[Deck] GWB Slivers

[Mister Agent]

I have been working on a sliver deck of course I have not done any testing yet with the deck. I do not know how good or bad the deck's matchups are so to speak. I am just going to explain some card choices instead and get back to you on the most important matchups after I test.


Here is my GWB Slivers list upon Noobslayers request.


// Lands
3 [U] Scrubland
4 [ON] Windswept Heath
2 [MM] Swamp (4)
2 [IA] Forest (2)
2 [U] Plains (2)
4 [R] Bayou
2 [ON] Bloodstained Mire
2 [ON] Wooded Foothills

// Creatures
3 [PLC] Necrotic Sliver
2 [PLC] Sinew Sliver
4 [FUT] Tarmogoyf
2 [LE] Spectral Sliver
2 [LE] Plated Sliver
4 [RAV] Dark Confidant
3 [SH] Victual Sliver
3 [TE] Muscle Sliver

// Spells
2 [FD] Engineered Explosives
3 [B] Swords to Plowshares
1 [4E] Swords to Plowshares
2 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
4 [FE] Hymn to Tourach (2)
4 [7E] Duress

// Sideboard
SB: 2 [TSB] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 4 [UL] Engineered Plague
SB: 2 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte
SB: 2 [SOK] Pithing Needle
SB: 3 [PLC] Extirpate
SB: 2 [JU] Cabal Therapy

Main Card Choices:

Necrotic Sliver: I like its removal utility against the likes of threshold and also removing their pithing needles on either EE or top is a useful utility as well.

Tarmogoyf: I actually do not know why i would put him in here since I can not really maximize goyf's strengths like threshold or zoo but since he is the best green creature I will give him a shot.

Hymn to tourach: Mainly for control, combo, and aggro-control matchups.

Duress: Pretty much the same as tourach but can be quite more accurate.

Engineered Explosives: Mainly to fight off threshold and other aggro decks as well although I'd be careful when to use them.

Swords to plowshares: The best spot removal creature spell in magic.

Dark Confidant: Mainly for utility card draw which can be good for early and even late game.

Sensei's Diving Top: Same as Confidant except top does not add a clock to the deck. Top can also have fairly good synergy with 8 fetchlands in the deck. Although I am not sure how useful top will be on a consistent basis in this deck until I thoroughly test with it.

Sideboard Card Choices:

Tormod's Crypt: Mainly for ichorid bridge and cephalid breakfast.

Engineered Plague: Mainly for goblins and other tribal decks as well.

Umezawa's Jitte: Gives me more versatility especially against aggro and aggro-control.

Pithing Needle: Needle can be for manlands in landstill, Belcher, and also to stop aether vial.

Extirpate: For the control matchup and also for ichorid and breakfast.

Cabal therapy: Mainly for combo, control, and aggro-control such as fish and thresh.

Well that is it for now and if you have any suggestions they will always be appreciated. I will expand this first post after I do a lot more testing and when I have more time.

[noobslayer]

Wow. "Vindi-sliver" was one I missed. I'll edit this post shortly to contain my own list.

// Deck file for Magic Workstation (http://www.magicworkstation.com)

// Lands
4 [ON] Windswept Heath
3 [ON] Polluted Delta
2 [ON] Bloodstained Mire
1 [B] Swamp (2)
1 [B] Plains (3)
1 [B] Forest (2)
3 [B] Bayou
2 [B] Scrubland
2 [B] Savannah

// Creatures
4 [LE] Plated Sliver
4 [TE] Muscle Sliver
4 [PLC] Sinew Sliver
2 [PLC] Darkheart Sliver
4 [RAV] Dark Confidant
4 [FUT] Tarmogoyf

// Spells
3 [DS] AEther Vial
3 [B] Swords to Plowshares
2 [OD] Ghastly Demise
3 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte
4 [JU] Cabal Therapy
4 [US] Duress

// Sideboard
SB: 2 [TSP] Harmonic Sliver
SB: 2 [TSP] Krosan Grip
SB: 3 [SOK] Pithing Needle
SB: 4 [DK] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 4 [PS] Orim's Chant

I'm looking for some strong 3cc sliver options, to make the deck less vulnerable to Engineered Explosives at 2 and Spell Snare.

