anything! While it's barely sturdier than a twig, the possibilities it opens up are endless. Coupled with Psionic Sliver or Thorncaster Sliver, you can snipe targets at your entire leisure. Having Quilled Sliver around means you can get rid of pesky attackers or defenders that neglect their defenses - or you can turn a battle between two opponents on its head! And that's just two things that came to mind at the drop of a hat, a canny player can concoct such horrors by making creative use of this fellow...
Useful non-sliver cards
Having agreed on the fact that you're not going to fill all nonland spots on your list with slivers if you want to have fun with everyone's favorite Alien/Zerg/'Nid expies -something that usually translates into getting terrified looks from your opponents-, you'll need things other than slivers. And for a swarm of insectoid horrors, they're picky.
Aggro engines
This dubious label is meant for those cards that either help you put more slivers on the table or make what is already a scarily powerful horde of frothing beasts even scarier.
Aluren
Bow of Nylea -- contributed by freeza59650
Call to the Kindred -- Credits to geezmonkey for the contribution
Coat of Arms
Cryptic Gateway
Descendants' Path -- Credits to Arekku for making me see this
Door of Destinies
Heartstone
Lurking Predators
Maelstrom Nexus
Omniscience -- Credits to LanAkou for making me see this
Temur Ascendancy - Credits to nykspree for the contribution
Training Grounds
Vivien's Arkbow
Wild Pair
These are spells only spoken of in whispers, mighty weavings that evoke fear and anxiety in those who hear about them, for they are that powerful--they literally wipe the board clean of one or more types of permanents.
All is Dust
Austere Command
Bonfire of the Damned -- credits go to sumchung for suggesting this
Catastrophe
Cyclonic Rift
Damnation
Day of Judgment
Decree of Pain -- suggestion by Pestifism
Engineered Explosives -- contributed by Rumpley
Fumigate - contribution by materpillar
Hallowed Burial
Harsh Mercy
In Garruk's Wake - contribution by MosiahMarkov
Maelstrom Pulse
Merciless Eviction
Pernicious Deed
Ratchet Bomb
Rout
Spreading Plague - contribution by materpillar
Toxic Deluge - contributed by Toolmakesmedrool
Wrath of God
The bread and butter of, uh, combo builds. This is the kind of cards that draw a smile on every player's face. Or a rictus of terror. I can never tell the difference.
Aggravated Assault
ALSO: This + Sword of Feast and Famine.
Enchanted Evening
Paradox Engine - contributed by Rumpley- Banned as of 7/8/2019Some builds can ditch this altogether, but in some other cases you simply won't be able to set your scheme in motion (reference to Archenemy is entirely coincidental/intentional) if you don't have the ability of telling your enemies to stick their spells elsewhere.
Counterspell
Cryptic Command
Dissipate
Forbid
Force of Will
Hinder
Last Word
Mana Drain
Mindbreak Trap
Pact of Negation
Plasm Capture
Render Silent
Rewind
Silence - contribution by Craden
Soul Manipulation - mined from shaftedman's build
Spell Crumple
Time Stop
Some would say that a better alternative to counterspelling is simply relieving your opponent of the pesky card in the first place, and that is exactly what these cards do.
Duress
Hymn to Tourach
Inquisition of Kozilek
This stuff lets you (and preferably you alone) draw more cards. Simple, huh?
Mind's Eye
Herald's Horn
Kindred Discovery -- many thanks to Outcrypp for the contribution
Phyrexian Arena
Rishkar's Expertise -- credit goes to iliurgul for the suggestion
Slate of Ancestry -- credit goes to Tanion for the suggestion
Vanquisher's Banner
Maybe not all of the cards listed here fit that label, but their purpose is broadly similar--get you something you need from your library, or rearrange the first few cards to suit your taste.
Bring to Light - props to Iliurgul for reminding me to include this, big omission on my part
Cream of the Crop
Crystal Ball
Once I would have said that in a multiplayer environment there are plenty of other, juicier targets for spot removal, but recent experience has told me that's not the case anymore, so use it for all it's worth while you have it on the table.
Demonic Tutor & Diabolic Tutor
Diabolic Intent
Eladamri's Call
Enlightened Tutor
Green Sun's Zenith
Guided Passage
Idyllic Tutor
Mirri's Guile
Primal Command
Scroll Rack
Synergy with: Crucible of Worlds + any fetchland, Pulmonic Sliver
Synergy with: Crucible of Worlds + any fetchland
Fears: Krosan Grip
DITCH THIS IMMEDIATELY IF YOU'RE GOING TO PLAY 1V1 FRENCH! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!
Tooth and Nail
Vampiric Tutor
Wargate
Worldly Tutor
These cards have the simple -and critical- purpose of putting one or more cards in your graveyard back in your hand. Especially important in EDH!
