First Is The Best! (An EDH First Sliver Deck)

Commander / EDH Holagod

SCORE: 14 | 16 COMMENTS | 2560 VIEWS | IN 6 FOLDERS


Mana Base Upgrades and Clone Legion —Jan. 10, 2022

Addition:

1x Clone Legion

1x Dragonskull Summit

1x Drowned Catacomb

Subtraction:

1x Spinneret Sliver

1x Swamp

1x Mountain

Holagod says... #1

Oh as well, what card could I replace to put in sliver hivelord?

August 16, 2021 3:40 p.m.

Holagod says... #2

I figured out to replace a land with sliver hivelord, and took out another for call to the kindred. Any suggestions to make this deck better?

August 18, 2021 6:16 p.m.

DemMeowsephs says... #3

Hey there! Not sure how your mana-base is faring, but here are a few suggestions, as manabases in a five color deck can be very difficult.

Tri-Lands

Run all of the tri lands! I hate tap lands, trust me, but with the first sliver at the head I'm willing to bet you want him out as fast as possible. You're running most of them, but I'd recommend getting your hands on the others: Arcane Sanctum, Jungle Shrine, Nomad Outpost, and Sandsteppe Citadel.

Of course, the Ikora triomes would be awesome, but they can be a bit much per land if you have a smaller budget. For reference, here they are: Savai Triome, Ketria Triome, Indatha Triome, Raugrin Triome, Zagoth Triome.

Not sure how you feel about these, but something else to consider would be the 5 panoramas from wherever it was they were first printed. Having that choice of fetch without spending money on the big fetches can be a really big asset in many games: Naya Panorama, Jund Panorama, Grixis Panorama, Esper Panorama, and Bant Panorama.

Semi-Expensive Side

I'm sure you're aware of these, but in case you aren't, there are of course the expensive duals and fetch lands. The fetches (like for example, Bloodstained Mire) are incredibly powerful. They give you the power of choice between yes, the two colors, but beyond that virtually any color you wanted if you ran all the shock lands (like Stomping Ground). If you drew that Bloodstained Mire and needed a green, you could fetch Stomping Ground and boom, you have it. Of course, that is quite a lot of money, but if you weren't aware of them, it's a good thing to keep in mind. On a side note, the fetches are even more extremely powerful as they go to your graveyard, allowing you to recur them (with say, Ramunap Excavator) and get tons of landfall triggers per turn.

Ramp

You don't seem to have too much ramp in the deck besides the 3 green guys and a bit of Artifact ramp. Not sure how much you need more, but some I'd recommend are Fellwar Stone, Ornithopter of Paradise, Three Visits/Nature's Lore if you add the shock lands (like Stomping Ground, etc., then you can use these to find any color), Noble Hierarch, Ignoble Hierarch, Bloom Tender (adds one of each when big sliver is out!!), Birds of Paradise, definitely Arcane Signet, Sylvan Caryatid, etc. The dorks aren't slivers, but they are really really crucial in adding any color. It is a bit much of green though, which is probably not something you want to do, so maybe pick and choose wisely- especially if you replace the green ones I mentioned before (maybe not all of them). Let me know if you'd like some more of these kinds of ramp suggestions.

Anyways, I've got some stuff to do so I'll leave it at that for now- I'm not gonna read through this so sorry for any grammar errors too. Hope some of this is helpful, and insightful. Feel free to check out some of my decks (main one is Double Trouble EDH ⫸PRIMER⫷), and let me know if you have any questions or want some help. Best of luck with your deck, and have a wonderful evening.

edit: most of the slivers and all look good there's a couple things I'd swap no biggies, small things like maybe consider Kindred Discovery or Toski if you like Bident of Thassa) but that looks all good!

January 6, 2022 9:53 p.m. Edited.

DemMeowsephs says... #4

I've heard this has some good stuff too (https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/the-bones-to-build-your-tribal-deck/)

January 6, 2022 9:59 p.m.

Holagod says... #5

DemMeowsephs I love your ideas about upgrading the mana ramp! The pain lands might be out of my budget but the others are great! You talked briefly about the creatures, but would it be worth it to add cards like Sliver Legion, and Brood Sliver?

