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Mattedesa's Deck Garage
G/W Sliver deck
May 15, 2007

Hi there

My story is as follows. I've been playing Magic since Odyssey and what I loved the most were Slivers, even before Legions. But I took a time away from the game since Kamigawa. Now that I return, I can see my Sliver deck is no longer legal (GWU deck). So after being delighted to see the Time Spiral Block brings back my beloved creatures I felt renewed. So I made these Standard deck (considering Future Sight
already):

Lands
6 [TSP] Plains
7 [TSP] Forest
2 [RAV] Temple Garden
2 [CS] Arctic Flats
3 [RAV] Selesnya Sanctuary

Creatures
3 [TSB] Essence Sliver
3 [PLC] Reflex Sliver
2 [TSP] Quilled Sliver
2 [TSP] Spinneret Sliver
4 [PLC] Sinew Sliver
4 [TSP] Sidewinder Sliver
3 [TSP] Fungus Sliver
2 [TSP] Might Sliver
3 [TSP] Watcher Sliver
4 [FUT] Virulent Sliver
2 [FUT] Lymph Sliver

Spells
4 [TSP] Search for Tomorrow
4 [9E] Rampant Growth

Sideboard
1 [TSP] Swamp
1 [TSP] Island
2 [TSP] Harmonic Sliver
2 [PLC] Necrotic Sliver
2 [TSP] Telekinetic Sliver
4 [TSP] Gemhide Sliver
3 [FUT] Homing Sliver

I've been testing the deck with some proxies and most of the times works well, while not all of my favorite cards come out every game it usually throws good enough things to win. The sideboard focuses on the things the deck is weak, destroying permanents or controlling the annoying ones. Still, I have one small problem, about 1 out of 5 or 7 games I have mana problems. While this is little it's still annoying.
Besides that I would appreciate any other improvement you would like to offer.

Thanks,
Pipen++


Well, Pipen, thanks for sending in your Sliver deck, and welcome back to the game! Sliver decks can be complicated to work with because there are so many different abilities, and they all seem so good! That said, let's see if we can't find the best combination of Slivers for you.

The first thing I noticed was that your main deck has only two colors.
This certainly makes mana fixing easier. I'm sure that's why you left Gemhide Sliver on the sideboard. Well, move him into the main deck.

Even if you don't need the multiple colors, the potential to accelerate into a 3rd turn Might Sliver is just too good to pass up.

To make room, drop the Rampant Growths. That makes for 4 more Slivers to leech off of each other's abilities!

Now that we have a little better mana fixing, I think we can afford to add a little black. Why black? Again, from your sideboard, I want to bring in Necrotic Sliver. This will give you a way to deal with (almost) anything that comes your way. "Destroy target permanent" is a strong line of text that you definitely want in your deck! I think the 2 Spinneret Slivers can come out for 2 Necrotics.

Next, I'd like to suggest one of the most annoying slivers to play against: Pulmonic Sliver. As a rare, he can be hard to come by, but it makes your slivers harder to block and even harder to get rid of. He's one of the few slivers that is worth 5 mana. Let's put in two of him to replace another 5 mana sliver who doesn't quite live up to his cost: Lymph Sliver. Absorb is a good ability, but with Slivers, you need the more offensive minded Pulmonic.

The Fungus Sliver is borderline to me. An opponent is usually going to just not block a sliver unless they can kill it. I was tempted to take out the Fungus Sliver, but I think we can leave it in there, but make their choice even more difficult by putting in a couple Frenzy Slivers. This way, they either take more damage (in addition to a possbile poison counter via Virulent Sliver), or they pump up your slivers. Isn't that fun! To do so, I would probably drop 1 Reflex Sliver (multiple instances of haste isn't useful) and 1 Essence Sliver (lifelink is wonderful, but life gain just isn't as important as damaging you opponent).

For your mana base, you probably need about 3 more black sources. If you have any Overgrown Tombs or Godless Shrines, those would be best, but I know as well as anyone that those are pricey and hard to come by. Second choice would be some other type of dual land (green black would be best to make sure you have the early green mana for mana
fixing) - even a couple of the bounce lands from Ravnica block. Take out a few basic lands for this.

As for the sideboard, I would increase your Harmonic total to 4, and drop the Telekinetic, Homing, and the lands. In their place, I would consider putting in some Poultice Slivers in case your opponent proves particularly good at killing your slivers. One of the problems sliver decks often have is that they play themselves out quickly and are decimated by a timely Wrath of God. If you find that this is often the case, you could side in a favorite card of mine: Ghostaway. This saves your entire army, ready to come back next turn! The last three spots could be filled with some card draw like Harmonize to help you keep going in case you find yourself going up against an opponent that's able to string you out into a long game.

Like I said at the beginning, there are 100 different ways you could go with this deck, and most of them would work well. This is just my suggestion of something to try - I think it will prove at least a small improvement:

Lands
5 Plains
5 Forest
2 Temple Garden
2 Arctic Flats
3 Selesnya Sanctuary
3 (green black dual of some sort)

Creatures
2 Essence Sliver
2 Reflex Sliver
2 Quilled Sliver
2 Necrotic Sliver
4 Sinew Sliver
4 Sidewinder Sliver
3 Fungus Sliver
2 Might Sliver
3 Watcher Sliver
4 Virulent Sliver
2 Pulmonic Sliver
4 Gemhide
2 Frenzy Sliver

Spells
4 Search for Tomorrow

Sideboard
4 Harmonic Sliver
4 Poultice Sliver
4 Ghostaway
3 Harmonize


Always be alert to what cards you are always glad to see and which cards usually sit there useless. Don't be afraid to make adjustments as you notice these things. You can be a much better deck doctor for your own deck than I can if you pay attention to how your games are won and lost, especially against the specific decks and opponents you most often play.

This was a fun one, Pipen. Let me know how it works out!

Thanks!

mattedesa