MTG Salvation

It occurred to me the other day, as I was taking a tour through the commons, what a shame it was that the tribal global pump 'lords' were all uncommon or rare. Then I realized there is one tribe, at least, for which this isn't true: Slivers.

They get the Muscle Sliver, a global pumping 1/1 for 2, and a white one as well.

White and Green also offer flanking (which seems worthwhile to me), and the sliver that gives your guys Infect. Normally I wouldn't advocate running Infect and regular damage together, but this seems like it would be strong here: because they grant Infect to the whole team, making it unsavory to block or attack into.

So join me if you will, for GW Slivers Tribal will be my next Pauper deck!

My first impulse is to tone down the pump and increase the removal suite, Journey to Nowhere in particular. There's no way I'll be racing decks like Affinity, Infect, and Delver anyway.

Mutagenic Growth seems like a good coynterspell. It would make my lord toughness 4, and bolting the lords is bad for me.

Vines is the only pump I'd keep, and make it 3x.

just to get the point, the original list is that



we have cycle lands over the gates because late draw we can cycle them, but if you wanna drop the cycles, gate isnt the best choice, Selesnya Sanctuary works better

about Mutagenic Growth to protect the lords, i really prefer Prismatic Strands or Thrill of the Hunt, both protect in same range as mutagenic, but give CA since you can reuse the cards, also prismatic can save a bad combat situation

and i agree, you can try a build with different setup at spells like:


other removal to think based on your play style is Smite

Quote from zeromd

just to get the point, the original list is that

XBM Yosho's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
CREATURES [23] 4 Virulent Sliver 4 Sidewinder Sliver 4 Plated Sliver 4 Sinew Sliver 4 Muscle Sliver 3 Spinneret Sliver SPELLS [14] 3 Thrill of the Hunt 3 Oblivion Ring 2 Vines of Vastwood 2 Prismatic Strands 2 Rancor 2 Search for Tomorrow	LANDS [23] 10 Forest 10 Plains 2 Secluded Steppe 1 Tranquil Thicket	SIDEBOARD [15] 2 Vines of Vastwood 3 Quick Sliver 2 Armadillo Cloak 3 Holy Light 3 Disenchant 2 Prismatic Strands

we have cycle lands over the gates because late draw we can cycle them, but if you wanna drop the cycles, gate isnt the best choice, Selesnya Sanctuary works better

about Mutagenic Growth to protect the lords, i really prefer Prismatic Strands or Thrill of the Hunt, both protect in same range as mutagenic, but give CA since you can reuse the cards, also prismatic can save a bad combat situation

and i agree, you can try a build with different setup at spells like:

XBM Yosho's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
SPELLS [14] 3 Journey to Nowhere 3 Thrill of the Hunt 2 Oblivion Ring 2 Vines of Vastwood 2 Prismatic Strands 2 Rancor

other removal to think based on your play style is Smite

I highly agree with this statement, Prismatic Strands is stupid good. Another solid card to play in pauper is Unmake because it is just like the big boy removals for more mana, it 100% says GTFO to any creature that doesn't have a pro on it.

I would run 3 Journey to Nowhere and 2 Unmake, in my experience with my white weenie, that helps a lot.

I don't know if any one already pointed out infect and poisonous are 2 different mechanics. Also I agree on Prismatic it hoses EtW decks as well. Just curious, we curve off at 3 and can work fine on 4 mana, 5 tops why is sanctuary better then guild gate? both hit tapped so I don't see it as a speed boost.

first i dont get the point about infect and poisonous... virulent is in the deck because its 1cmc with alternate wincon if necessary

in most of the lands setups sanctuary is better because you can return tapped lands to hand and the deck runs with lower mana cost, you can "ramp" your mana at early to mid game, if necessary you can return a cycle land to your hand to cycle and fix your mana like gate, since he are running only two gates, the chance of draw that at early game is low, so the only disadvantage of sanctuary is the early draw what is a reduced chance since he only runs two slots for "fix" lands

Prismatic Strands does look pretty good, but will it work the way we want it to at 3 mana?

On Thrill of the Hunt vs. Mutagenic Growth, Thrill certainly is a better CA engine, but it's just so mana hungry... I'm not sold on it yet. Lightning Bolt is a 1 mana instant, so protecting my guy would necessitate holding him in hand for a turn. I don't fancy that too much.

