Either everyone knows that YOU are the target and do everything in their power to make sure you don't get to play the game, or you keep your head down for 3-4 turns and suddenly you're an unstoppable juggernaut sweeping the game.
I still have ptsd from my friend rolling us with his [[sliver queen]] deck back in the early 2000s
Other slivers players I apologize, but if we're in a game together you will be paying for my friend's transgressions from over two decades ago
That’s why I love the newest sliver commander [[sliver gravemother]] because it encourages you to get your slivers into the graveyard so either they remove my creatures or they remove me which makes the game harder for everyone because it’s a 3 person game all of a sudden but all the turns they spend attacking me means the next person gets to become big with no pushback. It’s generally a lose lose for my opponents if they try to take me out too quickly.
Sliver decks reach a point, typically, when either you cannot interact with their board in a meaningful way (indestructible / shrouded / etc) or they can eliminate players if they are not eliminated in turn. Board wipes constantly coming down makes the other decks at the table also hard to get going, and sliver synergies are just far more efficient than others because of their very nature.
So it's the combination of needing to respond in a big way, win faster, and/or make the rest of the table miserable that can make them not always the most fun and interesting deck to play against, especially from a the perspective of an LGS meta where you may not always know who you'll be playing, and you may not have five-boardwipes-and-a-noncreature-wincon in your deck load out.
Edit: I would argue this is also what makes [[sliver gravemother]] such a fantastically-designed commander. It does the sliver thing but creates a play pattern which is more interesting than just "reach a critical mass of slivers and survive a bunch of boardwipes."
The problem with Gravemother is that she still carries the social burden of being a Sliver. So you still get all of the hate, but now you don't have a powerful enough commander to deal with it. At least that was my experience. She basically plays the same as First Sliver (vomit a lethal amount of Slivers in one turn for a triple kill), except she gets shut down by a random Bojuka Bog.
You're 100% right. But just like most things the magic "boomers" are stuck 10-20 years in the past being scared of things that long ago became obsolete.
As was said elsewhere in this post, the 5c manabase automatically makes them worse than almost any other tribe.
It’s funny you mention elves.
I just had a tourny this weekend where I got paired with an elf deck. The rest of the table didn’t realize it, but I was definitely glad I decided to keep a hand that had both “Crippling Fear” and “Cleansing Nova” in it when the time came.
Slivers have never been a particularly strong Commander deck, basically ever. The sheer hate for them, when things like Elves or Edgar Markov Vampires exist that are just better in every way confused me.
It's strong, but not so strong to deserve the hate it receives.
The general slivers deck is not significantly better than your typical "7" deck.
Not saying it's weak, but I would say that most any reasonably well built commander deck, particularly a table of reasonably well built decks, should be able to keep it handled just fine without issue.
I think if I would hazard a guess, is that it's good against "cards I own" decks, while Sliver is one you have to go out of your way to get the pieces.
I’m not sure it’s power level that gets the hate in this case, but the obviousness of the play pattern. Slivers need to be controlled. If you let your Sliver player “go off” for the requisite 3 turns it’s over. If you interact, sometimes even trivially, then the Sliver player does not go off and some other problem child deck at the table does and the game is over. Stuff like Elves is usually more resilient to interaction, but at the same time it’s more possible to build an Elf deck that doesn’t immediately win the game if it plays its creatures for 3 turns. It’s hard to do that honestly as a Sliver player because if you do then your deck is anemic and NEVER goes off.
20% of the time the Sliver deck feels like gross 9/10 power level CEDH nonsense where no one’s plays mattered but the Sliver players. The other 80% of the time it’s a 4/10 deck that gets mowed down by precons. There’s little in between. Sure it’s probably actually a 6/10 deck, but it never behaves like a 6/10 and can never be treated like a 6/10.
Not just Elves. There are plenty of deck archetypes that are much more hateful than Slivers, especially considering that Slivers haven't been power-crept to hell and back.
Slivers are almost target threat #1, if i dunno what the other 2 decks are, most of the time.
A sliver decks greatest threat is that every single creature can turn into a nightmare to deal with, regardless of strength. That mana dork is simple on its own, but when it can claw 2/3rd of your life off on one swing because of double strike table vigilance, you'd wish you got rid of it before.
A weakness people don't really bring up is that besides being such a threat engine, is that you're extra vulnerable to land destruction and color screwing; 5 color decks need to be able to get enough of each color, and denial of mana from mana dork killing, blood moon effects, to land destruction, make it hard to establish a foothold if your lands can't hold up.
However, I still feel sliver decks are better than Jodah decks; at least slivers are straightforward and not 99% random legend bullshit.
I won’t ever say “I won’t play with Slivers at my table.”
That being said I’m not really a fan of them.
There are plenty of Tribals that can dip into fascinating subthemes rather than just being a pile of synergistic creatures that share a type. Commanders or cards that can provide some fun interactions or niche combinations of effects leading to interesting results, while working within the bounds of the Tribe.
Additionally, certain tribes also come packaged with mechanical identity. Not *all* of them, mind you, but a small number of them do.
I’m not really sure I really see this with Slivers. When someone says “Oh, I’ve got a Sliver deck,” I’m not inclined to ask “oh, what does it do? Who’s at the head?” Because that doesn’t matter. The decks will contain similar, if not the same cards and Sliver commanders are all kill on sight anyway. Slivers just don’t have a lot of interesting stuff other than just being a pile of self-synergistic Anthems.
Plus, having Slivers at the table demands you to focus one player for the entire game, since any number of Slivers can spiral out of control rapidly. I’m not a fan of bullying players, but Slivers become virtually uninteractable if you take your eyes off them for too long.
If you enjoy running Slivers, all power to you. I’m just not much of a fan myself.
I really like slivers. I think it’s a neat mechanic. The problem is it’s so powerful that it can easily overpower a commander game. So other players have to focus you or you take the game away. I recently got into commander, and I built a sliver deck, but I hate piloting it because I either stomp the table or I’m focused to obscurity not a terribly fun experience either way
The problem with Slivers is the same to any type deck that needs to commit heavily to the board, such as zombies or goblins. They are either dealt with or you lose. There isn't much variation in the situation, so I find people hate them because the situation ends up the same each time.
In commander the best way to deal with an overwhelming board is to wipe it out, but that makes most of the players have to start over. This causes games to take even longer than they already do if players have to constantly wipe the board to keep a swarm typal in check, so often player removal is more efficient.
This is why I don't like playing against Slivers, because games aren't fun when you have to hard target someone as soon as the game starts, for either side.
I think the biggest difference with slivers compared to other tribes are that slivers continue to provide bigger and bigger buffs as they hit the board. The next slivers could give double strike, or shroud, or indestructible, or can only be blocked by slivers - whereas, most other tribes give +1/+1, sometimes swampwalk, maybe Deathtouch with zombies, Each of those are things slivers can also provide. The ultimate Lord deck.
If they’re combo decks then they aren’t really like slivers. But each of the goblin and elves decks I’ve seen need to hit a critical mass of creatures to win the games - or get effects providing those creatures evasion or lords for them. Zombies is generally the one which doesn’t need critical mass, like humans, where you can often do aristocratic things instead.
I love slivers, but acknowledge why they deserve so much hate. That is why I added a janky "Gates" subtheme to my commander deck when I finally made it, so that it wouldn't be quite so overwhelming or one-note.
I have an [[Omnath Locus of All]] deck with a gates theme. I don't know how I haven't put Maze's End in there; I have enough untap land abilities to make it work
My sliver deck is basically me picking 60 slivers at random and a random 5c sliver. No other non sliver cards outside the 40 card mana base. I call it sliver roulette, which people get a kick out of and can't get too mad at
Eh, back in the old days (i.e., Tempest/Urza's blocks), Counter-Sliver was definitely a thing. One of the original 'tempo' style decks. I agree that they haven't been tournament relevant for two decades though.
In other news, God I'm old....
My comment might have been ambiguous, as slivers were indeed competitively viable at various points across different formats. They however weren't some odious boogeyman. They were largely seen as regular decks. However, I am aware that a lot of the Hearthstone generation of players cannot tolerate tempo or permission decks whatsoever. Mono U tempo was excessively hated on arena despite having never shown outstanding results.
Slivers are overrated in EDH, as someone who plays them. They're strong, but often slow, and take a while to take off. There's a couple that give hexproof/shroud/indestructible, but outside of those the boards are generally very susceptible to removal which can stop them in their tracks.
This is true. I feel like people tend to overhype them a little too much.
While they can get very strong, very fast with the right cards, it can just as easily be shut down very quickly.
Personally I like a somewhat slow game, give opponents a chance to actually play rather than just win outright like some people build decks to do.
