New Commander Masters Cards Introduce Powerful Typal Payoffs!

Commander Masters has given us a lot of interesting spoilers so far. The set is definitely on the more expensive side at the moment, but has given a decent chunk of cool and pricey reprints for players to get excited about. Today, however, we get to take a look at a group of new cards just recently previewed. Each of these cards is from the Sliver Swarm Commander deck. As you might have guessed, these preview cards all fit well into a deck full of Sliver Creatures, but some of them also have cool uses elsewhere as well. Let’s dive into each of the new cards from the Sliver Swarm Commander deck and see what’s in store!

Sliver Gravemother

Sliver Gravemother is the face card and the Commander for the Sliver Swarm Commander deck. The card is very interesting, essentially allowing you to exile Slivers from your graveyard and get token copies of them attacking each opponent. The downside is that these tokens only stick around until your end step, and doing so requires paying the same amount of mana (though notably, this does not require the same colors to be spent) as casting the card normally.

What’s super cool though is that, because the Sliver tokens attack each opponent, triggered abilities resulting from these tokens either entering the battlefield or dealing combat damage to opponents can trigger multiple times. Any bonuses given to other Slivers count multiple times too, so using Encore for a to bring back a card like Megantic Sliver can make your whole team massive in a multiplayer game. Sliver Gravemother also works super well with a couple new Slivers too.

Finally, the Gravemother itself also has Encore, meaning that this card represents more value than it may appear to. After the Gravemother inevitably dies to a piece of removal, you can send it to your graveyard instead of the Command Zone. From there, you can Encore the Gravemother to get some damage in on your opponent. The Encore itself should allow you to place Sliver Gravemother in the Command Zone afterwards since its moving zones.

Taunting Sliver

Taunting Sliver is a card that works very well with Sliver Gravemother. In a multiplayer game, using Encore will create multiple triggers thanks to Taunting Sliver. Goad is a unique ability that helps make sure opposing Creatures don’t attack you and attack someone else. This makes it easier to both connect in combat with your other Slivers and also not take a big chunk of damage on the crackback. If you plan on going super wide with Slivers, especially with cards like Sliver Queen that produce a lot of tokens, this is a solid addition.

Capricious Sliver

Capricious Sliver works decently well with Sliver Gravemother and Encore. Every Sliver you control that deals combat damage potentially gives you card advantage. You only get a one turn window to play these cards, so it’s difficult to go too crazy. Still, with lots of mana and a big board, it’s easy for your board presence to spiral out of control. Also, because you can play the card, not just cast it, this card helps you hit your land drops more consistently. This is another solid addition for any deck looking to go wide with Slivers.

Things to note with Capricious Sliver is that its ability is a mandatory one. This means, whether you like it or not, dealing combat damage with Slivers will exile cards off the top of your library. If you cannot play them, they will be lost to the abyss forever.

Regal Sliver

Regal Sliver is a sweet card. First, for a deck full of Slivers, it helps guarantee that you not only can become the Monarch but that you can maintain it as well. Even if your opponent takes the Monarch from you, you can simply play another Sliver rather than have to worry about attacking them. Additionally, if you are already the Monarch, every Sliver that enters will buff your whole Sliver team. This is yet another Sliver Creature that works well with Sliver token production.

Hatchery Sliver

Speaking of tokens, Hatchery Sliver is a great way to produce a wide board of Slivers. First off, this card is only two mana and has Replicate itself. This means it’s quite each to make a bunch of copies of this card, which can generate lots of triggers from cards like Regal Sliver or Taunting Sliver. Then, future Slivers you cast also have Replicate. This works best with cheap, non-legendary Slivers, letting you maximize Replicate and end up with multiple copies of each Sliver you cast. Interestingly though, if you have Sliver Gravemother in play, even legendary Slivers work well with Replicate, thanks to the “legend rule” clause on Sliver Gravemother.

Lazotep Sliver

Lazotep Sliver has two very relevant abilities. First, each Sliver that gets blocked causes the defending player to lose two life. Again, if you plan on going wide with Slivers, this can be a pain for the opponents, since they take damage whether they block or don’t block. Likely the most impactful part of the card, though, is that any nontoken Sliver dying allows you to Amass Slivers two. One of the biggest problems for go-wide Creature decks like Slivers can be facing board wipes, and Lazotep Sliver does a decent job at making sure you are left with a sizeable Creature after a sweeper.

Rukarumel, Biologist

Rukarumel, Biologist serves a few potential roles for Sliver decks. First of all, it allows you to utilize Creatures of other types in your Sliver deck and still have them function as Slivers, so long as you choose Sliver as your Creature type of choice as Rukarumel enters the battlefield. Not only will this allow non-Sliver Creatures to receive the bonuses from Slivers like Capricious Sliver, but you can then even use a card like Homing Sliver to search for non-Sliver Creatures! Rukarumel can also provide a unique way of combing Slivers and another Creature type into one deck if you choose for Rukarumel to be your Commander. There’s a lot of creativity available with this card, so definitely try to think outside the box. Slivers are not the limit.

Titan of Littjara

Titan of Littjara is a very cool card. Most notably, it does a good Distant Melody[/tooltlips] impression whenever it enters the battlefield or attacks. For a deck like Slivers that is focused on one Creature type, this card can draw a LOT of cards. However, this card is not limited to Slivers. You can choose the Creature type as Titan of Littjara enters the battlefield. Feel free to throw Titan of Littjara into your Merfolk deck or Edric, Spymaster of Trest Elf deck and reap the rewards.

For the Ancestors

For the Ancestors can provide a nice piece of card advantage for decks like Slivers that are built around a specific Creature type. This card is simple, but still quite effective. Looking at six cards is a lot, and will often draw three or more cards. This card even has Flashback, and at only three mana up front and four mana to Flashback, For the Ancestors should be a decent card for any Creature tribal deck.

Descendants’ Fury

Last but not least, we have Descendant’s Fury. This card provides a cool way for Creature decks with lots of Creatures that share a type to essentially “polymorph” small Creatures that deal combat damage into something else. This can help replace small Creature tokens with bigger monsters. Because the revealed Creature from Descendants’ Fury enters the battlefield without needing to be cast, this card can provide a big mana advantage over time.

Descendants’ Fury can also be used a little differently, where if you can create Creature tokens of a specific type but only put one or two enormous Creatures of that type in the deck, the card can be used more like how Indomitable Creativity is used in Pioneer and Modern.

For example, if you can generate Eldrazi tokens without the use of Eldrazi Creatures, you can put one copy of a huge Eldrazi into your deck and put it onto the battlefield with Descendants’ Fury’s ability guaranteed. These Commander cards are very cool new additions, and it will be cool to see how players end up utilizing them.