Slivers are one of the most unique monsters ever designed for the vast worlds of Magic: The Gathering. Taking clear design inspiration from Alien’s xenomorphs, Slivers have become a fan-favorite Creature design, both aesthetically and mechanically.
Slivers are among MTG’s most cooperative Creatures — at least among their own kind — with each Creature contributing to the hive, boosting other Slivers’ power by sharing abilities across the whole board.
It’s this incredibly synergistic playstyle that has garnered Sliver a huge number of fans among MTG players and makes them deserving of the same kind of archetype support Modern Horizons 3 has granted the Eldrazi.
Slivers are in need of new support
The last set of support that Slivers received in MTG was in 2023’s Commander Masters, and prior to that, the archetype had not received a significant chunk of support in years. Commander Masters included the Sliver Swarm pre-con, a five-color deck that had players excited to see the return of this archetype after years in the wilderness.
Unfortunately, while much of the MTG player base was looking forward to this deck in the lead-up to Commander Masters’ release, the Sliver Swarm deck was not without controversy. Many MTG fans felt that, given the inflated price tag compared to regular pre-con pricing, the absence of several of the archetype’s most powerful cards was unacceptable.
The First Sliver and Sliver Legion can both send Sliver decks into overdrive, with Cascade fetching out multiple Creatures every turn and Legion boosting the board to obscene levels of power.
Their absence from Sliver Swarm was notable, with one possible theory proposing that the deck’s face Commander — Sliver Gravemother — would have stacked up unfavorably compared to The First Sliver if that card had been included.
Additionally, Silver Swarm’s mana base was criticized for being too slow and missing no-brainer staples like Sliver Hive. All in all, this deck left a bad taste in players’ mouths, feeling inconsistent and underwhelming.
Eldrazi players were satisfied with the Eldrazi Unbound deck from Commander Masters — aside from its cost — making the significant amount of support that the archetype received in Modern Horizons 3 somewhat egregious given Slivers being left on the bench with no support imminent.
Where Eldrazi succeeded and Slivers failed
Given both of the archetypes’ return in Commander Masters, a comparison is invited between the Eldrazi and the Slivers. Both of these Creature types play with alien horror, with the Eldrazi leaning towards unknowable, Lovecraftian cosmic horror and Slivers drawing on a more physical, biological threat.
Eldrazi are a more recent addition to MTG but have received more support than Slivers since their debut. This is thanks to their spot as a focal point in MTG’s story in their first appearance, making an unforgettable impression on the player base.
Eldrazis’ expansion in MTG also stands in direct contrast to the Slivers’. When the Eldrazi have appeared in new cards, it has mostly been in large numbers.
Lovecraftian horror comes with a very strong visual identity, which leads to good design variety. New cards can arrive in droves and still maintain a consistent identity as part of the Eldrazi archetype.
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In contrast, while the look of Slivers is iconic among MTG players, their art tends to be much less diverse, adhering to small variances on a single serpentine design. It’s a testament to MTG’s talented cadre of artists that so many unique Slivers have been made out of the same basic body template.
While new Eldrazi cards have never courted any particular controversy around their designs, Magic’s 2014 core set attempted to branch out on what a Sliver card could be visually and suffered heavy backlash as a result. These cards were eventually redesigned to better fit the image of classic Slivers in the Sliver Swarm pre-con.
Updating Slivers for modern Magic
While MTG fans widely derided the 2014 core set’s Sliver updates, the changes weren’t attempted without reason.
MTG Senior Creative Designer Doug Beyer explained in a blog post at the time that Magic’s Creative team was feeling penned in by the classic Sliver anatomical design and that it didn’t present enough variance to build out a whole new batch of Slivers.
This trial run at broadening the idea of what a Sliver could be was broadly unsuccessful and presents a solid theory as to why the archetype hasn’t received much support in the years since.
If Slivers are to return to MTG in a significant way, there needs to be a way to thread the needle. The classic Sliver style should be maintained, but Magic’s designers need the space to branch out, too.
One possible solution would be to take inspiration from another long-running sci-fi gaming franchise: Warhammer 40K. Slivers wouldn’t be terribly out of place in the grim darkness of the 41st millennium
The Tau faction in 40K has an iconic visual style, but its technological appearance is seemingly at odds with the inclusion of the Kroot species. Though their visuals may clash, the Kroot still play a part in the Tau empire and are often fielded right alongside Tau troops in power armor.
Rather than drastically changing Slivers’ appearance, the inclusion of a supporting faction for the archetype would allow MTG’s designers new creative space in both lore and art.
With Slivers being dormant on Dominaria for so many years, a species or faction that would tend the Slivers or attempt (foolishly) to shepherd them for their own gain would be an interesting addition.
If Sliver fans are lucky, renewed interest in the archetype could convince Wizards to create new support sooner rather than later. While the Eldrazi may be locked out of MTG’s main story for the foreseeable future, Slivers aren’t necessarily bound to the same fate.
With the Omenpaths opening up travel across MTG’s vast multiverse like never before, planar wanderers might just have an unpleasant encounter with the Slivers before too long.
