[Report] "Getting to know you" with Counterslivers

[Matt]

A little report from the 10-man weekly last night. I took Counterslivers for a test drive; it performed well, despite me never having played it against a live human being before. Unorthodox choices in bold:

//Slivers - 20
4 Crystalline Sliver
4 Sinew Sliver
4 Muscle Sliver
2 Winged Sliver
3 Plated Sliver
2 Hibernation Sliver
1 Harmonic Sliver

//Spells - 20
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
2 Stifle
1 Counterspell
4 Brainstorm
2 Serum Visions
4 Swords to Plowshares

//Mana - 20
4 Tundra
3 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea

4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Windswept Heath

2 Island
1 Plains
1 Mox Diamond

Wow, I didn't realize the list was 20/20/20. Just like RDW.

And the teched-out sideboard:

SB: 2 Harmonic Sliver

SB: 4 Duress
SB: 1 Stifle
SB: 1 Armageddon

SB: 2 Enlightened Tutor
SB: 2 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 Worship
SB: 1 Engineered Plague
SB: 1 Cursed Totem

The Hibernation Slivers did their job, which was to be a sliver. The bouncing only came up once, but it could have mattered. The Mox was generally good but Vial might be better, or better yet since it's only one slot, Lotus Petal. Vial doesn't cast the SB cards though. Serum Visions was actually randomly good - it gave me more turn 1 dig for the critical second land, and curves nicely on turn 3.

I was extremely skeptical of Plated Sliver at first but it pulled its weight. Its job was principally to get in there and start attacking on turn 2, and it did that. The toughness also came in handy in some creature standoffs.

I never used the Crypts but they were probably still a good call. Worship would have been nice against the one burn deck but otherwise useless. Should have crammed another Plague in there - the tutor/bullet strategy is best with bullets which aren't cumulative. Geddon was a last-minute add. If I had owned a Pithing Needle it would have been in that slot.

Round one: Adam with Stasis
Everybody hates playing against him, and everyone cheers when he loses, because he ALWAYS plays stasis.

Game one I am on the draw but he's mulliganed to 6 and I almost lose when he taps out to play Vedalken Shackles. I have a Brainstorm, but I don't cast it. I play Brainstorm on my own turn and it turns out it would have given me Daze. But it also turned up a Crystalline Sliver. I play a fetch and Crystalline, he Dazes, I break fetch, he Dazes again, I Daze his Daze, which resolves. Fetch gets a land to pay for Daze #2 and Crystalline Sliver resolves, trumping his Shackles. Some beats are applied and he is visibly shaken.

-3 Plated Sliver, -2 Stifle, -1 Plow, +4 Duress +2 Harmonic. I didn't bring in Totem though I probably should have, fearing bounce (can't bounce a STP).

Game two he Remands and Denials and lands a Chronatog, I STP it, he Chain of Vapors it back. I'm getting in for some damage, but the Tog is keeping me from just swinging. He also has a Vedalken Mastermind (1/2, , : cast Rescue). Eventually I land a Winged Sliver and knock him for 8 and then 10.

Round two: Chad with Trinity Green
He ensures me he's "not a scrub": he and his friends had 4 decks and he drew the short straw.

Game one is the best game of the night. I mulligan to 6 and he to 5. He plays a lot of Call of the Herd tokens, and takes a little manaburn from a Gaea's Cradle when he didn't have to. He lands a Deranged Hermit but I have a bunch of 3/4s and a 4/5 Crystalline, so we're in a standoff. He's at 15, I'm at 16 when I land a Winged. I do some math and he can counterattack for 15 only. I attack for 13, leaving him at 2. He untaps, and plays and equips a Jitte! He attacks me and I have to choose whether to block with my Winged Sliver. I say, "No guts, no glory" and take it all. I take 15, he gets 2 Jitte counters. I untap and draw a Sinew, which overloads his BOP's ability to block and Jitte's lifegain.
My life: 20, 19 (fetch), 18 (Elf I think), 17 (FOW), 16 (FOW), 1 (combat)
His life: 20, 18 (combat), 17 (combat), 15 (mana burn), 2 (combat), gg

-1 Daze (lots of mana creatures, plus Cradle), -2 Stifle, -1 Mox, +1 Totem, +1 E.Plague, +1 Tutor, +1 Harmonic Sliver

Game two I Force his Bird and Plow an Elf, buying me some turns in which I land a Crystalline. He plays a Tangle Wire (getting him some turns back), a Call token, a Jitte, and a Chalice for 2. I outlast the Wire, kill the Chalice with a Harmonic and take a hit. I untap and kill the Jitte with a Muscle Sliver, which gains him 4 life. His back broken, I run him over. I Countered a Plow Under this game too, and Forced a Masticore (which I shouldn't have done since I had the Harmonic).

Round three: Robin Mannas with UWFishFlash

He was the only person playing Flash, and I convinced him to not do it again. Time for the wounds to heal. I win game one with a Hibernation and some Sinews. Hibernation Sliver makes him unwilling to block with his Serra Avenger. Eventually I overrun him.

-1 Stifle, -1 Harmonic, -2 Plated, +4 Duress. I knew he was Hulk but I didn't bring in the Stifles because they were so bad against the Fish half: sometimes he doesn't side into Hulk.

Game two I Duress and find out he has sided in the 15 card Flash sideboard. He doesn't use it though, as he Stifles a fetch which wins the game for him since I'm stuck on one fetch and basic Island, and have a hand of Hibernation, Muscle, Sinew. Triple Meddling Mage ensures I can't recover.

