Limited Lessons — U/W Slivers in TTP Draft

I have a friend at CMU who has the habit of constantly drafting odd Sliver decks. I say odd because I

consider the best Sliver deck to be base Green and splashing for good Slivers with the help of mana fixing,

while he consistently drafts White-based decks. Every time I’m in a draft with him I have to pass

late pick Sidewinder Slivers, and I know it’s going right into his deck (and he will certainly play

multiples). Since he’s had a pretty fair amount of success with the archetype, I talked some with him

about thoughts on specific cards and decided that there was enough information to throw together a drafting

guide on U/W Slivers. I considered writing more about 2HG, but for this week we’re back to regular

old TTP draft.

Important Commons

Watcher Sliver, Synchronous Sliver, Poultice Sliver, Sinew Sliver
These are the key Slivers in the archetype and their synergy should be fairly obvious when they are combined

in play. The funny part is that Sinew is probably the weakest of this entire group since it doesn’t

contribute to the “moving wall” of Slivers with vigilance and regenerate. Sometimes I strongly

consider splashing Spinneret Sliver in this deck as it’s very hard to lose if you combine it with the

above conglomerate. Another thing is that Poultice and Synchronous go very late in regular eight-man draft

so you can afford to try to table a Synchronous if there is a better card usually.

Momentary Blink
The primary goal of U/W is to control the board and eventually win with fliers or the army of Slivers.

There will always be a few key turns where you could be vulnerable after casting an important Sliver,

especially if you don’t already have Poultice online, and Blink ensures that you don’t lose your

important guys. I also like to play either Jedit’s Dragoons or Aven Riftwatcher in this deck, and

Blink has awesome synergy with those.

Castle Raptors
Once I get into the U/W Control archetype, my main concern is making sure I don’t lose through the

air. This is especially true in situations with multiple Watcher Slivers as the board will easily get to

the point that no creature without evasion is ever getting through for damage. It’s for this reason

that I’d take Castle Raptors over every White common even if it isn’t the best card in the

abstract. Some people could say I’m nuts for taking it over Scout now with Planar Chaos in the mix,

but again, I’m trying to fill the only real hole the deck has in terms of board control.

Temporal Isolation
The longer Time Spiral has been out, the more I’ve grown to hate this card. I still consider it

playable, but I actively look for things to take over it in a lot of situations. I can’t emphasize

how much I dislike it in this archetype as the game typically goes on forever and they will find a way to

bounce their guy, or worse, kill you with damage on the stack and their newly acquired Shadow creature.

Cancel
Yes, Jim, control decks like counter spells. This deck is no exception and I’d say this card is close

to a must have. By allowing the game to go so long by setting up this wave of Slivers, you’re

exposing yourself to any ridiculous bomb your opponent may have opened and also giving him plenty of time to

draw it. Akroma, Angel of Wrath may not see the light of day against an aggressive deck, but she’ll

certainly be coming out to play against you.

Sidewinder Sliver
As I said earlier, my friend loves this card. While I don’t think it’s 100% necessary,

sometimes you don’t have any fliers, and while the Slivers may be good at blocking, they aren’t

particularly great at getting through for damage after the board gets cluttered. This one is something

I’m willing to try more, as is Screeching Sliver for an alternate win condition.

Ivory Giant
One of the primary reasons I decided to write this article was because I’ve seen plenty people with

hodgepodge UW constructions that seemed confused all around. Certain cards like this one, Temporal

Isolation, and Temporal Eddy just don’t do enough in the control archetype and are usually better

avoided. If you’re looking for a Falter guy, please look no further than the card below this one.

Similarly, aggressive cards like Benalish Cavalry are usually mediocre in this archetype. Sure,

it’s still a playable guy, but it doesn’t contribute anything to the big picture of eventual

board domination that this deck is hoping to achieve.

Veiling Oddity
This is my Falter of choice in the archetype. The funniest part about it is that when he unsuspends into

play, you can attack for ten or something and none of your other guys even tap! When playing this guy, I

wouldn’t always suspend it on turn two unless I had a way to bounce it later so some interesting

judgment calls have to be made.

Jedit’s Dragoons
Built in vigilance? Wow. Don’t even have to have Synchronous in play for this bad boy. The main

reason I like him in the deck though is because sometimes a fast start will get you low on life before you

can lock down the game and then you don’t want to lose to burn or quick evasion. Synergy with

Momentary Blink helps and if he could only block fliers we’d be set.