Praetor's Counsel
Regrowth
Restock
While this should probably warrant sections of their own on each primer -and probably they will get featured there in the future-, the basics are essentially similar -- and can be reduced to a simple, inescapable truth: building a manabase for a 5-colored deck is painful.
If you got the cash for them, you want to aim for one of each dual, shockland and fetchland ever printed. There are exactly 10 of each.
Now, why want those? Well, duals and shocklands have basic land types (but of course they're NOT basic, duh), meaning you can tutor them via fetchlands and spells like Farseek and Skyshroud Claim. And doing so via fetches thins your deck, increasing the chance you topdeck useful stuff.
(Again: these *ARE* expensive. Not to mention if you want to pimp out your deck and go for as many foils as you can. I would if I had the money...)
Note that not only you don't have to ship all 30 (you'll want to leave a few out to make room for interesting auxiliary lands, a choice of which I'll describe later), but doing so is not the best of ideas.
Filter lands
These take one mana and turn it into a combination of two colored mana. Great mana fixers, in particular those featured on Shadowmoor and Eventide.
Pain lands
Tap one of these for colorless mana, or for one of two colors of mana AND take 1 damage. Horizon Canopy and Murmuring Bosk I featured because the first has interesting mechanics, and the other one because it counts as a forest -- which means you can dig for it via fetches and ramp magic. One of the best lands for EDH, ever.
Taplands
Probably some of the cheapest alternatives around. They enter play tapped, which is going to slow you down some, but while you try to get the juicier stuff they will do the job. Most ramp gimmicks won't be able to dig for these, though.
The Alara shard lands in particular are very, very good!
Check lands
Like taplands, but better: fulfill a condition and they come into play untapped. They come in several different flavors -- one checks whether you got 2 or fewer other lands, and the other looks for a basic land type among your lands in play.
Scrylands
The newest kids on the block, courtesy of Theros. These are taplands with a decent bonus... at first glance, having a look at your library is never a bad thing, especially if you're counting on a topdeck to save you. (If you got to that point, it's bad news.) But that comes with all the drawbacks of a standard tapland (enters the battlefield tapped, few ramp gimmicks can fetch it).
Karoo lands
These will slow you down a lot, but the tradeoff is nice: a land that taps for two mana of different colors instead of one. The ones featured on the first Ravnica cycle do not need you return an untapped land to your hand, and so are much better. Do keep in mind, however, that they are juicy targets for Frenzied Tilling and Strip Mine.
Panoramas
Fetchlands that look for not two, but three land types. That's the good news. The bad -- you can only get basic lands, and they enter the battlefield tapped. You can still tap one of these for colorless mana in a fix, though.
More cheap fetch lands
Further alternatives to the ultra-expensive ones from Onslaught and Zendikar. They all have their drawbacks -- the Mirage ones come into play tapped, and Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse search for basic lands only, putting them into play tapped.
Lairs
Featured on Planeshift, lairs tap for your choice of three different colors, requiring you to return another land that is not a Lair to your hand. Note that the returned land need not be tapped, you can still use it before playing one of these.
Pentacolored lands
Hands down, Command Tower is the absolute best of the lot, given the nature of EDH -- you can always tap it for one mana of any color in your commander's color identity, which means it's always useful! Other than that, no land card that gives you mana of any color without drawbacks or preconditions has been yet printed. (Let's hope it never is.)
Kudos to Jonathan Chick for suggesting Unclaimed Territory as a budget pick for this section.
Utility lands
This is a one-size-fits-all, catch-all term for lands you don't ship merely for mana. You want these because they allow for insane stuff to happen, or are a ramp spell in land's clothing, or let you get stuff back from your graveyard, or shield you from countermagic... in short, they do stuff.
Academy Ruins -- Artifact recursion.
Alchemist's Refuge -- Flash.
Arena -- Turns your slivers into targeted creature removal.
Boseiju, Who Shelters All -- Counter-proofing.
Cabal Coffers -- Lots and lots and lots of mana.
Cavern of Souls -- Counter-proofing and mana fixing!
Deserted Temple -- Does funny things with lands producing massive mana.
Gaea's Cradle -- Lots and lots and lots of mana.
Krosan Verge -- Ramp spell in land form.
Maze of Ith -- Great defense.
Mikokoro, Center of the Sea -- Card draw.
Minamo, School at Water's Edge -- Silly with legends. Not just legendary lands, but all legends.
Mystifying Maze -- Cheap alternative to Maze of Ith.
Path of Ancestry -- Scrying and mana fixing, rolled into one.
Strip Mine -- The best targeted land destruction in land form.
