MTG Slivers: the tribe and how to build them
Last updated: September 1, 2026
Slivers are one of Magic's most beloved creature types, and they play unlike anything else in the game. The whole appeal is the hive mind: Slivers share their abilities with each other, so the more you play, the stronger your entire board becomes.
What makes Slivers special
Most tribes just care about a shared name. Slivers care about a shared body of abilities. A creature that reads "Slivers you control have haste" hands haste to every Sliver on your side, and a table full of Slivers stacks those abilities on top of one another — flying, trample, protection, extra power — all at once. Add one more Sliver and it doesn't just add a body, it upgrades the whole team. That exponential scaling is why a modest board can suddenly become lethal. (Older Slivers famously buffed all Slivers in play, including your opponents'; newer printings are templated as "other Slivers you control," so today the hive mind is yours alone.)
A quick history
Slivers debuted in Tempest in 1997, then got a full showcase in Legions (2003), an all-creature set stuffed with them. They've returned many times since — Time Spiral, Magic 2014 and 2015, and Modern Horizons — so the pool of playable Slivers is deep and spans every colour.
Key Slivers to know
- Commander choices: Sliver Overlord, Sliver Legion, The First Sliver, and Sliver Queen all lead a five-colour Sliver deck.
- Anthems and keywords: lords that grant +1/+1, flying, haste (Heart Sliver, Blur Sliver), first strike, or trample turn a wide board into a fast one.
- Mana fixing: Gemhide Sliver and Manaweft Sliver let your Slivers tap for any colour — essential glue in a five-colour deck.
- Protection: Sliver Hivelord (your Slivers are indestructible) and Slivers that grant ward or shroud help you survive a board wipe.
Building a Slivers deck
Slivers are almost always a Commander deck. Because the payoff spans all five colours, your first priority is a manabase that can cast anything on time — cheap dual lands plus the mana-fixing Slivers above. From there it's a go-wide plan: flood the board, layer on the hive-mind keywords, and close the game before an opponent can reset it. Keep a couple of protective Slivers handy, since one well-timed board wipe is a Sliver deck's biggest fear. The good news for your wallet: many Slivers are commons and uncommons, so the deck is far cheaper to assemble than its power suggests. New to the format? Start with building your first Commander deck on a budget.
Browse the Slivers we have in stock, or paste a decklist into the deck builder to price the whole hive at once.