The Sliver Hive

Last Friday the Premium Sliver Deck was released, and man i have been sooo giddy about it, i can’t wait for it to arrive(i was pretty quick to place a pre-order)! Now, i know there where a lot of naysayers out there *coughmedinacough* ;), but they are all nuts! Slivers never suck. Ever. Why? Because Slivers are friggin awesome Karona damn it! I get a shiver down my spine every time i think of all the carnage slivers would wreak on my deck back in the day. Back then i never played Slivers, because i was very “anti-establishment” and eh-eh-vrybody played slivers back then. But no! No more! Today, we build the epitome of a Sliver Hive—in the form of an EDH Deck. Now, i decided to use the the majority of the slivers from the Premium Deck for 2 reasons;

a.) They’re at this point easily acquired, and has some pretty damn good slivers to start off with.
b.) It feels appropriate.

But lets get started shall we?

[Disclaimer: while playing EDH Slivers will be epic, i do not take responsibility for the big, ginormous bullseye you will paint on your forehead for doing so.]

The Deck

As you can see its quiet the Swiss Army Knife, this deck has a creature for just about anything. The basic idea is to simply overwhelm your opponent, plain and simple… and probably very satisfying. Now initially i debated seriously whether i wanted to make Sliver Overlord the general, or delegate that role to Sliver legion. In the end i settled on the Overlord because it for one, felt more appropriate, and for two, he allows me to fetch any other sliver in the deck. Besides, if anyone ever dares to play slivers in their deck and make the fatal mistake of not using the Sliver Overlord as their General… Well, the Hive will simply assimilate them.

I also seriously considered tossing in a Hivestone but decided i wanted to go straight up the “We are the Borg, resistance is futile" route. And i mean, either you are Borg or you aren’t.

All Star Trek references aside, i already love the deck. While the Premium Slivers Deck was neat, I find this EDH deck represents the Hive-minded Sliver beautifully. Now, while it should be obvious why i added certain cards in (more Slivers, mana ramping cards etc.), lets inspect some of the other, perhaps not so obvious choices thrown into the Pot.

The Cards

Death Denied – This card is a personal choice more than anything. While i am aware Patriarch’s Bidding was probably better suited, i felt death denied fit to the theme more… If you have a hard time seeing how, just use your imagination—maybe the Sliver Overlord has some sort of necrotic power? Who knows, i know some of his Sliverlings do. But please feel free to edit the deck to your taste.

Nevinyrral's Disk – Any Elder Dragon deck should have some sweepers in it, and even though this isn’t any EDH deck removal i think is still a must. In most situations you will not want to sweep, in fact you are more likely to use Ghostway or Pulmonic Sliver to protect yourself about 90% of the time. Of course, if you happen to have your Crypt Sliver on the battlefield…

Heartstone – I kept the Heartstone in because the deck does still have a good amount of slivers with activated abilities in it, and being able to regenerate and fetch for less is always nice.

Riptide Replicator – Need more Slivers? Then fire up the Riptide Replicator! Not only did i feel it had some great utility, but it also fit with the theme rather well in that the Riptide Project has a rather… uhh… Colorful history with Slivers.

Liliana Vess – I know, i know it may seem like I'm going against my theme here but hear me out. Planeswalkers have had a history with Slivers and not only interacting with them, but sometimes even controlling them. Would Liliana Vess attempt to control and harness the power of Slivers? I’d say so. Theme aside however, she is still an immensely powerful tutor and recursion engine, both of which will come greatly in handy with so many creatures… The fact that i have a weakness for this card as of late has nothing to do with it!… mostly.

I really tried my best to keep the cost/value of this deck down, and make most cards as replaceable and accessible as possible because i know you(like me) probably aren’t rich, nor can you always get your hands on all of these babies—and yes i am calling them babies. Cards which i would recommend you add in if you ever get your hands on them are Mindbreak Trap, Gilded Lotus or Yawgmoth’s Will just to mention a few. Since i do not own any of them i obviously chose not to include. Some of you may also wonder why i did not include any proper counterspells (ignoring the possibility of Mindbreak Trap). The simple answer is that i simply do not like playing counter in EDH, its usually not fun for anyone. Of course, i may change my mind after some test playing(my premium deck should be here Wednesday). The cool thing about this deck i think, is that it really doesn’t need a lot beyond Slivers… and if you’re ever unsure of what to replace X card with that you plain don’t like, or you want to change it up a bit; Well, definitely can’t go wrong with another sliver, Kekekeke! And hey, if i get enough interest maybe I’ll post an updated version of this deck after some play testing a few weeks down the road.

So what more are you waiting for? Call upon the Hive and crush your friends with its ferocity!