Overlord and his Comboing Court

Commander / EDH Combo Infinite Combo Sliver

Voodoo_Gremlin

Lands (35)

• 1x Badlands
• 1x Bayou
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Forest
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Plateau
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Scrubland
• 1x Secluded Courtyard
• 1x Sliver Hive
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Taiga
• 1x Tarnished Citadel
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Unclaimed Territory
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Volcanic Island
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Mono-White Slivers (2)

• 1x Regal Sliver
• 1x Sentinel Sliver

Counterspells (11)

• 1x An Offer You Can't Refuse
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Dovin's Veto
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Force of Negation
• 1x Mana Drain HP
• 1x Negate
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Remand
• 1x Stubborn Denial
• 1x Veil of Summer

Mono-Green Slivers (6)

• 1x Gemhide Sliver
• 1x Hatchery Sliver
• 1x Horned Sliver
• 1x Manaweft Sliver
• 1x Quick Sliver
• 1x Venom Sliver

Multi-Coloured Slivers (6)

• 1x Cloudshredder Sliver
• 1x Crystalline Sliver
• 1x Harmonic Sliver
• 1x Hibernation Sliver
• 1x Lavabelly Sliver
• 1x Necrotic Sliver

Artifacts (5)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Mox Tantalite
• 1x Scroll Rack
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring

Card Draw (4)

• 1x Ancestral Vision
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Wheel of Fortune HP

Overlord's Regalia (3)

• 1x Heartstone
• 1x Shields of Velis Vel
• 1x Training Grounds

Other Enchantments (2)

• 1x Intruder Alarm
• 1x Mana Echoes

Commander (1)

Removal (8)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Deflecting Swat
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Toxic Deluge

Search (6)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Nature's Lore
• 1x Three Visits
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Worldly Tutor

WUBRGs (5)

• 1x Sliver Gravemother
• 1x Sliver Hivelord
• 1x Sliver Legion
• 1x Sliver Queen
• 1x The First Sliver

Mono-Blue Slivers (3)

• 1x Galerider Sliver
• 1x Screeching Sliver
• 1x Shifting Sliver

Mono-Red Slivers (2)

• 1x Heart Sliver
• 1x Spiteful Sliver

Mono-Black Sliver (1)

• 1x Basal Sliver

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Maybeboard

Other (3)

• 1x Ancestral Vision
• 1x Maelstrom Pulse
• 1x Supreme Verdict

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Back to Sliver Overlord from The First Sliver, you can see the deck list here. The First Sliver was fun but I wanted to go into a more serious, not quite CEDH, direction. It's not impossible to win in combat. More than likely victory will come from some kind of combo.

With that in mind let's break this deck down.

{B}{G}{R}{U}{W} The Leader of Our Swarm {W}{U}{B}{R}{G}

Sliver Overlord - There are many legendary Sliver lords that have been printed through the years. Sliver Legion & Sliver Hivelord are just okay. Not going to lie, Sliver Queen is a great infinite combo enabler. The First Sliver is explosive, if inconsistent, and plenty of space in the deck has to be used on cards to manipulate the top of our deck. Unless of course it's Food Chain which is another pretty solid competitive combo deck. Our commander is just solid all around. His first ability is a Swiss Army knife allowing us to search up whatever we need to get out of the situation or help us push to a victory. {3} can be a little much so to make this a little easier we're adding...

Training Grounds - The biggest activated ability cost reduction currently in the game redues our Commander's abulities down to {1}.

Heartstone - The OG creature cost reducer.

Both of these cards have a clause that stops creature abilities from costing less than {1}. Therefore, our commander will never be searching or stealing for free.

These cards will also impact a few other creatures in our deck, which will be noted when we get to them. If you'd like more or different options for these, there's Zirda, the Dawnwaker.

On the surface, the second ability seems to be useless we're in a mirror or there are changelings on the other side of the battlefield. So, to help us steal our opponents' hard cast critters we'll use...

Shields of Velis Vel - When we're ready we can pay {W} and turn all creatures one player controls into everything, including creatures. Allowing us to scoop them all up in one go, or a lot of them. This could also be Amoeboid Changeling or Unnatural Selection. I've played them both in this deck at one time or another. The {W} and turn all creatures one player controls into everything, including creatures. Allowing us to scoop them all up in one go, or a lot of them. This could also be changeling has to survive for a turn, or it can be hasted it up and we can only steal one creature per turn. Unnatural Selection gives us a political angle to approach creatures. Unless Sliver Overlord is in play it doesn't do too much.

Also, with seven power commander damage is very real way to win the game. This can be done with as little as two attacks with the help of Bonescythe Sliver. Three swings are more common.

Winning with Intruder Alarm Show

Was Intruder Alarm intended to be a stax piece, a combo engine, both, neither? Come on old school WoTC card designers there must be an answer!

1) The setup. Cast either Manaweft Sliver or Gemhide Sliver.

2) Cast Intruder Alarm. These first two steps can be done over a few turns. This is a little complex and the others may not know what's going on.

3) Cast Sliver Overlord using mana from our slivers first.

4) Sliver Overlord triggers Intruder Alarm and untaps our team.

5) At this point, we want to have access to three, or better five mana (between lands and creatures), three of which will be coming from Slivers. With only three mana we can go off in the next turn, with five...right now (If at least one of the Slivers gives haste, Heart Sliver or Cloudshredder Sliver, we can skip step 6).

6) Tap the original three Slivers for mana and use Sliver Overlord and search for a haste Sliver ( Heart Sliver or Cloudshredder Sliver) and cast it. card:card:Intruder Alarm (STH) triggers untap our squad.

7) Now, there are five Slivers that can tap for mana and we'll be searching for any one or two CMC Sliver.

8) Time to go! We've got a Birthing Pod chain except we're netting a creature every loop and we're increasing the the CMC of what we search every activation. Then the chain goes like this: Lavabelly Sliver or Screeching Sliver, into a four drop Sliver, into Sliver Queen and finally into Basal Sliver leaving two mana floating.

9) Use the two mana to make a 1/1 Sliver token with Sliver Queen and we'll either trigger Lavabelly Sliver or tap the token using card:Screeching Sliver(TSP). Next, we sac a the token to Basal Sliver and make {B}{B}.

10) Repeat step 9) over-and-over sacrificing the token we just made for infinite triggers. We'll either kill everyone by a thousand cuts or mill them out.

One final note, if Harmonic Sliver is one of our in-play creatures we're playing on hard mode. It's not impossible to win, but it is difficult.

With the popularity of the tribe we can always look forward to seeing more printed. It's unlikely we'll ever see the sheer volume of them printed in one go like the good old days.

There's good chance on a few being printed every time a specialty eternal card set comes out. We can also take a closer look at Changelings for any value, Unsettled Mariner is a good example.

{B}{G}{R}{U}{W} The Infinite Queen {W}{U}{B}{R}{G}

Sliver Queen - The original five colour creature. Here to chew bubble gum and make infinite tokens, and she's all out of gum. Her ability can be reduced by Training Grounds & Heartstone. The simplest way is in tandem with Mana Echoes and a single token trigger we'll have all the mana for all the tokens we want. Add a haste sliver and the game should be over.

Infinite Tapped Slivers Show

With Sliver Queen + Heartstone along with a mana maker (Gemhide Sliver or Manaweft Sliver and a haste enabler (Cloudshredder Sliver or Heart Sliver) all in play.

1) Create a sliver token for {1} with card:Sliver Queen STH)

2) Tap the token for mana

3) Repeat steps 1 & 2

This can be done at the end of turn so the fact the tokens are tapped isn't a big deal.

