This is my attempt to evolve the current countersliver strategy that is out there. Conventionally, when speaking about sliver decks, most people would agree that if "It's not a sliver, it seems bad in this archetype". Although this concept seems logical, this logic is very superficial as deck-building becomes 'aggressively-tribal'. Building a sliver deck with this restriction is incorrect. Further experimentation to examine, and identify which creatures can play a supporting role to the sliver hive is necessary before hard-fast dismissal.
This brings me to a format changing and defining creature: Deathrite Shaman
Deathrite shaman is a card that has been considered an "auto-include" in many BGx strategies that vary from tempo to midrange creature beats-type of decks. Specifically for the hive, this 1-drop planeswalker can provide early ramp, additional turn-1 plays, additional vial-on-1 plays, resilience against graveyard based strategies, and even some reach or life gain.
The most important aspect is the ramp. Often with the traditional countersliver deck, I've found myself with little-to-no chance of winning without a turn-1 vial because I was unable to ramp out my slivers quickly enough to seal the deal or maintain board control. This card will help to remedy this problem.
With regards to the argument of "diluting the sliver creature base", I mainly disagree with this point as the deathrite shaman deck-slots are simply replacing the slots previously dedicated to mainboard Relic of Progenitus seen in countersliver decks from 2014 and 2015. Although you can technically 'cycle' relic of progenitus (which thus doesn't hinder the concentration of slivers in the deck), I believe the card is other wise a very dead card to be placed main-board against many strategies, and does not sufficiently warrant it's use. Quite frankly, only being able to cycle a card against many decks is just not good enough, which becomes painfully true against goyf-less creature based strategies (to be fair, DRS also hinders goyf decks to a lesser extent than relic, while also providing more utility).
Please enjoy this decklist!