Tectonic Edge -- Cheap alternative to Wasteland.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth -- Turns Cabal Coffers into a REAL treasure trove.
Vault of the Archangel -- Insanely good ability, and as expensive to activate.
Vesuva -- Land cloning!
Volrath's Stronghold -- Creature recursion.
Wasteland -- Nonbasic land removal.
Winding Canyons -- Flash for creatures.
Yavimaya Hollow -- Regenerate a critical creature in a pinch.
If there's one thing I've learned from my experience as a thrall to the Swarm is that slivers are hungry. Ravenously hungry. So, anything that helps you keep them sated enough for them to tear your opponents to pieces will help.
Heartbeat of Spring
Mana Reflection
Mirari's Wake'
Revel in Riches
Smothering Tithe
Zendikar Resurgent
If you run all 5 colors, rest assured: mana can and will be an inexhaustible source of headaches. While this can be partially mitigated by a good (read: ridiculously expensive) mana base, sometimes you need an extra "oomph."
Joiner Adept
Prismatic Omen
Slang for "nonland mana sources". You'll need a few of these--they are ramping devices, mana fixers, and insurance in case someone Armageddons the table. (And boy howdy, does it happen.)
Chromatic Lantern
It feels so awesome to have. I know, I have one. But I can't bring myself to use it. If you're mana screwed in the early stages of the game and you draw this, a smart player would go out of his way to nuke it--and so make sure you stay mana screwed.While I still fear this one's got an aggro factor worse than a tank's, being on the wrong end of a Blood Moon several times in a row made me wish I had it with me. Nothing like hard-earned experience to change a body's mindset on something.
Coalition Relic
Gilded Lotus
Mana Vault
Mox Diamond
Sol Ring
DITCH THIS IMMEDIATELY IF YOU'RE GOING TO PLAY 1V1 FRENCH! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!
An amazing backup plan is to ship one or more of these cards as a way to recover quickly from board sweeps. Or worse, fill your mortuary with stiffs outright and bring them back from the grave all at once. Mind you, if you expect to pull this one off, at the very least you'll need countermagic to protect your play and/or graveyard removal stuff to make sure you're the only one reanimating bodies.
Patriarch's Bidding
Rise of the Dark Realms -- credit goes to roxart for suggesting this
Twilight's Call
Those powerful beings bring their own bag of tricks to spice up your gameplay, but at a price. In my own humble experience, playing one is a surefire way of drawing unwanted attentions, so if you're going to call upon the help of any, you will need ways to defend them.
Domri, Anarch of Bolas
Samut, Tyrant Smasher
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon - suggestion by Pestifism
Slang for spells that net you a larger manabase by filling your hand with land cards or putting them into play outright. Be careful here -- the player with the most resources is always looked upon warily by the rest of the pod.
Look here for a nice analysis on the need for ramping in EDH.
Boundless Realms - suggestion by SamuraiMunky
Cultivate
Expedition Map
Farseek
Gaea's Bounty
Hunting Wilds
Into the Wilds
Kodama's Reach
Land Grant - contribution by Craden
Mulch
Nature's Lore
Perilous Forays
Ranger's Path
Shard Convergence
Skyshroud Claim
Sylvan Scrying - contribution by Mockingbird
Three Visits - contribution by Craden
Traverse the Outlands - props to Iliurgul for the contribution
Sac outlets
This stuff is important for several reasons - dodging stealing effects, to name just one of them.
Phyrexian Altar - Contributed by Pestifism
Shenanigans and tricks
A subcategory of sorts for all cool cards that fill none of the other specific niches already named here.
Creeping Renaissance - submitted by Malachite_Osprey
Faith's Reward - submitted by Malachite_Osprey
Heroic Intervention - contributed by Malachite_Osprey
Primal Surge
Return of the Wildspeaker - contribution by materpillar
Shields of Velis Vel
Spitting Image
Steely Resolve - contribution by Raizen884
Teferi's Protection - contribution by gvazdaus
Telepathy - suggested by Iliurgul
The Immortal Sun - contribution by JCZero
Triumph of the Hordes - contribution by blackcat1300
What you use when you have to blow something up, and that thing only. Well, maybe you have to destroy something else too, but you can only have so many cards in your hands... um, well, you, er, get the idea.
Bant Charm
Beast Within - contribution by Craden
Council's Judgment - contribution by Raizen884
Crib Swap - suggested by Iliurgul
Hull Breach
Mortify
Oblivion Ring
Path to Exile
Putrefy
Seal of Cleansing
Swords to Plowshares
Terminate
Vindicate
However awe- and fear-inspiring the slivers may be, sometimes there's a situation that demands the talents of someone who belongs not to the Swarm. (Yet.)