Infinite Untapped Tokens Show

Tapped tokens are okay but when we want to win we want to do it now rather than later. It's also simpler than tapped.

1) Our setup is Sliver Queen and Mana Echoes.

2) At the end of turn pay {2} into Sliver Queen and create a 1/1 Sliver token.

3) Trigger Mana Echoes and gain {1} for each Sliver.

4) Repeat steps 2 & 3.

5) Go to your turn.

6) Declare attacks and win.

If Heart Sliver or Cloudshredder Sliver are in play this can be done during our turn.

We'll also be netting an ever increasing amount of colorless mana. If we had Necrotic Sliver in play we could destroy all our opponents' permanents and secure the win via sadness.

Lavabelly Sliver Combo Show

Most other combos will be with Basal Sliver + Sliver Queen to give us an arbitrarily large number of enter the battlefield. Adding Lavabelly Sliver will end the game quite quickly.

1) Make a token have it deal one to an opponent and gain one life with the Lavabelly Sliver trigger.

2) Sacrifice the token for {B}{B} with card:Basal Sliver(TSP)'s ability.

3) Use the {B}{B} to make another token with Sliver Queen.

4) Repeat until the table has no other players.

Screeching Sliver Combo Show

Something similar to Lavabelly Sliver combo, but with a few more hoops to jump through. Basal Sliver + Sliver Queen then add card:Screeching Sliver (TSP and a haste enabler, Cloudshredder Sliver and/or Heart Sliver and we can start.

1) Make a token

2) Tap the token to mill a card from a library

3) Sacrifice the token for {B}{B}

4) Repeat steps 1-3

5) Wait for the opponents to draw

6) Win

You maybe wondering if we have infinite hasty sliver why bother milling? Why not just attack? This setup is used to get around pillow forts. Ensnaring Bridge, Dueling Grounds, Propaganda, infinite life, may-as-well-be-infinite-life and their fellows are no longer a problem.

Our opponent may then say "Ah ha, I have Gaea's Blessing in my deck! You can't mill me." However, under these circumstances we have literal infinite activations so we can do this until Gaea's Blessing and/or whatever other anti-mill cards are the only cards left in the library. Or you can ask your opponent to take out all the anti-mill cards and make them the library and shuffle the rest and put them in the graveyard. Of course all of this falls apart if their anti-mill card is Nexus of Fate. If that gets turned over and they have the mana to cast it...just stop or they'll have infinite turns.

Infinte Mana, Any Colour Show

Our set up begins with Basal Sliver + Sliver Queen and we add a haste enabler (Cloudshredder Sliver or Heart Sliver) and {2} to start.

1) Make a 1/1 Sliver token with the {2}.

2) Tap the token to make a coloured mana.

3) Sacrifice the tapped token for {B}{B}.

4) Use the {B}{B} to make a 1/1 Sliver token.

5) Repeat steps 2-4.

6) Cast Sliver Overlord and start searching and playing all our Meathooks.

7) Win

Adding any of the ability cost reducers to these will start netting mana. Currently, the only outlet for this are other slivers.

{B}{G}{R}{U}{W} WUBGRer Slivers {W}{U}{B}{R}{G}

The First Sliver - Unlike our commander this can come into play and immediately make an impact on the board. Note that any Sliver which is cascaded off of The First Sliver won't cascade in return because The First Sliver isn't in play and the cascaded spell resolves first, but afterwards cascades off one sliver to another sliver will give another cascade etc., pretty explosive. Our Enlightened Tutor, Scroll Rack, Sensei's Divining Top, Vampiric Tutor and Worldly Tutor can all help to make a bigger boom. On the downside, if there are cards like Trinisphere or Sphere of Resistance in play we'll have to pay the tax on the cascaded spells in addition to the original spell. Also, cascade and cards like Rule of Law don't mix.

Sliver Gravemother - Let's take this one one step at a time. The Legend Rule doesn't apply. For a couple of our legends it's mostly meaningless. Sliver Hivelord or Sliver Gravemother herself. With our Commander we'll most likely put him back in the Command Zone. We can also let him go to avoid paying a large Commander Tax and either attack or use him as per usual perhaps getting that last bit of Commander damage. Encoring the Sliver Queen, we get a Second Chance to go off with Her Majesty. The other legends get much more interesting. Sliver Legion becomes Craterhoof Behemoth on steroids. And oh boy, the pre combat The First Sliver. Up to four cascades off each sliver played. On that note that brings us to the second ability of Sliver Gravemother. Why yes that is four precombat The First Sliver because encore is sorcery speed before we go into combat and shenanigans will ensue.

Sliver Hivelord - Blue collar sliver lord. Nothing fancy, easy to understand, just punches the clock and goes and stops damage-based and destruction-based effects and abilities.

Sliver Legion - Slivers are really good at going wide. Sliver Legion grants our swarm to power to go tall. Like, skyscraper tall.

Shifted version of Coat of Arms

{B} Mono-Black Sliver {B}

Basal Sliver - Our Ashnod's Altar stand-in and facilitator for many of our infinite combos.

This is a shifted version of Basal Thrull

{U} Mono-Blue Slivers {U}

Galerider Sliver - M14 gave Sliver players a lot of upgrades, none more so than Galerider Sliver. It has the same power and toughness as Winged Sliver for {1} less and its ability only covers our hive.

Shifting Sliver - On the higher end of our curve, but this is one of the ways we can push a lot of combat damage through a clogged board. Shadow Sliver is also an option and it's the worse option. Going forward we'll only be able to block creatures with shadow. Be aware if you choose this path.

Screeching Sliver - Combined with Intruder Alarm we can have a real chance at milling one or more of our opponents. It'll also plays havoc with their Sensei's Divining Top, Brainstorm, any of the Mirage tutors (Enlightened Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Vampiric Tutor & Worldly Tutor) and anything else that might manipulate the top card of their library, particularly if we flash it in with Quick Sliver. Having a second one drop Sliver can also help us set up our Mana Echoes + Sliver Overlord search loops. In the early stages it'll get us that extra {1} or {2} mana that'll get us over the hump and make the combo self-sufficient.

{G} Mono-Green Slivers {G}

Gemhide Sliver & Manaweft Sliver - One, two punch of mana fixing and mana acceleration. Thank you to Commander Masters! Now our Manaweft Sliver looks like an ACTUAL sliver and not a Predator.

Hatchery Sliver - This one is being slept on. card:1x Intruder Alarm (STH) and a Gemhide Sliver or Manaweft Sliver and maybe a haste enabler this guy becomes Sliver-Queen-at-home.

Quick Sliver - Why should we limit ourselves to playing slivers on just our turn when we can play on anyone's turn? Unlike other flash creatures our slivers can radically change the way blocking goes for our entire team. Or we can suddenly add some ability to the squad which makes things difficult, see Screeching Sliver.

Venom Sliver - Allows us creature a bit of removal in combat potentially turning each of our swarm into a land mine. With Horned Sliver + Venom Sliver and those land mines suddenly become suicide bombers. Deal one damage to the blocker, kill it and trample over with the rest. Never forget, the combat step is a type of creature removal. Thank you to Commander Masters! Now our Venom Sliver looks like an ACTUAL sliver and not a Predator.

Horned Sliver - Pairs well with Venom Sliver and Sliver Legion. With Horned Sliver + Venom Sliver we'll only have to assign one point of combat damage to the blocker for lethal and then the rest of the damage tramples over. Sliver Legion changes our team from being individually weak to worldbreakers which can't get past a single elf or insect. When it becomes Horned Sliver + Sliver Legion it will take quite a lot of big butts to stop our damage. Don't forget, in commander it's not unreasonable for our opponents to go just as wide as we do (up to and including infinity) and without trample, or Shifting Sliver, we could be doomed to a board stall.

