Wait wait wait..... did somebody just screech: let's build a sliver mill deck! :D My inner johnny is just really tingling now :)
Tommy9898
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Like mindlash sliver I would only use it as a one drop. I've got bigger things in mind.
Gilder_Bairn
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(3 votes)
you guys are forgetting how many slivers it is possible to have on the field. Just leave them untapped to block, and then at the end of your opponents turn tap all remaining untapped slivers to mill for anywhere between 1 and 10 cards usually.
ZombiePyro826
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
One qucik question. If you have more than one of these in play, does it make each sliver tapped mill 2 cards per sliver or is it still one mill? o.o
Nathreet
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Zombie: It's a tap ability so all slivers gain the entire ability twice. Then you can choose to tap to mill 1 or... tap to mill 1. So it's still one mill.
Mudbutt_on
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Best use for this guy would be to mill yourself. Then bring out the recur and go to town :)
Superllama12
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Great for when you want to go into MILLSTONE MODE!!!!!
Trizeam
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I only have a sliver EDH deck so I don't really want this guy hahaha
sorin688
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
good low mana and I love his power
Imperialstonedragon
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
nah sliver tribal beats with overwhelming, not milling, cuz other mill cards are better
DoctorKenneth
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(3 votes)
Kind of surprised at you, Gatherites. At the time of writing, Cathartic Adept is rated higher than this. Neither are great, but at least the Sliver lends its ability to your entire team. Are you worried about it having less value in the mirror? Because if that's the case, this is probably the mildest effect I could lend my opponent. Hell, just by virtue of being a Sliver, this guy will be bigger and more badass than the Adept any day.
As for the card in question, milling is not really a sound Sliver strategy. Yes, you can get lots of Slivers into play (see esp Brood Sliver), but with Muscle Slivers, Sinew Slivers, poisonous slivers, Crypt Sivers, double-striking slivers, Gemhide slivers, only-blocked-by-slivers slivers, and Might Slivers, your creatures are almost always better suited to a more aggressive strategy. To make milling a threat here, you'll need about ten slivers, say. That's about 1/6th of the deck (a little more considering opening hand and subsequent draws)- which translates to about 3 damage a turn. If you have ten slivers out and can't do at least 3 damage a turn, there is something going horribly wrong. A plan C, at best.
Of course, that's why Spike hates this card. Johnny and Timmy are rather fond of it, and rightfully so. When your friend busts out his Ensnaring Bridge deck because he's just so sick and tired of your sliver rush, you can just smile and begin to ominously shuffle.
Edit (x2 for clarification): Scumbling1, I was under the impression that a card's rating was for the purposes of, in fact, rating that card. In comparison to other cards. That's pretty much the essence of any kind of rating system.
Of course, this rating system takes into account not only power level, but athetics such as art, but you can't argue it's not a primarily power based system (Poor art or no, the power nine will always be rated well. There's an absurd amount of people who hate Baneslayer Angel, but it's still rated well). When players with limited knowledge of the game use the Gatherer, the rating system helps them determine what the community generally thinks of the card's utility without having to read all the comments. So no, it's not an absolute reflection of a card's worth, but of the percieved worth. You imply that a card's rating, because of a large number of confounding variables, is in effect worthless. I really don't think this is so. It can never be a universal, objective truth (as a rating system is always subjective in nature) about a card, but I believe there is value in it. I was pointing out that there was some degree of discrepancy between actual worth and what is being presented as such, so that this cards rating can have just a little bit more accuracy with regards to its utility.
BlackAlbino
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
if for no other reason, it's another sliver body
agentvirgo
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
followed footsteps. Did it once, and my opponents decided to gang up on me.
Bob_of_Mage
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I found this little guy tons of fun when I had a Synchronous Sliver out one game. I still attacked like normal, but after may last foes' (3 man game) combat phase I milled the top of their decks with all my untapped slivers. This guy's use is to make untapped slivers do something. At one mana he's an early lay that gives you more options. Don't write him off as useless even if he isn't a must have.
Androx
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
alternatively you could just beat your opponents face in with the horde of massive, unblock-able, pro-whatever slivers you will inevitably have if you are playing slivers correctly. Though it does counter your friend siding in a Dormant Sliver
Missile_Penguin
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
Each Time Spiral card was an homage to at least one previously printed card. Specifically, nearly every Sliver in Time Spiral and Planar Chaos derive their ability and mana cost from a previously printed card.
Strangely enough there were no cards exactly like this creature when it was printed. But now we have Cathartic Adept, so despite not being in Future Sight, this sliver is unintentionally referencing a future card!
SiamKor
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Works well as a plan B for when one of your opponents locks your sliver horde (Ensnaring Bridge, Propaganda, etc...).
Granted, you should have alternatives to deal with that (Necrotic Sliver, for one), but this isn't as innefective as it seems, if used right.
For instance, I always use Dormant Sliver. Always. The amount of acceleration and card advantage it generates is insane, and I don't have to rely on the Aluren / Recycle combo I used back in the 90's.
When I am done with it, I sac it, or return it to my hand, or whatever. Plenty of ways to do it. But, case in point: between Dormant Sliver, Sliver Overlord and the Sliver Queen, you'll always have a sliver to play.