I also think because there is no Crystalline Sliver, Jitte is hot, and talon sliver would be great to work in here somewhere.

[Jaynel]

I'd go:

-2 Spectral
-3 Victual
+2 Sinew
+3 Darkheart Sliver

Why pay for abilities when you can have them for free?

[from Cairo]

3 [B] Swords to Plowshares
2 [OD] Ghastly Demise


/head_explodes

If running white and looking for 5x 1cc removal why would you not go 4 Swords + 1 w/e? Ghastly Demise will often be very good too, but any time you draw it and it can't remove the creature, I would be punching myself for not playing 4 Swords.

[VsTheWorld]

He IS running 4x Swords, but the copy/paste from MWS separated them into 3 Beta and 1 4E.

[noobslayer]

Actually I was running three. I did that to split my removal so I could work around Meddling Mage. It might not be the correct call, but Funk and I will be testing this to find out.

[from Cairo]

I would think Turn 1 Lackeys w/o you having a fetch to get gy count up, or Sutured Ghouls, or Dark Confidants, Mystic Enforcers, Nantuko Shades, etc would come up more than Meddling Mage chanting Swords.

Mage isn't in too many decks to begin with and most decks that run him have him for combo - they very well side him out or if he's on the SB wouldn't bring him in, etc. Mage may be more prevalent than each of those above instances, but when you add them up, plus w/e other black creatures or big creatures may get into play quickly, I think Swords is going to more likely than not be the better card.

[Mister Agent]

Actually I was running three. I did that to split my removal so I could work around Meddling Mage. It might not be the correct call, but Funk and I will be testing this to find out.

Yes we sure will. :) I will probably will be able to get alot of playtesting done and also expand the first post some probably sometime tommorrow.

@from cairo: I don't know about if meddling mage will be played less then those cards that you just named. I would think mage will still be played alot considering I could see quite a few thresh players play ugw thresh or even 4 color thresh as well as people using them in their landstill sideboards. Also meddling mage isn't just good against combo it's decent against alot of decks. I mean I would say that mage is as good as the player playing with the card imo.

[Lone Signal]

Here's a build I was testing some time ago:

http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5425&

I tried to maximize the strength of slivers by using Confidant+ draw engines and Vials to spit them out. Getting a lot of Slivers can attempt to keep pace with Goblins in terms of aggro, with Darkheart keeping life up from damage and Confidant, and Talon to do combats.

I liked the deck, personally. I just haven't used the deck much as I lent it to my friend and haven't gotten around to getting it back from him.

[Mister Agent]

Oh oops i didn't know there was already a GWB thread I think the mods should merge to two threads if possible. :)

[Lone Signal]

Well mine was pretty old, so.
But there's actually another BGW sliver thread I saw when I searched.

[Mister Agent]

Anyhow ive been doing some playtesting against ugr threshold for a few and so far its been doing somewhat okay as well as there were some games where I would flat out lose. I will probably do more testing soon as well.

Here is the list I am running.


// Lands
2 [MM] Swamp (4)
2 [IA] Forest (2)
2 [U] Plains (2)
4 [ON] Windswept Heath
4 [R] Bayou
2 [ON] Bloodstained Mire
2 [ON] Wooded Foothills
3 [U] Scrubland

// Creatures
2 [LE] Spectral Sliver
4 [RAV] Dark Confidant
3 [SH] Victual Sliver
3 [TE] Muscle Sliver
2 [LE] Plated Sliver
2 [PLC] Sinew Sliver
3 [PLC] Necrotic Sliver
4 [FUT] Tarmogoyf

// Spells
4 [FE] Hymn to Tourach (2)
4 [7E] Duress
3 [B] Swords to Plowshares
1 [4E] Swords to Plowshares
2 [OD] Ghastly Demise
3 [TE] Diabolic Edict

