Slivers in Commander
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Jan. 24, 2015, 10:57 p.m. by Crayonmuffin
I've mainly only made VERY budget-y decks thus far with commander as I don't have a lot of people to play it with so I never got into it. But the more I think about it the more I want to make a serious deck. Not over powering cut throat decks, but a good deck.
Which brings me to slivers. I'm someone who tries to balance personal play style and flavor WITH viability to win. So my question for more experienced players is: Do you think a well built Sliver deck would be competitive enough to at least have a chance against the cut throats? Obviously local meta comes into account but just in general.
Crayonmuffin says... #3
I do like the idea of Tolarian's "toolkit" sliver deck here
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/toolkit-sliver-commander/
Would obviously beef it out a little bit. I just see people playing 1600 dollar Azami or Narset decks and kind of just shake my head and walk off. Those are the decks that worry me
January 24, 2015 11:05 p.m.
I have a sliver deck that runs nothing but slivers for flavor reasons and it does fine. It doesn't always win, it doesn't always lose, and it has no infinite combos (just a personal choice -- also removes some of the "sliver hate"). If you don't buy Sliver Queen or Sliver Legion you can make a reasonably priced deck pretty easily. Only real money card you need is Sliver Overlord. Have fun!
January 24, 2015 11:06 p.m.
rob_shifflett says... #5
The lands are going to be your most expensive investment.
January 25, 2015 12:33 a.m.
As far as I've looked into it, slivers can run a VERY mean deck. If you want to go down the cutthroat path there are a couple infinite combos you can pull, even without that, slivers make a good toolbox, and with Sliver Overlord you can just tutor out whatever answer you need. Only thing is, it's not a cheap deck. Its not a 1500$ deck either, but considering landbase, it'll be hard to get away with it under 500$ I think. You can build something reasonable for less, but at the price of some consistency. Oh, and make sure you have at least two mana producing slivers in the mix, or Blood Moon just shuts you right down.
January 25, 2015 12:49 a.m.
Crayonmuffin says... #7
Yeah gemhide and manaweft are necessary especially since Overlord seems to be the best sliver commander. The deck I'm toying with on here is running around 400-550 price tag at the moment. But might go budget on land if I decide to build it and add to it later. The most expensive things for my mana base that I could throw in are all the shocks and almost all the fetches. Kind of thinking of an all around shell that can do heavy aggro or a few infinite combos. I'm thinking there is a way to fit both styles in one deck. Can just tutor things out depending on the game.
It might be settled. I was going to build a Narset deck but felt cheap. Other things I'm thinking about are Sen Triplets(love Esper) or Feldon of the Third Path strictly because of his flavor text.
January 25, 2015 1:14 a.m.
Crayonmuffin says... #8
Also was watching the Star city games commander videos that I just discovered(somehow) and saw Stitcher Geralf deck which just looks fun as fun can be lol
January 25, 2015 1:17 a.m.
Hjaltrohir says... #9
For the landbase, run 10 shocks, 10 fetches, 10 tri-lands and some rainbow lands like Command Tower, Reflecting Pool, Mana Confluence or City of Brass.
PValBlanc, Blood Moon is only really played in top tier competitve commander. Assuming everyone else in your playgroup has a similar budget, it will not be a seriously competitive playgroup so I don't see Blood Moon being an issue.
January 25, 2015 2:34 a.m.
Gemhide Sliver and Manaweft Sliver are good ideas even if Blood Moon isn't an issue though.
Also keep in mind that pretty much the best sliver for EDH play is Hibernation Sliver, and should be the first thing you tutor for if Sliver Overlord is your commander.
Another good strategy no one's mentioned here is one CommanderTheory came up with, where you run Sliver Hivelord as the commander and pack as many fieldwipes as possible.
Homing Sliver is also a lot better in commander than it is in any other format really.
Lastly keep in mind that Conspiracy and Xenograft exist if you want to run some non-sliver utility creatures. Conspiracy + Sliver Overlord is actually pretty overpowered.
January 25, 2015 7:20 a.m.
Schuesseled says... #11
@Crayonmuffin Slivers can be a very effective deck, you do need to shell out on some of the expensive slivers but you don't need to shell out for modern lands. Fetches and shocks are good at giving you mana you need for one play but could leave you with mana you can't use later when you draw something else. Personally i prefer 5-colour lands.
Check out: The Hivemind Slumbers.
As you can see in my deck, I have gone for a no non-permanent approach, which turns my Primal Surge in an awesome alphastrike, also maxmises the amount of slivers i can run for tutoring.
January 25, 2015 7:40 a.m.
Amulet of Vigor can help turn a budget land based into something special. I run almost all tap lands because slivers can make mana too.
January 25, 2015 8:24 a.m.
sonicizslow says... #13
I would like to summon Gilenborn as he is knowledgeable on this topic. Sliver Overload is his deck, quite powerful.
January 25, 2015 8:36 a.m.
sonicizslow says... #14
Also that deck is foiled so that price tag isn't very good at showing a budget friendly deck.
January 25, 2015 8:37 a.m.
Crayonmuffin says... #15
sonicizslow Oh my gosh I didn't even think about Ghostflame Sliver and All Is Dust combo. I love it
January 25, 2015 3:39 p.m.
Sonet666 didn't mention Hivestone so I will. Sliver Legion is awesome but really expensive so Coat of Arms and Door of Destinies can take its place. Adaptive Automaton, Quicksilver Amulet, Semblance Anvil + Cloud Key, Hamletback Goliath, Cryptoplasm, Cryptic Gateway, Scuttlemutt, and Surrak Dragonclaw are also worth consideration.
January 27, 2015 9:36 p.m.
I will second the awesomeness of Cryptic Gateway in budget builds as well... dropping an extra sliver a turn helps so much!
January 27, 2015 10:08 p.m.
slemulv: Hivestone is awesome, and yes I forgot about it, but part of the reason I mentioned Conspiracy is that it will let Sliver Overlord and Homing Sliver tutor non-sliver creatures.
January 28, 2015 5:30 a.m.
Didgeridooda says... #19
Slivers are not very good. Aside from the 3/4 big guys, they are pretty budget.
They are pretty good for a casual fun deck. They work really well together.
January 28, 2015 10:55 a.m.
Didgeridooda says... #20
Just read through the rest of the thread. Not sure if my comment is going to be taken well.
What are your favorite things about the game? What are normally your favorite colors?
January 28, 2015 10:57 a.m.
sonnet666, you're right. That's stupid good. Almost makes me want to make a rainbow EDH deck with Sliver Overlord as my commander with no slivers in the deck and a bunch of tutors instead.
January 28, 2015 11:19 a.m.
Although thst makes the whole deck concept lose to a single boardwipe or artifact removal. Which will certainly happen in the course of a game.
January 28, 2015 11:53 a.m.
Greendawg81 says... #23
AEther Vial is great when you use Sliver Overlord to tutor for whatever you want. Rise of the Dark Realms can be pretty nasty if you have Conspiracy or Xenograft out with a bunch of good utility slivers.
erabel says... #2
A well-built sliver deck, playing very tight, can win out over most decks in the format. Depending on what you mean by "cutthroat", some matchups might be harder than others, but depending on the Sliver deck you wanna play, it's a very solid plan.
January 24, 2015 10:59 p.m.