Slivers are a brilliant example of a tribal creature deck. They are designed to operate as a hive, with each Sliver complementing the abilities of the others, so it’s tricky to pick out the best ones individually. Still, some sliver decks work better than others due to the inclusion of certain slivers.
The best MTG Slivers are Sliver Queen, the First Sliver, Sliver Legion, Sliver Hivelord, and Sliver Overlord, all in the legendary creature category. There’s also Cloudshredder Sliver, Harmonic Sliver, Necrotic Sliver, Crystalline Sliver, Spiteful Sliver, Quick Sliver, and Manaweft Sliver.
Not all the best slivers are mythic rares, but it helps to have some of them in your deck because they are just such powerful cards. Read on to see which slivers can help you win games and find answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about Slivers.
1. Sliver Queen
| Recommended Formats: | Commander |
Pros
Cons
| Makes Sliver Tokens |
| 5 color Commander |
| Hard To Cast |
The Sliver Queen is a legendary five-color creature that allows you to rapidly multiply your sliver army.
She enables you to put 1/1 colorless silver creature tokens onto the battlefield for two colorless mana. Being able to make a colorless sliver creature at will is extremely powerful in a deck that just wants to flood the board with slivers.
The Queen is a 7/7, so a formidable creature in her own right and is a terrific option as a Commander if you are wanting a deck with all 5 colors – A Mythic rare Sliver Queen is always a nice idea to consider adding to your collection if you can pay here price tag!
Keep in mind when you are building your deck, you will need one mana of each color to cast her – so make sure your deck’s mana distribution is mathematically sound!
What set is Sliver Queen from? Sliver Queen is from the “Stronghold” set in Magic The Gathering. The card was originally printed in 1998, but has had multiple digital rereleases on “Magic The Gathering Online” since then.
2. The First Sliver
| Recommended Formats: | Commander, Historic Brawl |
Pros
Cons
| Card Draw |
| 5 Color Commander |
| Hard To Cast |
The First Sliver is another legendary five-color 7/7 sliver creature.
It uses the Cascade triggered ability which allows you, when you play it, to exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a non-land card that costs less. You can cast this card without paying its mana cost, and you put the exiled cards at the bottom of your library in random order.
The First Sliver gives ALL Slivers spells you cast Cascade, so it’s an excellent way to get multiple slivers in play fast. Some even rate it as the best Sliver for Commander.
Cascade is truly great for adding card draw to a creature deck that might not have much space for many cards dedicated to draw effects.
Does First Sliver Cascade twice? As a general rule, First Sliver will not cascade twice. First Sliver is still on the stack while its own cascade ability is resolving and will only cascade once. A copy of First Sliver must first already be on the battlefield for other Slivers to cascade mupltile times.
3. Sliver Legion
| Recommended Formats: | Commander |
Pros
Cons
| Powerful “Lord” effect |
| Often Game-Winning When Played |
| Hard To Cast |
| Symmetrical Ability |
Sliver Legion is also a five-color, legendary 7/7 sliver creature.
It can be devastating in the end game as it gives all slivers +1/+1 for each other Sliver on the battlefield. Your slivers can get so big that your opponent can’t kill them with his creatures, and it renders many spot removal spells useless.
Sliver Legion is a mythic rare and is also popular as a Commander.
4. Sliver Hivelord
| Recommended Formats: | Commander |
Pros
Cons
| Indestructible Creatures |
| 5 Color Commander |
| Hard To Cast |
The Sliver Hivelord gives slivers you control indestructible.
It is only a 5/5 creature, and you need to pay one mana of each color to cast it, but it can still cast a depressing pall on your opponent. Indestructible means that damage and effects that say “destroy” don’t destroy your slivers, so it’s good against sweepers.
Sliver Hivelord also sees play as a popular Commander.
Is Sliver Hivelord indestructible? As a general rule, Sliver Hivelord is indestructible. Sliver Hivelord gives all Slivers you control indestructible which includes itself. Only affects that actively target or remove Sliver Hivelord’s indestructible ability would cause the card to lose indestructibly.
5. Sliver Overlord
| Recommended Formats: | Commander |
Pros
Cons
| Card Draw |
| 5 Color Commander |
| Great in Mirror Match |
| Hard To Cast |
The Sliver Overlord is a 7/7 legendary creature that costs one of each color mana to play. It is a Sliver Mutant. For three colorless mana, it lets you search your library for a sliver card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then you shuffle your library.
Alternately, you get to control target sliver for three colorless mana, which helps in mirror matches. The Sliver Overlord is often played as a Commander.
6. Cloudshredder Sliver
| Recommended Formats: | Commander, Penny Dreadful, Historic, Historic Brawl |
Pros
Cons
| Cheap |
| Evasive |
| Aggressive |
| Casting Requirements May Be Hard Early |
The Cloudshredder Sliver only costs a red and a white to cast and is a 1/1 creature that gives other slivers flying and haste.
It’s not surprising that it’s been printed at rare because it can elevate your army above the heads of your opponent’s giant green stompy monsters.
It also allows you to immediately attack with every sliver you cast after that. It’s one of the most potent slivers you can play in the early game – If you get your mana to line up correctly to cast it.
7. Harmonic Sliver
| Recommended Formats: | Commander, Penny Dreadful, Historic, Pioneer |
“When this permanent enters the battlefield, destroy target artifact or enchantment”
(Wizards.com, 2013)
Pros
Cons
| Powerful Utility |
| Weak Body for Mana Cost |
| Symmetrical Ability |
With a converted mana cost of three – one colorless, a green, and a white – the Harmonic Sliver fits nicely into your mana curve.
It’s a 1/1 creature that can single-handedly help to disable an opponent’s deck or entire game strategy.
Just play a couple of slivers afterward, and the sweet combo they’ve been carefully assembling could be in tatters.
Harmonic Sliver isn’t so great if your opponent is also playing slivers and you have enchantments and artifacts in your deck as its ability will also work for your opponents if they happened to be playing any Slivers too.
Important Note: Harmonic Sliver ability will also work for your opponents if they are playing any “Shapeshifter” cards that become Slivers or have any “Changeling” creatures in their decks.
8. Necrotic Sliver
| Recommended Formats: | Commander, Penny Dreadful |
Pros
Cons
| Powerful Removal |
| Small Body for Mana Cost |
| Symmetrical Ability |
The Necrotic Sliver is a 2/2 creature that costs one colorless, a white, and a black to cast.
It allows you to pay three colorless, sacrifice any sliver and destroy target permanent. Talk about spot removal!
When you combine it with the “Sliver Queen”, you can sacrifice the sliver tokens she makes to take out enchantments, dragons, angels, demons, trolls, and artifacts – basically, almost anything you want – as long as you have three mana available.
You can destroy just about any permanent with this sliver in play which makes this card arguably the best piece of removal you can have in a Sliver deck.
9. Crystalline Sliver
| Recommended Formats: | Commander |
Pros
Cons
| Powerful Protection |
| Symmetrical Ability |
| Casting Requirements May Be Hard Early |
To protect your slivers from your opponent’s spells and buy yourself time to win the game, Crystalline Sliver is the way to go.
In fact, many players have stated that it is due to this single sliver being legal in the Legacy format, that a playable sliver deck exists in that format at all – it’s that good!
It is a 2/2 creature that costs one white and one blue to cast and gives all slivers Shroud. The Shroud ability means your slivers can’t be the target of spells or abilities.
Unfortunately, Shroud doesn’t protect your slivers from sweepers like Wrath of God, Doomskar, or Blood On The Snow because these spells don’t target them.
However, it can be handy for the many cards and abilities that target creatures and that pretty much every MTG player includes in their deck.
10. Spiteful Sliver
| Recommended Formats: | Commander, Historic Brawl |
Pros
Cons
| Can Be Game-Winning |
| Planeswalker Removal |
| Often Bad Early Game |
As its name indicates, this one can be nasty to other players and their Planeswalkers.
For two and a red, you get a 2/2 creature that gives all slivers you control the power to deal as much damage as they are dealt to target player or planeswalker.
If you have a bunch of slivers on the battlefield, your opponent may just kill themselves if they go into an all-out attack and you block with your slivers.
11. Quick Sliver
| Recommended Formats: | Commander, Pauper |
Pros
Cons
| Powerful Utility |
| Has Flash |
| Small Body for Mana Cost |
| Symmetrical Ability |
The Quick Sliver is a 1/1 creature that costs one colorless and one green mana to cast, and it has flash, so you can play it your opponent’s turn too.
Even better, it says any player may play sliver cards as though they had flash, which means you can present your attacking opponent with some nasty surprises they haven’t factored into their strategy.
While it may not be great if your opponent is also playing slivers, it works wonderfully well when they aren’t.
12. Manaweft Sliver
| Recommended Formats: | Commander, Penny Dreadful, Historic Brawl |
Pros
Cons
| Mana Ramp |
| Non-Symmetrical Ability |
| Small Body for Mana Cost |
It pretty much goes without saying that you will include Gemhide Sliver or Manaweft Sliver in your deck.
There is an essential difference between the two, though. The Manaweft Sliver allows you to tap any sliver creature you control to add one mana of any color, while the Gemhide Silver enables all slivers to tap for one mana of any color.
If you’re in a mirror match, you don’t want to be playing the Gemhide Sliver because it also allows your opponent to tap their slivers for mana.
Hardcore sliver fans favor the slivers listed above because they work so well together. The legendary slivers like Sliver Queen, Sliver Legion, the First Sliver, Sliver Hivelord, and Sliver Legion all cost one of each color to cast. You, therefore, need to include other slivers that are mana fixers, mana ramp, or find a way to hold off your opponent long enough to cast them.
Helpful MTG Sliver F.A.Q
Are Slivers Banned: Offical Magic The Gathering Rules
There are no banned slivers in Magic The Gathering. The official Magic The Gatherings ban and the restricted list don’t contain any banned Slivers cards for any of its formats. However, Sliver Queen is on the Reserved List and a copy of the card may be difficult to obtain.
What Magic The Gathering Sets Have Slivers [2022]
In total, 9 sets contain Slivers in Magic The Gathering. Future Sight, Legions, Magic 2014 Core Set, Magic 2015 Core Set, Modern Horizons, Planar Chaos, Scourge, Stronghold, Tempest, and Time Spiral. However, more Slivers may be printed in future sets.
Are Slivers Expensive: Average Cost Of Sliver Cards
As a whole, Slivers are not expensive Magic The Gathering cards. The average cost of a sliver card is $14.36 when totaling the value Slivers cards that have been released. However, the value of Sliver cards can range from $0.28 to $38.74 depending on the rarity of the Sliver card.
Is There A Sliver Planeswalker?
There is no Sliver Planeswalker in Magic The Gathering. A “Sliver shaman” called Ess-Nelek of Shandalar was featured in the game “Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014” as a boss encounter. However, Ess-Nelek has yet to be printed or confirmed as a physical Planeswalker card in Magic The Gathering.
If you are interested in what Ess-Nelek of Shandalar may look like, check out this video below that shows Ess-Nelek of Shandalar boss encounter in Magic’s “Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014”.
How Many Sliver Cards Are There: Magic The Gathering 2022
In total, 112 different Sliver cards have been printed in Magic The Gathering. Excluding promo or special cards, there have been 5 Mythic Rares, 20 Rares, 45 Uncommon, and 50 Commons Silver cards printed in the Trading Card Game. However, more Silver cards may be printed in the future.
How Much Is A Sliver Deck: [Deck Cost Breakdown]
On average, the cost of a 100 card Sliver deck is $1,477. 26% to 50% of this cost is due to the mana base used and commonly included cards such as Sliver Queen. Reducing the amount spent on the mana base and excluding cards such as Sliver Queen can make a Sliver deck 50% cheaper to build.