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There are now Slivers in the Block Constructed metagame. The deck is faster than the Wafo-Tapa version, cheaper to build, and deadly like poison. Every time a new deck shows up, a huge amount of hype is created about it, and many people switch to it just because it's new tech. I wanted to write a new article about Blue/Black matchups, but wasn't really sure which one should I pick. I already know the ins and outs of the matchups against Mono-Red and White Weenie, and other decks that have been around awhile. When I've heard about Poison Slivers, it seemed it was the right matchup to test.

I've taken some of the suggestions off the forums in how to improve these matchup articles. First, I've used some screenshots to show some complicated or interesting game states. Second, I looked for people with their own Poison Sliver decklists who were willing to spend some of their time playtesting with me, which made me play around hypothetical cards on assumption. Therefore, I have no exact Poison Slivers decklist to provide you... but I do have the deck I played. It's the same decklist I used in my last article, when testing against Green/White Goyf... just a few cards different from the versions I played at the last two Grand Prix tournaments.

Blue/Black Control Featured by Tiago Chan on 2007-07-15 (Time Spiral Block) As written about in http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/14457.html Print this deck!
Maindeck: Artifacts 4 Prismatic Lens Artifact Creatures 1 Triskelavus Creatures 2 Aeon Chronicler 4 Shadowmage Infiltrator Enchantments 2 Take Possession	Instants 4 Cancel 3 Careful Consideration 2 Mystical Teachings 1 Pull from Eternity 2 Slaughter Pact 3 Tendrils of Corruption Legendary Creatures 1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir Sorceries 4 Damnation Basic Lands 6 Island 1 Plains 1 Swamp Lands 1 Calciform Pools 4 Dreadship Reef 2 River of Tears 4 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Tolaria West 2 Urza's Factory Legendary Lands 1 Academy Ruins 4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth	Sideboard: 1 Aeon Chronicler 3 Aven Riftwatcher 3 Vesuvan Shapeshifter 1 Disenchant 1 Haunting Hymn 1 Snapback 1 Spell Burst 1 Strangling Soot 1 Tendrils of Corruption 1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir 1 Venser, Shaper Savant
Download this deck in Apprentice format!		Download this deck in Magic Online Text format!

Match 1

Game 1 (on the draw)

I mulliganed a one-land hand, and kept a not-so brilliant six card hand composed of: Dreadship Reef, Plains, Careful Consideration, Mystical Teachings, and 2 Slaughter Pact. As long as I drew lands, I could still be in the game, depending on the board and the cards drawn. My opponent started with turn 1 Island, Screeching Sliver, and turn 2 Mountain, Two-Headed Sliver, but on turn 3 just played Terramorphic Expanse and passed. Perhaps having no Green mana so far explained it. Meanwhile, my first three draws were lands, including an Island, so I'm good to cast my spells. After the Careful Consideration, my hand and the board were like this:

{Click here for Board Position 1}

The next attack took me to 12 life and 5 Poison counters. No other Sliver was added to the table, I was worried about Frenetic Sliver. I played the Urborg and Damnation, which was countered by Delay. Another possible play could've been to play Infiltrator and then Slaughter Pact the Two-Headed Sliver to block Virulent Sliver.

During the next attack, I played Slaughter Pact on the Virulent Sliver, which was met with Delay #2. I used my second Pact to kill it, and took only two damage and no poison counters. On my upkeep I paid for the Pact that resolved last turn, and put the Damnation and the Slaughter Pact countered with Delay down to two counters each. With three mana available on my main phase, and holding Careful, Chronicler, Infiltrator, and land, I can only play an Infiltrator or do nothing. If I play it, it will only cycle for a card in the next attack, as it will die on the next upkeep when Damnation resolves. I decide to go for it, even though it can't use it block. I have plenty of use for my mana (including Teachings in my graveyard) for the next turns, and I want to dig the extra card to find a Cancel for the turn Damnation resolves. I need the backup for another Delay, and if he doesn't have the Delay I can counter his next play.

One more attack, and I was down to eight. A second Two-Headed Sliver was added, but so far they were three 1/1 Slivers who had to be blocked by two or more creatures. On my turn I drew and attacked for an extra card, and played the Careful after combat. The aftermath is easy. I drew five lands and a Cancel, so I passed holding the Chronicler I already had, plus a Cancel and three lands. I went down to five, and my opponent passed holding two cards. The Damnation resolved and reset the board. I drew another land, so with eight mana available and holding only Chronicler and Cancel, that simplified my options for me. I suspended it for one, and passed with three lands open. I countered a Firewake Sliver, and my opponent played Two-Headed Sliver, holding just one card.