Enter Intruder Alarm. Mill. Play a sliver. Untap all slivers. Mill. Play a sliver. Repeat until there are no cards left to mill. With this, Heart Sliver, Gemhide Sliver and the Queen you can start an infinite mill combo.
1 - Tap two slivers to mill, tap the other two for mana and pop out a token. Intruder Alarm untaps everything.
2 - Tap three slivers to mill, tap the other two for mana and pop out a token... You get the picture.
This cannot be done with Psionic Sliver, because even with their toughness pumped, the slivers will kill themselves before you run out of opponents.
It can be used with Magma Sliver instead to pump as many slivers as you need to ridiculous power levels, but while they can Fog your attack, they can't Fog their draw.
So yeah, this sliver wins you games when your opponents thinks they've done you in. With the right cards, you deck everyone in a single turn. And with the amount of tutoring available (Homing Sliver is always important, and I use Worldy Tutor and Defense of the Heart), plus the acceleration of Dormant Sliver, most of the time I can fetch the right sliver at the right time.
Should you build a deck around him? No. But you'll find that as a one-of (as most of the slivers), there will come the moment when you tutor for him, put him in play, deck your 3 opponents, and smile. :)
DeXtrovert
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I actually use this guy in Modern Slivers simply because he's a 1/1 for CMC 1 with an ability I don't care about. The result is I can send him off to die without weakening my army. Easily replaceable 4/5 stars
Comments (20)
My inner johnny is just really tingling now :)
As for the card in question, milling is not really a sound Sliver strategy. Yes, you can get lots of Slivers into play (see esp Brood Sliver), but with Muscle Slivers, Sinew Slivers, poisonous slivers, Crypt Sivers, double-striking slivers, Gemhide slivers, only-blocked-by-slivers slivers, and Might Slivers, your creatures are almost always better suited to a more aggressive strategy. To make milling a threat here, you'll need about ten slivers, say. That's about 1/6th of the deck (a little more considering opening hand and subsequent draws)- which translates to about 3 damage a turn. If you have ten slivers out and can't do at least 3 damage a turn, there is something going horribly wrong. A plan C, at best.
Of course, that's why Spike hates this card. Johnny and Timmy are rather fond of it, and rightfully so. When your friend busts out his Ensnaring Bridge deck because he's just so sick and tired of your sliver rush, you can just smile and begin to ominously shuffle.
Edit (x2 for clarification): Scumbling1, I was under the impression that a card's rating was for the purposes of, in fact, rating that card. In comparison to other cards. That's pretty much the essence of any kind of rating system.
Of course, this rating system takes into account not only power level, but athetics such as art, but you can't argue it's not a primarily power based system (Poor art or no, the power nine will always be rated well. There's an absurd amount of people who hate Baneslayer Angel, but it's still rated well). When players with limited knowledge of the game use the Gatherer, the rating system helps them determine what the community generally thinks of the card's utility without having to read all the comments. So no, it's not an absolute reflection of a card's worth, but of the percieved worth. You imply that a card's rating, because of a large number of confounding variables, is in effect worthless. I really don't think this is so. It can never be a universal, objective truth (as a rating system is always subjective in nature) about a card, but I believe there is value in it. I was pointing out that there was some degree of discrepancy between actual worth and what is being presented as such, so that this cards rating can have just a little bit more accuracy with regards to its utility.
Specifically, nearly every Sliver in Time Spiral and Planar Chaos derive their ability and mana cost from a previously printed card.
Strangely enough there were no cards exactly like this creature when it was printed. But now we have Cathartic Adept, so despite not being in Future Sight, this sliver is unintentionally referencing a future card!
Granted, you should have alternatives to deal with that (Necrotic Sliver, for one), but this isn't as innefective as it seems, if used right.
For instance, I always use Dormant Sliver. Always. The amount of acceleration and card advantage it generates is insane, and I don't have to rely on the Aluren / Recycle combo I used back in the 90's.
When I am done with it, I sac it, or return it to my hand, or whatever. Plenty of ways to do it. But, case in point: between Dormant Sliver, Sliver Overlord and the Sliver Queen, you'll always have a sliver to play.
Enter Intruder Alarm. Mill. Play a sliver. Untap all slivers. Mill. Play a sliver. Repeat until there are no cards left to mill. With this, Heart Sliver, Gemhide Sliver and the Queen you can start an infinite mill combo.
1 - Tap two slivers to mill, tap the other two for mana and pop out a token. Intruder Alarm untaps everything.
2 - Tap three slivers to mill, tap the other two for mana and pop out a token... You get the picture.
This cannot be done with Psionic Sliver, because even with their toughness pumped, the slivers will kill themselves before you run out of opponents.
It can be used with Magma Sliver instead to pump as many slivers as you need to ridiculous power levels, but while they can Fog your attack, they can't Fog their draw.
So yeah, this sliver wins you games when your opponents thinks they've done you in. With the right cards, you deck everyone in a single turn. And with the amount of tutoring available (Homing Sliver is always important, and I use Worldy Tutor and Defense of the Heart), plus the acceleration of Dormant Sliver, most of the time I can fetch the right sliver at the right time.
Should you build a deck around him? No. But you'll find that as a one-of (as most of the slivers), there will come the moment when you tutor for him, put him in play, deck your 3 opponents, and smile. :)