Alesha, who Smiles at Death
Amoeboid Changeling
Beast Whisperer
Biomancer's Familiar - Contributed by LysergicSorcerer
Bloodgift Demon
Bloom Tender
Chameleon Colossus
Clone-- rendered useless after change to legendary ruleCourser of Kruphix
Dosan the Falling Leaf -- contributed by Mockingbird
Evil Twin
Glen Elendra Archmage
Grand Abolisher - contributed by Raizen884
Grothama, All-Devouring - contributed by Iliurgul
Karametra, God of Harvests
Karmic Guide -- suggested by Pookelyduke
Kiora's Follower - contributed by Raizen884
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Memnarch -- suggested by iNano78
Mirror Entity
Mystic Snake
Oracle of Mul Daya
Phantasmal Image-- rendered useless after change to legendary rulePhyrexian Metamorph
Primeval Titan--BANNED AS OF 9/19/2012Purphoros, God of the Forge -- contributed by Tanion
Prophet of Kruphix -- contributed by havocentral-- BANNED AS OF 1/18/2016Reveillark -- suggested by Pookelyduke
Rune-Scarred Demon
Sakashima the Impostor
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Scavenging Ooze - contributed by nykspree
Seedborn Muse
Seedguide Ash
Shapesharer -- contributed by LordGrimpow
Sun Titan -- credits to Tanion for the suggestion
Sylvan Primordial-- BANNED AS OF 02/03/14Taurean Mauler
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Vedalken AEthermage -- suggested by iNano78
Weathered Wayfarer -- suggestion by Ezequiel Perrollas
Yavimaya Elder
Yisan, the Wanderer Bard - contributed by Raizen884
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
AEferyamma asked, what should you ship to replace Her Ladyship?
In short, nothing... not having a Queen practically nullifies most combo strategies. There are a couple you still can try out:
Given how convoluted this is, I don't think you can seriously consider this plan on a deck that does not run any kind of countermagic.EDIT: instead of trying to field so many of the little horrors, you need having mana to activate the Assault, equip one with Sword of Feast and Famine, and attack.Maybe there *are* more combos you can try without having the Queen; the moment I learn of one I'm writing it down here.
Aggro-oriented decks will not miss Her Ladyship nearly as much; you may be interested in playing kingmaker or cop. As I've mentioned elsewhere, now that there are duplicate slivers for many critical things, you can think of fielding Necrotic Sliver to turn everything else into suicide bombs. Also think how you can steer the table using Amoeboid Changeling and Unnatural Selection to give sliver abilities to an opponent's creature -as opposed to simply using them to set up a theft via Overlord-; if that backfires, Telekinetic Sliver could help... providing your slivers don't have shroud yet.
Nice resources + links
This small section is devoted to listing everything sliver-flavored I come across that I find noteworthy:
Tim Ward's Ranking the Slivers - Old stuff, many slivers weren't yet out, but still useful.
Alternate decklists: other servants of the Swarm
Make sure you check out DanzBorin's and Gref's decklists for ideas! They've provided invaluable advice and insight and have arrived to quite different conclusions. You should take a good look at them.
MaxwellP has put together a list that serves as a starting point for your budding swarm; you can upgrade it as you find the more expensive pieces of either build. Check it out here
You can also check out Toolmakesmedrool's list for a mana base of intermediate budget.
There's also desofight's list if you are looking for budget manabases. He reports consistent performance so I may have to take back what I wrote on the subject...
D0m1nat1 has put together an aggro list that packs a healthy amount of countermeasures. Make sure you check it out!
Fr0sty711 has built a list apt for social gaming, the kind of thing that was once called kitchen table Magic. Look it up here!
Changelog, or the beginning of one
I plan on posting here all future changes to the decklists,
plus whatever I can piece together of how the whole build evolved since its original inception.I've given up on that last line... too many blanks I can't fill, but I'm leaving this as a reminder: never overwrite lists.Combo:
Finally decided to give Mystifying Maze the ax. Maze of Ith replaces it.
10/15/12
sumchung persuaded me to drop Leyline of Anticipation for Training Grounds. Not a bad idea.
11/17/12
Found out that the slot used by Mystical Tutor is much better used with a Detention Sphere instead.
11/20/12
Experimenting with several changes... not a definitive update, may be rolled back at any time:
In:
+ Amoeboid Changeling
+ Chromatic Lantern
+ Cyclonic Rift
+ Krosan Verge
+ Unnatural Selection
Out:
- Austere Command
- Crucible of Worlds
- Crystal Ball
- Mox Diamond
- Shard Convergence
12/5/12
The changes I was experimenting with are now official and have been incorporated into the primer.
