The Sliver Overload

Commander / EDH Combo Competitive Infinite Combo Primer Sliver

lillobby6

Lands (33)

• 1x Ancient TombGC
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Badlands HP
• 1x Bayou HP
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x City of Brass SL
• 1x City of Traitors HP
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 1x Gaea's CradleGC
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Otawara, Soaring City
• 1x Plateau SL
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Savannah MP
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Scrubland HP
• 1x Taiga SL
• 1x Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 1x Tropical Island HP
• 1x Tundra SL
• 1x Underground Sea MP
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Volcanic Island MP
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold SL
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Combo Enablers (3)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Mana Echoes SL
• 1x Training Grounds

Protection (1)

• 1x Teferi's Protection

Slivers (13)

• 1x Basal Sliver
• 1x Cloudshredder Sliver
• 1x Crystalline Sliver
• 1x Dregscape Sliver
• 1x Harmonic Sliver
• 1x Lavabelly Sliver
• 1x Manaweft Sliver
• 1x Necrotic Sliver SL
• 1x Quick Sliver
• 1x Sliver Hivelord
• 1x Sliver Legion
• 1x Sliver Queen SL
• 1x The First Sliver

Counterspells (11)

• 1x Deflecting Swat
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Dovin's Veto
• 1x Fierce GuardianshipGC
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Force of Negation
• 1x Force of WillGC
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Swan Song

Non-Slivers (7)

• 1x Amoeboid Changeling
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Bloom Tender
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Esper Sentinel
• 1x Ledger Shredder
• 1x Morophon, the Boundless

Tutors (6)

• 1x Demonic TutorGC
• 1x Enlightened TutorGC
• 1x Gamble
• 1x Imperial SealGC
• 1x Vampiric TutorGC
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Commander (1)

Utility (13)

• 1x Carpet of Flowers
• 1x Crop Rotation SL
• 1x Cyclonic RiftGC
• 1x Jeska's WillGC
• 1x Mystic Remora SL
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Rhystic StudyGC
• 1x Scroll Rack
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Silence
• 1x Smothering TitheGC
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

Mana Rocks (9)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Chrome MoxGC
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Grim Monolith MPGC
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault SLGC
• 1x Mox DiamondGC
• 1x Sol Ring

Wheels (2)

• 1x Wheel of Fortune MP
• 1x Windfall

Removal (1)

• 1x Swords to Plowshares

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A sliver EDH deck that focuses on filling the board with tons of slivers or making infinite combos with Sliver Queen.

This deck is meant to be a test of the capabilites of slivers in Competitive EDH. As such this is a high budget, highly optimized deck. That being said it is incomplete. Please see The Sliver Overload Budgetless to see a possible end goal of this deck.

The principle goal of this deck is to win by creating infinite slivers (see Combos). As with any Competitive Deck there are many key components which will be focused on in the follow sections.

Note: The sections are currently a Work-In-Progress and will be updated consistantly in the future. Eventually the goal is to examine a competitive sliver deck from a higher level than just this individual deck. As such there will be emphasis on other slivers that could be added or replaced, alternative win conditions, and options given in order to manage the price of the deck.

The Combos section focuses on the winning of the game; i.e. creating a board state in which it is possible to eliminate all the other players simultaneously.

The Slivers section focuses on the heart and soul of this deck. This is first and foremost a deck about slivers, as such the section focuses on what slivers have been selected and why.

The Mana Base section focuses on the difficulty of managing a 5 color mana base as well as how to optimally set up this mana base.

Combos

Game Winning Combos:

1. Mana Echoes + Sliver Queen + 2 mana (or playing any sliver): infinite sliver tokens and colorless mana.

2. Basal Sliver + Sliver Queen + Training Grounds : infinite black mana and untapped slivers (Ashnod's Altar in place of Basal Sliver can create colorless mana).

3. Sliver Queen + Heart Sliver + Manaweft Sliver + Training Grounds: infinite tapped slivers (which can create colored mana the next turn) (Gemhide Sliver, Cloudshredder Sliver, and Cryptolith Rite can be used in place of their counterparts).

4. Basal Sliver + Lavabelly Sliver + Sliver Queen (See The Sliver Overload Budgetless): infinite etb triggers, and therefore infinite damage

These combos will force a board state where you have either won, or are about to win. In order to ensure victory at this stage it is important to know how to win safely.

There are a lot of ways to win the game once you have infinite mana or infinite slivers. Generally I focus on winning without advancing phases (i.e. going from first main to attack). In order to do this we have to add a few other things.

