Pre-Constructed Deck Review 

Sliver Shivers
Rating:  3 to 5 out of 5 (depending on modifications)

And here it is, by far the most popular Pre-Constructed (Pre-con) deck we presently have in stock.  Even though Sliver Shivers can go for twice the price of other decks, we still invariably sell out of this deck before the others.  Before taking the time to review it, I kind of wondered if it was really worth all the attention it is receiving.  While it is an interesting deck, I still think the Zombies Unleashed deck is better before altering. 

But I believe the reason this Sliver deck is so popular is because it has 2 nice Sliver rares in it, and people are using it as a base for building an even better Sliver deck.  Sliver Queen has doubled in price since Legions was announced, and for good reason. A well put together Sliver deck is insanely good, and a ton of fun to play, especially with some of the other Tempest and Stronghold Slivers in so you can build your own monsters.  

Let me give you the deck listing, and then we'll go over some of the cards:

#	Name	Rarity	Cost
4	Quick Sliver	C
1	Root Sliver	U
1	Brood Sliver	R
4	Plated Sliver	C
1	Essence Sliver	R
3	Ward Sliver	U
3	Mistform Dreamer*	C
3	Shifting Sliver	U
1	Crown of Vigor*	C
2	Explosive Vegetation*	U
2	Tribal Unity*	U
4	Pacifism*	C
2	Akroma's Blessing*	U
2	Mage's Guile*	C
7	Forest*	L
9	Plains	L
5	Island	L
2	Lonely Sandbar*	C
4	Secluded Steppe*	C

Here's what this deck, as is, will give you if you got all of your Slivers on the board at the same time:

An uncounterable, 1/1 token making, +0/+1, life gaining, pro (insert color here), can only be blocked by Slivers, instant speed Sliver. The question is, is that good enough?  For one thing, you have to have at least one of each to get there. That's a lot of work and time. Are you still alive at that point? I'm kind of doubting it.

The qualities that this build gives you just aren't that amazing. Let me go over them:

Slivers:

Quick Sliver - Playing your Slivers at instant speed can make for some cool tricks. But let's be real here... which of these slivers is just so awesome that it would make a huge difference if it came down at instant speed?  Most of the stuff would be in the hopes of saving your hide, in which case you're not doing so well in the first place.

Root Sliver - Uncounterable is often useless maindeck, and much more realistic as a sideboard option. Blue just ain't a big worry in today's metagame.

Brood Sliver - This is the star of the show here. Nice rare, and a great addition to a sliver deck. There's a lot to be said for putting 1/1 Sliver tokens into play for whenever a Sliver deals damage. Nice. I know it's a rare, but if you can, add more of these to this deck.

Plated Sliver - Sorry, just not worth the maindeck slot. If you're worried about Engineered Plague, maybe it's a sideboard card. Maybe. Doubt it.

Essence Sliver - While Life Gain is fun, beating your opponent senseless or removing their creatures is better. Keeping to the original cards, it's a keeper, but you need more of these if you want to be sure to see them.

Ward Sliver - Pro is good, but this guy costs an awful lot for a constructed deck.

Shifting Sliver - This guy has really good potential and is one of the better cards in the deck. And there's 3 of them, so there's a decent chance you will see it. You may want to add a 4th if you have a slot open.

The Rest:

Mistform Dreamer - This guy must have been included to give you a flying offense or defense. I guess it's okay. You may want to sideboard him if your typical metagame doesn't include flyers or necessitate evasion.

Crown of Vigor - Pfft. Not worth the slot.

Explosive Vegetation - Fairly important as a mana smoother to get the land color you need and as a deck thinner. Consider adding more.

Tribal Unity - Nice trick! Save a creature from burn, pump an attacker or blocker, use it as a kill shot.  Really useful in tribal decks.

Pacifism - Mute threats you can't handle. See Akroma's Blessing.

Akroma's Blessing -  Nice card. Seems like it's just thrown in here though to take up space.  Doesn't really have any synergy with the Sliver theme.

Mage's Guile - See Akroma's Blessing.

And there you have the build as is. If you want to modify it a bit, take out the Root Slivers, the Crowns, the Plated Slivers, and anything you don't think will apply to your local metagame.

Add in more: Brood Slivers, Essence Slivers, Shifting Slivers, Explosive Vegetations, Tribal Unity. Even with those changes, I still don't think this deck is nearly as good as it could be. That being said:

Honestly, I think the Black Slivers would give much more bang for the buck here. I'd probably exclude the white build to do so. While Essence Sliver makes a good Timmy build (life gain), the Black Slivers are pretty evil. I'll go over the black I'd add so you can see the difference:

Toxin Sliver - This is a rare black Sliver, 3B for a 3/3. "Whenever a Sliver deals combat damage to a creature, destroy that creature. It can't be regenerated."  Nice! Makes your opponent think twice about blocking it... but then, what great synergy with Brood Sliver!!!  If they DON'T block it, it makes a Sliver token.  They're damned if the do, and damned if they don't!

Spectral Sliver - 2B for a 2/2. All Slivers have "2: This creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn."  Pumping your choice of Sliver is a good thing.

Crypt Sliver - 1B for a 1/1. All Slivers have "T: Regenerate target Sliver." Okay, now think about the synergy this guy has with Toxin, Spectral, and Brood. Things start to escalate out of control for your opponent at this point.

So consider removing white completely, and adding black, including multiples of all three of the black Slivers. If you have space, add some blue Synapse Slivers too, which will let you draw cards. Card advantage wins games.

WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
You have this great deck now, but one thing you have to be leary of. If someone is playing Mistforms against you, they can make their Mistforms into Slivers and those creatures will have all the attributes that your Slivers give, so be thoughtful and careful.

Sliver Shivers has good potential as a pre-con.  It's main advantage over most other pre-cons is that it is a good base that can be modified into a great build.  It's disadvantage is that it will cost you a bit to do so.

Important!  Be sure to keep your deck right at 60 cards. When you add a card, remove a less useful one from your deck. The smaller your deck, the more it increases your odds of drawing a good card.

Compared to other Precons, I'd rate this one a 3 out of 5 as is, a 3.5 when modified within color, and 5 when modified with Black.

Remember that you can also go outside of the cards used here by Wizards, as I did by subbing in black for the white. You can use the Pre-cons as a base for a deck, and then add some of your favorite stronger cards that you feel will be helpful. Remember not to stray too far away from the focus or theme of a deck, as that will generally weaken it.

Most of all, have fun with it!  Be constantly on the lookout for cards that you can add to your deck to make it better. If you are a good trader, you should be able to do it all for a small investment, and eventually have a much improved deck!

For those of you that are interested in the list of Precons, you can check them out here: www.ShuffleAndCutGames.com. That will give you an idea of the different decks available and their pricing.

Until next time...

 ~ Christine

www.ShuffleAndCutGames.com