well the 2 lord effects outside Rageforger that can pump the flyer sounds pretty good to me! If I didn't just sell most of my cards, i would love to buy back into Shamans to give it a try!
I might try Finale of Devestation into the Chord of Calling Slot in G/W Elves. The ability to get back a devoted Druid or Vizier of Remedies might be worth it to give up instant speed. Plus the haste ability might matter in drawn out board states where the payoffs are gone.
With Crystalline, we might want to consider not running CoCo or mana slivers at all for the unclaimed territory/ancient ziggurat package with a few basics in there for path.
I used to run the Clarion's Main, but I am not going against a lot of creature based decks and it is a dead card. Rhythm is never a truly dead card in a matchup. I am open to suggestions. I am not sure I like the 4 Shivan Fire and might switch to Lava Coil. I bring it in against white weenie, RDW, and Thief of Sanity.
I tend to think the seeing the deck list rule will ultimately favor Interactive Decks. They can finally mulligan or choose a hand that lines up with what they want to play.
I think Aggro and creature-heavy decks in modern have long relied on winning game 1 and squeezing out game 2 now that more information is known. This in someways made Modern the only eternal format with creature-based aggro strategies worked. Control couldn't just have universal answers and sometimes answers didn't line up with what was presented. However, the creature-swarm strategies for the most part coalesced down to humans and spirits primarily because of tribal synergies and the passive/active disruption in their kits or Merfolk because of the spell-based disruption/utility creatures.
Phoenix and Dredge has killed them further. There is no zoo, elves, and even more spell heavy burn is not doing well. Traditional Affinity isn't doing as well as Hardened Scales which may survive because of resilience and the synergy there.
I think this will hurt creature-based aggro strategies and continue to push them out of modern. Where are the places to play them? Even Standard isn't like a bastion of those decks (maybe best of 1 arena)
It's the new Karn from the set. He can combo with it. Fetch it and the shut off the opponent doing anything due to his static ability to shut off all activations from artifacts that your opponents control.
I personally wouldn't run it on the whole. We value lands for sliver hive to some extent. I mean its possible for vials and such or weak slivers, but i am not sure it is exactly worth it. Maybe in the sideboard.
Karn by himself can also shut off some aggro's strategy that deals with a Karn Liberated on the battlefied and that is Aether Vial. This Karn can just hose vial decks including the Ensnaring Bridge, but it also stops tempo plays that allow aggro decks to try to come back even after a Karn is landed. (Aggro Decks don't talk about Ugin). Decks like Humans, Merfolk, Spirits, etc.
Crystalline Sliver, Hibernation Sliver, Diffusion Sliver are the best sliver-based answers.
Otherwise you are looking at echantments like Dense Canopy, Ascetism, and the like. Take a look at Sinew Sliver and Muscle Sliver for a more focused Lord based approached to get out of lighting bolt rage. Plated Sliver could help as well.
Slivers would like Legacy Slivers list by Daniel Nunes especially the 5-Color Chalice (non-Force of Will lists) he was looking at earlier.
Bant might also be good depending on whether the new slivers could work in that color combination.
Crystalline, Predatory, Muscle, Sinew is a powerful core. If they print a cheap life-linking sliver, we might be able to ditch black and go pure bant. Hibernation's loss could be felt as would Frenetic, but it might be worth it for sideboard enchantment.
Either way, I like Legacy Sliver lists or Fast Modern Sliver lists with Crystalline and Hibernation. Striking/Sidewinder/Galerider/Vial for 1 Drops, Lords/Crystalline/Hibernation for two drops. Sideboard would have Syphon, Harmonic, Telekinetic as options.
Don't forget any new cheap new sliver options that hopefully provide Stack Interaction, Graveyard Interaction, Card Advantage, or Cheaper/New Utility (2 mana lifelinker for example).