Fortify
I’m really not sure how much I like this card in the archetype. There have been situations where it

was awesome and others where I wish it were just another dork Sliver. I think for now I’m content

running one copy if I have it, but not picking it highly or actively seeking it out. I’d much rather

have a Cancel since I’m not sure if you need this when you have complete control of the board.

Saltfield Recluse
I think it’s very possible that this guy is better than Sunlance, particularly in this archetype. He

stops evasion and makes it virtually impossible for your opponent to ever attack you. He also combos

with…

Merfolk Thaumaturgist
Watcher Sliver and Jedit’s Dragoons were never happier than when they saw this character on the Planar

Chaos spoiler. Again, this is a reusable effect that should be very strong in the long game and can shoot

down guys with Bewilder or Recluse.

Temporal Eddy
This card is noteworthy because it goes against what you are trying to achieve with this deck. You should

be able to push through with your Slivers with vigilance and regeneration anyway and your goal is not to

tempo someone out. I could see running this if you had literally no other bounce, but the problem with it

is that this deck is very slow and if you’re Eddying something problematic, it’s just going to

come out again next turn while you probably didn’t achieve anything important while said creature was

sitting on top.

Looter Il-Kor
The little guy has been getting a bad rap lately, with some people even saying they’d take Dream

Stalker over it! I certainly can’t agree in this archetype as he is a good source of a few damage and

also helps you set up the early game making sure that you don’t miss any drops and you find your

important Slivers faster. I’d still take Fathom Seer over this for sure, but Looter is something I

love to have in any control deck.

Notable Uncommons and Rares

Pulmonic Sliver
When I open this card, I consider it a reason to force this archetype. With this guy and Watcher

Sliver in play it is almost impossible lose to creature attacks and he also gives your whole team evasion

which is ridiculous when they don’t tap to attack or die. I don’t know what else to say except

that this guy is the nuts.

Essence Sliver
Almost as good and sometimes better than Pulmonic, if you have Poultice online then I’d like to wish

your opponent good luck in his future matches. Combine this with Psionic and you just might get to a triple

digit life total before your opponent dies.

Psionic Sliver
I really hope I don’t have to explain this one, as the combo with Watcher Sliver has been known since

Time Spiral first hit the shelves. I wouldn’t risk trying to table this guy, and I’d slam it

the moment I saw it in a pack.

Telekinetic Sliver
I suppose this would be one of the biggest reasons to draft the deck, as you can attack on your turn with

vigilance and then tap their side on theirs. Playing this guy early can also steal a cheap win by

manascrewing someone out if you have a critical mass of Slivers.

Quilled Sliver
Vigilance is good I hear.

Pongify
This is a good card in general, and amazing in the archetype. It deals with Dragons or other annoying bombs

with ease, and I can’t imagine anyone with a Watcher Sliver in play ever having trouble dealing with

an Ape token.

Candles of Leng
Another card that loses value in more aggressive decks as you have better things to do like, you know,

killing your opponent. When you’re sitting behind a fortress though, drawing two a turn starts to

seem like a very worthwhile proposition.

Magus of the Disk
I’ve had mixed experiences with this card but I love it for obvious reasons in this archetype.

Obvious reasons being that you can regenerate most of your squad or abuse this guy with Blue bounce spells.

Ixidron
If there was ever a bad card someone could play against you when you’re in this archetype, it’s

this guy. Akroma can be tapped by Telekinetic, or Pongified (not Red Akroma, obviously), and Dragons can be

dealt with the same way. I’m fairly certain though that if someone casts Ixidron after you’ve

extended a bunch of Slivers into play, you’re not winning that one.

As per usual, I’ve included a decklist to give you an idea of what the finished product looks

like.

I believe I played this deck to a 2-1 record, but it was a few weeks ago so my memory is a big foggy. I

love having a Calciform Pools and will happily run a Dreadship Reef since they are so good when the game

goes long (as it inevitably will). This deck was a little weak on the flying defense, which was the only

thing I didn’t really like about it, but Flickering Spirit helps a lot.

Conclusion
Remember too when drafting this archetype that splashing for something like Strangling Soot or Lightning Axe

is usually a good idea. The mana should usually be pretty flexible, as most of the Slivers have a lot of

colorless in their cost. If you don’t end up splashing though, I suggest something like Urza’s

Factory.

Overall, I think this is a pretty strong archetype in TTP and definitely something that skillful pilots

can make good use of. There are often a lot of interactions going on at once with all of the Slivers in

play and opponents tend to forget about something so if you are alert you can truly punish them for their

mistakes. Remember that the biggest hole in the deck is blocking fliers and if you address that you should

be in pretty good shape.

Nick Eisel
Soooooo on MTGO
[email protected]