M14/15 Slivers: 3 or 5 colors?
Deck Help forum
Posted on July 28, 2014, 6:34 p.m. by Alestreme
Okay, so here's my dilemma: I wanna make a standard Sliver deck, but I'm not sure whether or not I should go three- or five-color
Additionally, if I decide to go three-color, I'm still not sure which colors to choose, but I at least want to have Green in it for Manaweft Sliver
Any sort of feedback is welcome, and thanks for reading :3
I believe the OP states that he's building a standard deck.
If you aren't afraid of paying life for mana might as well go 5 color. with 4 Manaweft Sliver 4 Mana Confluence and the painlands. Consistency is always a problem with 5 colors, so if that scares you just stick with 3.
July 28, 2014 6:45 p.m.
That's true, I would really like some good consistencyBut, if I were to go 3-color, which colors would go best together? I was thinking B/R/G for a more aggressive strategy
July 28, 2014 6:53 p.m.
Yeah, whatever; I meant Sliver Hivelord .
I don't know the names of uncompetitive cards.
July 28, 2014 7:03 p.m.
Dalektable says... #8
I would go three color, but including the hivelord as your only five color card. Running three colors you should still be running Mana Confluence , Sliver Hive and Manaweft Sliver so hitting all five colors shouldnt be a problem. So I would go for a three color base, splashing the other two only for hivelord. This will be more consistent. My color combo recommendation is either R/U/G or B/U/G based on your playstyle. I choose the U/G base for cards such as Manaweft Sliver , Diffusion Sliver , Galerider Sliver all of which I feel are essential. Beyond this, the red or black is a coin toss. Red gives you a slightly more aggressive strategy, where as black gives you better removal and again still more aggression. Red you have access to Striking Sliver (which has amazing synergy with Venom Sliver ), Blur Sliver and Belligerent Sliver . Battle Sliver is rather good as well. Where as with black you get kill spells along with Leeching Sliver which is incredibly good, and Syphon Sliver can seriously save your ass. This being said, this is all coming from a non-sliver player so take this advice with a grain of salt because I may be wrong.
July 28, 2014 7:18 p.m.
I used to run naya/splash blue slivers with Prophet of Kruphix for some combat tricks and that worked out fairly well.
On a side note, you don't HAVE to make it 5 colors to run Sliver Hivelord . You can go 3 colors (Naya most preferably) or even 4 colors and still run the lord. This is doable because of Manaweft Sliver .
July 28, 2014 7:20 p.m.
Thebigshaggy says... #10
Chord of Calling also fetches the Hivelord out, as well as your Manawefts in a weird color-screw situation.
July 28, 2014 7:44 p.m.
Er...white gives you access to Bonescythe Sliver which is a necessity.
July 28, 2014 7:48 p.m.
Not to sound rude, but anyone can argue that ANY Sliver of ANY color is a necessity, whether or not any one of them is used at all is a matter of preference
July 28, 2014 7:54 p.m.
That's very true and a very valid point. In my experiences however, Bonescythe just pushes you over the top by literally doubling your power on board. Instead of giving them a turn to stabilize, they die that turn.
July 28, 2014 8:03 p.m.
I agree with what Dalektable stated.
Three color means you'll have a much better mana base to cast your Slivers when you want, rather than when you have the right color, and can also save you a lot of damage from lands such as Mana Confluence or Shocks. Alot of your slivers will be 1C so Painlands can be tapped "pain-free" alot of the times.
Green is probably the best base color, because you get Manaweft Sliver to help fix as well. I personally like RUG because of the interaction mentioned with Striking Sliver and Venom Sliver , with a couple of copies of Thorncaster Sliver for some real hilarity should your game go past turn 5. Diffusion Sliver I think is one of the few slivers that make a Standard deck viable in the current removal heavy metagame. Sliver decks are very synergy dependent, and with Thoughtseize already threatining to take away some of your key Slivers, the Diffusion Slivers at least will make their Hero's Downfall look pitiful at 5cmc + (since they stack)
Lastly you can get away with a couple of copies of Sliver Hivelord in a three color build because of the fixing already mentioned, as well as the option of running Chord of Calling to help find Big Daddy or which ever piece you need. Chord for 2 into a Diffusion Sliver can be a solid counter with a relevant body, or a Venom Sliver after blocks can really mess with your opponents plans.