Harmonic x 3
Frenetic x 2
Warping Wail x 2
Chalice x 3-4
Telekinetic x 1-2
Syphon x 1-2
Striking x 1-2
What is Damping Sphere for that Chalice can't cover? Tron or Storm? Storm isn't as good as it once was and I am not sure how reasonable Storm hate is in the side. Tron is rough, but I think we can just perhaps Chalice/Telekinetic and rush um. Necrotic and Mutavaults are good in that match up.
Main
20 Lands
4 Galerider
4 Manaweft (Gemhide)
8 Lords
4 Diffusion (i think is better than 3 now)
4 Sedge
2 Blur
2 Necrotic
1-2 Darkheart
1-2 Striking
4 Collected Company
4 Aether Vial
2 Dismember
This is just probably something that I would play at the moment.
As for Grixis Whirl - its basically lantern control with better card selection and less mill.
So Harmonic/Necrotic/Telekinetic are probably the biggest winners. For the matchup, Flying, Mana, Sedge, Blur, Necrotic are the only main deck cards after sideboard that probably matter. Diffusion might matter as well.
Be prepared to for example for them to get Torpor Orb for Harmonic, Pithing Needle for Vial/Mutavault/Necrotic (although it does work all that well, they have to name each and every sliver type for it to truly work), and Ensnaring Bridge. Whirl works as an instant so Warping Wail isn't great. Chalice can be good on Zero, 1, or 3.
They have a faster clock with Thopter Sword Combo, but that can dealt with and we could probably cause a draw with Syphon Sliver, galeride rand lords. They heavily rely on Whirl to get them what they need as they don't have a huge ton of filtering. Its a race, but we tools to defeat them.
It does slow them down a turn, but what else you got without Crystalline?
If they want to cast your spells, they gotta go to the face and that is ok (as long as we have get our life gain slivers in there).
On the whole, the match isn't much of a race. They are going to faster and Thing in the Ice makes it difficult. We need to Tempo them out, which should be the general goal. There isn't much we can do.
Elves is terrible against Izzet Phoenix and Merfolk is only better because island, but also merfolk trickster and counterspells. What can slivers do? We can tempo with Diffusion (forcing them to attack our face), we can have Darkheart and Syphon to help buy time. Telekinetic could also stop a turn of Awoken Horror.
Diffusion allows us to have a board state for us to work around. Them taking a turn and using all or most of their mana also tempo delays Thing and Phoenix. Which allows us perhaps to cast Company or something else. Maybe also bring Frenetic in for Thing flips. We don't need them to come back to hand, but perhaps staying on board might help later. We have to us the tricks available to us. Whether it is smaller tricks, wierd combat tricks, and first strike.
It isn't fool proof, but I don't see betrer solutions. Maybe Surgical Extraction is better against Phoenix/Dredge than Relic (although more expensive).
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Thrashing Brontodon
4 Ripjaw Raptor
4 Regisaur Alpha
1 Etali, Primal Storm
3 Carnage Tyrant
4 Rhythm of the Wilds
3 Vivien Reid
4 Thunderherd Migraiton
4 Commune with Nature
4 Deafening Clarion
1 Wakening Sun's Avatar
4 Shivan Fire
3 Fight with Fire
1 Carnage Tyrant
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1 Ixalan's Binding
I used to run the Clarion's Main, but I am not going against a lot of creature based decks and it is a dead card. Rhythm is never a truly dead card in a matchup. I am open to suggestions. I am not sure I like the 4 Shivan Fire and might switch to Lava Coil. I bring it in against white weenie, RDW, and Thief of Sanity.
I think Aggro and creature-heavy decks in modern have long relied on winning game 1 and squeezing out game 2 now that more information is known. This in someways made Modern the only eternal format with creature-based aggro strategies worked. Control couldn't just have universal answers and sometimes answers didn't line up with what was presented. However, the creature-swarm strategies for the most part coalesced down to humans and spirits primarily because of tribal synergies and the passive/active disruption in their kits or Merfolk because of the spell-based disruption/utility creatures.
Phoenix and Dredge has killed them further. There is no zoo, elves, and even more spell heavy burn is not doing well. Traditional Affinity isn't doing as well as Hardened Scales which may survive because of resilience and the synergy there.