Assuming we have infinite mana (Combos 1 or 2) we need to search for Psionic Sliver and Heart Sliver or Cloudshredder Sliver. This step requires some preparation. As Psionic Sliver requires a blue mana we need to make sure that we have a way to get blue mana. As such before searching for Psionic Sliver another key search should likely be made for Gemhide Sliver or Manaweft Sliver (having both in the deck ensures that if one were to be dealt with we have an alternative, see the Slivers section). As such before beginning the infinite combo it is important to have one green and one red mana available (plus a white if you decided to use Cloudshredder Sliver and another green if Gemhide Sliver or Manaweft Sliver are removed from the board). At this point the board state should be Sliver Queen + Mana Echoes + Manaweft Sliver + Heart Sliver (or alternatives). Now we have infinite colored mana. From here (or skipping the previous part if I had extra blue mana available) I play Psionic Sliver and have the slivers deal damage to all other players in the game, winning the game without having to attack players (which I avoid due to cards like Deflecting Palm which could cause our combo to blow up in our face).

Update as of 2021, I don't currently run that combo anymore, but still include it for the sake of it being seen.

The primary combo of the deck is Basal Sliver + Lavabelly Sliver + Sliver Queen as this combo is quick, instant (can be made more instant with Quick Sliver), and avoids the need for infinite slivers and infinite mana.

Secondary Combos:

1. Amoeboid Changeling + Sliver Overlord : steal any creature from your opponent.

2. Mnemonic Sliver + Noxious Revival + Timetwister + infinite mana (see The Sliver Overload Budgetless: Play every single card in the entire deck over and over again.

3. Basal Sliver + Harmonic Sliver + Sliver Queen : Destroy all artifacts and enchantments.

There are several other interactions with cards that we can see here which, in the event that we cannot win the game immediately, we can use to shift the odds in our favor.

Notably Combo 2 can help us in the event that are primary combo pieces get exiled. In this case we can switch to looping through our entire deck and doing several things. We could exile every other creature on the board with Swords to Plowshares or Path to Exile. We could also cast and sacrifice any of the sliver in the deck endlessly in order to gain infinite life, mana, damage, or a plethora of other effects.

Combo 3 can be a saving grace if we cannot get a game winning piece onto the board and we are being threatened by multiple enchantments or artifacts. Using Harmonic Sliver we can destroy all of them by creating endless etb triggers. Of course we would try to end the loop before we destroy our own enchantments.

Budget Constraints:

Unfortunately this is one of the areas where we can't reduce the cost of everything much, but we can look at certain things and reduce them individually while reducing power.

The most important combo piece in the deck is Sliver Queen which, unfortunately, is an incredibly unique reserved list card. It is possible to remove the card and focus on winning an explosive board state, but when we do that we lose the combo aspect. If you are on the fence about purchasing Sliver Queen for your sliver deck (and can afford it) I would highly recommend it because it enabled all the combos.

Mana Echoes was just reprinted for the first time in a while and has fallen to a price range that is much more reasonable for new players. If this is still outside of the price range, you can look at the next paragraph here for alternatives.

Training Grounds is another highly useful card for the deck. It both enables an infinite combo with Sliver Queen and allows us to tutor/steal slivers with Sliver Overlord for only one generic mana. Fortunately for the budget constrained, there is an alternative (albeit significantly worse) in Heartstone. This is a much cheaper alternative that does enable the combo with Sliver Queen, but allows all other players to use the reduction in cost for activated abilities on creatures. If you can play this the same turn as Sliver Queen you can likely avoid any fallout caused by this.

Intruder Alarm is another infinite engine for Sliver Queen allowing all slivers to be untapped therefore you can create more slivers using the tap ability, which will then untap the rest. This card affects all players again so it is unideal for the most fine tuned of decks, but it is a budget alternative to some other cards.

Slivers

Before deciding which slivers to add to the deck, let's examine the different niches of slivers.

The niches are:

1. Slivers which are combo pieces: (Sliver Queen, Basal Sliver, Psionic Sliver, Lavabelly Sliver, etc.)

2. Slivers that protect other slivers: (Sliver Hivelord, Crystalline Sliver, etc.)

3. Slivers that provide evasion (highly useful early game): (Heart Sliver, Cloudshredder Sliver, Galerider Sliver, etc.)

4. Slivers that break parity: (Manaweft Sliver, The First Sliver, Mnemonic Sliver, etc.)

5. Slivers that can save us from unforeseen circumstances (Quick Sliver, Clot Sliver, Sedge Sliver, etc.)

6. Slivers that provide a lot of value (i.e. slivers that with one or two you could win the game) (any of the sliver legends, Brood Sliver, Bonescythe Sliver) - I tend to focus less on this category beyond the legends because a lot of times this is the late game category and I want to avoid the late game

Of course there may be other niches, but these are the primary ones I focus on when assembling decks. The best slivers will be ones that fill multiple niches like Sliver Queen which can create blockers if we don't have enough, can create new creatures to break parity, and, of course, is an infinite sliver engine. Of course not all slivers are as good as Sliver Queen, but it is a good example of a very valuable sliver.

