[Deck] Countersliver (MeatHooks)

[Volt]

Legacy Countersliver

"Slivers are evil and slivers are sly; And if you get eaten, then no one will cry." - Mogg children's rhyme.

A Brief History of Countersliver (or "Back in the Day...")
In 1999, Chris Senhouse and his team shook up the Extended format by garnering several top 8 PTQ berths with their “House of Slivers” creation, which was basically a port of the well-known Type 2 Countersliver deck. Employing the ever-potent trio of Crystalline, Muscle and Winged Sliver as his primary win condition, Senhouse filled out the rest of the deck with counterspells, card-drawers and utility spells. The deck was well-equipped to handle the powerhouse Extended decks of the time, with Crystalline/Worship lock to frustrate Sligh, countermagic to thwart High Tide combo and countermagic + disenchants to combat Necropotence. While Senhouse's initial version ran just three colors (UWG), the deck eventually evolved (with the help of other deck innovators) into a 4-color variant with black for Hibernation Sliver, Duress and most importantly, the overpowered (and now banned) Demonic Consultation. Countersliver continued to have good success until mid-2000, at which point it fell out of favor due to shifts in the Extended metagame. Once the Revised dual lands rotated out of Extended in 2002, the Countersliver archetype rotated out with them.

Put out to pasture in the Legacy format, Countersliver languished in obscurity for several years, barely played, but not quite forgotten. Around 2006, it reemerged as "MeatHooks," a moniker derived from the pointy appearance of the sliver appendages. Though it was never considered a Tier 1 power, it managed to gain some traction in the metagame for a while. Employing Plated Sliver alongside the usual cadre of Crystalline/Muscle/Winged, the deck's primary appeal was that it was very strong against Goblins, which was considered the strongest deck in the format at the time. However, nothing lasts, and it wasn't long before Goblins began to fade from power. As Goblins receded from prominence, Countersliver began to lose relevance. At the center of this was WotC's commitment to printing increasingly powerful creatures, such as Tarmogoyf. As individual creatures became stronger, more efficient, and fully capable of winning games on their own, the hive strategy of slivers became less and less enticing. However, WotC wasn't done with slivers, and with M14 and M15 came a batch of new sliver cards for us to play with. M14 was particularly bountiful, providing highly useful new slivers in the form of Galerider, Predatory, and Syphon. Combined with the printing of Cavern of Souls and Sliver Hive to bolster a traditionally fragile manabase, there may now be enough tools to breathe life back into this dormant archetype.


Building Countersliver
Any good Countersliver deck starts with blue and white, because Crystalline Sliver. Then you add green to give the deck the muscularity that it needs. You could stop there and have a potent countersliver deck. However, many would argue that the best version of the deck is UWGB, with black being added for access to Hibernation Sliver and Syphon Sliver. Below, I have provided some sample deck lists:

Bant Hooks (Uwg)
4 Crystalline Sliver
4 Sinew Sliver
4 Muscle Sliver
4 Predatory Sliver
4 Galerider Sliver
2 Phantasmal Image

4 Mutavault
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Sliver Hive
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Tundra
1 Tropical Island
1 Island
1 Plains

4 Aether Vial
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
2 Standstill
1 Swan Song
1 Ponder
2 Swords to Plowshares

Patraw Countersliver (Uwgb)
4 Crystalline Sliver
4 Hibernation Sliver
4 Sinew Sliver
3 Muscle Sliver
4 Predatory Sliver
4 Galerider Sliver
1 Winged Sliver

4 Aether Vial
2 Relic of Progenitus
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze

4 Mutavault
4 Cavern of Souls
3 Sliver Hive
3 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Tundra
1 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Island

Cup O' Slivers (Uwgb)
4 Crystalline Sliver
4 Hibernation Sliver
4 Galerider Sliver
4 Muscle Sliver
4 Predatory Sliver
4 Sinew Sliver
3 Syphon Sliver

4 AEther Vial
4 Force of Will
3 Chalice of the Void

4 Mutavault
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Sliver Hive
2 Ancient Ziggurat
4 Flooded Strand
1 Island
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea

Volt's Suggested Build (Uwgb)
4 Crystalline Sliver
4 Hibernation Sliver
4 Galerider Sliver
3 Sinew Sliver
4 Predatory Sliver
3 Muscle Sliver
3 Syphon Sliver

4 AEther Vial
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
2 Ponder

4 Mutavault
4 Cavern of Souls
3 Sliver Hive
3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
1 Island
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea

SIDEBOARD:
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Containment Priest
1 Echoing Truth
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Harmonic Sliver
1 Hydroblast
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Pithing Needle
1 Rest in Peace
1 Submerge
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Vapor Snag

Optimizing the Manabase
You should have 15-17 lands that produce or fetch color. This includes basics, duals, fetches, Caverns, and Hives. Then you can add any number of Mutavaults (highly recommended) and Wastelands (optional) that you want on top of that. Typically, the deck runs 20-21 lands, altogether.