06/14/2013
Out:
- Phantasmal Image
- Vesuva
In:
+ Shapesharer
+ Thespian's Stage
07/16/2013
Out:
- Detention Sphere
- Shapesharer
- Terminate
- Time Stop
In:
+ Manaweft Sliver
+ Render Silent
+ Plasm Capture
+ Rings of Brighthearth
07/01/2014
Out:
- Pulmonic Sliver
In:
+ Sliver Hivelord
Aggro:
01/15/2013
Out:
- Burgeoning
- Mana Echoes
In:
+ Brood Sliver
+ Mindlash Sliver
I'm not totally convinced of these changes, but I just couldn't let go of the idea of sneaking Brood Sliver through during the combat phase and using the tokens to raise hell... and Mindlash Sliver is a wonderful boardwipe deterrent. After all, I don't think this deck will consistently play out with lots of cards in hand, and even if it does, it can be used to set up a Living Death. Oh, and that's one less combo card.
Sword of Feast and Famine is on the maybeboard... if only I can get over my reluctance to use artifacts with creatures that (most assuredly will) get shroud and if I can make room for it.01/21/2013
Out:
- Door of Destinies
In:
+ Sword of Feast and Famine
02/04/2013
Out:
- Boseiju, Who Shelters All
In:
+ Alchemist's Refuge
02/13/2013
Out:
- Minamo, School at Water's Edge
In:
+ Deserted Temple
03/23/2013
Out:
- Mortify
In:
+ Seal of Primordium
06/14/2013
Out:
- Sidewinder Sliver
In:
+ Mirror Entity
07/06/2013
I noticed that the Primal Surge-ish approach only results in the matchups getting worse the more opponents I'm up against, so I ditched that strategy. *nods towards Mockingbird*
Out:
- Bonesplitter Sliver
- Might Sliver
- Mindlash Sliver
- Lurking Predators
- Plated Sliver
- Seal of Primordium
- Sidewinder Sliver
- Sinew Sliver
- Talon Sliver
- Watcher Sliver
In:
+ All is Dust
+ Crucible of Worlds
+ Expedition Map
+ Garruk Wildspeaker
+ Ghostflame Sliver
+ Hunting Wilds
+ Skyshroud Claim
+ Slate of Ancestry
+ Sun Titan
+ Unnatural Selection
07/16/2013
Out:
- Brood Sliver
- Fury Sliver
- Garruk Wildspeaker
- Magma Sliver
- Seedguide Ash
- Slate of Ancestry
- Synchronous Sliver
- Winged Sliver
In:
+ Bonescythe Sliver
+ Demonic Tutor
+ Galerider Sliver
+ Manaweft Sliver
+ Sylvan Primordial
+ Syphon Sliver
+ Sentinel Sliver
+ Vampiric Tutor
09/02/2013
Out:
- Demonic Tutor
- Hunting Wilds
- Skyshroud Claim
In:
+ Into the Wilds
+ Oracle of Mul Daya
+ Rune-Scarred Demon
02/22/2014
Mandatory update to clean up after Sylvan Primordial getting banned.
I'm bringing in Purphoros, God of the Forge to experiment and see if I can put that huge creature count to good -and painful- use.
03/05/2014
Out:
- Pulmonic Sliver
In:
+ Karametra, God of Harvests
03/18/2014
Consistency update to account for many small changes.
Out:
- Alchemist's Refuge
- Firewake Sliver
- High Market
- Hull Breach
- Muscle Sliver
- Oblivion Ring
- Sedge Sliver
In:
+ Acidic Slime
+ Blur Sliver
+ Brood Sliver
+ Cauldron of Souls
+ Deserted Temple
+ Psionic Sliver
+ Vault of the Archangel
04/01/2014
Incomplete update still in the works... lost track of 2 changes :/
- All is Dust
- Blood Crypt
- Brood Sliver
- Breeding Pool
- Cauldron of Souls
- Ghostflame Sliver
- Godless Shrine
- Murmuring Bosk
- Overgrown Tomb
- Reflecting Pool
- Sacred Foundry
- Steam Vents
- Stomping Ground
- Temple Garden
- Thespian's Stage
- Vault of the Archangel
- Vesuva
- Watery Grave
In:
+ Burnished Hart
+ 2x Forest
+ 2x Island
+ Magma Sliver
+ Mountain
+ 2x Plains
+ Omniscience
+ Prophet of Kruphix
+ Sakura-Tribe Elder
+ Solemn Simulacrum
+ 2x Swamp
+ Yavimaya Elder
07/01/2014
Out:
- Ward Sliver
In:
+ Sliver Hivelord
02/04/2016
Out:
- Prophet of Kruphix
In:
+ Seedborn Muse
07/20/2019
Out:
- Burnished Hart
In:
+ The First Sliver
Starting on 01/17/2013, all the stuff I consider at one point or another to stick into my builds goes here. No deletion here--only striking through.