{R} Mono-Red Slivers {R}

Heart Sliver - Slivers like to go fast and this one hits the table and goes the fastest. It, and the other hasty slivers, combos well the mana slivers to aide casting our meat hooks ahead of curve or en-mass. We're going with two haste enabling, the other is Cloudshredder Sliver. They're the lowest CMC Slivers with haste. If you can't find them or want more haste options you're in luck. Slivers that give haste are well represented in the tribe. The next best option is Blur Sliver, followed by Firewake Sliver and as a last resort there's Reflex Sliver.

Spiteful Sliver - this is a very flexible creature. Attacking and blocking just became a lot more fun (for us anyway.) This also gives us a chance for creative problem solving since we redirect the damage to any player not necessarily the owner of the damage. We can crash one of our Slivers into a creature and remove a Walker. We can also suicide a single creature into a field of tokens and direct leathal damage at the pillow fort player. We can also cast Blasphemous Act and kill the table. Spiteful Sliver are package deal. If we were to remove one card from the deck we should probably be pulling both.

This is a shifted version of Repercussion Double coloured mana costs for slivers are rare.

{W} Mono-White Slivers {W}

Sentinel Sliver - at it's heart this is an aggro deck, which can leave us open to counterattacks. This sliver allows us to play offense and defense. Furthermore, with one of our mana slivers we can cast spells in main phase 2 after the attack or even at the end of our opponent's turn with the help of Quick Sliver.

Regal Sliver - Two parts to this card. We become the monarch. Which is nice and all. People tend to hate slivers so we'll be getting attacked anyway, but we're playing Quick Sliver and instant speed token generators like Sliver Queen and we can steal it back. The real meat of this card is once we're the monarch every sliver that come into play gives the swarm +1/+1, for each sliver, we don't even need to cast them. When we get to make a large number of slivers and then they'll be huge. Throw in haste and we can get a free win or free elimination.

{B}{G}{R}{U}{W} Multi-Colour Slivers {W}{U}{B}{R}{G}

Cloudshredder Sliver - Such value with this guy! Take a bit of Galerider Sliver and a bit of Blur Sliver then reduce the cost by {2}. Chef's Kiss

We're going with two haste enabling, the other is Heart Sliver. They're the lowest CMC Slivers with haste. If you can't find them or want more haste options you're in luck, Slivers that give haste are well represented in the tribe. The next best option is Blur Sliver, followed by Firewake Sliver and as a last resort there's Reflex Sliver.

The original art for Cloudshredder Sliver is an homage to the original art for Skyknight Legionnaire

Crystalline Sliver - We've got a lot of critters running around and this is the best sliver at protecting the swarm from any targeted removal or annoying activated abilities. Weirdly, this can include our own Sliver Overlord, sort of. Here's why, with all of the Clone and Clone-type of cards running around the format someone from the other side of the table can copy our Commander and start stealing our team. This'll become a war of resources, which mostly ends with one of the other two opponents capitalizing while we're pettily tit-for-tatting each other. Crystalline Sliver stops this from even starting.

The best way out of this scenario is to be the first player that controls both Sliver Overlords. Legend rule their copy

Crystalline Sliver + Sliver Hivelord gives us low level invincibility. Though we're still vulnerable to cards like: Merciless Eviction, Toxic Deluge and the everpresent Cyclonic Rift.

Now comes the big but. BUT it also stops slivers from targeting other slivers so a few of our good to great options become situationally useless. The only one kept in our deck is our Commander. As noted in his tab if we control Crystalline Sliver and we change an opponent's creature type with Amoeboid Changeling the creature in question will become a Sliver and get shroud. In addition to its cost, this is also the reason we don't play Ward Sliver.

The most common Sliver in other decks around the internets that can hurt themselves with Crystalline Sliver is Crypt Sliver. Then probably Firewake Sliver and Magma Sliver.

If this realization isn't for you good news! Diffusion Sliver and/or Unsettled Mariner might be for you. With the release of Strixhaven: School of Mages we can simplyfy their rules text and just say proto-Ward of pseduo-Ward. (No thanks needed)

Hibernation Sliver - Another way to insulate ourselves from board wipes which destroy, board wipes that reduce toughness board wipes that exile targeted removal and combat tricks. It may also behoove us to pick up and re-cast our slivers when The First Sliver is in play and get some two-for-one cascade value or re-trigger other ETB effects. If you'd like more protection from removal Frenetic Sliver offers a 50/50 chance of dodging it.

Harmonic Sliver - Commander is a format of mana rocks and greedy land bases. Destroying a nasty Signet or Sol Ring can cripple the other side. There are also oh so many problem artifacts and enchantments that are just begging for an immediate end. If we're out of creatures in hand Hibernation Sliver can bounce one back to our hand for some more sweet, sweet ETB triggers. The downside of this card is if we run out of targets on other people's battlefields we'll be forced to turn on our own. This risk can be mitigated by replacing Chromatic Lantern with either Darksteel Ingot or Skyclave Relic.

Shifted version of Aura Shards

Necrotic Sliver - This card is helped by Training Grounds and Heartstone. This one can remove any troublesome permanent. With Basal Sliver + Sliver Queen and one of our ability cost reducers we've go the potential to completely wipe our opponent's stuff and securing the victory by sadness.

Shifted version of Vindicate

{1} Artifacts {3}

Mox Tantalite - Colour fixing early on and can be the ultimate last link in a card:The First Sliver(MH1) cascade chain.

Arcane Signet - Least expensive five colour fixing, in terms of cost. card:Fellware Stone is a fine substitute, though you're dependent on our opponents.

Sol Ring - Does this really need an explanation...it goes in every Commander deck.

Scroll Rack - Helps to fix a bad hand or setup our cascades with The First Sliver, while also getting rid of dead cards. There are also fetches in our deck. In legacy a Brainstorm and then fetching is called a "Perfect Brainstorm" . What is it called when we clear four plus dead cards from our hand into our deck with Scroll Rack ?

{U}{U} Enchantments {R}{R}

Intruder Alarm - At the very lowest level this card can act like pseudo-vigilance, attacking and then casting a creature. There's so much more we can be doing! If there's a Gemhide Sliver or Manaweft Sliver we'll be able to play many creatures from our hands, building up to cast our commander (and any tax we've accumulated) then moving on to the slivers in our deck. Throw in The First Sliver and we'll go two-for-one on our casts. Or with the Sliver Queen we can create infinite slivers. Or with Screeching Sliver we can tap our team over-and-over-again and go for decking out our opponents.

On a side note; when this went through R&D did WoTC believe this would be a stax piece or combo enabler? Both? Neither? Genuinely curious.

Mana Echoes - The best/easiest use is to combine with Sliver Queen and create infinite Slivers and infinite mana. We can also generate a lot of mana and pump it into Overlord searches up more Slivers and just keep going.

It can also just be used to generate colourless mana to extend our plays. Free mana is never a bad thing.

Lands

1x Forest

1x Island

Badlands, Bayou, Plateau, Scrubland, Taiga, Volcanic Island, Underground Sea. - Dual lands, originally they weren't in the deck. Decks have been condensed and collection has been shrunk so now they're in. They're the Rolls-Royce perfect non-basic lands. Unless you've been playing a while, have a large disposable income or a time machine they're kind of to get ahold of but if you can you're, in all Humility ,in an elite group.