Generally speaking, the legendary five color slivers are all very good picks for the deck as they fill multiple of the niches each, but they are all expensive in mana so if the deck wants to still be quick it is important to maintain a strong mana base (see the Mana Base section).

When it comes to the other slivers it is largely personal preference. Which slivers you decide to use will vary (excluding combo pieces) because you may play in a certain way which necessitates having certain types of protection or abilities (for example, having a sliver that provides life on a sacrifice is extremely important for me because I have to worry less about fetch lands, shocks lands, and Mana Crypt killing me). When you build a sliver deck you can experiment on which slivers you use and swap them out if they do not do what you need them to.

A last important consideration is non-slivers.

There are two types of non-slivers:

1. Changelings/other creatures that easily gain the sliver type

2. Complete non-slivers

Generally I avoid complete non-slivers as they go against the principle philosophy of this deck. That being said there are some non-slivers that could work well in a sliver combo deck. Notably Laboratory Maniac, Birds of Paradise, Snapcaster Mage or the new Oppositon Agent and Hullbreacher (2021 update, BANNED, but Esper Sentinel exists now which is a good trade). As of now this version of the deck does not contain any non-slivers, but I do plan on acquiring a Hullbreacher (which was added and then replaced with Esper Sentinel).

I have added Hullbreacher to the budgetless version of this deck as it does enable something which I have been looking for, for some time. The turn 0 win. With Hullbreacher it is possible to create enough treasure tokens on turn 0 to enable the deck to cast Sliver Overlord search for the combo pieces and cast them all before anyone else has a chance to play.

When it comes to changelings there are very few useful enough for me to warrent consideration. Mirror Entity can allow you to buff all your creatures and give sliver abilites to any non-slivers you may have acquired. Amoeboid Changeling is incredibly useful for stealing other players creatures with Sliver Overlord. One last consideration is Unsettled Mariner a card which can give everything a weak form of protection while also being a "sliver." There are other changelings, but I have never used them. If you decide to try them, all luck to you.

Mana Base (Lands + Mana Rocks)

With the mana base we have one goal: get five colors of mana as quickly as possible.

This goal can be accomplished successfully most of them time by turn 5, a decent amount of the time by turn 4, rarely by turn 3, and possibly, but almost definitely not, by turn 2 (using the mana base of this deck).

The mana base is set up as such (using the mana base of The Sliver Overload Budgetless as that is the finished version of this one):

• Fetch Lands

• ABU Dual Lands

• Blue Shock Lands

• Five Color Lands

• Some Utility Lands

• Blue Talismans

• The Legal Moxen (with some exceptions)

• The Net Positive Colorless Mana Rocks (i.e. more mana generated than the rock cost) (Sol Ring, Grim Monolith, Mana Vault, Mana Crypt)

The fetch lands have two purposes. First, they allow you to thin the deck, thus increasing the odds that the next draw will be a key combo piece (even more so when combined with Sensei's Divining Top and Scroll Rack. Second, they allow you to find the ABU Dual which corresponds to the colors that you need. Every fetch land can find every color, so, fetch lands are essentially five color lands.

The blue shock lands are included as they allow the deck to find blue more than any other color. Blue is the most important color for the deck because of the amount of counterspells that are played. In a competitive environment people will look to stop you from playing your combo pieces, and you must be able to prevent others from playing their key combo pieces. These could be replaced with the blue bond lands (and may be in the future), but the shock lands are fetchable, which is generally an upside.

The budgetless version of the deck has several five color lands. City of Brass, Mana Confluence, Forbidden Orchard, Sliver Hive, and Command Tower. Of these Command Tower is both the best and the cheapest and any Sliver deck must run it. Most of these lands have significant downsides, but the goal of this deck is to win before they are a problem. If you plan on building a slower deck, it may be necessary to remove some of these lands because they can hurt more than they benefit if they are on the battlefield for too long.

This mana base allows us to almost always get at least one new color per turn. Unfortunately this is a prohibitively expensive mana base so here are some considerations.