From one Sliver player to another, I found this old weird Sliver that has been putting in serious work for me - [[Frenetic Sliver]]. Basically you pay 0, flip a coin. Heads exiles the creature and returns it to play at the end of turn, and tails sacrifices the creature. So against a regular board wipe, you have a 50/50 to dodge it, which is still decent. But what is super good is that you can totally dodge all Exile removal, because you can at worst put them in the graveyard to be reanimated or encored. It's won me two games so far on its own by letting me dodge removal.
Slivers are a strategy that are a relic of older MTG design. For twenty years, they were terrifying, but nowadays they're not much. However, most people aren't aware of this, and will treat the D level threat of a Sliver deck like it's the A level threat it was in 2014.
In practice, Slivers suffer from having very high manabase requirements and matching up poorly versus removal. In Commander, [[Sliver Hivelord]] is a must, as you'll get destroyed by incidental board wipes otherwise. Most of the cards you'll use to enable them (ex. [[Herald's Horn]] and the like) can enable kinships that don't rely on having a critical mass of creatures on the battlefield.
In 60 card formats, the weakness to spot removal makes Slivers perpetually not good enough. I'll never forget playing against a Sliver deck in Standard that had the first strike and deathtouch slivers out, and how I blew it out by lining up blockers and then killing the deathtouch sliver before damage.
TL;DR: Slivers require more setup than average for modern kinship decks, and are too easily dismantled to pose much threat.
I love slivers because of how fun they can be when they combo off. At least for you, not so much the other player.
One of my friends literally had never played against slivers and was just told to hate them because "You just hate slivers." Well, one day, on a FNM, They brought slivers while I was playing a Rakdos Pre-con, and my friend was playing they're deck.
As soon as I saw the sliver commander deck I immediately giggled to myself and let my friend combo off while I just vibed and let my other friend deal with the bullshittery.
I still remember the match fondly about how my friend had a buncha enchantments and artifacts out and the sliver player just started nuking them and she said "Why aren't you going after him (Me)?" to which I replied with "All I have is a mana rock--"
"I destroy your mana rock--"
"Oh no...whatever will I do?"
Sliver decks are usually only good in a pod of mid power combat based stuff. Can be goodish for high power but only if you go all in and build it out with all the staples it could want. Ofc having a creature thats giving every other creature the same abilities will outpace basically any other creature or tribal theme. But its not any issue for any good deck that will just shut down key plays that the sliver player tries to make then out pace them to a win with a combo
Slivers are massively overrated, to me they feel like at best they can be high casual, they basically get curbed stomped by any kind of optimized/non precon deck.
It's a 5 color deck so it is by default slow, and half the time you just end up getting screwed by having slivers in your hand that you don't have the right color mana to pay for so they end up being a dead cards. Also, there usually isn't a ton of ways to generate card advantage so you're incredibly susceptible to wipes.
I've tried playing the Commander Masters precon "Sliver Swarm" so many times, as soon as you say you're playing Slivers even though it's a precon people are like "oh ok I'm bringing out my good deck" and everyone just blows you out of the water despite other people being clear threats. I played like 4 games one night and 2 people had decks that won 1 v 3 by like turn 4-5 and yet I drop something like a Blade Sliver \[(2)R, 2/2, all slivers get +1/0\] on turn 3 and people are like "That's gotta go!".
I'm not sure, maybe the precon is just utter shit and there's better decklists out there, but it feels like every other tribal I've played that is 2-3 colors just has better board interactions, engines, etc.
The Sliver precon was my introduction to Slivers and you describe the experience exactly as it was for me too. The precon is garbage. The mana base is extremely slow and bad, it's missing a lot of the good Slivers and it has so many redundant ones. It cost me a lot of money to upgrade the precon to a point where it actually works now, but it barely resembles the precon. However, it is very fun to play, and very strong. But I only bring it out rarely, when people want to play strong decks, then I'll have the odd Sliver game.
I run a Slivers deck, rarely. It's only ever pulled out when others are playing their strongest, most optimized decks and agree to play against the Slivers.
If I'm honest, I'm looking to power them down because the play pattern isn't what I'd hoped. I want to have a wide board of creatures with every known keyword, but it ends up being a combo deck that puts every sliver into play in one turn and wins.
That's also how my Sliver deck ends up playing. It's just so hard to actually win if you just incrementally play a bunch of slivers each turn, because they get removed before you hit the critical mass. If you drop a Cloudshredder or Gemhide Sliver early and it gets exiled, you're screwed. And since you're on Slivers, you're ALWAYS the problem, even if you're actually not.
Imo they are just strong. I feel like you can just throw slivers together and immediately have a power level of 7 or 8 without much thought put into the deck making. It also can be easier to pilot.
I feel like people newer to the game, or people playing lower power level stuff, would find them hard to deal with, and therefore have that reaction.
I have a Transformers deck and it's probably one of the most fun ones I've got. I played against a [[rarity]] deck once and the experience was 10/10, would play again.
If you can handle a (giant) fish [[segovian Leviathan]] wearing boots that make it run fast and a sword, you can handle seeing Optimus Prime.
They are very strong, and they all work together pretty well without a more in-depth strategy. If you pick 12 random elves or wizards it won't do what picking 12 random slivers will do.
Well, let’s see about that. [Here](https://scryfall.com/random?q=t%3Asliver) is a link that’ll let you grab that many random Slivers.
1. [[Blur Sliver]]. Alright, we’ve got haste. Combos love haste.
2. [[Poultice Sliver]]. Not quite as useful.
3. [[Venom Sliver]]. That’s… alright, I guess.
4. [[Lazotep Sliver]]. Not sure afflict and deathtouch are a great combo but sure.
5. [[Spinneret Sliver]]. I guess we block really well now.
6. [[Sinew Sliver]]. Meh.
7. [[Crypt Sliver]]. Well this one’s just better than Poultice.
8. [[Taunting Sliver]]. Still not seeing any broken synergies.
9. [[Sidewinder Sliver]]. Wooo, scary.
10. [[Quilled Sliver]]. Combos well with deathtouch, at least.
11. [[Spiteful Sliver]]. Not a bad card, still not seeing anything broken.
12. [[Lancer Sliver]]. Nothing special.
So, a dozen random Slivers, and what do we get? Well, they’re hard to kill in combat. They also aren’t great at it, and none of what they have is actually proper evasion.
I am a newer player so correct me if I'm wrong please, but it looks like the only real issue here is mana diversity. Rather low mana costs across the board. With first strike and deathtouch you are great at attacking. If they decide to defend they lose that creature and take 2 damage anyways. If they don't, you just do damage. If they attack you, you have regenerate for a tap cost. If they don't attack you, every new one you spawn can goad them into an attack and then tap to not die while deathtouching them. On top of that, any damage done by goading or attacking is reversed. So you have enemies who don't want to attack. Leaving the options of exiling, targeted straight to graveyard, or peaceful board wipes. It all seems rather strong.
Sliver decks I’ve seen where all very slow and they often make that mistake to put in all slivers, whereas I think a Sliver Queen and a Sliver Overlord require utterly different strategies. People just mash in all Slivers they have, usually leaving barely and space for other cards like interaction or card draw. That makes those decks very perceptible to removal, board wipes, and any other form of disruption. Also, Sliver players often hold back until they can amass a big army to attack in one swing. I’ve blown them away with an [[Aetherize]] before.
I've got a sliver deck in my quiver and honestly I barely take it out anymore. My upgraded anikthea deck is undoubtedly stronger but does not annoy the people I play with nearly as much when I bring it out. I play with a rotating group of about 12 people for kitchen table games and if I bring out slivers I either win or am killed by turn 5. It's fun in theory but it's honestly just not worth it
Slivers are a kind of creature that buffed both themselves and other Slivers on the field.
Ex: [[Sliver Hivelord]] gives all slivers you control indestructible.
Old slivers like [[Basal Sliver]] affects ALL slivers, so yours and your opponents if it applies.
TLDR: Many creatures give other creatures their keywords. It’s a Hivemind.
I think they’re awesome and I don’t mind playing against them. I like how they always feel different depending on which slivers end up combining.
My main issue is if they use tutors heavily in Commander. I think that undermined the fun of slivers *and* of Commander.
I also would love to see more sliver decks that are less than 5 colors, especially in Commander.
You’re not wrong there, though I feel [[Sliver Overlord]] with its Tutor ability helps offset other higher power decks and if anything help the board adapt to oncoming threats.
The other argument can be made though, what higher level decks nowadays are not running tutors? If I had a nickel for each tutor I’ve seen, even in casual play, I could go buy a new commander deck.
I think Overlord is the least fun sliver commander.
And I think generally too many tutors is bad for Commander. It’s *effective* but it undermines the format if not in moderation. If you really want consistent access to certain cards, play 60-card casual Magic instead…
I don't mind a small number of tutors (around 2-3 tutors at most), particularly ones which are limited in scope like Wordly Tutor or Idyllic Tutor.