Bloodstained Mire, Flooded Strand, Misty Rainforest , Polluted Delta, Verdant Catacombs (ZEN)- Fetchlands, like the Duals originally they weren't in this deck. Lands which were in there made everything playable. It has been very rare when casting something was a problem. With this land base these it doesn't matter what colour(s) are missing these can find them. The finest colour fixing there is, until something better comes along.

Blood Crypt, Breeding Pool, Godless Shrine, Hallowed Fountain, Overgrown Tomb, Sacred Foundry, Steam Vents, Stomping Ground, Temple Garden & Watery Grave - Shocklands. They're great. Play them.

Cavern of Souls - We're a tribal deck and making sure we keep a steady supply of critters coming out of our hand and staying on the battlefield is crucial to winning. This land fixes our mana perfectly and stops our opponents from countering our slivers, or at least once a turn.

City of Brass & Mana Confluence - Pain lands aren't ideal but they're a concession we need to make. Remember greatness at any cost.

Also, when Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is in play Mana Confluence taps for {B} or {1} without damaging us.

Command Tower - Let's see, are we playing Commander? Check! Are we playing more than one colour? Yes! No reason not to include it.

Gemstone Caverns - Welcome to the game-within-a-game...The Great Gemstone Game.

Contestant number one, check your opening hand. If you have Gemstone Caverns check and make sure you're not going first. If you are we have this lovely parting gift of a draw on your turn.

Contestant number two, draw your opening hand if you don't see Gemstone Caverns you can stay in the audience and play a regular game of Commander.

Contestant number three, you look at your opening hand and you see a Gemstone Caverns and you aren't going first. Congratulations! Your on the stage and ready to play for the fast start.

Okay, enough of the game show metaphor. This is a Chrome Mox we only have one opportunity in the game to play. When evaluating a hand to best use Gemstone Caverns we want to look for turn zero plays, which are going to be Enlightened Tutor which we'll use to get Mystic Remora or a Top. A Worldly Tutor which will be used to find a two mana turn one play. Usually, a Gemhide Sliver, card:Manaweft Sliver(m14) or Heart Sliver. Lastly, a Vampiric Tutor to find any of the above or some other two mana play depending on what our opponents play. If a turn zero play isn't there make sure you have another land and something to on turn one, like a Gemhide Sliver. At a stetch a turn two Rhystic Study.

Next, we need to have a card to exile, bearing on mind we don't have Riftsweeper or one of those over-designed Battle for Zendikar Eldrazi to get it back. Whatever we choose is gone. Like many other Commander decks there's a certain amount of redundancy built into ours but there are some pieces which are irreplaceable. Know your deck when you choose.

The hardest situation with Gemstone Caverns is having it in the opener and the hand does nothing. That's the way things go sometimes and you'll have to mulligan it away and sometimes it'll be the card you bottom. It's cliche but there's always next time.

Secluded Courtyard & Unclaimed Territory - Five colour tribal fixing. Great! It also taps for {1} for all other spells and abilities. Getting two of these is our openers is a bit clunky with our combo pieces. If another similar card comes along two is probably all the deck can handle.

Sliver Hive - Five colour tribal fixing and can make tokens. Perfect!

Tarnished Citadel - So...um...yeah...greatness at any cost and all that. A little better than City of Brass in that it can tap for {C} without taking damage. Not really reccommended with Ancient Tomb. At least The World Tree and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth can turn the pain down.

Volrath's Stronghold - It's nice to be able recycle our slivers. Getting to draw a key sliver either at the beginning of our turn or off of a Mystic Remora or Rhystic Study. It can also set up the top of our library for some The First Sliver antics. This is one of the few lands that can't access any coloured so be careful if it's in our opening hand, this is a card we want later into the game to help us grind. In a pinch it can help save us from milling out, for a little bit anyway.

In an ideal situation there are as few guaranteed "Comes into play tapped" and conditional "Comes into play tapped" lands. As it stands, this deck is playing currently playing with fire. Because of this there won't be any: Triomes, Tri-lands or the Amonkhet cycle lands.

{U}{U} Counterspells {U}{U}

Slivers won't be to just plow through everything. Our opponents will try and stop us. We will need a way to react. What we're using are efficiently costed hard counterspells. Conditional counters like Mana Leak are fine early but as the game goes long they're less and less useful.

Pact of Negation - Make sure you have the mana to pay the flashback. Only gamble on having Gemhide Sliver & Manaweft Sliver and not enough lands during your upkeep when absolutely necessary.

An Offer You Can't Refuse - Another {U} Counterspell with some sort of downside. This one has two. The first is it can only stop non creature spells. The other is we're giving the caster two treasures. In a format with huge haymakers like Torment of Hailfire and Expropriate giving an opponent two treasures is a small price to pay. We can use this as ramp. That useless Pyroblast into stored mana for another turn.

Stubborn Denial - Anytime we have a {W}{U}{B}{R}{G} sliver lord on the table we'll have a discounted Negate. This is when we'll likely be using it most ofeten either as a way to dodge a wrath or targeted removal.

Veil of Summer - combines the two most commonly used modes on Cryptic Command; counter a Counterspell and draw a card. Well not exactly, but for {G} who cares?

Counterspell - The first, the classic, the workhorse. It does exactly what its name says. Nothing fancy, no frills, no exceptions, no cost reductions. Just pay {U}{U} and the spell is countered.

Dovin's Veto -

Mana Drain - Running neck-and-neck with Force of Will for the best Counterspell of all time. To say this is a strictly better version of Counterspell is a diservice and an insult. After we stop a spell we may not be able to use all of our free mana but we're going to try to cast as much as we can then syphon the rest into our Commander, Sliver Queen & Necrotic Sliver.

Negate - This will be doing two things most of the time. Stopping board wipes and stopping targeted removal.

Remand - A way to stall a spell for a turn or to make it so the spells that would follow it are a lot less damaging. For example they want to go for an Aetherflux Reservoir play and in essence it costs {8} there's much less damage that can be done. It also kind of cycles for {1}{U}.

Force of Negation - The "fixed* Force of Will which was safe for Modern. It doesn't counter everything it's just what a Negate could handle. Plus, it's only free with a blue card on an opponent's turn, which in a pod could be 75% of the time.

It would be a lie to say when The First Sliver cascades into a counterspell it feels great. How about this scenario. Think about the great story you'll get tell when someone casts Cyclonic Rift forgetting about the Quick Sliver in play then we cast Syphon Sliver and cascade into a Negate.

If all you want to do is counter counterspells Pyroblast & Red Elemental Blast are thoroughly underrated. Nobody thinks twice about {R} being the only mana available. In addition when The First Sliver flips one of these up they can still destroy a Rhystic Study or Consecrated Sphinx that slipped through. If nothing else they can kill the bird token from Swan Song These should be in more five colour decks.

If you're having trouble finding these or are just looking for more spells whose purpose are to counterCounterspells here are a few:

Dispel

Guttural Response

Muddle the Mixture

Test of Talents

And here are a few more which still have text when they're cascaded into:

Autumn's Veil

Removal

Anguished Unmaking -

Assassin's Trophy -

Cyclonic Rift - We're playing blue so in it goes.

Deflecting Swat -

Nature's Claim - Redundancy is key to winning in Commander. We're running Slivers which can clear problematic artifacts and enchantments ( Harmonic Sliver & Necrotic Sliver) This gives a piece of removal which is guaranteed to work at instant speed. Another key to winning is keeping the curve low and right now {G} is as low as we can go. As for the life gain this deck tends to win by miles not inches. On occasion the life gain can be used as a political tool.

