What are Slivers? [MTG Lore]
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- Today we're talking about my personal favorite tribe, the Slivers!
Check out the Sliver Queen deck:
• Sliver Queen [EDH Deck]
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#MTG #Vorthos
Here's my sliver story: Around 2006 or so, I found seven boosters of Stronghold in a random shop. They were 7€ a piece, which was a lot of money for 15 year old me. Still I bought them all, because they were already quite an antiquity back then and I was sure this would be my only chance of ever finding Stronghold boosters. I remember even not buying them the first day because of the price tag, but then returning some days later because I just had to.
One of them contained the Sliver Queen - the one card I knew was in the set and the one card a really wanted to find. I also got a lot of other slivers in those boosters, so my goal was clear: I had to build a sliver deck. I bought some newer slivers (onslaught block iirc) from a friend and started building. The deck turned out to be super mighty (among 15 year olds playing kitchen table magic that is), mainly because of the cristaline slivers giving my slivers shroud. Whenever a new set would be released containing slivers, I really tried to collect them all through trading and booster opening. I even got my hands on all the other legendaries through the years (the only one I actually had to buy as a single card was the first sliver). Nowadays, just as yours, my deck has been shifted into an EDH deck (I mean, it has to fit soooo many slivers!), and it still kicks ass. Oh and the queen I got in those 7€ boosters is now around 200€, while the Mox Diamond I also got in them is around 400€.
Thanks for making this video! Despite all my love for slivers, I never got to know their whole story (only fractions).
Now, 16 years after entering the hive, I finally feel complete.
Keep up the good work bro.
That's a beautiful story man, the kind I love to hear, thanks!
Slivers are probably one of the best examples of flavor and mechanics meeting in harmony.
Slivers are one of the best magic original creatures (second only to myr in my hearth)
eldrazis as well for me
all hail Phyrexia!
Love the myr, they are like cute mini phyrexians, but, nothing beats big papa yawgmoth and Mrs. Norn.
I've always hated slivers, but their story is fascinating.
My two favorite creatures too 😁
My man here explaining the entire lore of slivers
Me: Slivers are literally just what you get when a xenomorph hatches from a snake
To this day, the sight of a sliver card causes players to immediately go "KILL IT, KILL IT NOW" especially in commander
One creature type I wish had more development in lore is the Aetherborn. They’re a really cool concept and I wish we could see more of them.
THIS AS FUCK. I hope since we got a myr tribal commander in ONE we might be able to get an aetherborn commander
my favorites are:
1: Slivers
2: eldrazi
3: phyrexians
4: beasts(ikoria)
so my edh deck is slivers, with kozilek, urabrask, illuna, and nethroi
edit: forgot an s and a ), and my pet commander is the first sliver(and the planned wincon is happily ever after)
Edit: misspelled two names
Yes!
Great video (and cool graphical effects)! Thanks so much for this in-depth history of these enigmatic creatures.
Whenever Morph had first become a thing. Got together a deck with a "make things unblockable" theme. Didn't realize how exponentially crazy slivers could get, until I did.
Never was very good at the game either. But the sheer chaos of having slivers in a deck was always worth it.
My heart. My mind. My hive.
Hail to the one and only Sliver Queen.
Slivers are evil and slivers are sly, and if you get eaten, then no one will cry.
Glad someone remembered this nursery rhyme~ XD
Quite nice video, I always liked how crazy you can get by stacking sliver effects on each other. Really captures the feeling of a hivemind.
For a favorite creature type of mine, I like the aetherborn. The having a short life, enjoying the life as it is, before returning to the aether after death, it speaks to me in a sense.
Thanks! And yeah, the Aetherborn are another delightful OG creation from Magic, I hope to see more of them.
When I first seen slivers in 1997, I immediately thought they look like xenomorphs. I'm a big science fiction fan so seeing a creature type in MTG that looked like the iconic xenomorph made me instantly want to play them. To this day, I still run slippers when they show up in sets regardless of how powerful they will be in that set
When i first started playing magic in the early 2000s, i wasn't sure what i was doing. My friend gifted me a pile of slivers including a sliver Overlord. They immediately clicked for me, and I've been running sliver decks ever since. Managed to get a Sliver Queen for a steal when a LGS had a %50 off sale on magic cards. I love me my slivers, they are so much fun.
I started going to MTG clubs somewhere around Urza's Saga and Tempest/Stronghold cards were already considered old and thus more rare and expensive (although mostly useless). I quickly fell in love with such a strong and cool-looking creature theme and started collecting them and building decks. Funny thing I never noticed most of them actually do have one 'hand'. Thanks for this insight Loreseeker :p. Slivers were created after Tyranids and even after Zerg yet I think they are the coolest of the 3 hives since they are not just pure evil like the other two.