Aggro:
Dauntless EscortDeserted TempleSun TitanSword of Feast and FamineVault of the ArchangelCombo:
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
things like that
1v1 Headquarters
Sliver Overlord (MP, Retired)
Talrand, Sky Summoner (1v1, Budget)
Sygg, River Cutthroat (1v1, Competitive)
Duly noted... you have my thanks Scroll rack was already on my wishlist.
Still trying to come up with a definitive list after all the options I've thought of...
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
anyways, i picked these up today and the difference in how the deck runs is substantial.
ill get around to editing this and posting my deck list.
1v1 Headquarters
Sliver Overlord (MP, Retired)
Talrand, Sky Summoner (1v1, Budget)
Sygg, River Cutthroat (1v1, Competitive)
Be sure to post a link to your deck once you update it! I haven't yet made up my mind on how to modify my current decklist...
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
a majority of lists on mtg seem to aggro too hard. to me that is unviable as you only need to get through with overlord (or queen) three times to win the game. less if you stick a fury sliver.
with a general that tutors the slivers should be about 25 max. everything else is up for grabs.
mana fixing is extremely important as you want to hit your general turn 5 if you can safely.
draw is the next big thing imo. you tutor slivers everything else is left up to chance unless you fix your chances.
i guess i should also state my deck is trying to find a competitive balance between single and multiplayer.
the rest is what non sliver creatures/cards do you want.
here is my list as it stands. the most recent changes happened today and more are to come in the near future.
1 Sliver Overlord UBRGW
Slivers
2 Amoeboid Changeling
3 Crystalline Sliver
4 Essence Sliver
5 Fury Sliver
6 Gemhide Sliver
7 Heart Sliver
8 Hibernation Sliver
9 Horned Sliver
10 Hunter Sliver
11 Magma Sliver
12 Muscle Sliver
13 Necrotic Sliver
14 Pulmonic Sliver
15 Quick Sliver
16 Root Sliver
17 Sedge Sliver
18 Shifting Sliver
19 Sinew Sliver
20 Sliver Queen
21 Sliver Legion
22 Talon Sliver
23 Winged Sliver
Non Sliver Creatures
24 Clone
25 Dauntless Escort
26 Imagecrafter
27 Seedborn Muse
28 Sun Titan
Instants
29 Enlightened Tutor
30 Hinder
31 Mortify
32 Mystical Tutor
33 Putrefy
34 Voidslime
35 Worldly Tutor
36 Diabolic Tutor
37 Distant Melody
38 Demonic Tutor
39 Guided Passage
40 Idyllic Tutor
41 Recollect
42 Shard Convergence
43 Titanic Ultimatum
Enchantments
44 Aluren
45 Mana Echoes
46 Oblivion Ring
47 Oversold Cemetery
48 Prismatic Omen
49 Rhystic Study
50 Sylvan Library
51 Training Grounds
52 Unnatural Selection
Artifacts
53 Aether Vial
54 Coalition Relic
55 Crystal Ball
56 Darksteel Ingot
57 Eldrazi Monument
58 Expedition Map
59 Mox Diamond
60 Relic of Progenitus
61 Scroll Rack
62 Sensei's Divining Top
63 Sol Ring
Planeswalkers
64 Liliana Vess
Lands
65 Arid Mesa
66 Bad River
67 Blood Crypt
68 Bloodstained Mire
69 Bojuka Bog
70 Breeding Pool
71 City of Brass
72 Dragonskull Summit
73 Drowned Catacombs
75 Flood Plain
76 Glacial Fortress
77 Godless Shrine
78 Grand Coliseum
79 Grasslands
80 Hallowed Fountain
81 Marsh Flats
82 Misty Rainforest
83 Mountain Valley
84 Overgrown Tomb
85 Rupture Spire
86 Razorverge Thicket
87 Rootbound Crag
88 Sacred Foundry
89 Scalding Tarn
90 Seachrome Coast
91 Steam Vents
92 Stomping Ground
93 Sunpetal Grove
94 Temple Garden
95 Undiscovered Paradise
96 Verdant Catacombs
97 Vivid Creek
98 Vivid Grove
99 Volrath's Stronghold
100 Watery Grave
edit: looking at my list from here there about 4-5 cards i could snip to make room for more tech and utility. sol ring sticks out like a sore thumb.
DECKLIST OUTDATED
1v1 Headquarters
Sliver Overlord (MP, Retired)
Talrand, Sky Summoner (1v1, Budget)
Sygg, River Cutthroat (1v1, Competitive)
Since you have Overlord, you can search for any sliver you want, some of these I just don't see why you would ever search for, or by the time you wanted to, the game would already be in your favor.
