Pojo's Magic The Gathering news, tips, strategies and more!

Pojo's MTG
MTG Home
Message Board
News & Archives
Deck Garage
BMoor Dolf BeJoSe

Columnists
Paul's Perspective
Jeff Zandi
DeQuan Watson
Jordon Kronick
IQ
Aburame Shino
Rare Hunter
Tim Stoltzfus
WiCkEd
Judge Bill's Corner


Trading Card
Game

Card of the Day
Guide for Newbies
Decks to Beat
Featured Articles
Peasant Magic
Fan Tips
Tourney Reports


Other
Color Chart
Book Reviews
Online Play
MTG Links
Staff



120x90 Ad Space
For Rent!



BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
BG Sliver Deck - On a low budget
January 23, 2008

Not really peasant, just cuz I happened to find an Overgrown Tomb and
I'm keeping it! Other than that its like 3 uncommons total I think...

Introducing...

DISTURBED-POISONOUS-SLIVER-FIREBALL-TO-THE-FACE DECK

4 Gemhide Sliver
4 Virulent Sliver
4 Muscle Sliver
4 Mindlash Sliver
4 Spore Frog
3 Bone Shredder
3 Sakura-Tribe Elder

3 Disturbed Burial
4 Unearth
3 Last Gasp
1 Putrefy
1 Farseek
3 Fireball

1 Overgrown Tomb
8 Forest
6 Swamp
1 Mountain
3 Terramorphic Expanse

The concept started around having fun with Disturbed Burial and its
effects with Spore Frog and Bone Shredder. Originally, Sliver’s were
never a factor. My game-plan involved a lot more creature kill like
Last Gasp or Putrefy to keep the board clean until I had enough mana
to lock the board with Disturbed Burial/Spore Frog combo to have
infinite Fog effects. Then I’d slowly kill off with infinite Terror
from my Bone Shredders. I used Rampant Growth and Farseek to
accelerate my mana-base, at least that was the plan. Overtime I
started using Terramorphic Expanse and Sakura-Tribe Elders (especially
the Elders because they connect with the Disturbed Burials) instead of
Rampant Growths, but I kept in a Farseek in case I wanted to draw
out my Overgrown Tomb.

On recent consideration, I realized my weaknesses usually came in
being mana-screwed (not getting Disturbed Burials to run) and overall
getting beaten by faster aggro decks. That’s when I came up with
Slivers as an alternative. I figured a bunch of fast Slivers with
poison would do well against the aggro decks, plus the Gemhide Slivers
would pump my mana-base even more. So I played around with the deck,
dropped a Disturbed Burial and a Bone Shredder. I figured I should
focus more on Slivers early, and draw Bone Shredders and the like
later on when I needed them (if I needed them).

Finally, I looked around and saw (at least in the old version of my
deck) that most of my mana was out of my deck by the end, so I figured
I’d stick a mountain in, and add a few fireballs so that if nothing
else worked I could surprise everybody by straight damage to their
face for the unconvential win. C'mon, you have to admit, It'd be
hilarious!

That's my story, on to my problems:

(A) Not much money to be buying cards
(B) I’ve never actually play-tested the deck. It’s all hypothetical
(especially in regards to the Slivers and Fireballs because I don’t
have any of them yet). On paper I think it looks good and fun, but
often times there’s something I’m missing that I don’t realize. I’m
not sure what it is that Sliver-based decks find they are most
susceptible to, and I have a general lack of knowledge about what sort
of cards are actually out there in the magic world. That sort of
thing. I figured before I get the new cards I should see if there’s
not something I’m missing (on a budget still, mind you!)
(C) Need s a better name...or does it???

I'd like to keep it Green/Black, and I’d like to keep the Disturbed
Burial combo in the deck, just because its so fun. Other than that I'd
love to hear your criticisms and suggestions... even if it means you
don’t want the Fireball in... I can live with that... (sob)

I appreciate any and all help you could give,
Happy New Years and all that good stuff!
New Years may have been three weeks ago (which should give submitters a good idea of how long they can expect to wait to see their decklist make the site), but I appreciate the gesture all the same.  I also appreciate when a submitter goes into plenty of detail about his deck and its problems and idiosyncrasies.
 
This deck particularly seems to have a very interesting quirk.  As its current deck name implies, it's currently working on several independent yet concurring themes.  First, there's the Slivers.  Then there's the Disturbed Burial "combo".  And then there's the mana acceleration into game-ending Fireball combo.  Each strategy could likely stand on its own, and may make a better deck were they supported to the point of cutting the other two.  However, they also dovetail together very nicely.
 
The Sliver aspect is powerful, but gets a lot of support from the prescence of Disturbed Burial and Unearth, since Slivers are creatures, and opponents tend to like to kill them.  Disturbed Burial and Unearth are then strengthened by other small sacrificeable creatures like Sakura-Tribe Elder and Spore Frog.  And both these themes lend themselves well to the Fireball kill due to recurring Sakura-Tribe Elders and Gemhide Sliver.  So what to cut and what to add?
 
Well, when I see Virulent Sliver in a B/G aggroish deck, my first inclination is to add Frenzy Sliver.  A 1/1 with Poisonous 1 is no more effective than Savannah Lions-- less so since there are more ways to deal damage than poison and so the job a Savannah Lions starts, nearly any card can finish.  The job a Virulent Sliver starts, only another copy of Virulent Sliver can finish.  Now, if the Virulent Sliver got +1/+0 when it attacked, it would deal 2 damage every time it gave a poison counter and kill the opponent with damage just as fast as it poisoned.  In short, Frenzy Sliver is good.
 
And since this is B/G Slivers, I also have to mention Darkheart Sliver, who turns every dying Sliver into a farewell present of 3 life.  This also transitions well into the Disturbed Burial theme.
 
For that theme, I would first remove Bone Shredder on the grounds that even if you spend five mana a turn to bring it back, it's not great.  You could also add Pit Keeper, who serves double role of getting creatures back and... being a creature.  I also like Shrouded Lore in this deck, since you can get back creatures but not anything else.  Shrouded Lore can also be had on the cheap, so it won't break your budget.
 
Neither will replacing your Last Gasps with more Putrefies.  Seriously, Putrefy can just kill more creatures than Last Gasp can.  It also hits artifacts.  It's worth getting a few more of.
 
As for your strategy of adding in a single Mountain to support a few Fireball, I'm all for it.  Between Sakura-Tribe, Gemhide, and Terramorphic Expanse, you'll almost never have a Fireball in hand with no Mountain to cast it.  In fact, if I could think of a good blue or white X spell that would help you, I'd say add that too.  Maybe a lone copy of Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper could help your sacrificial lambs by leaving 3/1's in their place?  Or maybe you could throw in a Island alongside that Mountain so Garza Zol, Plague Queen could make a guest appearance just on merit of sheer awesomeness?  Heck, with your low mana curve, I almost want to say Foresee so you can refill your hand.  Don't go too crazy now, but think about it.
 
The only trouble with this "three-pronged attack" is that each card fits into at least one strategy, which gives me very little wiggle room in which to pull cards inf avor of all these ideas.  But really, that's a pretty strong compliment when the "problem" with your deck is that there aren't any bad or unnecessary cards in it.  You're off to a fine start here, and I have a good feeling about this deck wherever you take it.
 
Finally, for a new name, I'm sort of fond on "The Gangrene Machine".  But that's a matter of personal preference.
 
Good luck!
 
~BMoor


  


 

Copyright© 1998-2008 pojo.com
This site is not sponsored, endorsed, or otherwise affiliated with any of the companies or products featured on this site. This is not an Official Site.