*Counter Sliver (U/G/w)*

4 Crystalline Sliver

4 Muscle Sliver

2 Talon Sliver

4 Winged Sliver

4 Lay of the Land

4 Rampant Growth

2 Shackles

1 Story Circle

4 Opt

2 Counterspell

3 Exlude

4 Arcane Denial

8 Forest

5 Plains

9 Island

CounterSliver meets peasant magic. This was a hard deck to transform especially because access to dual lands is restricted. In order to compensate for the disturbed mana base, this deck starts with 23 lands(which are still too few). In addition it runs 8 green cards that will allow you to search for the specific land you need, Opt lets you draw a card and move deeper into the library, and both Exclude and Arcane Denial give you that extra draw and the chance to slow down your opponent. For a little more speed when finding the needed lands, I highly suggest playing Crop Rotation instead of Rampant Growth.

The counterspell component is short for this deck with only 9 counters. This means you will have to use them wisely. The strength of this deck is the utility of the creatures not the counterspells. Once your creatures start coming out they will soon grow and be able to match almost anything else on the table. Keep this in mind when you are counterspelling, you only need to counter really important threats. Also, against Red, remember that once the Crystalline Sliver comes out all of the direct damage will be directed at you so you should really save a few of those counters.

White is only included to provide the mana for the Crystalline Sliver. There are only 5 other cards that utilize White. The Shackles provide a little creature protection although you may consider going with either Hobble for the card draw. You could also drop the Shackles for more Counterspell, Mana Leak, Repulse, or if dexterous enough Chaos Confetti. Washout doesn’t make the list because by running 3 colors you are likely to do as much damage to yourself as to the enemy. If you are a very aggressive player, consider Empyrial Armor instead of Shackles. Don't reduce the number of plains below 4, however, as you will desperately need that White Mana for the Crystalline Sliver and for a mid or late game Story Circle. The Story Circle will protect you in those very desperate situations but keep in mind that you will never have much mana to power it with.

In the end, as with all Sliver decks it's the creatures that count. This deck goes slow as it builds but once two or three of the Slivers hit the table everything starts changing real fast. Don't worry if you have a few creatures out but you still have to stay defensive for a little while. As soon as that next Muscle Sliver or Talon Sliver comes out of the deck you are good to go. The Crystalline Sliver is also huge since it means that your Slivers are protected from Red's direct damage and Black and White creature removal.

The hardest thing for this deck, other than an opponent with too much speed, is Green Stompy. If you can sideboard for that match up take out the Crystalline Sliver in favor of more Counter Spell, Remove Soul, Time Ebb, Repulse, 4 Propaganda, another Talon Sliver, CoP Green, or Empyrial Armor. This last pick may sound odd, but Empyrial Armor allows your creatures to grow as big as the stuff Stompy can throw at you and it is the only chance of a relatively quick win once a Winged Sliver hits the table. If that Red deck has a lot of Direct Damage you may also have some problems. Wait until you can get out the Crystalline Sliver. Once you do, new problems start because, as mentioned before, all that direct damage will start coming your way. you will probably want to have saved the counter magic for this point in the game. Again if you can sideboard, CoP Red will be the most help, as will Blue Elemental Blast (and its cousins), tossing out the Talon Sliver and another card or two for some extra card drawing helps a little as well since those needed cards come out sooner. White and Black only really make this deck worry because of pumped Shadow creatures. Save your counterspells for these guys and Shackle them if you can.

This deck isn't even close to the original, but don't despair. The Slivers still have a lot to offer in the peasant format.

- chaps_man@hotmail.com