The ABU Dual Lands can be replaced with the shock lands. If the shock lands are still too expensive then the bond lands will suffice although they are not fetchable. If the bond lands are not an option, the fast lands, the tango/battle lands, and the pain lands are all decent and cheaper alternatives.

The fetch lands can be replaced in a few ways. You can add the slow fetches from Mirage (Flood Plain, Bad River, etc.), Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, and the panoramas (Bant Panorama, Esper Panorama, etc.). Though none of these compare well to the fast fetches.

The five color lands can be replaced with any of the other lands you have chosen from the above groups. Or even a mixture of different basic lands (which can be even useful in fully competitive decks in order to avoid cards like Back to Basics).

Counterspells

Counterspells are an integral part of competitive EDH. Counterspells stop threats before they are allowed to be on the battlefield. Of course this is something everyone knows and as such, everyone runs some countermagic.

As such this deck tends to run a lot. It is a combo deck and needs to be able to protect its core pieces.

How exactly do we evaluate what counterspells to run?

As a baseline there is Counterspell the classic two blue and "counter target spell."

This is generally the weakest counterspell that we would consider running. Cancel and other 3 mana counterspells are generally too expensive to use, but if absolutely necessary can be used.

We primarily will focus on 2 or less mana counterspells, and counterspells which can be cast for free.

Free Counterspells

These are the best counterspells we can use. There are not many of these, and they tend to be expensive, but there are no better counters.

• Mental Misstep - 1 blue or 2 life. Can be very useful against certain mana rocks or spot removal (Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile)

• Force of Will - possibly the best of the free counters, for 1 life and a blue card it can counter anything at any time

• Fierce Guardianship - incredibly powerful but requires us to have our commander out on the battlefield

• Force of Negation - another strong free counter, but requires it to not be our turn

• Pact of Negation - arguably the strongest free counter, but if you aren't about to win, it generally is not the best play

There are several other spells which this deck does not run, but are other options.

• Daze - free, but costs an island

• Misdirection - free, but is not an actual counterspell, if you wish to use this spell ask yourself: is this card worth losing another spell?

• Deflecting Swat - this one is very strong, and is a potential alternative I am considering for Counterspell itself.

1 CMC

1 CMC counterspells are very useful, but tend to be very specific, or have strong downsides. As such we want to run those which will be the most useful for us.

Dispel - countering instants is incredibly useful when targeted removal and other counterspells almost always function at instant speed.

Swan Song - very strong as it is a little more versatile than Dispel but it has a small downside of giving a 2/2 to the castor

Flusterstorm - a very powerful spell as it can create many copies of itself to counter either a single threat or many (or in the case of a storm deck, it can deal with everything at once)

Mental Misstep - see Free Counterspells

Other 1 CMC Counterspells

There are many 1 CMC counterspells, some of which are incredibly specific. Others are very good, but are not included in this build because they are largely outclassed by the other spells.

For example:

• Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast - these are very useful for countering counterspells, but if not everyone is running blue they can be dead draws

• Force Spike - ocassionally useful, but entirely outclassed by Flusterstorm

• Spell Pierce - very useful early game, but can be a dead draw later on

• Stifle - useful against certain decks, but often weak as it is incredibly specific

2 CMC

2 CMC counterspells will be the most powerful of the counterspells.

• Mana Drain - strictly better than Counterspell, Mana Drain allows you to get more mana for countering another spell, which is absurdly powerful

• Negate - a counterspell which can counter any non-creature spell (which is most spells, but this is weak against opponent's Hullbreachers and Opposition Agents)

• Narset's Reversal - in many ways this is much more powerful than Counterspell because you get to use your opponent's spell against them, however, it is restricted to instants and sorceries.

• Counterspell - the orignal counterspell and the weakest counter we would want

There are other 2 CMC counterspells, but this is an area where we want stronger than Counterspell which are not super prevalent.

You don't want to use any counterspells with CMC greater than 2 unless they are budget alternatives or have alternate casting costs.

Top Ranked	Achieved #3 position in Commander / EDH Primer 4 years ago
Date added	7 years
Last updated	2 years
Key combos	Mana Echoes + Sliver Queen Basal Sliver + Sliver Queen + Training Grounds Basal Sliver + Lavabelly Sliver + Sliver Queen Mnemonic Sliver + Noxious Revival + Timetwister Basal Sliver + Harmonic Sliver + Sliver Queen
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	11 - 0 Mythic Rares 65 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.19
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Sliver 1/1 C, Spirit 1/1 C, Treasure
Folders	Favorites, commander decks