Hands down my favorite creature in the mtg lore and world. I learned the game on a sliver deck, saw how beastly they are, got into commander, and now I can't play my $2k sliver deck because I'll just be targeted out of existence. It's a good time lol
The Sliver Queen is the ONE card that I've managed to get and use ever since I got it all the way back in 2006!
I always enjoy whenever the Weaver King comes up in conversation. I'm pretty sure he's considered a mistake by WotC, but I'm sure he could have been used more effectively and been a great villain.
That he's never received a card is unfortunate, but that just makes him one of many.
I still remember my first encounter with slivers. I got gifted a Muscle Sliver by a friend and loved the design and Lore. My deck building with them started with the sliver Premium deck and afterwards I began collecting them all. Even during the times I stopped playing mtg I still kept my collection up to date and recently I started my journey to create a sliver commander deck.
Great to hear, and good luck with the deck!
Literally the first video I watched on slivers despite loving them so much. I also know how you feel with the Sliver Queen herself, makes me wish I still had mine. Either way great history lesson on Slivers, it was delivered well and your voice helped to keep it engaging. Keep doing good work mate.
Hey man thanks for the kind words!
my first true deck was a Sliver one, discovered by opening a pack and finding a foil Screeching Sliver that I even have today! The very concept of "sharing is caring" truly hooked me, making me fall in love with this game, as well as the concept of "TAP" carried by the harmonious Gemhide Sliver. Then, it began.
I've built lots of tribal decks (Elves, Soldiers, Goblins, Angels, Wizards, Defenders, Cats, Myr, Fungus) as well as synergies-based ones (my beloved Affinity, Proliferate, mud-jank combos, Izzet Control old-style, Elves&Bigs, monored big pingers, both monoblack and Orzhov death&reanimate, Upkeeps, Naya Elemental, Boros equip, Boros attack, Selesnya tokens, Landfall, Simic +1/+1), looking for ways to produce (in)finite-state machines Like _Sliver Queen + Basal + a hasty one + anyone that can tap (Gemhide, Psionic+Ward, Screeching, Magma, etc)_ .
This enriched me, forging the fantasy necessary for both embrace and fuel back an university path in Computer Science
That exact combo is how I like to close out games with Sliver Queen, generating infinite sliver tokens and rushing the board always feels great.
It's always cool to hear how the games you play can inspire your career aspirations.
@@The_Loreseeker thank you ^^ yeah, this game fits well with my mind and fantasy, previously nourished by Lego and its Bionicles :D Computer Science was a natural choice and discovering the links between these two worlds is _awesome_ ! (the peak was discovering that M:tG is Turing-Complete
I’ve always loved slivers. I grew up in an era of ‘Alien’, ‘starship troopers’, ‘chronicles of Riddick’., ‘independence day’. They’ve always reminded me of these shows and I’ve always thought it was so cool. Really connects deeply into my science fiction hardwiring as a kid.
Also this was fun and amazing to listen to this.
I discovered Slivers back with the Legion set and fell utterly in love with them! Won my share of games with the deck I had built, and I was very proud of it. Sadly it's now lost to time
Sorry to hear that.
To be honest, I never knew a card game had so much lore.
Magic used to have _so much_ lore.
@@The_Loreseeker now they are doing universes beyond.
@@gamez4dayz117 Unfortunately, yeah
@@The_Loreseeker anyway keep up the good work, I will watch your videos for now for the lore.
“That rest on muscular shouuudaaaaaaaaarsssssss”
I LOVE SLIVERS EVER SINCE I STARTED MAGIC IN 2015 I FELL IN LOVE WITH SLIVERS AN HOW THEY LOOK AN THEIR ABILITIES THO MOST PEOPLE HATE THEM I WILL ALWAYS LOVE THEM. MY FAVORITE SLIVER WILL ALWAYS BE THE SLIVER OVERLORD HE IS MY COMMANDER IS MY DECK I LOVE HIM I BOUGHT HIM IN 2015 WHEN HE WAS $20 now he is $40 an I spent a lot of time gathering as many slivers as I could I will always love my slivers they are my #1 favorite and most prized deck
Radical - Slivers are my favorite, too
This is a deck structure I picked up recently, I kinda feel in love with them in the past when I had a friend in high school who played em. It’s been a fun time playing them overall, ending up making a commander deck using Morophon as it’s commander.
During the Time Spiral days, i notoriously ran a sliver deck that used Hivestone and saproling generating cards to make huge sliver armies. Still one of my favorite jank decks to this day :)
That's awesome man!