Swords to Plowshares - When it absolutely, positively, has to go. The life gain isn't that important, except in edge cases. We'll most likely be overwhelming them with an extremely large number of creatures. There have been more and more printings of this card but if you can't find it or want an extra targeted creature removal for a cheap cost Path to Exile is a good choice. Many deck's mana bases or so greedy your opponent may not even have a basic land to search out.

Toxic Deluge - This slot was Damnation but this isn't as hard on the mana being a single {B}. Damnation didn't gel with Sedge Sliver so it was replaced with a card that...doesn't work with it either, huh? Sliver Hivelord has lost it's title as the best friend to our mass removal to Sliver Legion.

Blasphemous Act - the casting cost is deceptive on this card. We'll never be paying full cost in fact in a multiplayer game it'll like cost just {R}. It combines perfectly with two of our Slivers. With Spiteful Sliver we can end one or more player's day. The other is Sliver Hivelord who turns this board wipe one sided. Spiteful Sliver are package deal. If we were to remove one card from the deck we should probably be pulling both.

Search

Demonic Tutor - Pretty standard go and search something up. No reason not to include it.

Enlightened Tutor - Once we have Sliver Queen we should go straight for Mana Echoes and plan to make infinite slivers. If it's early in the game we should be leaning towards getting Rhystic Study.

Once again, control the top of our library is great when The First Sliver is in play. If we have our Commander or Our Queen when we cast El Numero Uno we should be leaning towards Mana Echoes as The First Sliver will come into play after the enchantment it'll start netting us mana and we'll combo off. If we don't have those but there are either Manaweft Sliver or Gemhide Sliver Intruder Alarm is probably the way to go.

Nature's Lore & Three Visits - Essentially half a Skyshroud Claim. It can get common Forests or Shock Lands and we still have the option to pay 2 life to come into play untapped. This card can be a little pricey for a common/uncommon, if so just use Rampant Growth. And thank the Gods Three Visits was reprinted in a modern set.

Vampiric Tutor - Low cost tutors are so nice to do some of the lifting. We find what we need and, in theory, the rest of the table doesn't need to know. We're a five colour deck so don't be afraid to go for a land with a missing colour, Cavern of Souls is usually a good choice. The First Sliver loves Vampiric Tutor for setup. Basically we're getting what we want for nothing and a bit of life. Greatness at any cost.

Worldly Tutor - Our creatures have been chosen to be a toolbox. In almost any situation if the Sliver which fixes the problem is in our library we can solve the problem. Or we get the other half of a combo. Or we grab something that lets us go over the top. Good with The First Sliver.

Card Draw

Ancestral Vision - In addition to Mox Tantalite this is way to go full combo with The First Sliver and cascade into a {0} (blank?) cost card. The ability to draw 3 out of nowhere is always welcome.

Mystic Remora - Get ready to say "Did you pay {4} for that?" every time a non-creature spell is played.

Rhystic Study - Get ready to say "Did you pay {1} for that?"

Wheel of Fortune - Reloading our hand is never a bad thing. Just be aware of the decks with Counterspells and how much mana they have access to. This card is on the reserve list and the price will continue to rise. The best budget substitute is Windfall. Going the other way, the best (most expensive) option would be Timetwister. Think of the swag getting to play with Power Nine.

Notable Exclusions

Ghostflame Sliver - Has a really niche but interesting ability. Originally, changing slivers to colourless would turn off any colour protection our opponents'creatures had. It also covers Ugin, the Spirit Dragon's down tick and All is Dust. Unless there's a lot of both in your particular meta there's no need for it.

Virulent Sliver - Alternate wincons are always a nice flex, but this is not anything like the infect decks in modern or legacy. With this we have to connect to an opponent with 10 attacking slivers while keeping this alive. Which is difficult in a board wipe happy format like Commander.

Ward Sliver - This is one of those old symetrical Slivers so when we change an opponent's creature to a Sliver with Amoeboid Changeling the card in question will have protection from five-colour Sliver Overlord. Also if we want to break through our opponent's lines Shifting Sliver does the job much better and we aren't pigeon-holing ourselves against one oppenents creatures.

Herald's Horn - This seems a bit odd. If you're playing a deck where 33+ Slivers its pretty good. Pretty good chance you'll draw two cards per turn and get a discount on our Meathooks. As this deck continues to evolve the cuts are going to be creatures for more counterspells and removal, making this card worse and worse.

Companion

With Ikoria's release we're getting a brand new mechanic to play with. The way Companion works in Commander it doesn't count against the size of your deck. It functions like part of a non-existant sideboard(not that we now have a sideboard). Looking at what we got there are really only two potential choices for a Sliver Tribal deck. Obosh, the Preypiercer and Jegantha, the Wellspring. Obosh, the Preypiercer would require a new deck list which goes beyond this page.

The other, Jegantha, the Wellspring, may seem like it could easily be slotted in. If an extra starting card, playing in a slower friendlier meta and the deck building restraint isn't too much it wouldn't hurt to use it. In general Jegantha, the Wellspring isn't worth playing in our deck.

1) This card's types, elemental and elk, don't synergize with our slivers.

2) It doesn't do anything when it comes into play. All we have to look forward to is a very nervous round before we could actually use it. A turn in which it'd have a huge target on it.

3.) We're running a few cards which would break the Companion requirement Counterspell, Mana Echoes & Patriarch's Bidding. Counterspell we could work around. Bidding could be replaced IF a {4}{B} mass recursion could be printed. Mana Echoes has a unique ability unlikely to be re-created and is better than anything Jegantha will be able to give us.

If you'd like to flex no one's going to stop you. Just don't expect to see it here .

The Lore

Slivers were originally created by Mike Elliot from Wizards R&D. The Slivers were inspired by Plague Rats. This was further iterated on bu Elliot in the concept set set "Astal Ways", many of the concepts were used in Tempest block.

In the story the villain, known as the Controller,opened a door to the Astral World was overwhelmed and managed to close it shattering himself into into many fragments called slivers.

The original card text for these slivers can be found in the Sliver Me Timbers article linked below.

Sources: Have anymore delightful Sliver Trivia?

Sliver Me Timbers

Sliver Biology Show

Rath to Dominaria: The Slivers have a hive-like structure similar to bees, ants and other social insects.

Slivers are among the most popular tribes in magic because of their unique nature. The only true "base" Sliver is probably the Sliver token. These classic Slivers are eyeless, save a sharp head shape, a single claw or talon and a snaking body. They rapidly reproduce and change leading to many mutations and adaptations. However, all Slivers have the biological ability to share their new adaptations. Within the story any such mutation will eventually spread to every member of the Hive.

Shandalar and Beyond: In 2013, there was a radical change to the design of Slivers in both gameplay and appearance. The gameplay was streamlined and changed for the better. Now, Slivers only affected the Slivers on the owner's side of the battlefield. This was to try and ensure that game states and combat were as easy to understand as possible. The new rules templating for Slivers has remained ever since. The new appearance was not as well received. To be fair to WoTC, every tribe in Magic gets tweeks and changes to adapt them for their homeplane. For example compare the Akki goblins from Kamigawa Block (which look like walking meatballs), the Oxidda goblins of Mirrodin block, (which are partially made of metal) and the the Mogg from Tempest block (which are the bulkiest and most brutal in the game). All of them look different, but they're still all goblins. For Magic 2014 their appearance changed to something more humanoid which had evolved on the plane of Shandalar. This was done with the R&D team realizing that this new direction was not going to be for everyone. They also felt that most of the current players had not played with the older Slivers and they would be more appealing: more fantasy looking, more body language options, and actual facial expressions. When looking at these new designs there are moveable plates which allow these Slivers to rearrange their anatomies. They now have two arms, one much larger and long coming to a single claw or talon inspired by the original design.