I think this will hurt creature-based aggro strategies and continue to push them out of modern. Where are the places to play them? Even Standard isn't like a bastion of those decks (maybe best of 1 arena)
Otherwise you are looking at echantments like Dense Canopy, Ascetism, and the like. Take a look at Sinew Sliver and Muscle Sliver for a more focused Lord based approached to get out of lighting bolt rage. Plated Sliver could help as well.
Bant might also be good depending on whether the new slivers could work in that color combination.
Crystalline, Predatory, Muscle, Sinew is a powerful core. If they print a cheap life-linking sliver, we might be able to ditch black and go pure bant. Hibernation's loss could be felt as would Frenetic, but it might be worth it for sideboard enchantment.
Either way, I like Legacy Sliver lists or Fast Modern Sliver lists with Crystalline and Hibernation. Striking/Sidewinder/Galerider/Vial for 1 Drops, Lords/Crystalline/Hibernation for two drops. Sideboard would have Syphon, Harmonic, Telekinetic as options.
Don't forget any new cheap new sliver options that hopefully provide Stack Interaction, Graveyard Interaction, Card Advantage, or Cheaper/New Utility (2 mana lifelinker for example).
Harmonic x 3
Frenetic x 2
Warping Wail x 2
Chalice x 3-4
Telekinetic x 1-2
Syphon x 1-2
Striking x 1-2
What is Damping Sphere for that Chalice can't cover? Tron or Storm? Storm isn't as good as it once was and I am not sure how reasonable Storm hate is in the side. Tron is rough, but I think we can just perhaps Chalice/Telekinetic and rush um. Necrotic and Mutavaults are good in that match up.
Main
20 Lands
4 Galerider
4 Manaweft (Gemhide)
8 Lords
4 Diffusion (i think is better than 3 now)
4 Sedge
2 Blur
2 Necrotic
1-2 Darkheart
1-2 Striking
4 Collected Company
4 Aether Vial
2 Dismember
This is just probably something that I would play at the moment.
As for Grixis Whirl - its basically lantern control with better card selection and less mill.
So Harmonic/Necrotic/Telekinetic are probably the biggest winners. For the matchup, Flying, Mana, Sedge, Blur, Necrotic are the only main deck cards after sideboard that probably matter. Diffusion might matter as well.
Be prepared to for example for them to get Torpor Orb for Harmonic, Pithing Needle for Vial/Mutavault/Necrotic (although it does work all that well, they have to name each and every sliver type for it to truly work), and Ensnaring Bridge. Whirl works as an instant so Warping Wail isn't great. Chalice can be good on Zero, 1, or 3.
They have a faster clock with Thopter Sword Combo, but that can dealt with and we could probably cause a draw with Syphon Sliver, galeride rand lords. They heavily rely on Whirl to get them what they need as they don't have a huge ton of filtering. Its a race, but we tools to defeat them.
If they want to cast your spells, they gotta go to the face and that is ok (as long as we have get our life gain slivers in there).
On the whole, the match isn't much of a race. They are going to faster and Thing in the Ice makes it difficult. We need to Tempo them out, which should be the general goal. There isn't much we can do.
Elves is terrible against Izzet Phoenix and Merfolk is only better because island, but also merfolk trickster and counterspells. What can slivers do? We can tempo with Diffusion (forcing them to attack our face), we can have Darkheart and Syphon to help buy time. Telekinetic could also stop a turn of Awoken Horror.
Diffusion allows us to have a board state for us to work around. Them taking a turn and using all or most of their mana also tempo delays Thing and Phoenix. Which allows us perhaps to cast Company or something else. Maybe also bring Frenetic in for Thing flips. We don't need them to come back to hand, but perhaps staying on board might help later. We have to us the tricks available to us. Whether it is smaller tricks, wierd combat tricks, and first strike.
It isn't fool proof, but I don't see betrer solutions. Maybe Surgical Extraction is better against Phoenix/Dredge than Relic (although more expensive).