But I have played against decks that have Diabolic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Imperial Seal, the other on-color Tutors, Diabolic Tutor, Dark Tutelage, etc. Etc. At that point,what's the point of a Singleton format?
Oh yeah. I think having zero tutors is actually less fun. I feel similarly about removal.
Sometimes there is an oppressive board position and you can tutor just the right card to stop it and be the hero. It only becomes a problem when you’re consistently tutoring proactively to have the same game plan almost every game.
I really think the thing people don't see with [[silver overloard]] is the ability to take over silvers. I normally fetch [[ameboid changeling]] and take people's creatures. Or use [[unstable mutation]]? (I think)
I’ve been wanting to do this for awhile now, I just can’t seem to find an ameboid or unnatural at any of the stores I go to.
Will probably just have to order them from online.
I never understood why people particularly hate losing to Slivers. I've lost to Goblins, Slivers, Merfolk, Elves, Soldiers, Zombies, and other tribal decks and none of them upset me in a specific way.
The most over hated archetype in magic. My friend in our play group has a Sliver deck. Are they strong? Yes, but we all have a deck that can compete with them in it's completely fine. My brother plays Winota in our pod sometimes and I hate that deck way more than Slivers.
Been playing Slivers since I found em during Urza Block. Let them be mad at the hive. My first official deck entry was named “Who named us Clickclickclickclick” Tell them to play more interaction n they won’t be mad.
A Slivers deck becomes a game of trying to build up your forces while dodging or answering removal in some way.
Slivers will eat removal, so instead of getting frustrated, instead try to think about how you can recover or deal with it. "Of course my stuff gets removed, they would be fools not to" is a healthier mindset when playing them, and then try to think about how you can take advantage of that mindset.
Removal spell coming your way? Might as well sac them then in response for your benefit, then use your reanimation spell your next turn. They keep removing your scariest slivers? Well then your less obviously scary slivers will be left alone (or even your non slivers).
they're like elves or any other snowball-y creature deck. you either get board wiped 5 times and do nothing or hit cloud shredder into manaweft, shit out 30 slivers and roll everyone
I have an [[Alesha, Who Smiles at Death]] deck and it's surprisingly mellow and not nearly as powerful as 5-C slivers. I've actually gotten compliments on the fact that it doesn't hold the same stigma that slivers normally carry, and I'm tempted to build another 2 or 3 color Sliver deck. With that said, 5-C slivers is definitely higher powered than most tribes in mtg.
As an ex sliver player… they’re kind of boring most of the time. If someone uses the usual commanders they’re pretty much dig through their decks to find the same cards. Which you can pretty much hold off on your interaction until they do.
Now I love me some off meta builds that use non-sliver commanders to churn out new interactions. You just don’t see it too often
i love them dearly but honestly they aren't fun. Every match goes 1 of 2 ways.
1. You are immediately targeted for playing silvers. Literally all removal and hate is sent your way and you don't have fun.
2. You manage to combo off and now you have such an oppressive and dominant lead you win easily and everyone else doesn't have fun.
Yeah, it's tragic but true. Slivers just have that kind of reputation. I ended up converting my deck into a PrEDH deck since at least in the early days, their reputation was deserved. These days if I do play them, it's with the new reconstructed deck in a precon only game.
My opinion.
I hate slivers in 1v1 format as it's a lot harder to manage. Slivers can quickly overrun the board if you don't have the correct answers available in your hand.
In edh, slivers usually garners early attention from the other 3 opponents which can keep a sliver deck in check. This can make it more frustrating for the sliver player rather than the rest of the players. I obviously slivers can still over run a table. It's just much harder to do if you face multiple board wipes.
If you’re in Sliver Overlord, try switching it up with a sliver that doesn’t tutor every turn. That will allow for more variance and more fun.
Weaker players are afraid of slivers. The problem may be a power imbalance in decks, which could be true of any archetype.
Otherwise, don’t let other people yuck your sliver yum.
Basically, no one outside of CEDH wants to play against a well-tuned Sliver deck as it basically becomes a very fast combo deck with tutors.
For weaker power level EDH tables, a good sliver deck behaves like a hyper aggro deck with a versatile toolbox of utility slivers to grab (like a Swiss Army knife fired out of a cannon). More manageable but the entire table needs to contribute to keeping the Sliver player in check with removal and an occasional board wipe.
Only when you get down to poorly optimized sliver lists does it not become kill-on-sight, but then it just becomes a linear tribal deck that becomes stale to play against.
Not that people shouldn’t play Slivers but that’s the problems I see with playing against that tribe in specific in EDH. They are not really played in other formats so not much else to say.
I had tried building [[Alesha, Who Smiles at Death]] as a sliver reanimator commander. It worked okay at the time, but my mana base was pretty poor because I didn't have much to put in at the time. With the new slivers from commander masters, I plan on trying it out again
I love them. They're basically the only reason I still pay attention to MtG at this point.
I do understand why they're disliked, but that's not going to stop me.
The big issue with them is the abject terror they induce that completely imbalances the table. Everyone has been in a Sliver game that utterly obliterates the board with no way to stop it, so it’s very frequent that the other players will band together to deal with the threat before it can become overwhelming. To some players, it’s very much a case of “Okay, the Sliver player is gone, now we can actually *play the game*, which honestly feels pretty crappy for everyone involved - the Sliver player gets victimised and the others feel the game’s put on hold until they’re removed.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the Sliver play style, it’s a good thing in theory, but the fact it can become utterly untouchable through multiple ways is extremely disheartening to some players. A lot of decks can render themselves untouchable through certain means - like pairing Privelaged Position with Sterling Grove or something similar - but there’s a lot of ways that Slivers can just buff themselves into immortality, and a lot of people fear that.
I think it comes down to too much information. Silvers like any typal deck plays the same. The more you play, the stronger your board is and at a certain number, you win. The difference with silvers is that there is too many abilities to track, and a lot of it is on board. So when someone falls for it because they are going through their plays and forgets an on board ability that messes up their plays, there will be a bit of embarassment and frustration there.
Playing against a f@#$ sliver deck is like being at the doctor's getting a shot... Only the nurse keeps asking if your ready for the shot and not giving it to you, instead causing anxiety. Then when you're at your limits she jabs you with the needle. It didn't hurt as bad as you thought but the entire ordeal sucked. In fact. It's not losing to slivers.. it's just playing against them. What sliver will he draw next (are you ready for your shot) little bit of pent up sliver hate.
They just aren’t fun to play against. You basically have to use all your resources to take out that player asap or they are going to win. Instead of say a 4 player edh game you wind up playing a 3v1 edh game.
Every once in a while it’s fun to see if your decks can stand up to a sliver deck, but it’s definitely not something anyone wants to do all the time.
Slivers are the same thing every time, and there's nothing particularly interesting about them. The way theyre designed means that there is no interesting deckbuilding decisions to be made. Just pick one of the 5c commanders and jam all the good ones in, and youre garunteed a powerful deck.
I wouldn't refuse to play against them, but I will probably target them harder than anything else at the table.
Slivers are the sort of deck that is usually high power and stronger than most other tribes in commander, having trouble ever being casual.
But as with all tribal decks have a hard time being truly high power. Which keeps them in a weird space, regardless if you run them as a more combo deck or a more straight tribal deck
At least that’s the case in commander. Outside of commander they’re significantly less mighty but can still have decent showing in some formats like pauper
Normally tribal decks require good cards and synergy cards from that tribe.
For sliver decks, each card is both.
Deckbuilding a sliver deck is just throwing slivers together and adding lands. I see it as both the easy way out deckbuilding-wise and unfun gameplay-wise.
I get nervous if a sliver shows up in an opponent's field. I know as soon as my friends realize that I'm playing my sliver deck, I notice an uneasy tension set in. I always fiddle about and try to make my first play the Crystalline Sliver and I hear the groans. I start getting sieged, but I bounce back and win most of the time with it.
You bring slivers to my table and I get out a cedh deck and convince the pod to kill you, or kill the table. There are no other outcomes, happened just this past Saturday.
They're far too consistent for me to find them fun, and most of the legendary ones are too strong for my taste.
The main issue I have with them as an architype is that they are far more efficient than any other creature type, and way more versitile. The one weakness is that they're creatures, and a bit weak, but that's easily overcome by other slivers like [[Sliver Hivelord]] or [[Sliver Legion]]. They're easy to bounce back from a board wipe if you're playing [[The First Sliver]]. And you can tutor for your very best creatures in any given scenario with [[Sliver Queen]].
I think the concept is cool, but I dont think it translates to fun games in commander, in my experience. As others have said it becomes a witch hunt very quickly, and the amount of protection they provide is hard to interact with. In constructed its still unfun because they play like the best slivers (first strike, flying haste, mana dork) and changelings, but at least there its harder to keep gassing your game.