This design philosophy didn't go over well with the players. The Shandalar designs were given another shot in 2014 with the release of M15 but the same complaints came up. We like Slivers, we don't like the appearance of these. To their credit Wizards R&D have returned to the classic design of Slivers for Modern Horizons. Though the design space shifted to more Naya colours, with ten, only and only one of each in blue and black.

Sources: Magic's Exclusive Creatures

Sliver Anatomy

A Sliver of Direction

Slivers Evolved

Volrath and the Queen Show

While waiting for the order to invade Dominaria by his Phyrexian masters Volrath, the Evincar of Rath, found himself with a lot of time on his hands and would periodically use a portal to travel around the multiverse. On an unknown plane he discovered the Slivers. Wanting to study them further, as both the Slivers and himself are shapeshifters, he took the Sliver Queen and some of the other Slivers back to Rath and placed the in the Furnace of Rath. This could explain Sliver behaviour going forward. They no longer evolved in an environment with other lifeforms. They were an invasive species with no predators (if they had any at all), no environmental checks, and no other limits.

In order to observe the relocated hive from a safe distance Volrath built his own Metallic Sliver to use as spies. It was then that he discovered their ability to share mutations & adaptations as well as their hive mind, ruled over by the Sliver Queen.

There's a player theory that the in-unverse reason we got mono-coloured slivers in Tempest and multi-coloured Slivers in Stronghold is the mono-coloured Slivers are from their original plane and the multi-colour slivers came from Volrath's experimentations on the creatures.

At the same time Commander Greven il-Vec had stolen a number of the pieces of the Legacy and Volrath arranged for the Sliver Queento protect them. When the Weatherlight came to recover the Legacy (and rescue Captain Sisay) Karn, Silver Golem was able to convince the Sliver Queen to entrust the pieces to him. Arguing that the Legacy is to him as the Slivers are to her (Karn was the guardian of the Legacy as well as being a piece of it) and she let him take it. The moment is depicted in the card Change of Heart.

When the Planar Overlay happened the Slivers came along to Dominaria. Tragically, the Furnace of Rath appeared within an Urborg Volcano incinerating the hive. There were a few survivors but without the strength of their hive and the guidance of the Sliver Queen they were picked off durning the Invasion.

There time on Domanaria brief was but the Slivers will make a comeback and make a huge impact on their new plane when their fossils were discovered a century later.

Sources: MTG Wiki - Sliver

Kings & Things

The Riptide Project Show

The Riptide Project was founded on an Island of the coast of Otaria on the plane of Dominaria about 100 years after the invasion by Phyrexia. It was started by Llawan, Cephalid Empress. Done in an effort to repair relations between her underwater kingdom and the surface dwellers after the actions of Aboshan, Cephalid Emperor and Ambassador Laquatus. The main research project was the examination of fossils found in Urborg from the time of the Planar Overlay of Rath & Dominaria and the Phyrexian Invasion. These were fossilized Slivers and the Riptide Project were not aware of what they were about to unleash.

The Slivers were resurrected, but the Riptide wizards were not aware of the Sliver Queen and her integral control over the Hive. Brood Slivers quickly began reproducing beyond the control of the reseachers. The Slivers quickly overran Riptide. The wizards were left with no choice but destroy the entire island. Sacrificing themselves to save Dominaria, Pemmin (of Pemmin's Aura) was the only known survivor. Sadly, this didn't stop the threat. The surviving Slivers were drawn to the continent of Otaria mistakenly believing the magical pulses of Mirari was their lost Queen.

The majority of the Slivers gathered around Mirari as Zagorka, Akroma, Angel of Wrath & Phage the Untouchable fused into the powerful Karona, False God. The magical blowback erradicated the majority of the massed Slivers. It also fused some of the survivors into the Sliver Overlord. The Sliver Overlord manifested as the ultimate hive mind, giving the remaining Slivers the control and stability the Sliver Queen would've normally provided. The Slivers would not be seen on Dominaria for another century.

Sources: For They Are

A Sliver Story

Time Spiral Show

Slivers can be seen as Magic the Gathering 's ultimate survivor. No matter the situation they adapt to survive. Time Spiral Block was no exception. At this point in the story Dominaria was a dying plane. Wracked by the effects of the Planar Overlay, wars, false gods and more it was on the verge of destruction. Slivers did what they did best adapt to the situation, which mirrored the life which was successfully adapted to life on the plane.

Sources: A Sliver of Time part 3

Shandalar Show

Coming soon

Sources: -The Bard and the Biologist

Slivers of other Planes Show

In Modern Horizons we got 13 new Slivers. It's unclear where these Slivers come from. They're more references to other mechanics on other planes. This is a bit more guesswork. They're being ordered by the plane's they're referencing. It doesn't necessarily mean that there are Slivers on this plane or that plane, unless something new comes down the pike. There will be largely baseless speculation in this section. Please take it with a grain of salt.

**Alara **

Dregscape Sliver - "Dregscape" is a specific location on the Shard of Grixis, naturally it gives Grixis' keyword, Unearth, to the Hive.

The First Sliver - With cascade and being "the first" this may mean that Slivers, as a species, could originate from the Maelstrom.

First Sliver's Chosen - It's ability makes it seem these Slivers took chivalry lessons in Bant

Modern Horizons makes it appear that Alara is the most likely place there's an unknown Hive. Why haven't we seen actual factual Slivers in the story? We've only been there once and the story was focused on the Shards, the Sundering, and Rebirth of the plane. The fact it was divided may have kept the Hive from properly forming. Now that the plane has been given time to stabilize we may be seeing more Meathooks.

Dominaria

Lancer Sliver - The flavour text specifically mentions Benalia, or rather a Benalish patroller. This is most likely an, until now, unknown breed/class of Sliver on the plane.

Hollowhead Sliver - The flavor text comes from "Rukarumel". Several Timespiral, and Timespiral Remastered, Slivers mention Rukarumel's field journal. Again, this is likely an, until now, unknown breed/class of Sliver on the plane.

Mirrodin

Tempered Sliver it's ability is a reference to Mirrodin exclusive tribe, the Slith. The Slith came in every colour and all had the ability of gaining a +1/+1 counter when dealing damage to a player.

Ravnica

Bladeback Sliver - The Hellbent points to Ravnica and the Rakdos. Hellbent has occasionally been on other cards from other planes. Such as past Sliver infested Dominaria's Keldon Megaliths.

Cloudshredder Sliver - Artistically, a reference to Skyknight Legionnaire

It's unlikely there would be a Hive on Ravnica. Not because the city extends over the surface of the planet but because there are numerous Dune sized wurms beneath the surface.

Tarkhir

Enduring Sliver - Grants the Abzan's keyword Outlast.

Unplaced

Lavabelly Sliver

Scuttling Sliver

Spiteful Sliver

Sources:

A Sliver of Direction

Card Graveyard

Cards which were in the deck at one time. One way to show how the deck has changed over time. It's also a way to quickly add something back into the deck without much effort.

Many of these put an emphasis is on The First Sliver when I started this deck I just copy-and-pasted my old deck to save time. Now you know.

Creatures Show

Syphon Sliver - Giving us some life back and doubles that life gain when Essence Sliver is also on the battlefield.

Muscle Sliver & Predatory Sliver - One, two punch of green little buffing

Megantic Sliver - The second best buffing sliver we have (the best is of course Sliver Legion) It also curves in after The First Sliver quite nicely.