Some of it seems overkill or not needed. I will explain my opinions below.
Muscle Sliver - Don't think this card does enough for a spot in the deck, unless it's 1v1 and you are trying to swarm early. Sliver Legion does way more.
Sinew Sliver - Same as above.
Shifting Sliver - I imagine I would search for the things that make my slivers big and nasty before this. And once that happens, it doesn't matter much if they can block when you have lifelink, trample, and they are huge to boot, let em block
Talon Sliver - I think that your stuff properly boosted will outclass most fatties, and first strike isn't strictly necessary.
Fury Sliver - Win more card /shrug. Could be a cool trick, but I think the slivers already basically have the ability to tap and "win target game" by the time you tutor this card or the one above.
Winged Sliver - Already have Pulmonic, which is strictly better in multiplayer imo, don't really need the speed of earlier cast.
Of course, maybe these guys are just a tool box for ya. Understandable, good to have them if you don't have other cards you want in the deck. I, personally, would rather create 2 tokens with queen, rather than pay 3 to search and 2 to cast a 2CC sliver. Then for bigger guys that cost 6 to cast 3 to search, you could make 4 tokens. With legion out it is a better benefit that way
However, if you do consider it, here are some cards I think that would be good to add:
Frenetic Sliver - 50/50 chance at avoiding board sweepers! If you have to sacrifice it, Pulmonic Sliver for the win.
Ghostflame Sliver - Opponents will think twice (or more) before casting All Is Dust. And, if you cast it, it means you basically win the game.
Harmonic Sliver - Arguably one of the best slivers in EDH.
Synchronous Sliver - I would value vigilance over double strike or first strike. Creatures that can attack and block are more versatile. You have Seedborn Muse, but he isn't a sliver so he wont be as hard to kill as he won't have shroud and board sweep evasion. Muse is also a huge target.
Mirror Entity - Not much to say about this guy, simply amazing.
Taurean Mauler - Gets nasty fast in multiplayer.
fury sliver is for sure, a cheap trick. if overlord isn't blocked twice its game. it can help me attain victory in the face of defeat. at the end of the day though he can be cut. synchronous will likely take this spot.
shifting sliver allows slivers to block, so horned sliver will probably be on the cut.
pulmonic definitely does flying better.
not sure how i feel about muscle and sinew, they add beef.
back to this later, gotta work.
edit: as far as cards i need. lands are the biggest. 10 revised duals will run about 600 dollars and 4 more onslaught fetches. i do plan on getting these in the near future. my piggy banks is getting full.
then its just a few more tutors and tweaking and this deck should be broken in half.
1v1 Headquarters
Sliver Overlord (MP, Retired)
Talrand, Sky Summoner (1v1, Budget)
Sygg, River Cutthroat (1v1, Competitive)
I suppose the land list is on budget... I'd go for Zendikar fetches and the like.
Gonna fiddle with it a little and then post an updated decklist on the thread starter.
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
10 Ravnica Duals
10 Revised Duals
5 Zendikar Fetch Lands
5 Onslaught Fetch Lands
5 Other lands
Here is what I have so far
10 Ravnica Duals
0 Revised duals
5 Zendikar Fetch Lands
1 Onslaught Fetch Land
4 Mirage Fetch Lands
15 Other Lands
the 15 other lands right now are all m10/11 duals and some scars duels. a couple vivid lands, bojuka bog, and a pain land here and there.
edit: since both generals are 5 color, i suggest playing overlord a bit with a streamlined list of slivers and see how you like it.
i was thinking about doing this with queen. for me, i would run even less slivers with queen. i would only want the ones that add mana and let me combo off and cram the deck with as many tutors as i could.
Academy Rector is a shoe in for this deck.
1v1 Headquarters
Sliver Overlord (MP, Retired)
Talrand, Sky Summoner (1v1, Budget)
Sygg, River Cutthroat (1v1, Competitive)
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
I've never seen absorb before, it looks useful though. I usually take a beating, so gaining life after telling someone no is awesome.
Did you have aura shards in your old list? that is a card I'm looking into as harmonic sliver may backfire.
I'd like to hear your opinion on Queen and Overlord after you test your new list a bit.
edit: i realize you were pointing me towards the queen lists in your last post. ill always opt for Overlord if i have a choice. Donald Mcdonalds queen list is funny though. 1v1 combo lol.
1v1 Headquarters
Sliver Overlord (MP, Retired)
Talrand, Sky Summoner (1v1, Budget)
Sygg, River Cutthroat (1v1, Competitive)
I've ran the Queen as my general for months and, odd as it may seem, she worked better on my original decklist than the Overlord. I'm gonna print some decent proxies for the new deck, try it out, and tell you the results.