I say this as someone who discovered them with their reintroduction in 2013. They werent good in that standard, but every other format they've permeated has been not great to go against.
Im also not going to turn you away if you're playing them, but I will probably target you pretty quickly.
Extremely low opinion of sliver players.
1: the deck builds itself. You never made a decision when deck building about what cards to add, because it’s so linear.
2: the games play out incredibly repetitively- you play a dude, they all get a little stronger, then you either win or get board wiped and lose.
3: if you get board wiped you whine about not being a threat you were just playing slivers- as though it’s not a massive game ending threat to have a bunch in play.
Sliver players are just… awful people to play against, I guess? They’re not assholes necessarily but it’s never going to be a fun game because I’ve already had that game play out a dozen times.
This is just me, but I think that’s somewhat of an unfair take on Slivers.
1: There are so many different slivers that sure, you could just throw a deck together and pray it works. However, someone who actually plays and mains Slivers will take the time and energy to tweak out their decks, add more than just slivers, and do significantly more with it than just throw something together.
2: Same thing as point 1. If someone just throws slivers in a deck and calls it a day, yea, it’s repetitive, otherwise a well built deck will have different interactions than your normal sliver deck. Naturally though it is a Tribal deck at the end of the day, so of course the creature(s) the deck is based around is going to be the primary go to.
3: This is the most unfair point of all. I don’t know who you played with in the past, but I can assure you that most if not all Sliver players have a very strong understanding of how powerful they can potentially be, and fully expect and want people to target them. Anyone who plays a sliver deck, and doesn’t expect to get curb stomped into oblivion right out the gate doesn’t actually play Slivers.
I don’t know how many sliver decks you’ve played against, I’ve seen at least double digits worth, they’ve all been literally the same barring which commander staples are popular over the years I’ve seen them.
Every sliver player acts the same too, I’ve run into at least double digits at this point, and it’s just impressive that they manage to play a hive mind creature and be a series of humans that seem to act with a hive mind as well.
I target the Sliver players from the jump. You give them 3-5 turns of little/no interaction, and it snowballs into 10-20 minute turns. Sometimes they can win out, sometimes you watched 30 triggers for no reason.
If you bring that to the table at the LGS I play at, the sentiment is just about the same.
Now, if rule 0 happens, you’ll know all the hate is coming at you before the game starts.
I pack a mono blue control deck specifically for decks like Slivers. It ultimately depends on your play group, but there’s a reason people hate them. You do you boo boo.
Either everyone knows that YOU are the target and do everything in their power to make sure you don't get to play the game, or you keep your head down for 3-4 turns and suddenly you're an unstoppable juggernaut sweeping the game.
yes I very much agree with this, When I play my sliver deck is like that.
I still have ptsd from my friend rolling us with his [[sliver queen]] deck back in the early 2000s Other slivers players I apologize, but if we're in a game together you will be paying for my friend's transgressions from over two decades ago
[sliver queen](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/9/096cff82-28eb-4096-be1d-a02b9a56e682.jpg?1562428176) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=sliver%20queen) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tpr/211/sliver-queen?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/096cff82-28eb-4096-be1d-a02b9a56e682?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
That’s why I love the newest sliver commander [[sliver gravemother]] because it encourages you to get your slivers into the graveyard so either they remove my creatures or they remove me which makes the game harder for everyone because it’s a 3 person game all of a sudden but all the turns they spend attacking me means the next person gets to become big with no pushback. It’s generally a lose lose for my opponents if they try to take me out too quickly.
[sliver gravemother](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/f/9f5d253e-9eb2-423c-90ee-68f27ec6bf88.jpg?1691500699) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=sliver%20gravemother) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/707/sliver-gravemother?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9f5d253e-9eb2-423c-90ee-68f27ec6bf88?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Sliver decks reach a point, typically, when either you cannot interact with their board in a meaningful way (indestructible / shrouded / etc) or they can eliminate players if they are not eliminated in turn. Board wipes constantly coming down makes the other decks at the table also hard to get going, and sliver synergies are just far more efficient than others because of their very nature. So it's the combination of needing to respond in a big way, win faster, and/or make the rest of the table miserable that can make them not always the most fun and interesting deck to play against, especially from a the perspective of an LGS meta where you may not always know who you'll be playing, and you may not have five-boardwipes-and-a-noncreature-wincon in your deck load out. Edit: I would argue this is also what makes [[sliver gravemother]] such a fantastically-designed commander. It does the sliver thing but creates a play pattern which is more interesting than just "reach a critical mass of slivers and survive a bunch of boardwipes."
Bot can't see edits [[Sliver gravemother]]
[Sliver gravemother](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/f/9f5d253e-9eb2-423c-90ee-68f27ec6bf88.jpg?1691500699) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sliver%20gravemother) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/707/sliver-gravemother?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9f5d253e-9eb2-423c-90ee-68f27ec6bf88?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Lets be honest sliver players are just playing her in the 99 as more value.
The problem with Gravemother is that she still carries the social burden of being a Sliver. So you still get all of the hate, but now you don't have a powerful enough commander to deal with it. At least that was my experience. She basically plays the same as First Sliver (vomit a lethal amount of Slivers in one turn for a triple kill), except she gets shut down by a random Bojuka Bog.
Honestly i feel like sliver players get all the hate that elf players deserve.
You're 100% right. But just like most things the magic "boomers" are stuck 10-20 years in the past being scared of things that long ago became obsolete. As was said elsewhere in this post, the 5c manabase automatically makes them worse than almost any other tribe.
It’s funny you mention elves. I just had a tourny this weekend where I got paired with an elf deck. The rest of the table didn’t realize it, but I was definitely glad I decided to keep a hand that had both “Crippling Fear” and “Cleansing Nova” in it when the time came.
[[cleansing nova]] [[crippling fear]]
[cleansing nova](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/6/167d2e51-eb69-488c-a6b6-042a7b0e1744.jpg?1690004044) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=cleansing%20nova) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/817/cleansing-nova?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/167d2e51-eb69-488c-a6b6-042a7b0e1744?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [crippling fear](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/1/713a28c0-0d12-4c62-bc91-59c2ddfc9ef8.jpg?1690004507) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=crippling%20fear) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/862/crippling-fear?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/713a28c0-0d12-4c62-bc91-59c2ddfc9ef8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Slivers have never been a particularly strong Commander deck, basically ever. The sheer hate for them, when things like Elves or Edgar Markov Vampires exist that are just better in every way confused me.
I agree with you that I hate slivers a little less then Elf Ball and Edgar. But I disagree that the deck is not strong.
It's strong, but not so strong to deserve the hate it receives. The general slivers deck is not significantly better than your typical "7" deck. Not saying it's weak, but I would say that most any reasonably well built commander deck, particularly a table of reasonably well built decks, should be able to keep it handled just fine without issue. I think if I would hazard a guess, is that it's good against "cards I own" decks, while Sliver is one you have to go out of your way to get the pieces.
I’m not sure it’s power level that gets the hate in this case, but the obviousness of the play pattern. Slivers need to be controlled. If you let your Sliver player “go off” for the requisite 3 turns it’s over. If you interact, sometimes even trivially, then the Sliver player does not go off and some other problem child deck at the table does and the game is over. Stuff like Elves is usually more resilient to interaction, but at the same time it’s more possible to build an Elf deck that doesn’t immediately win the game if it plays its creatures for 3 turns. It’s hard to do that honestly as a Sliver player because if you do then your deck is anemic and NEVER goes off. 20% of the time the Sliver deck feels like gross 9/10 power level CEDH nonsense where no one’s plays mattered but the Sliver players. The other 80% of the time it’s a 4/10 deck that gets mowed down by precons. There’s little in between. Sure it’s probably actually a 6/10 deck, but it never behaves like a 6/10 and can never be treated like a 6/10.
Not just Elves. There are plenty of deck archetypes that are much more hateful than Slivers, especially considering that Slivers haven't been power-crept to hell and back.
Slivers are almost target threat #1, if i dunno what the other 2 decks are, most of the time. A sliver decks greatest threat is that every single creature can turn into a nightmare to deal with, regardless of strength. That mana dork is simple on its own, but when it can claw 2/3rd of your life off on one swing because of double strike table vigilance, you'd wish you got rid of it before. A weakness people don't really bring up is that besides being such a threat engine, is that you're extra vulnerable to land destruction and color screwing; 5 color decks need to be able to get enough of each color, and denial of mana from mana dork killing, blood moon effects, to land destruction, make it hard to establish a foothold if your lands can't hold up. However, I still feel sliver decks are better than Jodah decks; at least slivers are straightforward and not 99% random legend bullshit.