MOAR REMOVAL I think will be the way to go... this deck will survive by controlling the opponent's most aggressive drops in the first few turns, and should have reasonable inevitability as more and more Slivers get added to the field and pump each other up.

I think the GW variant will hold water, but now I'm wondering whether a 5 color Slivers might not be possible. I don't think it will be better off-hand.

It certainly is going to shock my playgroup when Slivers hits the table...

plated sliver will be the early drops, he can trade 1 by 1 with plated, or lost 2 by 1 after u got 2 plated or 1 plated and 1 lord in table

about prismatic strands, check good WW or WX aggro decks, most of them use that card

but since pauper is cheap i think you can get these spells to do playtests

Indeed, the problem is not so much affording the cards as it is finding time to get to the LGC and convince the owner to dig out a pile of obscure commons!

Quote from Lormador

Indeed, the problem is not so much affording the cards as it is finding time to get to the LGC and convince the owner to dig out a pile of obscure commons!

lol
i know, its a hard job for pauper
anyway, good luck at your hunting

can be a nice move, try Unmake like XBM said, also, since you run talon, you should up sidewinder to 4 and down virulent to 3

That's what I'm thinking, just tons of removal and Slivers in the deck.

There is no Pauper deck I've seen that can keep up with the steadily growing size and strength of Slivers. They have a high degree of inevitability in the red zone. The more creatures clog the field, the more advantage accrues to the slivers.

If they can keep the mortal threats at bay, theoretically this should work well. I can't wait to test it out.

I agree with zeromd about the 4 sidewinders they really do make it so your guys can swing into just about anything and live. I also think rancor should be atleast a 3 of if not a 4 of. though I have no idea what to cut for it. but the trample will make better use of the lords and flanking effects.

nice point

what about something like that:



vines can go in side

Quote from Lormador

That's what I'm thinking, just tons of removal and Slivers in the deck.

There is no Pauper deck I've seen that can keep up with the steadily growing size and strength of Slivers. They have a high degree of inevitability in the red zone. The more creatures clog the field, the more advantage accrues to the slivers.

If they can keep the mortal threats at bay, theoretically this should work well. I can't wait to test it out.

Some things to note and be careful about. While Slivers do get stronger the more you put down, you cannot both remove and drop your own creatures effectively, when playing against decks like white weenie, removal will simply not work under any circumstances.

When playing against infect, removal is your only hope to beat an infect deck (both unblockable and trample).

You have to remember that pauper is not a format where games go long, so unless you can win on 2-4, or at least secure a formidable position it isn't gonna go well.

I would prefer you use only 5-7 removal spells as I suggested, and rely on your creatures with pump spells such as Rancor. Removal is great, but keeping up with the flood of creatures like white weenie, turn 2-3 wins decks like infect, and crazy bonkers decks like delver, having removal/creature heavy over creature/pump in my opinion isn't viable.

Just my opinion, but after switching from modern/casual format to pauper/peasant, its a creature war not a spell war.

With all that being said, here is a sample deck list with small explanation.



I put your Oblivion Rings into the sideboard because unmake is just hands down better in pauper unless you really do fear other things over creatures, even then, Nature's Claim offers you a cheaper choice when battling enchantment or affinity.

I upped Rancor to four do to the fact that it keeps you stronger and always attacking with an infinite enchantment, you should and most likely always will be stronger than your opponent so push and push hard with trample because it will almost always stay in play.

I removed both Vines of Vastwood and Thrill of the Hunt, they are to expensive with not enough pump, Vines for instance you need to pay 2c to get +4+4 and even though Thrill comes back its only a +2+4 over the course of two turns. If you use Groundswell it is almost always a +4+4 for 1c since you should be putting land down every turn. Predator's Strike gives you two very very important things which is +3+3 and trample for only 2c, this is a must have IMO.

Your sideboard contains cards to deal with both enchantments and artifacts, Gitaxian Probe I would almost main board it, but you can choose to do what you will with it, -2 life for a card and see if you opponent can stop your next attack? yes please. Mutagenic Growth should ONLY be put into main board with Gitaxian Probe as they work together so well. Fog is safety against infect and mass creatures. Last two slots are for whatever is in your meta.

The four cycle lands are just for that really, extra draw. Draw is stupid good in pauper.


Hope the suggestions helped you out.