As another player who isn't super good but fell in love with slivers quickly after playing, this video is super cool! Had a lot of lore I didn't knowN
Hey I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Myrs have been favorite creature type for the past 11 or so years. I don’t know why but I guess I just like having a lot of little creatures swarm against big creatures
Fantastic video! Really like the narration and the steucture
Only started playing MTG and EDH recently, but Slivers' designs and aesthetics instantly caught my attention, really wish they weren't so expensive to build 😅
Hey thanks! And yeah, it can be daunting!
Victories against the hive are tragedies
So uh, is noone gonna bring up how Yawgmoth might have actually chosen phyrexia as a plane just to get rid of a highly dangerous race of creatures with his oil?
Guess not... 😢
@@rastapasta9581
great video man and slivers had always interested me since i read the bard and the biologist.
Would love a lore adding grandmother's stuff it was informative and enjoyable to listen to the lore and love slivers myself
Imagine slivers becoming more like humans and then imagine if they start include humans into the hivemind with their own evolution. It's not hard to think that a sliver could become either the greatest threat or ally in the multiverse. They contend with phyrexians easily and could evolve to achieve the goal phyrexians fail to do (achieve physical perfection) They could fully utilize thier shape-shifting hivemind to learn how to ignite a planeswalker spark. Once one sliver learns how they all become an extraordinary planewalker just by evolution. Thier canon backstop making them just another species affected by the history of magic. We've yet to see how slivers react to God like threats other than urza it would be great to see slivers competing against phyrexians, eldrazi, Urza again, and finally Nicol Bolas.
It's certainly interesting to think about how Slivers stack up against some of the other big threats.
@@The_Loreseeker i don't see slivers ever dominating the multiverse, they are one way to centralized. If anyone wanted to beat the slivers a straight shot to the queen or other powerful silver would cripple them. Secondly while the silvers are smart they are still fairly primitive.
I like to view the sliver overlord as the ultimate form of this species.
I've been playing magic for decades and slivers we're *always* my favorite tribe..
Once my friends and I got into edh I knew I had to get all the lords and transform my old deck into a commander variant, little did I know everyone would absolutely despise it 😂
Every game ended up becoming either 3v1 or 4v1(But I'd still usually win) so I ended up dismantling it out of pitty lol Now I'm going to put it back together in order to torment the LGS..
*To anyone who might read this with a sliver deck try out Morophon the boundless as a commander, it's extremely smooth*
Manaweft + Cloudshredder + Queen + Intruder Alarm = Infinite Slivers
Basal + Lavabell + Queen = infinite player damage & infinite life
no need of Intruder Alarm when Basal (and Heartstone) is around here :D
and with the Scutting, you end up untapping other stuff (like the Screeching for milling, or Psionic + Ward for killing everyone)
The onslaught block was incredible for tribalism. My all time favorite are the soldiers and clerics from that time. My casual legacy deck still runs quite a few onslaught block soldiers.
I love the legends it brought us, some of the coolest legends were from those sets.
For sure. I started playing during invasion. The immediate set after tool us to Otaria. It gave us Kamhal as a barbarian, his sister Jeska, and a few other. Onslaught cranked it to eleven..
Been playing since 95. I remember going to a mall id never been to before and seeing Stronghold JUST released. Bought a pack, pulled a Sliver Queen lol
That's some good luck!
I still remember the beatdown i experienced when I went up against an oldschool sliver deck. essence sliver+ brood sliver=boned.
Slivers are the reason we need an MTG show
Great video!
Thanks man!
Hands down onslaught has the best creature type spells
Wish for an expansion Eldrazi vs Slivers.
Not only you my friend - not only you. But with the return in M14 / M15 it's highly uncertain, we gonna get new beautiful creatures like this. :(
What if Slivers adapted to the Blind Eternities and started populating the aether between the planes...?
"Each Sliver you control has +10/+10 Trample Annihilator 2"
Lolll
@@askani21 my collection says otherwise. There is a ban card named slivedrazi and it gives eldrazi sliver type with "each sliver you control has annihilation 1"
@@zerogamerpro3146 oh right I forgot about that one, I was rolling on the floor when I saw it hahahaha
Slivers, Infect and Eldrazi - Annihilation are deck builds I'll immediately scoop in EDH.
Scarecrows.
My favorite creature type from waaaaaay back in Shadowmoor
They're definitely on the list!
I saw that sneaky diamond at the end there. Nobody else mentioned it but I saw it...
The most powerful tribe in the multiverse! Ive loved the Insect creature type since Hornet Queen!
I believe Hornet Queen _not_ being legendary was a mistake. Ant Queen, too.