Realmwalker - One of the biggest issues we have is running out of cards. Kaldheim's shapeshifters gifted us a way of peeling sliver after sliver off the top of our library under normal circumstances. Sensei's Divining Top gives us a chance to change our fate. Screeching Sliver will help out clearing the top card of library, Evolving Wilds & Terramorphic Expanse will also give us a Second Chance at a castable card. If this type of card excites you and you'd like to play more Experimental Frenzy & Bolas's Citadel could be right for you. Top's bigger older brother Scroll Rack generally good but not at its best in this scenario.

Homing Sliver - Don't often cast this one, if it is all of meat hooks in hand can Slivercycle. If we need a Gray Ogre to block that's fine. Hibernation Sliver can pick it up, or another sliver, and search up the right tool for the situation. Always nice to have uncounterable tutor. Sadly, Heartstone & Biomancer's Familiar won't reduce the cost of Slivercycling.

Sedge Sliver - Have to jump through some hopes to trigger this ones upside but, oh, my what an upside. This fellow is at its best when there's an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, either our own or our opponents, but a single Swamp will work. The +1/+1 is nice but being able to regenerate each and everyone of our team at will is just too useful. The World Tree can also useful as long as we control a Swamp and five more lands, a few more hoops to jump through but well worth it.

There are other regenerating slivers. Personally, Crystalline Sliver runs the risk of Crypt Sliver becoming a dead card. If you'd like a different sliver which grant's regeneration Clot Sliver is the better choice. Yes, it costs {2} but with one of our cost reducers (Biomancer's Familiar or Heartstone, the cost is down to {1} and the only downside is we're sharing the ability with our opponent's slivers and changelings.

Shifted version of Sedge Troll

Fury Sliver - Much like Megantic Sliver this guy's ability is nice, making our squad tall as well as wide is always welcome. But, what's better is that it curves so well on turn six from a turn five The First Sliver.

Striking Sliver - The first strike helps keep our team alive while making attacks into us a little harder.

Sinew Sliver - Shifted version of Muscle Sliver Not much else to say really.

Bonescythe Sliver - A psuedo-sliver lord as its double strike gives our army a chance to go tall as well as wide.

Essence Sliver - This does not give lifelink we just gain life equal to damage dealt. So when Syphon Sliver is on the table we''ll gain double life.

Pulmonic Sliver - Up until the printing of The First Sliver this card was seen as a a cute bit of board wipe recovery. Taking the one, two or maybe even three best cards and putting them on top of our library. Now we can draw, recast our Commander, cascade and maybe even case another sliver and cascade some more. It takes a bit of forethought, but the upside is so high. Pulmonic Sliver has hidden text that it gives all slivers flying. Most players are so focused on the library ability that they forget about this. This fellow is also the reason we're not running Winged Sliver as our third flying Sliver. Blur Sliver - Another hasty boy. This one only speeds up our slivers if we're ever in the sliver mirror.

Constricting Sliver - Helps to set off cascade chains at the top of our curve. It also turns all of our tribe into Banisher Priest s.

Amoeboid Changeling - With a tap to right any creature gains all creature types making it a legal target for Sliver Overlord. More often than not we'll be bullying the table with this combo but, with our Tempest, card:Onslught & card:Timespiral block slivers this can be used diplomatically from time-to-time. On the other hand, because of the symmetrical nature of early slivers Crystalline Sliver is a non-bo with this (changing the targeted creature into a sliver will give it Shroud). However, if you like this interaction and would like to add more of this effect consider Unnatural Selection.

Biomancer's Familiar - The only non-sliver creature in our deck. With this searching with our General only costs us {1}. If it at some point a playable "Adapt" sliver is printed the Familiar's other ability will be more than flavour text.

Frenetic Sliver - Most players will look at this and wonder what the heck we're doing. This is insurance against a board wipe. It gives us a 50/50 chance of saving each of our slivers regardless of the how it works. If it exiles it's better that our team is in the graveyard. In corner cases we may roll the dice on a desperate Cyclonic Rift or Evacuation and when our turn comes around we'll go in for a kill.

Darkheart Sliver - Shifted version of Dark Heart of the Wood

Brood Sliver - Creating a bunch of sliver tokens post combat has a number of benefits. First of it creates a bit of pseudo-vigilance. Every attacker can turn into a blocker. Brood Sliver + Shifting Sliver makes our swarm all but unblockable. If we need to brute force through we use Horned Sliver to beatdown chump blockers and still connect. Bonescythe Sliver added to this will make twice as many tokens.

Second, in combination with a haste sliver (Heart Sliver & Cloudshredder Sliver) along with a mana generator (Gemhide Sliver & Manaweft Sliver) and we can do just about anything. Cast more slivers, search up more slivers with Sliver Overlord and cast them, or turn a creature into a sliver with Amoeboid Changeling and steal it with our commander.

Lastly, these tokens will trigger our other slivers "enter the battlefield". More enchantments and artifacts go boom Harmonic Sliver. Spread a little damage around with Lavabelly Sliver, maybe even the best damage...fatal.

Diffusion Sliver - a little bit of protection for our team. The upside is it only our Slivers. The downside is this is only soft protection.

Morophon, the Boundless - Near the top of our curve is another pseudo-sliver. Gives a slight buff to our army and reduces the cost of our chosen creature type by actual factual coloured mana. This makes him work very well with Mana Echoes and multiple slivers in hand. Morophon will cover the coloured mana, conveniently none of our slivers have more than one of any colour in their casting cost, and Mana Echoes will cover some or all of the rest. There's another cheeky thing we can do. When I said that Morophon, the Boundless the highest CMC in our deck (next to The Great Henge)? When we have Hibernation Sliver and The First Sliver we can pickup and re-cast Morophon, the Boundless over and over to get our cascade on. Depending on our life we can cast all of our non-land cards, except the afore mentioned The Great Henge (which ironically would offset the life loss we would be taking). Mana Echoes or Intruder Alarm + any one of Cryptolith Rite, Gemhide Sliver or Manaweft Sliver will make this a little easier.

Artifacts Show

Chromatic Lantern - It taps for any mana and let's our lands to tap for any colour of mana. Seems pretty good for a five colour deck. It effectively shuts off the pain aspect of Mana Confluence.

Fellwar Stone - Will become an Arcane Signet when it becomes available.

Herald's Horn - Let's see we're a tribal deck. We want to play to the board. Our creatures can have their costs reduced. We've got a perfect fit. Sensei's Divining Top will help us to draw two a turn. If there's nothing we have the option to mill away some or all of the cards with Screeching Sliver. For what its worth Herald's Horn also reduces the Commander Tax.

Maskwood Nexus - Before we get into the combo let's get this out of the way. Maskwood Nexus isn't that bad. The gift of Changeling to all creatures is largely flavour text. That being said, on it's own this card functions a lot like Sliver Hive, just more vulnerable to removal.

Now the combo. The real reason this card is here. card:Maskwood Nexus + The World Tree allows us to play out all of the Slivers left in our deck. Once both pieces are in play this combo is largely uncounterable, outside of Stifle type spells.

The Great Henge - Provides us with mana, life, draw power and buffs our creatures. The trouble is it costs so much...oh wait the cost can be reduced based on the creature with the highest power in play, up to {7} and our commander has seven power along with most of our other {W}{U}{B}{R}{G} slivers in our deck. In addition with the buff we can give our slivers we'll rarely be paying full cost for this tree of wonders.

Enchantments Show

Cryptolith Rite - The third mana sliver in our deck. Turns our team into card:Bird of Paradise.