// Sideboard
SB: 2 [TSB] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 4 [UL] Engineered Plague
SB: 2 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte
SB: 3 [PLC] Extirpate
SB: 2 [JU] Cabal Therapy
SB: 2 [TSP] Krosan Grip

[thefreakaccident]

the list looks really strong... how in the world could you have a negative thresh MU... you have 23 creatures (who are all bombs basically), you have 8 discard, and you have 9 creature removal spells. I would see the matchup going the other way... I may be wrong though.

If it were me I would make the creature base look like this though..

4 sinew sliver
4 muscle sliver
3 necrotic sliver
2 plated sliver
2 darkheart sliver

I can see the pump sliver, but you will usually want to be using the mana for spells/creatures... The victual sliver may gain 4 life as opposed to 3, but it costs 2 mana to use when the darkheart costs nothing.

I like the deck so far though, good luck with it!

[Mister Agent]

the list looks really strong... how in the world could you have a negative thresh MU... you have 23 creatures (who are all bombs basically), you have 8 discard, and you have 9 creature removal spells. I would see the matchup going the other way... I may be wrong though.

If it were me I would make the creature base look like this though..

4 sinew sliver
4 muscle sliver
3 necrotic sliver
2 plated sliver
2 darkheart sliver

I can see the pump sliver, but you will usually want to be using the mana for spells/creatures... The victual sliver may gain 4 life as opposed to 3, but it costs 2 mana to use when the darkheart costs nothing.

I like the deck so far though, good luck with it!

Well probably the main reason is i tested this deck against thresh over mws and alot of the time mws would just give me either a whole bunch of discard with no creature removal or I will just get manaflooded oh well. :wink: Although it could just be me mispiloting the deck since I am essentially a really experienced control player.

Also thanks for the critique Robert and yeah the pump it slivers are just thrown in essentially and they seem to be win more then anything else and yes I will probably take them out for something more relevant.

[thefreakaccident]

well, I ran a build not too long ago.. it was designed behind a 8 vindicate.dec idea I had, but eventually just became sliver beats.

here is the deck.

lands//22
4 wasteland
4 scrubland
4 bayou
2 savannah
4 windswept heath
2 bloodstained mire
2 swamp


spells//16
4 duress
4 hymm to tourach
2 gerard's verdict
2 swords to plowshares
4 vindicate

creatures//22
4 necrotic sliver
4 sinew sliver
4 plated sliver
4 muscle sliver
2 darkheart sliver
4 dark confidant

basically you get the great advantage os essentially running 8 vindictes MD.

you simply throw what extra sliver you got at their important permanents, then go solid beatdown. You run pleanty of LD, if you choose to use it as such... so that's a bonus. this build would have a very good thresh MU I think. I only ran 2 swords MD, because that's all you need I think.

the sideboard looks like...


3 krosan grip
4 extripate
4 engineered plague
2 swords to plowshares
2 gerard's verdict

that's the list I tested with, but I have moved on from black almost entirely... I stick with blue for the most part.

[Nihil Credo]

the list looks really strong... how in the world could you have a negative thresh MU...
EE@2 pwns this deck, not unlike MeatHooks (but MH has more defenses against it).

[noobslayer]

EE@2 Owns meat hooks just as bad once resolved. The only difference is they get Spell Snare out of the board, and have countermagic. It doesn't count for anything though if they don't have those cards in hand. I know when I played threshold vs slivers at kadi's last tourney, EE was the first card I boarded in for that match-up.

[Mister Agent]

Yeah EE at two killed me big time when i was playing against thresh then the thresh player would play a tarmogoyf and 2 mongooses to close the deal. I think gwb slivers need a more variety of casting cost slivers to deal with EEs or running 3-4 pithing needles can help alot too heh. Not only does meathooks has the ability to play spell snares but they also can utilitze stifles to deal with EE when necassary.