Pointed Discussion

costs 4 more than plated and is only marginally better
all in all horrible card

Not to dissuade you from your choice, but you do realise this ability is incredible?
I have Pestilence on the board and a lymph sliver. Lymph Sliver will not die. It prevents the one damage everytime. Plated sliver dies after two hits. This is all just in how you use it.

Decent at protecting your slivers against the red spells that deal damage to all creatures. Keeps opponents from killing your attacking slivers by blocking with with multiple small creatures, as it prevents 1 damage from each source.

Will the absorb stack?

It's a not a tumah.

At least it stacks.

According to one of MaRo's 'Making Magic' articles, this originally gave Absorb 2. As it is now this Sliver is overpriced but still useful and good in combo, but they should have kept it at Absorb 2.

Okay, let's assume for a moment that my opponent is playing red burn, and somehow has 15 tap-pingers out. Every time he taps his pinger, a creature loses 1 life, and with 15 damage per turn, that means lots of dead slivers.
Now let's assume i have this out. This bad boy prevents 1 damage of EVERY SOURCE, thereby eliminating 100% of the damage.
Goblin sharpshooter? Screw you, you're not needed!

Got 4 of these and my slivers were just invulnerable

What if you have two of these on the field? Will it be the same as one, or will your slivers have 2 instances of absorb 1? Anyone knows for sure?

The majority here is correct that absorb is very potent, especially when combined with pestilence-type abilities as noted. I'm not denying that at all.

But it really comes down to this: Lymph Sliver is 4W and prevents 1 damage; Ward Sliver is 4W and prevents all damage (and also provides limited evasion and shroud). Therefore, there is no reason to ever play this card while Ward Sliver is an option. That Ward Sliver only protects from a single color isn't even an argument. If your opponent is playing a multicolor deck, the only other cards they have that can eliminate your ward sliver are non-damage spells like boomerang, doom blade, or path to exile. All of these cards would get rid of the Lymph Sliver anyway!

So, like I said, Lymph Sliver is definitely a good card, but it's not the optimal pick.
(As an aside, if you're paranoid about your opponent multi-blocking, a 1-mana Sidewinder Sliver reduces the same amount of damage without preventing it, and makes your opponent's creatures easier to kill at the same time)

best way of making damage prevention playable, i think

They should make more cards with absorb imo, it's an interesting mechanic! A creature with both absorb and the ability to block multiple creatures, or to force enemy creatures to block it, would be cool.

And then they never used absorb again. They should errata Urza's Armor to read "You have absorb 1"

I'm sorry, I don't see absorb as a very fun or generally good ability. Sure, it has its uses but it's very bland. Sadly, I think this is an ability we will see in a Core Set one day.

He's not terrible, but for that casting cost I'd rather play Ward Sliver.

Urza's Armor should have its oracle text changed to:

You have Absorb 1.

Heyyy, slivers evolved in a completely new way. That is not a good sign.

@sliverlord5000: It isn't marginally better, it is better. Plus this thing comes with a 3/3 body rather than a 1/1. So what do you expect?

I think it's slightly overpriced too, but only slightly. And it is a common.

Don't die to Lightning Bolt by himself.

The fact that this is a sliver makes Absorb a far more interesting ability. This ability is a bit less interesting than it may initially seem - in almost all situations, it's effectively extra toughness. The only situations where it is not are:

- Effects like Pyrohemia, Pestilence and Prodigal Pyromancer which deal damage in tiny packets rather than big chunks.

- When actual toughness matters, such as blocking Mtenda Herder or interactions with spells like Blood Lust.

- "Vanilla matters" situations like Muraganda Petroglyphs.

(I'm sure there are more, but I just can't think of them off the bat).

If they were to reuse absorb, it would be handy in a set where toughness matters, or where things ping themselves or their allies a la Psionic Entity, helping mitigate the self-harm. I'm curious about whether or not Absorb will return.

I'll use this this with my slivers, but let me get some gloves on first.

Now, wait a second. This is way more effective than most people here are saying. Each absorb ability triggers for each damage event. So if you have 3 slivers out, each sliver has 3 damage prevented. It doesn't take much to turn that into something near indestructible. Plus this ability counters deathtouch and whither/infect.