I've always wanted to build a sliver deck just to see what the hype was about a person that played slivers kept on losing to me and my Eldrazi deck. Eldrazi are my first favorite next to elves.
I love when I play magic and they play "farewell" to counter my slivers... I don't think they know what hibernation sliver is....
I have Sliver Queen and the rest. I love my sliver deck. I love playing it at my LGS for Commander on FNM -- and have all the players bond together in community love, harmony and unity to DESTROY ME stat! I tell people that I seldom win, but I make the nicest enemies.
Your plight is mine as well!
Finally, some Cephalid lore. One question: HOW exactly did Karn communicate with the Sliver Queen? Does she just speak human language?
She can definitely _understand_ it.
@@The_Loreseeker that level of intelligence is _wild_
It wasnt until watching this video that i realized Poultice Sliver has eyes
I prefer overlord as my Commander but I started in 2009 and absolutely fell in love with slivers if you ever want to swap lists lemme know
I’ve been wanting to build a sliver edh dec k I think you’ve tipped me over the edge to go and do it, also my favorite creature type is still goblins
Be prepared for a lot of hate.
Sliver Gravemother + Realmbreaker/Omenpaths = very bad time for many planes.
Wotc has been teasing us that both the slivers and eldrazi are still out there, the walls between planes are gone, and there is a lot that has never even been seen still.
The day we see slivers walking the roots. Oof.
Keep em coming seeker 🙏🏾
Slivers are rad AF. My favorite, probably gorgons.
Owning a Mint 10 Sliver Queen is my life goal.
An admirable goal!
my favorite deck i own with overlord as the commander
Nice! Overlord's a cool commander!
How did the Slivers get to Shandalar?
Actually we don't even know their original plane for sure. The Phyrexians "found" them and bred them, but it doesn't actually answer anything about their origins. For all we know Shandalar might be their home plane!
Now that the New Phyrexian invasion has begun, I wonder of the Slivers will come into contact with their old masters again. I wonder if the New Phyrexians could be able to compleat them this time...
Slivers VERY quickly adapt to changes in their environment, including becoming immune to lava. We have every reason to believe they were immune to phyrexia before, and could be again.
@@The_Loreseeker If a Sliver on Dominaria adapts and develops antibodies to fight off the Phyrexian infection, it *might* be a game changer. It would be an awesome storyline, watching people hurry and attempt to gather Sliver samples to study their newfound immunity, and hope to synthesize the antibodies to manufacture a cure or a vaccine. :)
My edh group keeps telling me to make stronger decks. So now, I'm rebuilding my old sliver deck with more stronger changes. They will face the sliver hive. :)
The first deck that I have that I can call my own is a Sliver deck!
Very nice!
Diffusion sliver could get it ngl
makes me wonder where the Grave Mother lands in the Sliver ranks
we are currently unsure.
@@The_Loreseeker educated guess based on lore text on cards and the name?
@@deogiblue640 It's likely some form of Sliver that devoted itself to ensuring the hive would continue to function even after the death of its brood, guaranteeing the survival of the species even if only in name.
Anyone think the first sliver is the younger form of the sliver queen?
You deserve more likes and subs ❤❤❤
Thanks!
Imagine them as a DND campaign
Like almost everyone, somehow, my first experience with slivers comes from losing to them repeatedly.
My friend sold his deck because he was beating me so much.....
7:00 no way: the best way to beat slivers is to have slivers of your own. Rip venser.
I love the creatures. I started when Tempest came out and was super jealous when my friend got the queen in a booster lol
Do slivers have souls? If so, why there isn't a sliver planeswalker, a humanoid sliver planeswalker that could be an anti-hero some sort caring about his sliver horde but have him down a line understood if slivers want to exist, he must research the past and show the multiverse that his hive will not cause trouble and make slivers being lot more sentient. A planeswalker sliver would be neat I think magic the gathering should create more planeswalker instead reusing characters doesn't feel right for the story.
I think a sliver planeswalker could be done right if WotC took care to remember Slivers are hivemind creatures that cared first and foremost about survival.
Unfortunately this is WotC we're talking about...
@@The_Loreseeker Yeah, I don't blame wizard of the coast it's mostly somewhat to blame, but I mostly Hasbro because when a company sold to another company and you know it's matter of time greed would kick into something you love that's why if I was a company, I would go with partnership instead of selling it.
@@The_Loreseeker I just realized why there isn't there Mirran survivor planeswalker?
Koth
@@The_Loreseeker Wait second what the relationship between Urabrask and the Marrians survivors it seems he doesn't bother him, and it seems they get alone with him just fine it like friend enemy kind of way?
beautiful video! I lov it!