Descendants' Path - Taking a free roll at putting a Sliver into play alone would be worth it. Note that this card has the magic word "CAST" so if we do reveal one of our Slivers when The First Sliver is in play that'll be a cascade and we'll get two cards, or more cards, before we've even drawn. On the downside if there are cards like Trinisphere or Sphere of Resistance in play we'll have to pay the tax. Also, cards like Rule of Law will lock us out of any other plays for the turn.

Instants Show

Beast Within - Exchange something which is going to kill us with an elephant. Seems fine to me. In an emergency we can change a tapped sliver into a 3/3 blocker. If Sliver Hivelord is in play we won't even lose the sliver.

Congregation at Dawn - For a long time this was seen as the poor man's Worldly Tutor, if it was even remembered at all. If it were played it would be just to grab a single creature. We're abuse the hell out of it creating something of a one turn super-duper Fires of Invention. At the end of turn, or beginning of our upkeep, we can stack what should become a three-for-one casting with The First Sliver. Usually its some combination of a high CMC sliver, an evasion sliver and a haste sliver. Anything afterwards is a huge bonus.

Footbottom Feast, Forever Young (not an instant but it goes with the other 2) & Gravepurge - With a little bit of forethought and planning these can help us recover after a board wipe. Even if we cascade into one of them at worst its a cantrip otherwise we can recover what's been lost earlier in the game.

Krosan Grip - Split Second is what really earns this a spot in the deck. It may not always be relavent, but when it is you'll be happy it's there. For mana efficency Nature's Claim is the best option.

Saw it Coming - This is an experiment. At worst it's a Cancel. Yes, if it is Fortold we'll ultimately be paying {3}{U} for a Counterspell. However, Fortelling this card will dodge discard and we'll always have a counter available even after we, or our opponent's, Wheel. Worth experimenting with. If nothing else it'll be a place holder for one of the cards in our acquire-board.

Swan Song - It's very good in Commander as it's a one {U} Counterspell but because its so cheap there's the trade-off of a token. Depending on the point in the game the token is largely a non-issue. Either the token's outclassed by bigger badder things or it'll be wiped away with a sweeper. More than a narrow silver bullet card like Spell Snare but not quite as broad as Negate.

Sorceries Show

Farseek - finds any dual land we need and puts into play TAPPED. Three Visits is a direct upgrade, in fact a functional re-print of Nature's Lore (Thank you Portal:Three Kingdoms) . We may not have true duals but we may want to pay two life for mana immediately.

Triumph of the Hordes - Kind of an alternative win card. If there's someone whose gaining an insurmountable amount of life all we'll need is 10 poison.

Vindicate - Silver bullet answer to any type of permenant. Especially useful against lands because we're hard pressed to fit Strip Mine or Wasteland into our five colour land base. This card will be replaced by Anguished Unmaking or Assassin's Trophy whichever comes first.

Skyshroud Claim - With this we can search up any two basic Forest, two Shock Lands (as long as they're Forests) or in any combination therein. And because of the wording we're still allowed to pay two life to untap the shocks and go to town. If you can't find this card or never want to put shocks into play untapped Ranger's Path is for you. If you have a super budget deck Explosive Vegetation or Circuitous Route will slot in easily.

Bring to Light - For {W}{U}{B}{R}{G} we can CAST any of our five colour lords and get some cascading going on, which is pretty straight forward with our deck. Or we can CAST any other creature, instant or sorcery that costs five or less. Since we are casting our selection cards like Trinisphere and Rule of Law.

Damnation - Sometimes we need to reset the board and sometimes Sliver Hivelord will shield our side of the board.

Patriarch's Bidding - Despite our best efforts our slivers are going to die en-mass. This card will get them all back. It also allows our opponents to get all creatures of one type back from their 'yard. Unless we're playing another tribal deck it's really a small price to pay.

This is the only mass resurrection card we're playing because the graveyard is a highly contested area and will likely get removed and we don't want to be drawing dead cards late into the game. If you can't find Patriarch's Bidding, it was mercifully reprinted in MH2, Living Death & Twilight's Call are the next best options. There could also be merit to Haunting Voyage because it can be set aside with Foretell, dodging discard and wheels, and you'd pay a premium later on for the privilege of bringing everything back.

Lands Show

Ash Barrens - Not to be used as an actual factual land in typical situations, more like a wildcard. We should only be cycling it for a missing colour.

Cascading Cataracts & Crystal Quarry - Sometimes we have trouble getting all five colours together. These help us cast our commander and five-colour sliver lords on turn six and above when our greedy mana base decides to punish us.

Canopy Vista & Cinder Glade - We're using more basic lands than a normal five-colour deck and we should take advantage. We're only using two of the Tango Lands because we don't want to get our hands caught in the cookie jar, getting all of them but no basic lands. We're just using the green ones so we can search them up with Nature's Lore, Three Visits and/or Skyshroud Claim.

Evolving Wilds & Terramorphic Expanse - Since we're playing more basics than the average WUBRG deck these budget options make sense. These help us snipe a missing colour and help to insulate us from Blood Moon & Back to Basics.

Exotic Orchard - Much like with Reflecting Pool the Orchard cares about what mana a given land can produce. If an opponent has Ancient Ziggurat we have any colour of mana without restrictions.

A tricky situation is with Command Tower. We'll only be able to tap for mana of the colours of their commander. If there's no other lands on our opponent's side.

Holdout Settlement - Great replacement for Gateway Plaza! It doesn't come into play tapped and it doesn't cost us {1} (removing the corner case of getting a hand with bothRupture Spire & Gateway Plaza). We'll almost always have a creature to turn into mana. This can be used with creatures without haste which just came into play.

Path of Ancestry - Now we have a great five colour land that comes into play tapped. Whenever we cast a creature with mana from this land we'll scry. This helps with cards like Realmwalker giving us another look and giving us the option to dig deeper. Eliminate dead cards we see with Top or put back with Scroll Rack. In narrow cases we can adjust what we cast when have The First Sliver in play. For example we can cast Sliver Hivelord or Screeching Sliver and we see a good three drop on top. Worst case scenario, we'll just scry like a normal.

Reflecting Pool - With any other five colour land in play on our battlefield this will also tap for any colour. Restrictions and riders on your lands, like Cavern of Souls, don't matter. As long as a land can make it so can Reflecting Pool. You may not want this to be your first land of the game, it won't tap for anything even colorless. And not in a cool way with The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale more in a Seafarer's Quay kind of way.

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - Pairs perfectly with Sedge Sliver allowing each of our lands to regenerate our Slivers.

The World Tree - Shame it comes into play tapped and its ability doesn't kick in until there are six lands in play but, any land tapping for any colour of mana is just too good to ignore. Good chance Sedge Sliver will love the tree as long as there's also a swamp in play.

There are currently no Gods in our deck. Actually, that's a lie. There's one Amoeboid Changeling. If one were to add a suite of Gods to the deck start with The Scarab God and then look for gods that do something the slivers can't. There's also the option of adding Maskwood Nexus.

Thank yous to Doombeard1984's deck and Mortlocke's deck MrPonzi's deck. They were invaluable resources and you should check them out as you're building your deck.

For those who would like a little more Sliver EDH in their lives head over to the Sliver Hive Discord. Great friendly community who love to answer questions, strategize and talk about all things Sliver.

Date added	2 years
Last updated	6 months
Key combos	Horned Sliver + Sliver Legion Basal Sliver + Sliver Queen Mana Echoes + Sliver Overlord Crystalline Sliver + Sliver Hivelord
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 53 - 0 Rares 26 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.46
Tokens	Copy Clone, Sliver 1/1 C, The Monarch, Treasure
Folders	EDH, sliver, X - EDH Inspitation - SLIVERS