Quote from Lyracian

Thanks for the input XBM Yosho. I see what you are saying about Probe but I am not convinced it is worth the slot.
Both Predator's Strike and Groundswell seem good but is it really worth only running 2 of each? Would not just going for a straight four of be better?

We also seem to need a lot more White than green so perhaps we should adjust the lands slightly...
(17 Green cards needing 1 green each; 21 White, 2 of which need triple white)

Pauper Slivers by committeMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
CREATURES - 23 3 Virulent Sliver 4 Sidewinder Sliver 4 Plated Sliver 4 Sinew Sliver 4 Muscle Sliver 2 Spinneret Sliver 2 Talon Sliver	SPELLS - 15 3 Journey to Nowhere 2 Unmake 2 Prismatic Strands 4 Rancor 4 Groundswell	LANDS - 22 9 Forest 9 Plains 4 Secluded Steppe

SIDEBOARD - 15
(too big at the moment)
2 Vines of Vastwood - Extra protection and Pump
4 Nature's Claim - Kills Afinity and random artifacts
3 Holy Light - We are mostly white creatures and a single lord keeps Virulent alive.
2 Prismatic Strands - Extra protection
1 Oblivion Ring - Unmake #3 with a catch all for other stuff.
2 Predator's Strike - Extra Trample
2 Armadillo Cloak - Extra Trample with life gain.
2 Fog - General protection, buys us a turn.

Yea, that is a good setup there. The main thing that we want to keep is trample, so having more sideboard options is great for that. Gitaxian Probe wins games, that is why I put it in there. If you have two trample pumps in your hand, and blow your load just to get it unsummoned, that sucks big time. In the grand scheme of things, -2 life to find out if you just won or not is a big advantage, not to mention you now know whats coming to play.

I am taking the experience from my infect deck simply because you are running pump. Anytime IMO you have a win scenario, making sure it hits is important.

All that being said, this looks pretty solid and I would run this to see how it fairs. The main tests for this deck are the tier 2 decks out there, stompy, affinity, infect; ect, I am thinking this will be placed in tier 2 simply because I don't see a way to blow down delver/post/weenie efficiently every match up. That doesn't mean it can't, I just see it as needing the perfect hand while the others can get by with mediocre hands and still hold advantage.

Quote from XBM Yosho

Fog is safety against infect and mass creatures.

Since he has more white then green at this point perhaps Ethereal haze over fog. it also has the advantage of stopping things like vent sentinel or pingers. But I agree 5 MD removal spells should be plenty since your guys should quickly out class most of the field you'll mostly want to kill early drops and game finishers.

Quote from shoebaka

Since he has more white then green at this point perhaps Ethereal haze over fog. it also has the advantage of stopping things like vent sentinel or pingers. But I agree 5 MD removal spells should be plenty since your guys should quickly out class most of the field you'll mostly want to kill early drops and game finishers.

Ethereal haze hmmm, what if he is fighting burn though?

Quote from XBM Yosho

Ethereal haze hmmm, what if he is fighting burn though?

dont get your point
fog doesn't protect from burn
"combat damage = damage dealt by creatures in combat phase"

Quote from zeromd

dont get your point
fog doesn't protect from burn
"combat damage = damage dealt by creatures in combat phase"

I was thinking of things like Prodigal Pyromancer being used in a defensive manner. Such as blocking then tapping for a total of 2.

But yea, they do the same thing.

Haze would stop the pyromancer's ping, fog would not.

Fog will stop in combat phase only, haze in any part of the turn

But we should check on rules fórum because i dont think fog stops the ping damage

I'm pretty sure even if they ping during the combat phase it's not combat damage.

So I was bored and went ahead and purchased this Sliver deck myself for some testing. Cost around $15.00 because of the 4x Rancor.

Anywho, here are the results from my testing in a first to 5 shoot out, no sideboards were used in this testing. These are just one mans play testing results so they may vary. The largest threat I have encountered by this Sliver deck is not the amount of pump, not the creature swarm, but if you get 2-3 Sidewinder Slivers out, the stacked flanking is extremely hard to deal with.

Slivers vs Delver
Slivers vs Infect
Slivers vs White Weenie

EDIT:
Slivers vs RATS

EDIT 2:
Slivers vs Affinity

while he's nothing stellar but would Poultice Sliver help those matches by keeping your guys alive through things like crypt rats and alpha strikes?