Cavern of Souls: An absolute godsend for this deck. Makes your slivers uncounterable. Play 4 if you got em. If you don't got em, get em. They're too good.

Sliver Hive: Another boon to your manabase, in that it's a painless City of Brass for casting slivers. You will rarely have an opportunity to use the secondary ability, but that's okay.

Mutavault: A land that becomes a sliver? Yes please. Make room for 3-4.

Wasteland: Combines well with Aether Vial, denying your opponent mana while you use Vial to cheat your slivers into play. That said, Mutavaults should be preferred, and it's difficult to make room for both. Maybe a 3-2 split if you just gotta.

basic lands: Always include a basic Island. This will often be the first land you fetch in the face of Wastelands. Island + cavern/hive casts every 2cc spell in the deck. If you're playing Bant Slivers, I would also recommend including a basic Plains. Never a basic forest, though.


Automatic Maindeck Cards
Aether Vial: Great for color-fixing and combat trickery. Also largely invalidates your opponent’s Counterbalance-Top strategy. Automatic 4-of.

Crystalline Sliver: The backbone of the deck and still the best sliver ever printed. Listen to your opponent groan as Crystalline comes into play. Automatic 4-of.

Hibernation Sliver: For the 4-color variant, of course. Provides resilience to Terminus and Wrath effects. Can also serve as a poor man's Crystalline, allowing individual slivers to dodge spot removal. Unfortunately, the M10 rule changes put an end to the "damage on the stack" trickery that was arguably Hibernation Sliver's greatest quality. Still, the ability to declare a block, then bounce the sliver back to your hand before damage is assessed can be quite useful. Not only when dealing with large goyfs and the like, but also when dealing with creatures equipped with Umezawa's Jitte.

Sinew Sliver/Muscle Sliver/Predatory Sliver: Make your slivers beefy! Start with 4 Predatory, then fit in as many Sinews and Muscles as you can.

Galerider Sliver: The coup de gras. Break stalemates by flying over your opponent’s creatures or Moat effect.

Mutavault: A perfect addition to the deck. Provides colorless mana when needed, and becomes a 2/2 sliver when activated. The fact that it's colorless can come in handy against Mother of Rune shenanigans, or if you need to block a Progenitus in a pinch.

Brainstorm, Force of Will: These are Legacy staples for good reason.


Cards Worth Considering for Maindeck
Chalice of the Void: A bit of an experiment at the moment, but Merfolk has had some success with this plan. The idea is to swap out Brainstorms for Chalices and shut off your opponent's 1cc spells.

Swords to Plowshares: Used to be an automatic 4-of, but the times have changed. More and better slivers have been printed, and it has become reasonable to play fewer Plows or forgo them altogether.

Daze: Used to be considered a very important card in the deck, largely because it helped with sticking turn 1 Aether Vial and turn 2 Crystalline. Its value has diminished with the printing of Cavern of Souls, which makes your opponent's countermagic irrelevant. Also, as Caverns, Hives, and Mutavaults have pushed islands out of the manabase, the odds of Daze being a dead card in your hand have increased. Still, it's an option.

Harmonic Sliver: A great answer for Affinity, MUD/Stax, and CB-Top decks. Especially effective when combined with Hibernation Sliver for bounce/recursion. Can be awkward when the only available target is your own Aether Vial.

Winged Sliver: Largely obsoleted by Galerider Sliver, but there's a valid argument to be made for wanting to play one as a 5th Galerider.

Syphon Sliver: Deserves very strong consideration for 4c builds. So strong that I nearly put this in the Automatic Maindeck Cards section. Giving all your slivers Lifelink will immediately change the complexion of many games. Races you were losing suddenly swing to your favor.

Dark Confidant: Might be viable with the inclusion of Syphon Sliver to offset the loss of life. However, it's probably just going to draw all that removal that would otherwise sit uselessly in your opponent's hand because of Crystalline/Hibernation.

Phantasmal Image: Best when copying a sinew/muscle/predatory sliver. It doesn't target, so you can copy any sliver, even with Crystalline in play. Can also copy your opponent's Marit Lage or other huge creature in a pinch.

Standstill: This is one of the few pure card advantage options available to this deck, which makes it attractive. However, care must be taken to only cast it in situations that are advantageous to you.

Envelop, Flusterstorm, Spell Pierce, Stifle, Swan Song: If you’re looking to squeeze more counter-magic into the deck, you should probably be looking at these spells. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, and I can’t definitively endorse one over the other, though the consensus is probably with Spell Pierce. Stifle combines well with Wasteland, if you're playing them. Envelop is great against most combo and Control decks. Spell Pierce is just generally useful, but it isn't a hard counter. Consider what kind of metagame you’re trying to combat and make your choice accordingly.

Pithing Needle: Common namings would include Pernicious Deed, Wasteland, Mishra's Factory, Sensei’s Divining Top, Karakas, Umezawa's Jitte, planeswalkers.

Ponder: Recent countersliver lists have gone away from this card. I think that may be a mistake, as it helps fix suboptimal draws. It helps you dig out of 1-land hands, find Crystalline early, then Syphon or Galerider.