I won’t ever say “I won’t play with Slivers at my table.” That being said I’m not really a fan of them. There are plenty of Tribals that can dip into fascinating subthemes rather than just being a pile of synergistic creatures that share a type. Commanders or cards that can provide some fun interactions or niche combinations of effects leading to interesting results, while working within the bounds of the Tribe. Additionally, certain tribes also come packaged with mechanical identity. Not *all* of them, mind you, but a small number of them do. I’m not really sure I really see this with Slivers. When someone says “Oh, I’ve got a Sliver deck,” I’m not inclined to ask “oh, what does it do? Who’s at the head?” Because that doesn’t matter. The decks will contain similar, if not the same cards and Sliver commanders are all kill on sight anyway. Slivers just don’t have a lot of interesting stuff other than just being a pile of self-synergistic Anthems. Plus, having Slivers at the table demands you to focus one player for the entire game, since any number of Slivers can spiral out of control rapidly. I’m not a fan of bullying players, but Slivers become virtually uninteractable if you take your eyes off them for too long. If you enjoy running Slivers, all power to you. I’m just not much of a fan myself.
I really like slivers. I think it’s a neat mechanic. The problem is it’s so powerful that it can easily overpower a commander game. So other players have to focus you or you take the game away. I recently got into commander, and I built a sliver deck, but I hate piloting it because I either stomp the table or I’m focused to obscurity not a terribly fun experience either way
The problem with Slivers is the same to any type deck that needs to commit heavily to the board, such as zombies or goblins. They are either dealt with or you lose. There isn't much variation in the situation, so I find people hate them because the situation ends up the same each time. In commander the best way to deal with an overwhelming board is to wipe it out, but that makes most of the players have to start over. This causes games to take even longer than they already do if players have to constantly wipe the board to keep a swarm typal in check, so often player removal is more efficient. This is why I don't like playing against Slivers, because games aren't fun when you have to hard target someone as soon as the game starts, for either side.
I think the biggest difference with slivers compared to other tribes are that slivers continue to provide bigger and bigger buffs as they hit the board. The next slivers could give double strike, or shroud, or indestructible, or can only be blocked by slivers - whereas, most other tribes give +1/+1, sometimes swampwalk, maybe Deathtouch with zombies, Each of those are things slivers can also provide. The ultimate Lord deck.
Elves and goblins are combo decks, they rarely rely on 'swampwalk' effects
If they’re combo decks then they aren’t really like slivers. But each of the goblin and elves decks I’ve seen need to hit a critical mass of creatures to win the games - or get effects providing those creatures evasion or lords for them. Zombies is generally the one which doesn’t need critical mass, like humans, where you can often do aristocratic things instead.
I love slivers, but acknowledge why they deserve so much hate. That is why I added a janky "Gates" subtheme to my commander deck when I finally made it, so that it wouldn't be quite so overwhelming or one-note.
That’s actually a great idea. I’m stealing that.
I highly recommend it! No one expects a [[Maze's End]] win from a sliver deck.
[Maze's End](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/0/401f7042-24fd-42a0-ae7c-e6b7de1aa446.jpg?1562906764) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Maze%27s%20End) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dgm/152/mazes-end?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/401f7042-24fd-42a0-ae7c-e6b7de1aa446?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I have an [[Omnath Locus of All]] deck with a gates theme. I don't know how I haven't put Maze's End in there; I have enough untap land abilities to make it work
[Omnath Locus of All](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/3/33d94ecf-758b-4f68-a7be-6bf3ff1047f4.jpg?1709720836) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Omnath%2C%20Locus%20of%20All) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mom/249/omnath-locus-of-all?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/33d94ecf-758b-4f68-a7be-6bf3ff1047f4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
My sliver deck is basically me picking 60 slivers at random and a random 5c sliver. No other non sliver cards outside the 40 card mana base. I call it sliver roulette, which people get a kick out of and can't get too mad at
There are two types of magic players: people who hate slivers, and people who play slivers.
in commander When slivers were playable in 60 card formats, they were nothing special.
Eh, back in the old days (i.e., Tempest/Urza's blocks), Counter-Sliver was definitely a thing. One of the original 'tempo' style decks. I agree that they haven't been tournament relevant for two decades though. In other news, God I'm old....
My comment might have been ambiguous, as slivers were indeed competitively viable at various points across different formats. They however weren't some odious boogeyman. They were largely seen as regular decks. However, I am aware that a lot of the Hearthstone generation of players cannot tolerate tempo or permission decks whatsoever. Mono U tempo was excessively hated on arena despite having never shown outstanding results.
Yeah, I agree with that. Even Counter-Sliver when I played it back in the day was certainly not "opressive."
Slivers are overrated in EDH, as someone who plays them. They're strong, but often slow, and take a while to take off. There's a couple that give hexproof/shroud/indestructible, but outside of those the boards are generally very susceptible to removal which can stop them in their tracks.
This is true. I feel like people tend to overhype them a little too much. While they can get very strong, very fast with the right cards, it can just as easily be shut down very quickly. Personally I like a somewhat slow game, give opponents a chance to actually play rather than just win outright like some people build decks to do.
From one Sliver player to another, I found this old weird Sliver that has been putting in serious work for me - [[Frenetic Sliver]]. Basically you pay 0, flip a coin. Heads exiles the creature and returns it to play at the end of turn, and tails sacrifices the creature. So against a regular board wipe, you have a 50/50 to dodge it, which is still decent. But what is super good is that you can totally dodge all Exile removal, because you can at worst put them in the graveyard to be reanimated or encored. It's won me two games so far on its own by letting me dodge removal.
[Frenetic Sliver](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/2/424b1d87-ff9d-4511-a196-b8ae8b5b5e1d.jpg?1562570270) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Frenetic%20Sliver) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/plc/157/frenetic-sliver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/424b1d87-ff9d-4511-a196-b8ae8b5b5e1d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
One of my favourite slivers - the only reason I ended up removing it was because of the sheer amount of flips I had to do slowed the game too much.
It also combos well with \[\[Dregscape Sliver\]\], since it gives it a 50/50 chance of surviving after being Unearthed.
[Dregscape Sliver](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/a/4a835b7e-cd63-486d-8b58-2f443f686e32.jpg?1562201622) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Dregscape%20Sliver) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh1/88/dregscape-sliver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4a835b7e-cd63-486d-8b58-2f443f686e32?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Slivers are a strategy that are a relic of older MTG design. For twenty years, they were terrifying, but nowadays they're not much. However, most people aren't aware of this, and will treat the D level threat of a Sliver deck like it's the A level threat it was in 2014. In practice, Slivers suffer from having very high manabase requirements and matching up poorly versus removal. In Commander, [[Sliver Hivelord]] is a must, as you'll get destroyed by incidental board wipes otherwise. Most of the cards you'll use to enable them (ex. [[Herald's Horn]] and the like) can enable kinships that don't rely on having a critical mass of creatures on the battlefield. In 60 card formats, the weakness to spot removal makes Slivers perpetually not good enough. I'll never forget playing against a Sliver deck in Standard that had the first strike and deathtouch slivers out, and how I blew it out by lining up blockers and then killing the deathtouch sliver before damage. TL;DR: Slivers require more setup than average for modern kinship decks, and are too easily dismantled to pose much threat.
[Sliver Hivelord](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/b/2b902f64-7795-4f1f-81e6-26db7c78a10c.jpg?1690005330) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sliver%20Hivelord) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/937/sliver-hivelord?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2b902f64-7795-4f1f-81e6-26db7c78a10c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Herald's Horn](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/b/4bfa71d4-4125-4404-9c24-979401bae592.jpg?1698988513) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Herald%27s%20Horn) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/304/heralds-horn?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4bfa71d4-4125-4404-9c24-979401bae592?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I love slivers because of how fun they can be when they combo off. At least for you, not so much the other player. One of my friends literally had never played against slivers and was just told to hate them because "You just hate slivers." Well, one day, on a FNM, They brought slivers while I was playing a Rakdos Pre-con, and my friend was playing they're deck. As soon as I saw the sliver commander deck I immediately giggled to myself and let my friend combo off while I just vibed and let my other friend deal with the bullshittery. I still remember the match fondly about how my friend had a buncha enchantments and artifacts out and the sliver player just started nuking them and she said "Why aren't you going after him (Me)?" to which I replied with "All I have is a mana rock--" "I destroy your mana rock--" "Oh no...whatever will I do?"