July 28, 2014 8:04 p.m.
Dalektable says... #15
I don't think any sliver beyond Manaweft Sliver is a "necessity", however that being said I think some are needed to be competitive enough in standard. As previously stated Diffusion Sliver is simply amazing and completely throws off your opponents tempo, and can really screw with them. And Galerider Sliver Is just awesome, giving unmatched evasion for standard slivers. Dropping one turn one can really be an issue for the opponent if not dealt with quickly.
TheManaSource on youtube did a fairly good video on slivers in standard a couple weeks back, it may be worth checking out.
July 28, 2014 8:12 p.m.
Hickorysbane says... #16
Since the general consensus is already that you're better off with three and using rainbow sources to get Sliver Hivelord out I'm just gonna jump to color choice and why
Green has gotta be your base color for the access to all the colors and the most effective team boosting
Blue gives you evasion from creatures (Galerider Sliver ) and spells (Diffusion Sliver )
Black gives you removal of your own (and Thoughtseize ) and lifelink which can REALLY save you. Leeching Sliver can also be effective but lifelinking your whole team is just crazy
So those are the three colors I think you outta run
Red would give you first strike, some boosts, and evasion. But blue also gives you evasion. And deathtouch + first strike is the basically the same (or less effective) than indestructible + deathtouch which you'll have anyways, Also green has more and probably better boosts than red
White gives you vigiliance, but my humble opinion is that if you have some boosted and/or flying lifelinkers blockers are a lot less important. It also gives you double strike but I honestly think you could win without it when everything can just fly over
July 28, 2014 8:27 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #17
Naya splashing for the Sliver Hivelord would be my recommendation. Bonescythe Sliver is nasty as is Constricting Sliver . Red gives you access to making your slivers ping and haste as well as bigger front end buffs. I guess you could go Bant for flying and protection instead of aggression. I would however definitely run G/W.
Now that I looked at the links for the 2 white slives they are a bit costly so Bant is my new favored, but I'm not going to edit the comment.
July 28, 2014 8:33 p.m.
Okay well from what I've heard everyone say, I'm gonna have to settle with Red/Green/Blue (Red for aggro, Green for mana, and Blue for support)
As for Hivelord, for now I'm gonna keep him on as a maybe, since I want to get used to the deck itself before I splash any other colors
Now creatures and lands I can figure out pretty easily, but I would like a say on the staple Instants I've chosen, along with help picking an artifact
The instants I picked are: 3x Lightning Strike , 2x Fog , and 3x Dissipate
And the artifacts I'm considering are: Darksteel Ingot , Door of Destinies , and Elixir of Immortality
July 28, 2014 8:44 p.m.
Because without Hivelord I figured it was unnecessary, and it also tips the mana scale pretty far to Green, but I suppose I could try it out and swap it for Fog
July 28, 2014 8:50 p.m.
EDIT: I've decided to include Hivelord, and include 2 Darksteel Ingot s for that added mana-fix
July 28, 2014 9:04 p.m.
Here's the decklist I came up with, any feedback is greatly appreciated: Advent of the Hive
And thanks to all of you for your opinions, it actually helped a lot
July 28, 2014 9:06 p.m.
Even with Manaweft Sliver , you're living dangerously with Sliver Hive as your only multicolor land.
July 28, 2014 9:28 p.m.
Guildgates are a thing, still. They may not be the best, but they're budget and provide fixing.
zandl says... #2
You can play it on turn-3 with a 1-drop and Manaweft.
July 28, 2014 6:35 p.m.