mambosong I can see some logic on playing Shardless Agent, but I just don't know if it fit well in the deck. Have you tested the list?
GreySavant as for poisonous variant, as said I think it isn't good. The traditional plan of a turn 4 kill is much more constant, as your tests suggest.
I am currently playing with 4 Striking Sliver, can't see myself using less than it anymore. It is too useful against Baleful Strix and equipment and provides the unbreakable wall mode. I found out that he is very good against burn also, since you can stop incoming Goblin Guides on turn 2 without lose slivers on block. To combo with it I am using 2 Venom Sliver Maindeck and 1 Sideboard, nice against any deck containing Tarmogoyf, Gurmag, Reliquary, etc.
One of my doubts on sideboarding is if Venom Sliver is worth against Sneak and Show, Reanimator and Elves. It can stop the big creatures, but the plan of the hatebears is to don't let they even enter the battlefield. As I don't like sideboarding blue cards or drop 1 cards out against combo, to use Venom and hatebears on g2 I have to cut some lords, which can be painful. Against Elves I stopped the Behemoth kill once with Striking on battlefield and Venom entering through Aether Vial, but it is too hard to happen and the opponent can play around it if he is smart enough.
There is a sliver group on facebook, you are in it?
It is good to hear from you. I am now slowly putting together a Legacy Sliver deck very similiar to the one you had on MTG Top 8.
How do you feel about manaweft/gemhide in some slots or Chalice of the Void?
Thanks Buddy. Just make sure to stay away from slivers mirror! It is very awkard...
I don't like manaweft/gemhide much cause you are always trying to attack as much as possible, tapping your creatures to add mana don't seem viable to me. As for chalice of the void, I like playing a more agressive line with more drop 1 creatures, so you can very often kill your combo opponent on turn 4, but think it is a good choice if the goal is to improve combo matchups.
@mambosong: Interesting! I have never though of that before, maybe I try at least 1 Darkhearth.
There is been two years since I started playing slivers in competitive legacy and I am very satisfied with the results.
As a merfolk player and huge fan of the deck too, I disagree that it is just a better slivers deck, they are very different despite having the same lords and beatdown plan.
Slivers work pretty good in many bad matchups for merfolk like jund, elves, painter, Goblins, Eldrazi, etc and have good and bad points very different than the merfolks.
In generall I think that the ideal of the deck is going in heavy creatures versions that can use five colors consistently with no dual lands. I don't think cards like brainstorm or daze fit well in the plan of the deck, you want to play as many creatures as possible in order to make the lords true valuable. The game against fair decks costume to be good ones, some people just concede when you play crystalinne sliver through cavern of souls and basically shut down their hands full of counters and removals. Combo is the challenge for the deck, sometimes a turn 4 kill with a force of will or Karakas backup is sufficiently and the hatebears in the sideboard can help improving the game.
My first decklist was that one: http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=10661&d=260985&f=LE
After the banning of DTT and consequent reduction of Young Pyromancer decks I cutted the sidewinters for more strikings and added two venoms on maindeck. Played with something like this for a while: http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=11139&d=263388&f=LE
In the recent metagame I made some changes. Now playing with 4 striking sliver, which is very good in the eldrazi and tarmogoyf decks matchups since with it you can produce a first strike wall to defend against big monsters, 2 winged slivers in the place of the hunters to fly more consistenly and 4 hibernation sliver maindeck to deal with miracles and other people trying to control you like shardless bug and jund. Moved the Syphon slivers to the sideboard and added a third Venom sliver into it.
I have considered player bonescythe sliver and hearth sliver, but I don't think there is place for it in the deck. Some players like Darkhearth sliver, I have never tested it but think that Syphon sliver works better.
Let me know if you want more discussions on slivers, I love playing the deck and think it have a unexplored potential in legacy. I apologize if there is any grammar issues, english is not my mother language.
There is also a report I wrote six mouths ago about a tournament I was able to win with slivers. With you want to check up (in portuguese): http://insidegamestore.com.br/publico/publicacao.xhtml?pid=2309096
GreySavant as for poisonous variant, as said I think it isn't good. The traditional plan of a turn 4 kill is much more constant, as your tests suggest.
I am currently playing with 4 Striking Sliver, can't see myself using less than it anymore. It is too useful against Baleful Strix and equipment and provides the unbreakable wall mode. I found out that he is very good against burn also, since you can stop incoming Goblin Guides on turn 2 without lose slivers on block. To combo with it I am using 2 Venom Sliver Maindeck and 1 Sideboard, nice against any deck containing Tarmogoyf, Gurmag, Reliquary, etc.
One of my doubts on sideboarding is if Venom Sliver is worth against Sneak and Show, Reanimator and Elves. It can stop the big creatures, but the plan of the hatebears is to don't let they even enter the battlefield. As I don't like sideboarding blue cards or drop 1 cards out against combo, to use Venom and hatebears on g2 I have to cut some lords, which can be painful. Against Elves I stopped the Behemoth kill once with Striking on battlefield and Venom entering through Aether Vial, but it is too hard to happen and the opponent can play around it if he is smart enough.
There is a sliver group on facebook, you are in it?
Thanks Buddy. Just make sure to stay away from slivers mirror! It is very awkard...
I don't like manaweft/gemhide much cause you are always trying to attack as much as possible, tapping your creatures to add mana don't seem viable to me. As for chalice of the void, I like playing a more agressive line with more drop 1 creatures, so you can very often kill your combo opponent on turn 4, but think it is a good choice if the goal is to improve combo matchups.
@mambosong: Interesting! I have never though of that before, maybe I try at least 1 Darkhearth.
As a merfolk player and huge fan of the deck too, I disagree that it is just a better slivers deck, they are very different despite having the same lords and beatdown plan.
Slivers work pretty good in many bad matchups for merfolk like jund, elves, painter, Goblins, Eldrazi, etc and have good and bad points very different than the merfolks.
In generall I think that the ideal of the deck is going in heavy creatures versions that can use five colors consistently with no dual lands. I don't think cards like brainstorm or daze fit well in the plan of the deck, you want to play as many creatures as possible in order to make the lords true valuable. The game against fair decks costume to be good ones, some people just concede when you play crystalinne sliver through cavern of souls and basically shut down their hands full of counters and removals. Combo is the challenge for the deck, sometimes a turn 4 kill with a force of will or Karakas backup is sufficiently and the hatebears in the sideboard can help improving the game.
My first decklist was that one: http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=10661&d=260985&f=LE
After the banning of DTT and consequent reduction of Young Pyromancer decks I cutted the sidewinters for more strikings and added two venoms on maindeck. Played with something like this for a while: http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=11139&d=263388&f=LE
In the recent metagame I made some changes. Now playing with 4 striking sliver, which is very good in the eldrazi and tarmogoyf decks matchups since with it you can produce a first strike wall to defend against big monsters, 2 winged slivers in the place of the hunters to fly more consistenly and 4 hibernation sliver maindeck to deal with miracles and other people trying to control you like shardless bug and jund. Moved the Syphon slivers to the sideboard and added a third Venom sliver into it.
I have considered player bonescythe sliver and hearth sliver, but I don't think there is place for it in the deck. Some players like Darkhearth sliver, I have never tested it but think that Syphon sliver works better.
Let me know if you want more discussions on slivers, I love playing the deck and think it have a unexplored potential in legacy. I apologize if there is any grammar issues, english is not my mother language.
There is also a report I wrote six mouths ago about a tournament I was able to win with slivers. With you want to check up (in portuguese): http://insidegamestore.com.br/publico/publicacao.xhtml?pid=2309096