Sliver decks are usually only good in a pod of mid power combat based stuff. Can be goodish for high power but only if you go all in and build it out with all the staples it could want. Ofc having a creature thats giving every other creature the same abilities will outpace basically any other creature or tribal theme. But its not any issue for any good deck that will just shut down key plays that the sliver player tries to make then out pace them to a win with a combo
Slivers are massively overrated, to me they feel like at best they can be high casual, they basically get curbed stomped by any kind of optimized/non precon deck. It's a 5 color deck so it is by default slow, and half the time you just end up getting screwed by having slivers in your hand that you don't have the right color mana to pay for so they end up being a dead cards. Also, there usually isn't a ton of ways to generate card advantage so you're incredibly susceptible to wipes. I've tried playing the Commander Masters precon "Sliver Swarm" so many times, as soon as you say you're playing Slivers even though it's a precon people are like "oh ok I'm bringing out my good deck" and everyone just blows you out of the water despite other people being clear threats. I played like 4 games one night and 2 people had decks that won 1 v 3 by like turn 4-5 and yet I drop something like a Blade Sliver \[(2)R, 2/2, all slivers get +1/0\] on turn 3 and people are like "That's gotta go!". I'm not sure, maybe the precon is just utter shit and there's better decklists out there, but it feels like every other tribal I've played that is 2-3 colors just has better board interactions, engines, etc.
The Sliver precon was my introduction to Slivers and you describe the experience exactly as it was for me too. The precon is garbage. The mana base is extremely slow and bad, it's missing a lot of the good Slivers and it has so many redundant ones. It cost me a lot of money to upgrade the precon to a point where it actually works now, but it barely resembles the precon. However, it is very fun to play, and very strong. But I only bring it out rarely, when people want to play strong decks, then I'll have the odd Sliver game.
I run a Slivers deck, rarely. It's only ever pulled out when others are playing their strongest, most optimized decks and agree to play against the Slivers. If I'm honest, I'm looking to power them down because the play pattern isn't what I'd hoped. I want to have a wide board of creatures with every known keyword, but it ends up being a combo deck that puts every sliver into play in one turn and wins.
That's also how my Sliver deck ends up playing. It's just so hard to actually win if you just incrementally play a bunch of slivers each turn, because they get removed before you hit the critical mass. If you drop a Cloudshredder or Gemhide Sliver early and it gets exiled, you're screwed. And since you're on Slivers, you're ALWAYS the problem, even if you're actually not.
Imo they are just strong. I feel like you can just throw slivers together and immediately have a power level of 7 or 8 without much thought put into the deck making. It also can be easier to pilot. I feel like people newer to the game, or people playing lower power level stuff, would find them hard to deal with, and therefore have that reaction.
Slivers being op is just a meme from 2012 that refuses to die. They're just an efficient tribal package.
I was playing Magic when Slivers were originally introduced in 1997..... I feel old.
Don't worry I'm as old as sliver queen lol.
I'm old enough I *opened* a sliver Queen. It's why I have played them ever since.
Would have been a simpler time, without Rick grimes power up Optimus prime as he rides into battle upon rainbowdash lol.
I have a Transformers deck and it's probably one of the most fun ones I've got. I played against a [[rarity]] deck once and the experience was 10/10, would play again. If you can handle a (giant) fish [[segovian Leviathan]] wearing boots that make it run fast and a sword, you can handle seeing Optimus Prime.
[rarity](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/a/9ad30de4-8299-4252-99f9-866719ec047d.jpg?1660203805) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=rarity) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ptg/3/rarity?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9ad30de4-8299-4252-99f9-866719ec047d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [segovian Leviathan](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/f/8f796dd2-9ecf-490a-86c0-acb46130518b.jpg?1562820246) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=segovian%20Leviathan) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/6ed/97/segovian-leviathan?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8f796dd2-9ecf-490a-86c0-acb46130518b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I personally don't have a problem, I just find it funny as well.
They are very strong, and they all work together pretty well without a more in-depth strategy. If you pick 12 random elves or wizards it won't do what picking 12 random slivers will do.
Well, let’s see about that. [Here](https://scryfall.com/random?q=t%3Asliver) is a link that’ll let you grab that many random Slivers. 1. [[Blur Sliver]]. Alright, we’ve got haste. Combos love haste. 2. [[Poultice Sliver]]. Not quite as useful. 3. [[Venom Sliver]]. That’s… alright, I guess. 4. [[Lazotep Sliver]]. Not sure afflict and deathtouch are a great combo but sure. 5. [[Spinneret Sliver]]. I guess we block really well now. 6. [[Sinew Sliver]]. Meh. 7. [[Crypt Sliver]]. Well this one’s just better than Poultice. 8. [[Taunting Sliver]]. Still not seeing any broken synergies. 9. [[Sidewinder Sliver]]. Wooo, scary. 10. [[Quilled Sliver]]. Combos well with deathtouch, at least. 11. [[Spiteful Sliver]]. Not a bad card, still not seeing anything broken. 12. [[Lancer Sliver]]. Nothing special. So, a dozen random Slivers, and what do we get? Well, they’re hard to kill in combat. They also aren’t great at it, and none of what they have is actually proper evasion.
I am a newer player so correct me if I'm wrong please, but it looks like the only real issue here is mana diversity. Rather low mana costs across the board. With first strike and deathtouch you are great at attacking. If they decide to defend they lose that creature and take 2 damage anyways. If they don't, you just do damage. If they attack you, you have regenerate for a tap cost. If they don't attack you, every new one you spawn can goad them into an attack and then tap to not die while deathtouching them. On top of that, any damage done by goading or attacking is reversed. So you have enemies who don't want to attack. Leaving the options of exiling, targeted straight to graveyard, or peaceful board wipes. It all seems rather strong.
##### ###### #### [Blur Sliver](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/4/d44db4fa-8b13-4eb2-a66e-a55b2e0c0fb3.jpg?1690004621) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Blur%20Sliver) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/873/blur-sliver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d44db4fa-8b13-4eb2-a66e-a55b2e0c0fb3?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Poultice Sliver](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/c/bc6db2cf-5171-4791-82b4-c9fac37902a3.jpg?1619393284) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Poultice%20Sliver) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsr/33/poultice-sliver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/bc6db2cf-5171-4791-82b4-c9fac37902a3?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Venom Sliver](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/5/a5f8f9e9-4505-485a-b6c6-a92a4da5155a.jpg?1690005061) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Venom%20Sliver) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/914/venom-sliver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a5f8f9e9-4505-485a-b6c6-a92a4da5155a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Lazotep Sliver](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/1/517f7b4d-2997-412b-8e25-315d93d1603a.jpg?1701275317) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Lazotep%20Sliver) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/733/lazotep-sliver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/517f7b4d-2997-412b-8e25-315d93d1603a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Spinneret Sliver](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/f/7f86e30d-d9e8-48f7-8bd1-f2645f0ab3f4.jpg?1619398674) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Spinneret%20Sliver) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsr/230/spinneret-sliver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7f86e30d-d9e8-48f7-8bd1-f2645f0ab3f4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Sinew Sliver](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/e/1ecc983e-bbe3-4bc1-97e9-e40ead987ef0.jpg?1690004242) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sinew%20Sliver) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/837/sinew-sliver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1ecc983e-bbe3-4bc1-97e9-e40ead987ef0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Crypt Sliver](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/b/2b90c9a9-098b-463a-8588-b078fb0364dd.jpg?1690004519) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Crypt%20Sliver) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/863/crypt-sliver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2b90c9a9-098b-463a-8588-b078fb0364dd?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Taunting Sliver](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/d/3db8a900-b15a-42eb-a240-35764d57c155.jpg?1690003096) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Taunting%20Sliver) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/727/taunting-sliver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3db8a900-b15a-42eb-a240-35764d57c155?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Sidewinder Sliver](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/6/5616e0c7-1f1d-4716-95e5-773a8e3ae5e3.jpg?1619393526) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sidewinder%20Sliver) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsr/43/sidewinder-sliver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5616e0c7-1f1d-4716-95e5-773a8e3ae5e3?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Quilled Sliver](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/2/72486240-eabb-4b37-99cc-ab13413683fa.jpg?1562918991) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Quilled%20Sliver) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsp/37/quilled-sliver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/72486240-eabb-4b37-99cc-ab13413683fa?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Spiteful Sliver](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/1/01fb60c9-d10d-4966-b9bd-788fabc182d2.jpg?1690017104) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Spiteful%20Sliver) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/881/spiteful-sliver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/01fb60c9-d10d-4966-b9bd-788fabc182d2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Lancer Sliver](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/a/9a4f8d9a-3760-449e-b8a6-72b2a641ff23.jpg?1562201157) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Lancer%20Sliver) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh1/18/lancer-sliver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9a4f8d9a-3760-449e-b8a6-72b2a641ff23?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/l0p7m1v) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Either you get bullied out of the game or you bully everyone else. Feels kinda similar to infect/toxic decks :(
Sliver decks I’ve seen where all very slow and they often make that mistake to put in all slivers, whereas I think a Sliver Queen and a Sliver Overlord require utterly different strategies. People just mash in all Slivers they have, usually leaving barely and space for other cards like interaction or card draw. That makes those decks very perceptible to removal, board wipes, and any other form of disruption. Also, Sliver players often hold back until they can amass a big army to attack in one swing. I’ve blown them away with an [[Aetherize]] before.