-1 Duress, +1 Plated

Game three he keeps FOW, Stifle, Stifle, Brainstorm, Brainstorm, Flash, Hulk, hoping to draw land. His first draw is Island and he Brainstorms, I Daze. His second card is Tundra and I lose, having only resolves a Crystalline. :<<<

Round four: Ross with The Rock

Game one he Duresses me taking a Serum Visions (only target) but he's stuck on two land and I run him over soon, 20-18-12-3-gg.

-1 FoW, -1 Counterspell, -2 Plated, +1 Stifle (looking for Deed), +1 Totem, +1 Tutor, +1 Geddon (if I can get a board advantage, I can shut down his expensive gamewinners like Survival, Baloth, and Spiritmonger).

He Duresses turn one and lands T3 Plague while I have Crystalline out. I counter with a Plated, and he plays turn 4 Plague. I have one Hibernation and when he lands Survival I figure I can't win in time. My inexperience with the deck caused me not to bring in the Hibernations, since I didn't have the "OMG BLACK DECK -> HE'S BRINGING IN PLAGUES" instinct yet.

-1 Tutor, -1 Stifle, -1 Daze, +2 Harmonic +1 Plated

I start out strong, knocking him down to 4, but a Nekrataal kills one guy and joins Yavimaya Elder to double-block Crystalline. I might not have attacked but he had only one card in hand and didn't have the mana to use Elder's ability so I felt I needed to play the aggressor, lest he TD Deed and crush me. But he got Survival active, Genesis'd the Nekrataal back to kill a Plated, and Spiritmonger took me down.

2-2 matches, 6-4 games. No prize. Somehow Trinity Green got 3rd, and Green Death second.

I liked the deck a lot, but would make some changes for next time. Another Plague would have been good, and I should only have one Tutor (the overall Tutor/Bullet SB plan was fundamentally sound however). Cursed Totem derves a spot for sure. I should have another Geddon or possibly Winter Orb, and fewer Stifles. Duress was of course a Solid Gold Dancer. I should have sided out more permission against Rock (if I was using Worbs, I would leave Daze in, but FOW is a liability), which overloads on hand disruption for game 2. I might also move one Hibernation Sliver to the SB, adding another Harmonic or perhaps Winged Sliver, which is more important than I realized, because you never ever want to lose your guys in combat and would prefer to fly over them.

Some kind of card drawing would be nice.

[Pancakes]

What is the Plague for?

[Matt]

Goblins primarily, and also ETW tokens. Occasionally useful against some other deck, such as killing the elves in a green deck or naming Cleric against certain WW builds (shadow creatures + MoR). I suppose it could be useful against Bigger Fish, killing Confidants and turning Finkels off.

[xsockmonkeyx]

You really need 3 Winged Slivers.  They are essential to the deck's anti aggro strategy of building up a defense and then attacking for the win.   In aggro and aggro-control matchups drawing into one is often what wins you the game.  2 in the deck is just not enough.

[Pancakes]

Goblins primarily, and also ETW tokens. Occasionally useful against some other deck, such as killing the elves in a green deck or naming Cleric against certain WW builds (shadow creatures + MoR). I suppose it could be useful against Bigger Fish, killing Confidants and turning Finkels off.

If those are your main concerns, it seems like Propaganda or Ghostly Prison would be more effective.

[Matt]

I had not thought of Prison/Ganda, though I did have a Dueling Grounds temporarily. But I didn't like how it let them build up guys for SCG tricks or Gempalming my guys (if I didn't have Crystalline).

I'm not 100% sold on Winged #3 yet but I did sometimes want another. Might be better than Hibernation.

[The Atog Lord]

Thanks for writing the report, Matt. An interesting read for sure.

A couple of questions:

I'm getting in for some damage, but the Tog is keeping me from just swinging.

Was this because you feared losing to a Stasis, or because Tog could get really big and eat a Sliver? If the latter, then swinging into the Atog wouldn't be so bad. Your creatures becoming Timewalks could certainly be worse.

Game two I Force his Bird

Do you usually find that hitting an acceleration piece with Force is a good idea? In general, certain Storm-based situations excluded, I tend to allow acceleration to resolve, and save my forces for other threats, such as Plow Under in this case. This not only lets the opponent run out of threats, but also lets you pitch less needed cards to Force. The more time you have to draw, the better pitch candidate you'll find.

Finally, this may be awful, but what about Keep Watch as a draw spell? It isn't an early-game cantrip, but by the later part of the game may well turn itself into three cards.

[Matt]

Was this because you feared losing to a Stasis, or because Tog could get really big and eat a Sliver? If the latter, then swinging into the Atog wouldn't be so bad. Your creatures becoming Timewalks could certainly be worse.

Do you usually find that hitting an acceleration piece with Force is a good idea? In general, certain Storm-based situations excluded, I tend to allow acceleration to resolve, and save my forces for other threats, such as Plow Under in this case. This not only lets the opponent run out of threats, but also lets you pitch less needed cards to Force. The more time you have to draw, the better pitch candidate you'll find.

Finally, this may be awful, but what about Keep Watch as a draw spell? It isn't an early-game cantrip, but by the later part of the game may well turn itself into three cards.

I didn't want to lose the Slivers, since each Muscle that gets eaten hurts so bad. He had too much life total to simply run over.

He pretty much told me that he needed the mana creatures to hit play. Otherwise I would probably have never done that.

Keep Watch is very interesting. If I was going to run any draw spell that might be it. It's actually not only good when you're winning - it's good when you're losing too. Which might not be enough. Merits trying though.