The Best 22 Slivers in Magic Ranked

Last updated on April 18, 2024

Sliver Queen | Illustration by Ron Spencer

Slivers are a beloved staple tribe of Magic. While they’re not quite as popular as goblins, elves, or dragons, slivers enjoy a hardcore cult following. Today I have for you, some of the best slivers as well as a Pauper deck you might want to try out, and much of the discussion is in terms of EDH.

Let’s get started!

What Are Slivers in MTG?

Harmonic Sliver | Illustration by Luca Zontini

Slivers are a type of creature in Magic. Take a look at the card’s creature type line. Does it say “sliver” in there somewhere? If it does, congrats! You’ve got a sliver on your hands. If it doesn’t, then you don’t. It’s that simple.

Slivers were introduced in 1997’s Tempest as a group of hive-minded creatures that could share their abilities with other slivers. You could also think of them as lords. Almost all slivers can share an ability or stat bonus with all other slivers on the field (or on your side of the field). There are some exceptions, though, like Sliver Queen.

Now that you know what makes a sliver, it’s time to rank them!

Honorable Mentions

Sliver Hive is basically an auto-include in a sliver deck, no sliver in the type line though , otherwise, it'd be near the best-ranked card here. Hivestone actually wants to sneak the sliver ideals into another go-wide EDH deck, tokens, and Rukarumel, Biologist is like it, branching out slivers to interact with other creature types. It's also a decent sliver token generator.

#22. Constricting Sliver

Constricting Sliver provides a proven and very effective removal ability, however, the high casting cost keeps this in its current spot in the ranking. Besides, how many slivers can you save to play after this?

#21. Dregscape Sliver

Dregscape Sliver gives slivers the potential to unleash explosive comebacks. You might be sitting on a pile of lands after a couple board wipes with no slivers to tap them for. Dregscape gets you out of this bind by giving them all unearth and giving you one last swing, or allows you to trigger effects that proc when slivers enter the battlefield.

#20. Synapse Sliver

Synapse Sliver keeps sliver decks from running out of gas in longer games like in EDH. This is what makes it an extremely attractive include in any sliver deck looking to go for a longer game.

#19. Muscle Sliver + Sinew Sliver + Predatory Sliver

Muscle Sliver, Sinew Sliver, and Predatory Sliver give all of your slivers +1/+1 for just plus either or . While not as impactful as some of the utility slivers I’ve covered, they’re the unsung heroes of sliver decks.

#18. Galerider Sliver

Even though Cloudshredder Sliver already provides both flying and haste, redundancy is great in sliver decks. Galerider Sliver provides it for just .

#17. Root Sliver

Root Sliver gives a set of words that give peace of mind to creature-based decks, “can't be countered.” It really helps you tap out and get as efficient as possible with your turns. Against some decks, the end simply becomes inevitable because their only way to stop slivers is before the slivers enter the battlefield.

#16. Lazotep Sliver

I love that Lazotep Sliver offers you insurance from removal, and afflict really does a good job of pushing damage if you don't have one of the trample enablers.

This is very valuable in turning you into the beatdown and keeping pressure on your foes.

#15. Hunter Sliver

Yes, this little sliver needs some help to force some really bad blocks from your opponents, but when Hunter Sliver and a few friends get online, provoke is a rare ability that ensures there is no escape for opposing creatures.

Hunter is great with a hunting pack of Venom Sliver, Megantic Sliver, Ward Sliver, Vampiric Sliver, Sidewinder Sliver, or Talon Sliver.

#14. Necrotic Sliver

Necrotic Sliver turns your slivers into colorless Vindicate effects. While Vindicate isn’t the best piece of black removal, it’s certainly attractive when you can make multiples and it costs colorless mana to activate. This is especially great with Sliver Queen since you can sacrifice the tokens the Queen makes.

#13. Thorncaster Sliver

One of the significant issues for go-wide decks is dealing with key problematic creatures that would never block or attack, Thorncaster Sliver lets you attack without sacrificing any power, and punch damage to a creature, and errata on this allows you to point your ping damage to any target. Have fun storming the castle and taking over the game in a few attacks!

#12. Quick Sliver

Quick Sliver turns your slivers into interaction you can flash in. This is sometimes a Crystalline Sliver to fizzle a Murder effect and other times it’s Harmonic Sliver to get rid of crucial combo pieces. In any case, this is an extremely powerful effect to have.

#11. Bonescythe Sliver

Cards that give double strike to your whole team tend to be pretty strong and Bonescythe Sliver is just cheap enough that it is a solid playable. Bonescythe allows even two or three sliver to be hard to deal with, and going wide with double strikers is usually a good aggro strategy.

#10. Sliver Hivelord

Sliver Hivelord has a similar benefit to Crystalline Sliver. It protects your slivers (including itself) from all destruction effects and by extension most board wipes. One of sliver decks’ largest counters is now a dud.

#9. Sliver Legion

Most sliver decks can quickly put four or five slivers on the board. Sliver Legion becomes an absolutely massive anthem effect to the point where it was included in some The First Sliver combos in Modern.

#8. Crystalline Sliver

Look at all the powerful slivers we have so far. They all provide  a massive impact when they hit the board but they’re largely unprotected. A single Murder can be the end of them. Crystalline Sliver lets you protect your valuable slivers.