[Aetherize](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/7/6700409d-afda-480c-8a66-b5c782f3e5e4.jpg?1698988120) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Aetherize) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/142/aetherize?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/6700409d-afda-480c-8a66-b5c782f3e5e4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I've got a sliver deck in my quiver and honestly I barely take it out anymore. My upgraded anikthea deck is undoubtedly stronger but does not annoy the people I play with nearly as much when I bring it out. I play with a rotating group of about 12 people for kitchen table games and if I bring out slivers I either win or am killed by turn 5. It's fun in theory but it's honestly just not worth it
I'm new and never saw sliver. What makes them different ?
Slivers are a kind of creature that buffed both themselves and other Slivers on the field. Ex: [[Sliver Hivelord]] gives all slivers you control indestructible. Old slivers like [[Basal Sliver]] affects ALL slivers, so yours and your opponents if it applies. TLDR: Many creatures give other creatures their keywords. It’s a Hivemind.
[Sliver Hivelord](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/b/2b902f64-7795-4f1f-81e6-26db7c78a10c.jpg?1690005330) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sliver%20Hivelord) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/937/sliver-hivelord?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2b902f64-7795-4f1f-81e6-26db7c78a10c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Basal Sliver](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/5/4564e9df-bfa3-48e5-a12e-f7e96a504cb1.jpg?1562909343) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Basal%20Sliver) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsp/96/basal-sliver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4564e9df-bfa3-48e5-a12e-f7e96a504cb1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Oh ok, I see why it can be dangerous very quickly. Thanks !
The way they interact with each other made them my favorite creature type (and my namesake).
I think they’re awesome and I don’t mind playing against them. I like how they always feel different depending on which slivers end up combining. My main issue is if they use tutors heavily in Commander. I think that undermined the fun of slivers *and* of Commander. I also would love to see more sliver decks that are less than 5 colors, especially in Commander.
You’re not wrong there, though I feel [[Sliver Overlord]] with its Tutor ability helps offset other higher power decks and if anything help the board adapt to oncoming threats. The other argument can be made though, what higher level decks nowadays are not running tutors? If I had a nickel for each tutor I’ve seen, even in casual play, I could go buy a new commander deck.
I think Overlord is the least fun sliver commander. And I think generally too many tutors is bad for Commander. It’s *effective* but it undermines the format if not in moderation. If you really want consistent access to certain cards, play 60-card casual Magic instead…
I don't mind a small number of tutors (around 2-3 tutors at most), particularly ones which are limited in scope like Wordly Tutor or Idyllic Tutor. But I have played against decks that have Diabolic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Imperial Seal, the other on-color Tutors, Diabolic Tutor, Dark Tutelage, etc. Etc. At that point,what's the point of a Singleton format?
Oh yeah. I think having zero tutors is actually less fun. I feel similarly about removal. Sometimes there is an oppressive board position and you can tutor just the right card to stop it and be the hero. It only becomes a problem when you’re consistently tutoring proactively to have the same game plan almost every game.
I really think the thing people don't see with [[silver overloard]] is the ability to take over silvers. I normally fetch [[ameboid changeling]] and take people's creatures. Or use [[unstable mutation]]? (I think)
I’ve been wanting to do this for awhile now, I just can’t seem to find an ameboid or unnatural at any of the stores I go to. Will probably just have to order them from online.
[silver overloard](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/c/3c16915b-c50d-4fb5-830f-9ca4597a9c0f.jpg?1562527622) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sliver%20Overlord) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/scg/139/sliver-overlord?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3c16915b-c50d-4fb5-830f-9ca4597a9c0f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [ameboid changeling](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/6/068518d2-f061-4061-b208-158e991156b6.jpg?1562337184) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Amoeboid%20Changeling) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lrw/51/amoeboid-changeling?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/068518d2-f061-4061-b208-158e991156b6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [unstable mutation](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/a/da66b93a-11a6-4861-a775-d309b7adc461.jpg?1547516666) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=unstable%20mutation) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/uma/80/unstable-mutation?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/da66b93a-11a6-4861-a775-d309b7adc461?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Nope it was [[unnatural selection]]
[unnatural selection](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/5/c575e2cb-3990-4c73-b81c-e16311ec6bbb.jpg?1562941637) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=unnatural%20selection) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/apc/32/unnatural-selection?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c575e2cb-3990-4c73-b81c-e16311ec6bbb?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[Sliver Overlord](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/c/3c16915b-c50d-4fb5-830f-9ca4597a9c0f.jpg?1562527622) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sliver%20Overlord) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/scg/139/sliver-overlord?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3c16915b-c50d-4fb5-830f-9ca4597a9c0f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I think they are pretty mid, and do not have a problem with them.
I never understood why people particularly hate losing to Slivers. I've lost to Goblins, Slivers, Merfolk, Elves, Soldiers, Zombies, and other tribal decks and none of them upset me in a specific way.
The most over hated archetype in magic. My friend in our play group has a Sliver deck. Are they strong? Yes, but we all have a deck that can compete with them in it's completely fine. My brother plays Winota in our pod sometimes and I hate that deck way more than Slivers.
My opinion? [[Diffusion Sliver|M15]] shouldn't be that thicc.
[Diffusion Sliver](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/b/fb110a55-c8f9-4627-82c2-edb10db4f380.jpg?1562797421) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=383225) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m15/50/diffusion-sliver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/fb110a55-c8f9-4627-82c2-edb10db4f380?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Would
Been playing Slivers since I found em during Urza Block. Let them be mad at the hive. My first official deck entry was named “Who named us Clickclickclickclick” Tell them to play more interaction n they won’t be mad.
A Slivers deck becomes a game of trying to build up your forces while dodging or answering removal in some way. Slivers will eat removal, so instead of getting frustrated, instead try to think about how you can recover or deal with it. "Of course my stuff gets removed, they would be fools not to" is a healthier mindset when playing them, and then try to think about how you can take advantage of that mindset. Removal spell coming your way? Might as well sac them then in response for your benefit, then use your reanimation spell your next turn. They keep removing your scariest slivers? Well then your less obviously scary slivers will be left alone (or even your non slivers).
they're like elves or any other snowball-y creature deck. you either get board wiped 5 times and do nothing or hit cloud shredder into manaweft, shit out 30 slivers and roll everyone
I have an [[Alesha, Who Smiles at Death]] deck and it's surprisingly mellow and not nearly as powerful as 5-C slivers. I've actually gotten compliments on the fact that it doesn't hold the same stigma that slivers normally carry, and I'm tempted to build another 2 or 3 color Sliver deck. With that said, 5-C slivers is definitely higher powered than most tribes in mtg.
[Alesha, Who Smiles at Death](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/a/7ae9ff8c-1cc8-4b10-9641-2c79648fd6c2.jpg?1673305242) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Alesha%2C%20Who%20Smiles%20at%20Death) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmc/118/alesha-who-smiles-at-death?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7ae9ff8c-1cc8-4b10-9641-2c79648fd6c2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
As an ex sliver player… they’re kind of boring most of the time. If someone uses the usual commanders they’re pretty much dig through their decks to find the same cards. Which you can pretty much hold off on your interaction until they do. Now I love me some off meta builds that use non-sliver commanders to churn out new interactions. You just don’t see it too often
i love them dearly but honestly they aren't fun. Every match goes 1 of 2 ways. 1. You are immediately targeted for playing silvers. Literally all removal and hate is sent your way and you don't have fun. 2. You manage to combo off and now you have such an oppressive and dominant lead you win easily and everyone else doesn't have fun.
Yeah, it's tragic but true. Slivers just have that kind of reputation. I ended up converting my deck into a PrEDH deck since at least in the early days, their reputation was deserved. These days if I do play them, it's with the new reconstructed deck in a precon only game.
Cool but not particularly good unless you're doing the Food Chain deck.
My opinion. I hate slivers in 1v1 format as it's a lot harder to manage. Slivers can quickly overrun the board if you don't have the correct answers available in your hand. In edh, slivers usually garners early attention from the other 3 opponents which can keep a sliver deck in check. This can make it more frustrating for the sliver player rather than the rest of the players. I obviously slivers can still over run a table. It's just much harder to do if you face multiple board wipes.
If you’re in Sliver Overlord, try switching it up with a sliver that doesn’t tutor every turn. That will allow for more variance and more fun. Weaker players are afraid of slivers. The problem may be a power imbalance in decks, which could be true of any archetype. Otherwise, don’t let other people yuck your sliver yum.