January 7, 2022 10:55 a.m.

multimedia says... #6

Hey, well done with your budget version of First.

Some budget upgrades to consider:

Arcane Signet is a staple mana rock in Commander and especially good when playing five colors. Profane Tutor is a budget tutor that has interaction with cascade because it's CMC is 0. Patriarch's Bidding is quick recovery from a board wipe by reanimating all Slivers in your graveyard. Vivien, Champion of the Wilds is another flash effect for Slivers and it has other uses too since playing lots of creatures.

What makes Farseek a good ramp spell is when it can search for a dual land that has two or more basic land types such as Cinder Glade. If all you have is a basic land that Farseek can search for then it's subpar ramp, worse than Rampant Growth. Tango lands: Cinder Glade, Canopy Vista, Prairie Stream, Sunken Hollow, Smoldering Marsh are budget and Farseek can search for one of them.

Shadow Sliver is a budget Shifting Sliver and since you have Shifting you don't also need Shadow. Not being able to block with Slivers can be a problem, not able to defend against opponents swingback. Spinneret Sliver is a just a worse effect then giving all Slivers flying.

January 7, 2022 11:39 a.m. Edited.

Holagod says... #7

multimedia thanks for this super useful comment! I think these budget lands will fit perfectly in replacement for the triomes. Although with Vivien and the Door to Nothingness, I still am debating on if I should keep it because at the right time it can be a great object for board politics.

January 7, 2022 12:40 p.m.

Mortlocke says... #8

Holagod, thanks for the compliment on my build. I'm always happy to assist another Hiveminded individual in achieving their vision. A lot of really good card suggestions have come your way - but I think you are also missing something very important: A proper deck description. A deck that is considered competitive within commander is assumed to be sitting down with other competitive builds: e.g. Stax, Food Chain, etc. Your deck as it is currently built is more suited for a focused deck meta that threatens to win between turns 10 and 13 (just a guesstimate) as your primary win condition is combat damage.

I'm not trying to disparage you, or put down your deck. I'm just trying help you create a better understanding of your deck and how it will be represented/discussed with others. Fun is a relative term - and doesn't really convey much outside of you really liking it. I highly suggest you take a look at Epochalyptik's Do you want to write a primer?. It's a wonderful guide on how to write an informative and in-depth discussion of your deck in such a way that forces you to ask important questions and be thoughtful on how it functions.

As for my own personal recommendation - you have too many creatures, and not enough interaction. Trust me, I too wish to run all the slivers - but having too many creatures can be a real detriment to a deck. You need room for interaction. Slim down the number of Slivers down to 25 (I feel like there's a joke in here somewhere - a sliver of a sliver?). That leaves 14 fresh slots opened up to create a more cohesive strategy in your deck. I don't know exactly what theme you are going for, but with the inclusion of Reflections of Littjara, maybe you're going for a more "clone swarm" Sliver build? Here are just some off the cuff suggestions:

January 8, 2022 2:59 p.m. Edited.

Holagod says... #9

Mortlocke I really appreciate your advice, and I do think I will take a look at the primer article. Now with what I want my deck to do, I believe the goal I sought out was to go wide and share those powerful abilities that slivers dish out. Now I do think that you copying idea is viable, but the drastic reduction in slivers you are asking for seems daunting, especially if it comes to deciding which ones to remove. Now, after this response, have I helped explain better what I am looking for?

January 8, 2022 3:13 p.m.

Holagod says... #10

Oh, and let me share that for any cards I add, my budget sits around $50-$75 total.

January 8, 2022 3:17 p.m.

DemMeowsephs says... #11

Holagod in response to your question, I would say definitely so, as long as you can afford to have another WUBRG card with your manabase. Looking at the slivers, the mana curve looks pretty good, though I'm not too sure why you have apex devastator. Sure its good, but were talking 10 mana and a very very very likely chance you're going to hit a small sliver. For a second cut, I'm not too sure.

January 9, 2022 7:58 p.m.