Slivers have amassed quite a list of abilities
to grant each other, but few if any of them
actually stack. Lifelink used to, but that got
rules update'd. So, multiple copies of a Sliver
are not too useful, except as another creature
to receive the bonuses. And since most Slivers
are just 1/1 or 2/2, you end up with several
creatures that aren't very threatening except
they can't really be blocked or dealt with
effectively.
Sliver Legion solves that problem-- now, not
only are all your Slivers massive, but each new
one is granting an additional +1/+1 on top of
whatever other ability they grant. Even
Changelings are now contributing to the army
instead of just sponging bonuses off of the
"real" Slivers.
Ever lost to Overrun or Craterhoof Behemoth? It
can be demoralizing. This is Overrun turned up
to eleven. Sometimes literally. I've actually
seen this card power a horde of Slivers through
for closer to twenty. What you want out of a
legendary Sliver is a dominating, game-ending
effect, and you can't ask for one that does so
more than this. It even provides you an
effective (though somewhat obvious) path to the
ever-elusive creature deck that's effective in
multiplayer.
Today's card of the day is Sliver Legion which
is a five mana and five color 7/7 that gives all
slivers +1/+1 for each other sliver in play.
This is very powerful, particularly with sliver
tokens, and is a frequent inclusion in five
color sliver decks as it has a dramatic impact
whenever it hits the field. It absolutely
requires support, though mana tapping with Haste
and Trample or evasion are almost always going
to be present in the deck.
In a Limited format with this it is a very
difficult card to utilize as it has five colors
and requires other slivers to be more than a 7/7
for five, though even one other is a noticeable
increase in value. In Sealed it can be
built around if there is enough support, but
running is problematic at best with anything
less than an excellent draw. For Booster
it has value as a rare draft, though slivers are
popular and drawing a pool for it depends on the
pod.
I'll confess, I've never built a Silver deck.
I've never been very attracted to them. I prefer
cards that cause you to be a little more
creative instead of just putting every card that
says "sliver" together in a deck. But if I was
going to build a silver deck, I would not put in
the Sliver Legion. Why? Two main reasons:
1) It costs 5 colors. While there are numerous
ways to get all the colors, it's still a
significant hurdle.
2) Its ability is overkill. A good sliver deck
is going to be playing a lot of early slivers
that build each other up. Once you get several
slivers out, they're going to be pretty big and
powerful already. They're either going to stop
you or they are not. Whether your slivers are
5/5 or 10/10 really doesn't make all that much
difference.
But sometimes, overkill is half the fun. We
don't tell stories of the time we had an
average, efficient kill of an opponent. We tell
stories of the time we had 150 goblin tokens out
and overran an opponent. We tell stories of the
3000/3000 Hydra we smashed someone with, or of
the time we had Vigor out and used a 60/57
Living Inferno to clear the board (I did that
one just last week). So, go ahead, make your
army of 27/27 slivers and have a great time.
It'll happen sometimes, but just as often, it'll
sit there and make you wish it was something
else. But as long as it works sometimes, we
don't remember the times it doesn't, do we?