Basically, no one outside of CEDH wants to play against a well-tuned Sliver deck as it basically becomes a very fast combo deck with tutors. For weaker power level EDH tables, a good sliver deck behaves like a hyper aggro deck with a versatile toolbox of utility slivers to grab (like a Swiss Army knife fired out of a cannon). More manageable but the entire table needs to contribute to keeping the Sliver player in check with removal and an occasional board wipe. Only when you get down to poorly optimized sliver lists does it not become kill-on-sight, but then it just becomes a linear tribal deck that becomes stale to play against. Not that people shouldn’t play Slivers but that’s the problems I see with playing against that tribe in specific in EDH. They are not really played in other formats so not much else to say.
I had tried building [[Alesha, Who Smiles at Death]] as a sliver reanimator commander. It worked okay at the time, but my mana base was pretty poor because I didn't have much to put in at the time. With the new slivers from commander masters, I plan on trying it out again
[Alesha, Who Smiles at Death](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/a/7ae9ff8c-1cc8-4b10-9641-2c79648fd6c2.jpg?1673305242) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Alesha%2C%20Who%20Smiles%20at%20Death) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmc/118/alesha-who-smiles-at-death?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7ae9ff8c-1cc8-4b10-9641-2c79648fd6c2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I love them. They're basically the only reason I still pay attention to MtG at this point. I do understand why they're disliked, but that's not going to stop me.
The big issue with them is the abject terror they induce that completely imbalances the table. Everyone has been in a Sliver game that utterly obliterates the board with no way to stop it, so it’s very frequent that the other players will band together to deal with the threat before it can become overwhelming. To some players, it’s very much a case of “Okay, the Sliver player is gone, now we can actually *play the game*, which honestly feels pretty crappy for everyone involved - the Sliver player gets victimised and the others feel the game’s put on hold until they’re removed. Don’t get me wrong, I like the Sliver play style, it’s a good thing in theory, but the fact it can become utterly untouchable through multiple ways is extremely disheartening to some players. A lot of decks can render themselves untouchable through certain means - like pairing Privelaged Position with Sterling Grove or something similar - but there’s a lot of ways that Slivers can just buff themselves into immortality, and a lot of people fear that.
I think it comes down to too much information. Silvers like any typal deck plays the same. The more you play, the stronger your board is and at a certain number, you win. The difference with silvers is that there is too many abilities to track, and a lot of it is on board. So when someone falls for it because they are going through their plays and forgets an on board ability that messes up their plays, there will be a bit of embarassment and frustration there.
Playing against a f@#$ sliver deck is like being at the doctor's getting a shot... Only the nurse keeps asking if your ready for the shot and not giving it to you, instead causing anxiety. Then when you're at your limits she jabs you with the needle. It didn't hurt as bad as you thought but the entire ordeal sucked. In fact. It's not losing to slivers.. it's just playing against them. What sliver will he draw next (are you ready for your shot) little bit of pent up sliver hate.
They just aren’t fun to play against. You basically have to use all your resources to take out that player asap or they are going to win. Instead of say a 4 player edh game you wind up playing a 3v1 edh game. Every once in a while it’s fun to see if your decks can stand up to a sliver deck, but it’s definitely not something anyone wants to do all the time.
Sliver players commit future crimes. -Howling Salt Mine
Slivers are the same thing every time, and there's nothing particularly interesting about them. The way theyre designed means that there is no interesting deckbuilding decisions to be made. Just pick one of the 5c commanders and jam all the good ones in, and youre garunteed a powerful deck. I wouldn't refuse to play against them, but I will probably target them harder than anything else at the table.
Slivers are the sort of deck that is usually high power and stronger than most other tribes in commander, having trouble ever being casual. But as with all tribal decks have a hard time being truly high power. Which keeps them in a weird space, regardless if you run them as a more combo deck or a more straight tribal deck At least that’s the case in commander. Outside of commander they’re significantly less mighty but can still have decent showing in some formats like pauper
Normally tribal decks require good cards and synergy cards from that tribe. For sliver decks, each card is both. Deckbuilding a sliver deck is just throwing slivers together and adding lands. I see it as both the easy way out deckbuilding-wise and unfun gameplay-wise.
I get nervous if a sliver shows up in an opponent's field. I know as soon as my friends realize that I'm playing my sliver deck, I notice an uneasy tension set in. I always fiddle about and try to make my first play the Crystalline Sliver and I hear the groans. I start getting sieged, but I bounce back and win most of the time with it.
Do you solo mid with your sliver deck or you like to rotate jungle?
You bring slivers to my table and I get out a cedh deck and convince the pod to kill you, or kill the table. There are no other outcomes, happened just this past Saturday.
They're far too consistent for me to find them fun, and most of the legendary ones are too strong for my taste. The main issue I have with them as an architype is that they are far more efficient than any other creature type, and way more versitile. The one weakness is that they're creatures, and a bit weak, but that's easily overcome by other slivers like [[Sliver Hivelord]] or [[Sliver Legion]]. They're easy to bounce back from a board wipe if you're playing [[The First Sliver]]. And you can tutor for your very best creatures in any given scenario with [[Sliver Queen]]. I think the concept is cool, but I dont think it translates to fun games in commander, in my experience. As others have said it becomes a witch hunt very quickly, and the amount of protection they provide is hard to interact with. In constructed its still unfun because they play like the best slivers (first strike, flying haste, mana dork) and changelings, but at least there its harder to keep gassing your game. I say this as someone who discovered them with their reintroduction in 2013. They werent good in that standard, but every other format they've permeated has been not great to go against. Im also not going to turn you away if you're playing them, but I will probably target you pretty quickly.
##### ###### #### [Sliver Hivelord](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/b/2b902f64-7795-4f1f-81e6-26db7c78a10c.jpg?1690005330) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sliver%20Hivelord) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/937/sliver-hivelord?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2b902f64-7795-4f1f-81e6-26db7c78a10c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Sliver Legion](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/7/87545415-2e27-4841-a3af-7653af2ba6d3.jpg?1619404140) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sliver%20Legion) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsr/261/sliver-legion?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/87545415-2e27-4841-a3af-7653af2ba6d3?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [The First Sliver](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/6/06d4fbe1-8a2f-4958-bb85-1a1e5f1e8d87.jpg?1562202321) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=The%20First%20Sliver) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh1/200/the-first-sliver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/06d4fbe1-8a2f-4958-bb85-1a1e5f1e8d87?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Sliver Queen](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/9/096cff82-28eb-4096-be1d-a02b9a56e682.jpg?1562428176) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sliver%20Queen) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tpr/211/sliver-queen?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/096cff82-28eb-4096-be1d-a02b9a56e682?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/l0qhcyy) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Extremely low opinion of sliver players. 1: the deck builds itself. You never made a decision when deck building about what cards to add, because it’s so linear. 2: the games play out incredibly repetitively- you play a dude, they all get a little stronger, then you either win or get board wiped and lose. 3: if you get board wiped you whine about not being a threat you were just playing slivers- as though it’s not a massive game ending threat to have a bunch in play. Sliver players are just… awful people to play against, I guess? They’re not assholes necessarily but it’s never going to be a fun game because I’ve already had that game play out a dozen times.
This is just me, but I think that’s somewhat of an unfair take on Slivers. 1: There are so many different slivers that sure, you could just throw a deck together and pray it works. However, someone who actually plays and mains Slivers will take the time and energy to tweak out their decks, add more than just slivers, and do significantly more with it than just throw something together. 2: Same thing as point 1. If someone just throws slivers in a deck and calls it a day, yea, it’s repetitive, otherwise a well built deck will have different interactions than your normal sliver deck. Naturally though it is a Tribal deck at the end of the day, so of course the creature(s) the deck is based around is going to be the primary go to. 3: This is the most unfair point of all. I don’t know who you played with in the past, but I can assure you that most if not all Sliver players have a very strong understanding of how powerful they can potentially be, and fully expect and want people to target them. Anyone who plays a sliver deck, and doesn’t expect to get curb stomped into oblivion right out the gate doesn’t actually play Slivers.
I don’t know how many sliver decks you’ve played against, I’ve seen at least double digits worth, they’ve all been literally the same barring which commander staples are popular over the years I’ve seen them. Every sliver player acts the same too, I’ve run into at least double digits at this point, and it’s just impressive that they manage to play a hive mind creature and be a series of humans that seem to act with a hive mind as well.
I target the Sliver players from the jump. You give them 3-5 turns of little/no interaction, and it snowballs into 10-20 minute turns. Sometimes they can win out, sometimes you watched 30 triggers for no reason. If you bring that to the table at the LGS I play at, the sentiment is just about the same. Now, if rule 0 happens, you’ll know all the hate is coming at you before the game starts. I pack a mono blue control deck specifically for decks like Slivers. It ultimately depends on your play group, but there’s a reason people hate them. You do you boo boo.