This is a Sliver Tribal deck designed for speed using ramp and card draw to overwhelm your opponents with a cascading swarm of Slivers. It utilizes creature damage or commander damage only (no Combos because I don't like winning that way).
PRIMER
How to play the deck:
1) When you cast The First Sliver you will only cascade once, because the slivers do not have cascade until it resolves. You can cascade chain slivers after that.
2) Cascade is a mandatory action but you can choose not to cast the spell.
3) Cascade can cast spells with suspend and are 0CMC (Converted mana cost). They are cast immediately without suspending.
4) You may pay the additional mana costs for spells that have actions like Kicker, or Replicate when cascading as each spell resolves. Alternate mana abilities like Overload and Morph cannot be activated when cascading because Cascade is already an alternate mana cost action.
5) It is important to include spells with low mana costs (even 0CMC or suspend spells) in order to not miss out on cascade actions, since the lower the CMC, the more likely you will be able to cascade it into the game.
Important Considerations
1) Managing your mana is critical in 5 color decks. You must be able to quickly generate all of your mana colors however, most of the affordable lands that generate more than one color, enter the battlefield tapped. The Shock lands (lands that enter untapped if you pay 2 life) and Battle lands (lands that enter untapped if you have 2 or more basic lands) both can enter untapped and are actual basic land types (Breeding Pool, Canopy Vista), which makes them fetchable with the Fetch Lands (lands that you can pay 1 life to search for a land Verdant Catacombs) or with tutors (spells that let you search your deck) (Skyshroud Claim, Nature's Lore, and Three Visits all enter UNTAPPED. When you search for a land using a spell like Three Visits or a fetch land, you simply search for a Shock Land * or Battle Land that is the required land type, as well as a color that you need in order to color fix. It is also critical to run low cost mana rocks like Chromatic Lantern to help you color fix and help ramp your mana. I recommend at least 6. This deck runs 8.
2) While mana generation is absolutely the most important aspect of building a 5 color Sliver deck, the second most important consideration is generating card draw. By the time you cast your commander, you will likely have very few cards left in your hand. Without having any cards to cast, the cascade ability is worthless. Having enough card draw is also critical for effective use of Kellan, the Kid and it synergizes well with Capricious Sliver and Realmwalker or any other effect that cheats in spells like with Descendants' Path, Maelstrom Nexus, Conjurer's Mantle, Elven Chorus, The Prismatic Bridge
or Kindred Summons. On paper, Kellan, the Kid seems like an MVP card for the deck and I wish it was, but in reality I have yet to get it to work effectively. The deck needs significantly more card draw than it has to make it effective. I include Kellan, the Kid and Averna, the Chaos Bloom in my deck for casual play because I like the cards and really want them to perform, but in reality they generate minimal advantage that happens too late in the game to be of any real benefit.
3) One often overlooked ability is Scry* or similar abilities that let you see or manipulate the top card of your library. Cascade is much more effective knowing what spell you are going to cascade into. Congregation at Dawn is especially powerful because it lets you tutor specific creatures in your deck and cascade chain them into the game. My favorite spell for determining the top card of your library is Realmwalker, because it is a Sliver that lets you look and play the top card of your library. Brainstorm is also effective in cascade chaining your Slivers into the game.
Sliver Synergies:
1) Bonescythe Sliver gives doublestrike and synergizes with Capricious Sliver (the exile is mandatory), Brood Sliver, and Synapse Sliver to trigger twice.
2) Crystalline Sliver will block Crypt Sliver due to shroud, but Sedge Sliver regenerate will still work.
3) Essence Sliver and Syphon Sliver both stack lifegain.
4) Hatchery Sliver (considering section) requires you to pay the optional Replicate cost when you cast the spell. You can use Replicate when cascading as each spell resolves.
5) Harmonic Sliver is a mandatory destruction so you will destroy your artifacts if you do not have another target. The Darksteel Mutation is a great target since it makes the creature you attach it to an indestructible artifact to keep you from destroying your own artifacts/enchantments. The Darksteel Ingot and Darksteel Citadel are other possibilities.
6) Many Slivers, Gemhide Sliver for example, give abilities to all Slivers, not just yours, so they will buff your opponents Slivers or Changelings/Shapeshifters.
7) Psionic Sliver synergizes with Spiteful Sliver, Syphon Sliver, Essence Sliver, and Venom Sliver but not Toxin Sliver. BEWARE!!! Venom Sliver gives deathtouch damage so you will kill your Slivers unless you have Sliver Hivelord for indestructible or one of the slivers that give the regenerate ability.
8) Thorncaster Sliver synergizes with Venom Sliver (not Toxin Sliver) to destroy your opponents creatures before they declare blockers.
9) Taunting Sliver is a mandatory goad, so in 1v1, you will force your opponent to attack you. You can, however, goad the same creature that you previously goaded so that only one goaded creature attacks you.
10) Regal Sliver +1/+1 counters stack for each Sliver that you play until the end of the turn.
11) Amoeboid Changeling synergizes with Sliver Overlord to permanently steal your opponents creatures.
12) Constricting Sliver exiles only while on the battlefield, so the creature exiled is specific to each Sliver you cast afterward. I slip the exiled creature underneath the sliver that exiled it to help keep track. Exiled creatures stay exiled until the Sliver that exiled them leaves the battlefield even if Constricting Sliver is removed.
13) The best way to utilize Frenetic Sliver is in the event of a board wipe, Sliver death/removal or disabling ability like with Darksteel Mutation, or to remove a sliver that is giving an ability that you don’t want. At instant speed you can use the ability for free and have a 50% chance for the Sliver to return to the battlefield. What is even better is that it will get ETB (enters the battlefield) triggers when it does return. Just prioritize the order that the Slivers return to have Slivers with ETB abilities enter first in the order that you want.
14). Afflict ability from Lazotep Sliver is not combat damage and does not add to Commander damage.
15). Spiteful Sliver is a potential win condition with Blasphemous Act because you can deal 13 damage for each sliver to other players.
MVP Cards
These are cards that I recommend searching for if you draw a tutor card. These are not in any particular order.
Realmwalker, Roaming Throne, Sliver Overlord, Bonescythe Sliver, Crystalline Sliver, Magma Sliver, Shifting Sliver, Sliver Hivelord, Telekinetic Sliver, Ward Sliver, Darksteel Mutation, Phyrexian Reclamation, Spirit of Resistance, The Great Henge, Three Tree City
Final Thoughts
I originally built my Sliver deck in 2012 and it has been my primary deck ever since. I have tried to build it using as many Slivers (or Changelings) as possible. Most Sliver decks include many non-Slivers to compensate for the deficiencies that Slivers have. I have tested many out over the years, but I have not been impressed with most. In reality, Slivers are the "Swiss Army Knife" of magic and there is at least one for almost everything in the magic toobox. There are many more Slivers that I would love to have in the deck, but the reality is that most are nonessential or need too long to generate any real advantage. In evaluating each card in this deck, the criteria that I used was to include only those cards that I determined could generate enough value to potentially win the game within the next two rounds.