EDIT: Oh yeah, Aura Shards was definitely in. Good point, there. Originally I tossed in the Harmonic to combo with Enchanted Evening, then forgot to put it on the list... whoops. Gonna work on it.
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
A couple of these are functional replacements of other cards, you should not have make space for these.
edit: did you have fun making your list in alphabetical order? i know i did!
1v1 Headquarters
Sliver Overlord (MP, Retired)
Talrand, Sky Summoner (1v1, Budget)
Sygg, River Cutthroat (1v1, Competitive)
Eternal Witness or Recollect? You can't have both, I guess... furthermore, I'm looking to replace either of them with something better.
Academy Rector is nice, but adding him in reduces the sliver count... Dunno, I like the whole tribal favor. You already said you're up for going nearly sliverless, so be my guest
Mutavault would be cool. What would you sack off the decklist?
Gemstone Mine... whooo, the good ol' times. When I started playing MtG this was a staple on every Standard deck. Again, nice, but I can't think of the card it would replace.
Farseek... Either you have Shard Convergence or this. I really can't pick. The first one for accel, the other for deck thinning...
I don't think the number of non-slivers justifies having Conspiracy on the deck. I may be wrong, so give it a try and tell me what happens.
Phyrexian Arena is appealing... I think you're better off by playing Dormant Sliver, though.
EDIT: I'm seeking to replace Aluren with something else. I can't shake off my mind a particularly brutal curbstomp at the hands of a Mayael deck that played its general for free. <grimace>
EDIT 2: I just noticed what you wrote about most of those cards being functional replacements... sorry And yeah, sorting the whole deck alphabetically was a considerable discomfort in the rear end.
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
Anyways, I have some explaining to do regardless about some cards I suggested.
Farseek - this would replace expedition map is it essentialy does the same thing and then some.
Eternal Witness - its arguable what is better considering the 1GG cost, but it can be bounced under the right conditions and offer multiple recursions.
Mutavault - this card just looks good on paper. it's cost ($) really puts me off though as it doesn't do much for the deck. if i did put one in, I would cut bojuka bog.
Gemstone Mine - in a perfect deck with 20 duals and 10 fetch, this falls into the 5 other lands. personal preference is the deciding factor here.
Academy Rector / Trinket Mage - if you find yourself with a few slivers or any other card that seems to be a dead draw or not having enough impact, these are two cards I would put in. I think they speak for themselves though.
Phyrexian Arena - considering your thoughts on Aluren, this seems like a suitable replacement.
Conspiracy - not necessary at all, but bestowing the benefits of your slivers on everything else you control is a perk.
ill post some more thoughts in a bit as this is becoming an essay ( not that i mind)
1v1 Headquarters
Sliver Overlord (MP, Retired)
Talrand, Sky Summoner (1v1, Budget)
Sygg, River Cutthroat (1v1, Competitive)
I'm at odds here... what would be more convenient for this deck? Mana advantage (e.g., Mirari's Wake or Mana Reflection) or card advantage (Phyrexian Arena)?
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
My problem; is the acceleration required, and does it take priority over mana fixing?
The longer ideas like these brew in my head, I start to seriously analyze and nitpick every little pro and con.
For instance if you told me I had to put in either of those, I already have two cards I would ditch for them (Oversold Cemetery / Prismatic Omen) Which brings me to my next point.
Prismatic Omen has done little for me. Every time I cast Idyllic Tutor, I am looking for Sylvan Library.
Anyways, Mirari's Wake all day every day.
1v1 Headquarters
Sliver Overlord (MP, Retired)
Talrand, Sky Summoner (1v1, Budget)
Sygg, River Cutthroat (1v1, Competitive)
The Cemetery would be useful in the event of a board sweep. Probably re-instating Patriarch's Bidding in its place would be better?
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
Although, you run Genesis. Having Genesis along side Oversold Cemetery might be better then running Genesis and Bidding.
I'm on the fence at the moment.
1v1 Headquarters
Sliver Overlord (MP, Retired)
Talrand, Sky Summoner (1v1, Budget)
Sygg, River Cutthroat (1v1, Competitive)
I really, really have the itch for putting a Leyline of Anticipation, but maybe that's the Timmy in me...
[Horde] Phyrexia ascendant - The Virus
WUBRG - [Primer] Sliver Overlord - The Swarm - WUBRG
i think we should collaborate on a master list with no budget in mind. i foresee some bumps in the road coming up with one list using two minds, but i think it would be most beneficial for those looking to play Overlord EDH.
i work nights so expect my posts to be delayed and late in the evening, unless i have a day off.
1v1 Headquarters
Sliver Overlord (MP, Retired)
Talrand, Sky Summoner (1v1, Budget)
Sygg, River Cutthroat (1v1, Competitive)