Wasteland: Best when combined with Stifle and/or Standstill.

Duress, Thoughtseize: Reasonable choices if you’re playing 4c and looking for more proactive disruption. Thoughtseize is more playable in conjunction with Syphon Sliver.


Cards NOT Worth Considering for Maindeck
Path to Exile: Given that even Swords to Plowshares has been falling out of favor, it's hard to imagine playing this card. Perhaps as a sideboard card, to bring in against decks with no basics.

Necrotic Sliver: Paying 6 mana for a Vindicate is way too expensive.

Virulent Sliver: With 12 Muscle/Sinew Slivers available to us, you're almost always going to be able to kill your opponent with 20 damage before you kill him with 10 poison counters.

Umezawa’s Jitte: If only Crystalline Sliver gave Hexproof instead of Shroud. Ah well.

Counterbalance & Sensei’s Divining Top: At a glance, the mana-curve of Countersliver seems to work well with this strategy. The difficulty is that there simply isn't enough room to fit a decent suite of slivers alongside the CounterTop engine.


Sideboard Options
Extirpate, Surgical Extraction, Planar Void, Leyline of the Void, Tormod's Crypt, Relic of Progenitus, Grafdigger's Cage, Rest in Peace, Krosan Grip, Vindicate, Serenity, Harmonic Sliver, Syphon Sliver, Talon Sliver, Darkheart Sliver, Engineered Explosives, Engineered Plague, Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, Moat, Worship, Chill, Hydroblast, Blue Elemental Blast, Burrenton Forge-Tender, Stifle, Spell Snare, Spell Pierce, Annul, Divert, Misdirection, Flusterstorm, Steel Sabotage, Swan Song, Gilded Drake, Meddling Mage, Containment Priest, Runed Halo, Gaddock Teeg, Duress, Thoughtseize, Pithing Needle, Null Rod, Submerge, Mind Harness, Orim's Chant, Ensnare, Path to Exile.


How to Sideboard
This deck is built in such a way that you rarely want to take out more than 4-5 cards, so build your sideboard appropriately. Don't put 7 cards in your sideboard for one specific matchup, unless you know exactly what to board out for them.

Slivers are how you win. Avoid taking out more than a couple of them out when sideboarding, unless you're replacing them with other creatures, i.e. swapping out Crystallines for Ethersworn Canonists against certain combo decks. Which slivers you board out depends on the matchup. Sometimes Crystalline, sometimes Galerider, maybe a Muscle; just don't go crazy.

Dazes can come out for something better, especially if you're on the draw.

It's sometimes appropriate to side Swords to Plowshares out. Should be pretty obvious when.


FAQ
Q: Should I keep this 1-land hand?
A: Maybe. Generally, you want to throw back 1-land hands, unless you have an Aether Vial. If you have a Ponder and an island or fetch, that may be an acceptable keep as well. Be warned, however, that trying to work your way out of a 1-land hand with Brainstorm is not recommended. If you miss, you lose.

Q: What about creature tutors? Like Living Wish, or Eladamri's Call?
A: It's been tried. They're too slow.

Q: Merfolk does is better.
A: That isn't a question. I can tell because your voice didn't go up at the end. But, yeah, okay, maybe. What of it?

Q: What about red?
A: For what? Striking Sliver? Hunter Sliver? Lightning Bolt? Nah. Not worth it.

Q: What about this really awesome sliver that costs 4 or 5 mana?
A: Gosh, that's a really neat sliver, Timmy. Unfortunately, it's too slow and difficult to get into play. Even 3cc slivers are mostly unplayable, with Harmonic and Syphon being the rare exceptions.

Q: Slivers are the coolest!
A: Again, not a question. But yes, yes they are.


Matchups
Most of the following is based on second-hand reporting right now. Results are for a Uwgb list similar to the Patraw list above. I have only tested a handful of these matchups myself. I will update as I am able.

Bad: Storm, Mud, BR Reanimator, NicFit
50/50: Goblins, Sneak and Show, Elves, Infect, Burn, Canadian Thresh
Good: Reliquary Retreat, DnT, 4c Cascade, Merfolk, Miracle, Pox, BUG Delver


Tournament History & Proven Lists
Click here for results.


Credits
Chris Lennon (Volt)
James Hammer (Pinder)
Brian Crownhart (Maverick676)
John Thomas (xsockmonkeyx)
Gordy Goetz (Tosh)
Sam Blau (Kronicler)
and the rest of Team InfoNinja.

Also, special thanks to Kicks_422, who suggested 'MeatHooks' as an alternate deck name for Countersliver.


References & Additional Reading
The Secret Life of Slivers
A Sliver Story
Sliver Me Timbers
Sliver Anatomy
Prisoner of the Skep; or, How I Encountered the Slivers—and Lived to Tell the Tale!
Tales from the Crypt Sliver
Take the Sliver Quiz!
Sliver Pâté
This Hive is No Mos Eisley
A Sliver of a Chance