#7. Sliver Overlord

Since a lot of slivers have very specific abilities that help disrupt your opponents’ gameplan, provide protection, or just help you beat down, it’s no wonder tutoring them is a powerful effect. Sliver Overlord is one of the most played slivers in Commander because of this.

#6. Harmonic Sliver

Harmonic Sliver turns all of your slivers into removal. In EDH where artifacts and enchantments are the name of the game, Harmonic can devastate your opponent’s boards if you drop just a couple of slivers after it.

#5. The First Sliver

The First Sliver is one of the best sliver commanders out there and sees niche play in formats like Modern and Legacy. It gives all of your slivers cascade and can do anything from powering a quick infinite combo to helping you amass a critical mass of slivers to swing for the win.

#4. Cloudshredder Sliver

Getting both flying and haste on all your slivers for is an amazing deal. It’s no wonder that Cloudshredder Sliver is played in many sliver decks ranging from EDH to more niche Modern combo decks.

#3. Sliver Gravemother

Sliver Gravemother packs a lot of explosive, aggressive power into a single creature. Encore isn't an ability you want to underestimate, and it can quickly get out of control if you manage to encore something like a Sliver Legion!

#2. Gemhide Sliver + Manaweft Sliver

Gemhide Sliver and Manaweft Sliver are auto-includes in pretty much any EDH sliver deck. They each offer almost the same ability with Gemhide being marginally worse in that it lets your opponent’s slivers (including changelings…) also tap for mana if they have them. Gemhide and Manaweft are crucial pieces for more midrange-focused sliver decks.

#1. Sliver Queen

The archetypal sliver and one of the most powerful commanders, Sliver Queen, provides what many sliver decks lack: an easy way to get lots of slivers on the board. It’s easy to amass a lot of mana with cards like Gemhide Sliver, which you can then funnel into the Queen’s ability to make a massive board. The head of the hive is also part of some very unique infinite combos with Mana Echoes, Ashnod's Altar, and any outlet.

And to top it off, it's five colors!

Decklist: Naya Slivers in Pauper

Predatory Sliver | Illustration by Mathias Kollros

For a 60-card aggro sliver experience, look no further than Naya Slivers in Pauper. This is a tribal aggro deck that often rears its head as a black horse in Pauper tournaments. It isn’t tier 1 but it has quite a few MTGO 5-0’s and a few tournament wins in its portfolio.

The trinity of Sinew Sliver, Muscle Sliver, and Predatory Sliver is here to buff all your low-cost slivers like Plated Sliver and Sidewinder Sliver. Red mainly brings sideboard options plus Heart Sliver.

The deck could be a force to be reckoned with in the Pauper meta if any more powerful slivers are printed at common since the deck has such a strong core.

Are Slivers Commander Legal?

Yes, all slivers are legal in Commander, the only ones not allowed, are not playable in any official format and are mystery booster playtest cards.

Are Slivers Good?

Yes. Slivers are an excellent tribe in Commander, have a playable Pauper deck, and even have some fringe Modern combo decks. They’re most popular in Commander where their ability to amass a massive board presence with high power and toughness values makes them very difficult to beat.

How Do You Beat Slivers?

Slivers can seem unbeatable, especially in casual Commander. It’s easy to see why many players consider slivers to be an oppressive tribe with their tendency to quickly create massive boards and swing with huge attack values.

With that being said, they have some clear-cut vulnerabilities. Board wipes can do a number on any sliver deck that doesn’t have a source of indestructibility. Even if they do have one, cards like Cyclonic Rift, Terminus and All is Dust can still put them back to square one.

It’s also very important to remember that not all slivers are equal. Letting a Plated Sliver stick around isn’t too bad, but Sliver Legion or Synapse Sliver can’t be allowed to stay alive for long.

Slivers also tend to win through combat damage. This means that cards that make combat difficult like Silent Arbiter or just outright negate damage like Fog and Spore Frog can throw a wrench into any sliver player’s plans.

Are Slivers Coming Back?

Slivers showed up big time as one of four preconstructed decks in Commander Masters and made a comeback in Modern Horizons, so it’s likely you’ll see other slivers pop up in supplemental sets. The biggest issue with making slivers in a Standard set is that it needs to have a heavy sliver theme to make them playable, and the design space for slivers is relatively narrow. With that being said, WotC has shown that they’re able to create some very unique designs with Sliver Gravemother and The First Sliver, so there’s no need to lose hope just yet.

Does MTG Arena Have Slivers?

Yes, thanks mostly to contributions from Jumpstart and Jumpstart: Historic Horizons, there are a couple dozen slivers on MTGA.

Is There a Sliver Planeswalker?

Ess-Nelek is a sliver planeswalker in Magic’s lore but there are no sliver planeswalker cards printed in the game.

Can Sliver Overlord be a Commander?

Since Sliver Overlord is a legendary creature and is also legal in Commander, it can be your commander.

Does a Changeling Count as a Sliver?

Yes, changelings count as slivers in every zone, so you can search your library for them, and they trigger ETB abilities as they enter.

Wrap Up

Necrotic Sliver | Illustration by Dave Allsop

That’s all I’ve got for you when it comes to slivers. What are your thoughts on this unique tribe? Do you like playing with them or do you wish they’d do away? Let me know in the comments down below, or head over to our Discord if that’s more your thing. And don’t forget to check out the blog for more content like this.

Stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll see you in the next one!