Five Color Slivers has long been a controversial archetype in EDH. Regardless of which potent legend you decide to have at the helm, this archetype is capable of putting immense pressure on the opponent and generating tons of value in the process. Still, as well-suited as this style of deck is for bracket 4, none of the Sliver Commanders have made much of an impact in the competitive scene.
Bizarrely, these Sliver Commanders are capable of crazy combo sequences even if there aren’t any other Slivers in the deck. This may seem incredibly unintuitive, but a new take on The First Sliver focuses on the Cascade mechanic itself.
Tibalt’s Trickery Meets The First Sliver
At first glance, this Duel Commander deck may look completely bizarre. After all, the deck features a whopping 66 lands, and nearly every card in the maindeck costs six or more mana. This is all by design, however, as the deck has a very specific goal in mind.
By playing The First Sliver in the command zone, you have consistent access to a Cascade trigger. The way this archetype is constructed, the only spell you can possibly Cascade into with The First Sliver is Tibalt’s Trickery. With The First Sliver still on the stack, Tibalt’s Trickery can counter your Commander and enable you to cast something enormous from your deck.
While some of the cards in your deck are game breaking bombs like Emrakul, the Promised End or Atraxa, Grand Unifier, others are simply Cascade spells that cost six or more mana. If you hit a Cascade spell, eventually, your chain will end when you reveal Creative Technique, which is your only five-drop. Thanks to this spell’s Demonstrate ability, you’re guaranteed to get two more spins to put some huge bombs into play.
Even though this line of play is a bit convoluted, it’s extremely consistent since you have access to The First Sliver every game. Many opponents will struggle to deal with your initial wave of haymakers, regardless of which ones actually end up in play. Some combination of cards such as Maelstrom Wanderer and Stormscale Scion will even let you end the game the same turn you jam The First Sliver.
Resiliency and Speed
Beyond the deck’s reliable gameplan, it’s also a bit more resilient than you might expect. Obviously, there will be games where your opponent is able to counter your Commander and blank Tibalt’s Trickery. The good news is that this doesn’t completely foil your gameplan, since you can always hard-cast any of your other Cascade cards.
Because Demonstrate is a triggered ability upon casting Creative Technique, once you Cascade into that spell, your opponent will need multiple extra pieces of counter magic to stop both copies from resolving. If you aren’t under a ton of pressure, you should eventually overwhelm your opponent’s range of disruption.
Where this deck can run into issues is against fast aggro or combo starts, but even then, you have lands like Geothermal Crevice and Hickory Woodlot that can help you cast your Cascade spells early. Unfortunately, using these lands as acceleration does put you behind on mana in the long-term, so you’ll need to be careful.
This shell’s biggest weakness is facing down specific hate cards like Drannith Magistrate or Archon of Emeria that completely shut off your Cascade synergies. Even taxing effects like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben can sometimes buy your opponent enough time to cross the finish line. Given how popular Mono-White Phelia and Mono-White Cloud decks are, playing The First Sliver is risky.
On the flip side, however, The First Sliver lines up well versus midrange archetypes that are heavy on cheap removal spells. So, depending on the metagame you expect, The First Sliver could make for a decent metacall.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew!