Pauper: Naya Slivers - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

Slivers are one of the most famous creature types in Magic. Despite historically receiving little support compared to traditional types such as Elves, Goblins, Merfolk or even Vampires, they are an inherent part of the card game's universe and function in their own way, granting specific abilities to all Slivers when they are in play.

This is also the only typal deck in Pauper that has up to twelve creatures that increase the power of others, a fundamental role for the consistency of Aggro go wide in Magic, making it a viable option for those who like strategies that involve synergies around their creatures.

Slivers is a peculiar deck to build. As one of Pauper's only type-oriented archetypes, it has many deckbuilding restrictions at the same time, in that its creature type is not usually graced frequently in the game's expansions — the last set with support for them was Modern Horizons — so it doesn't gain many maindeck tools unless they are relevant to add to the list's consistency.

This is the case for Winding Way, Lead the Stampede and the more recent Sheltering Landscape, which we use as the core of our mana base combined with Ash Barrens. Since our list is essentially Selesnya with a splash of , we have no problem running only basic lands besides Fetches.

Our plan is as straightforward as possible: play creatures, give them abilities and power increases as more of them come into play, and go for lethal damage. The main problem, obviously, is that we lack interaction, and the combination of Lead the Stampede and Winding Way does not allow us to interact much either, since we need to focus on the largest possible number of creatures. On the other hand, we are more resilient to sweepers than other go wide decks, while we are more vulnerable to spot removals on key turns, since destroying one of our creatures can reduce the power of all the others.

Maindeck

The one-drops.

Sidewinder Sliver works as a pseudo-lord for combat. It does not guarantee an increase in power, but it makes the opponents' blockers smaller on the board, making trades less favorable for them if the purpose is any other than preventing damage from getting through.

Plated Sliver provides more toughness, granting resilience in combat, while also preventing Breath Weapon or Drown in Sorrow from working as a sweeper.

Virulent Sliver is a decent one-drop that creates an alternative win condition with Poison counters. It's uncommon for this to be a way to end the game instead of focusing on traditional damage, but there are some archetypes and games where it's possible to play multiple of them to stack the Poisonous ability for the win.

The Lords. Each one offers the same ability and has the function of increasing the power of creatures on the board. One of the biggest advantages of Slivers is that it's the only archetype with 12 ways to permanently increase the power of the entire board with one card.

Gemhide Sliver allows for some explosive turns where we play several creatures in the same turn, since they all turn into mana dorks, and we play Lead the Stampede or Winding Way to replenish our resources.

Spinneret Sliver grants Reach to deal with Faeries, Kor Skyfisher and Sneaky Snacker, or any other small creature with flying nowadays.

Hunter Sliver allows, with the Provoke ability, to control the board during combat with our creatures. It is the main reason for the splash of on the maindeck.

Ash Barrens and Sheltering Landscape ensure consistency in accessing the right mana colors in the early turns without delaying our game in later turns. Some lists opt for Thriving Lands, but I don't like having unconditionally tapped lands in an Aggro deck in Pauper if they don't have an ETB that directly interacts with our game plan.

Sideboard

Gorilla Shaman is our answer against Affinity or Jund Wildfire's Artifact Lands, and we can find it with Lead the Stampede or Winding Way.

Masked Vandal deals with Bridges and also with other troublesome artifacts like Myr Enforcer, in addition to resolving Bogles' enchantments. It requires a creature in the graveyard to work, but this is not usually a problem against Affinity or Wildfire since they run plenty of removals.

For Bogles, we run Standard Bearer to block their ability to enchant creatures. This card also works against Infect, which occasionally shows up in Magic Online leagues.

Coalition Honor Guard works as a third Standard Bearer, but works against red Aggro to force a two-for-one of red damage spells, except against Galvanic Blast.

Crimson Acolyte provides protection against red removal, which is prevalent in the current Metagame. It is complemented by Prismatic Strands against sweepers, while the spell also works to hold the clock of other Aggro decks.

Arashin Cleric is a good blocker against Burn while holding a spell, or a combat damage turn against this matchup.

Bladeback Sliver is a flexible slot. We use it against Tron or games where we know that trading in combat is not a viable option. Triggering Hellbent is relatively easy in a list that puts plenty of creatures into play quickly.

Synthesizer Burn

IN

OUT

Grixis Affinity

IN

OUT

Mono Blue Faeries

IN

OUT

Ephemerate Tron

IN

OUT

Bogles

IN

OUT

Madness Burn

IN

OUT

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!