Thanks man!
when i was introduced to the newer slivers i was really disappointed with the "only slivers you control". I've played with slivers for nearly ten years and the one unifying aspect was that all slivers are apart of the swarm even opposing hives. but now they are just like any other creature... takes all the fun out of battling other slivers even if it does make it a lot easier to win. guess that's why I'm casual mtg player. I'm thinking of putting a personal ban on the slivers with that style of abilities. but that hivelord sure is tempting... even if it's nowhere near as good as my overlord.
Yeah, it's kind of a shame that WotC threw out a decade of mechanical synergy for 'balance'
@17:53 ✋ I wish to know the song of the Hivemind!!😈
Me too, buddy, me too...
Slivers are awesome
So they exist on Dominaria, on Phyrexia and Shandalar?
I don't think they're on phyrexia, no.
@@The_Loreseeker ok
2:50 So they’re not Slivers then.
I don’t care what Wizards tries pushing. They’re not Slivers. -_-
It feels like they wanted a "Predator" design to go with the "Alien" one of the originals.
Wizards has basically all but confirmed the M14 slivers started out as a different creature before they decided to call them slivers.
@@The_Loreseeker That's actually legit interesting behind the scenes info to know.
I like the honesty they're showing with them at least.
Magic in 2022:
Magic in 2024: Slivdrazi 🤡 Spider-man
Ummm, WHAT? My original sliver deck was done in standard. Back when I was playing, casual standard would allow you to have a great deck at around 100 cards or so. Being casual, most people didn't care...
Mister Anderson.
Does anyone know to what card belongs the art at 13:05?
That would be Warped Researcher.
Which is the card on 6:09?
That's the Sliver Queen Vanguard card.
@@The_Loreseeker Thank you
I hope someone sees this comment but who would win in a fight MTG's Slivers or Halo's Flood?
From what I understand the Flood works like an infection, right? Slivers have a pretty interesting biology that allows them to quickly adapt to most situations including diseases and even magma flows, so I think that they'd develop an immunity to the flood pretty quick and then just start eating them.
The delivery and cadence of this video almost put me to sleep
I choose to accept that as a compliment.
I like turtles.
Great video, great information. But your narration style is too over the top imo. Quite grating to my ears lol. No offense meant. But if I were you I'd dial the intensity back
Homie? This is like the most normal narration I've ever heard
He does stretch out some words in a way that does seem to border on parody. “How dangerous the slivers truly weeeeerrrrrreeee”.
that sliver queen is a offical reprint or you did it by yourself?
Which one? The oversized? That's from the Commander's Arsenal set from way back in the day.
I love silvers, I call them my children. I've collected one of each. I build decks on the spot by asking what colors I am restricted too.
One thing I have learned playing slivers, it's a fast way to get your teeth kicked in at the table. Even more so if you don't warn people. I normally only crack slivers out when I ask politely and let people know I'm about to unleash everything.
They are sooooo much fun, the perfect engine, new combo's just, occur so easy, new attack methods, new strategy's, board wipes is just cleaning the canvas to build up again.
Ah, a fellow sliver chad.
@@The_Loreseeker The Jewel of my sliver collection is two sliver queens I got at $20 a pop.
@@FrostiKing Absolutely amazing!
Eldrozi vs slivers !
How do you not have more subs
It's a mystery
@@The_Loreseeker well you have me now and I shared the video with my play group. You have a fantastic voice for this type of content.
@@90kalos1 Well thanks, and welcome to the channel!
M14 m15 slivers are just predators
Dinosaurs!!!! :D….. sorry I like dinosaurs and dragons and goblins c: 😊
2:52 why’s it so thicc tho
Slivers evolved the ability to be hot
Slivers turn magic into yugioh
I disagree with that. I think morph and manifest turned magic into Yu-Gi-Oh playing with face down cards. There's a player in my play group that raves about his morph deck. Lol
The weird uncanny Valley effect of an AI reading the script is really offputting. I wish people would get back to reading their own scripts
This is unironically the rudest fucking comment I've ever received.
@@The_Loreseeker first day on the internet?
@@shaunlan5193 Yes ;-;
Try Shrines, Shrines are fun too... For you, anyway... roflmao. Fair warning, good luck making it fast, effective or competitive, without sacrificing a multitude of shrines, just to get "tHe BeSt OnEs".... 🙄
I started playing when Tempest was released and thanks to the local bookstore, I had access to several different older packs.
It took me a lot to get my first Sliver Queen, back in something like 2002 or so. Then I got another... and one more for good measure. Fell out of touch with the game but I still have my old Sliver Deck, complete with a Black Lotus :)