On my turn I attacked for five with the Chronicler, The cards I drew were Damnation and Triskelavus. Facing only a Two-Headed Sliver and one card in his hand, I figured I could finish this game very quickly, and so played the Triskelavus. My opponent was at 14 life, and cycled a Homing Sliver, playing a land and Dormant Sliver in the same turn. He was holding no cards, but of course he drew one from the Dormant. Let's go to my next turn and analyze the scenario.

{Click here for Board Position 2}

I think the correct play would be to make a Trisk token to shoot the Two-Headed Sliver and attack for seven damage. He'll then have the choice to block the 4/4 Chronicler or not. He'll probably take seven to keep the Dormant. Then I would make two more Trisk tokens to shoot the Dormant. At seven life, and with a Triskelavus 1/1 plus a 4/4 Chronicler, he would still need to chump-block the Chronicler next turn, because it will be a 5/5 attacker, plus the Teachings in graveyard, plus the Triskelavus, for his seven remaining life points. You still have the safety of playing Teachings for Cancel, for another Teachings, or even making a Factory token. I believe that if I'd made this play, the game would've ended in the next few turn.

I made a much worse play. I just attacked. He chumped with the Two-Headed Sliver, going down to ten. I did not kill the Dormant Sliver, as I had no idea things could get so out of control. He played Firewake, Gemhide, and Screeching, and passed the turn holding two cards. End of turn I make three Trisk tokens, use one to shoot the Triskelavus, and put it back on top. My plan was to attack with both tokens down to eight, sacrifice them both to put him down at six, Play Damnation and Triskelavus, and win next turn. It didn't work.

I attacked with everything. He blocked the Chronicler with Screeching Sliver and use him for mana to cycle Homing Sliver, getting a second Dormant. At this point he still had two untapped slivers for mana, so I should've shot one right away, to put him at one mana in order to prevent Delay. Leaving him at seven life or knocking him to six was the same, as I could still deal seven points next turn in the air. When I played Damnation, he had the third Delay. Now he was tapped out, so I made two Triskelavus tokens to shoot the Firewake and Gemhide.

Over the next few turns, things got really out of hand, I was facing three Dormant Slivers, Frenetic, Gemhide, and Virulent. I did some contortions in order to stay alive, and managed to deal exact damage for the win. I believe my opponent misplayed somewhere, or at least that's what he told me. I was only worried about Frenetic and Firewake Sliver, but now I know Dormant Sliver is also a threat. I thought I could contain him for two turns, but it's too risky.

Game 2 (on the draw)

My opponent mulliganed. I decided to keep a risky hand of 2 Urborg, Island, Cancel, Teachings, Infiltrator, and Tendrils. It's debatable whether to keep this hand or ship it back. It's the same as a six-card hand, but it's a good six-card hand. If I draw a land, and play turn 3 Infiltrator, I can probably play all the other cards, and the Tendrils is already powered by Urborg.

He played turn 1 Virulent, so I could be in for some quick Poison beats.

My first three draws were a Tendrils #2, land. and Urborg #3, so I played Infiltrator, which was Delayed. I did not have a land for the fourth turn, but I was still only facing a Virulent Sliver. At the end of my turn 4, he slivercycled to fetch Virulent #2, and tried to play it on turn 5. I was stuck on three mana, but two of them provided Blue, so I Cancelled. The Infiltrator was Delayed for a second time, but eventually I drew lands and exploded, while my opponent could only take me up to five poison counters. I took advantage of his mana flood, and since I had all the time in the world I played Teachings for Spell Burst while already holding a Cancel. Meanwhile, the Infiltrator resolved and started drawing cards right away. Since he knew about Spell Burst he had to play around it, so I played draw-go from this point, using Careful at the end of his turn. After the Careful and some attacks from Infiltrator, I had eight lands in play and my hand was 2 Cancel, 1 Tendrils, 1 Spell Burst, Land, and Infiltrator, so he was pretty much locked.

2-0 Win

Match 2

Game 1 (on the draw)

I kept 2 Terramorphic Expanse, Island, Dreadship Reef, Academy Ruins, Slaughter Pact, and Take Possession. Not great, but it has mana, which is the most important thing... and it can power out a turn 5 Take Possession. I drew an Infiltrator by turn 3, which I played. So far the only creature on the table was a Screeching Sliver, because my opponent was manascrewed. He had managed to play Frenetic Sliver on turn 4. I attacked with Infiltrator, and played a Prismatic Lens. He attacked me back, knocking me to 16, and played Summoner's Pact for Dormant Sliver, which he made. I attacked with Infiltrator on my turn, and after that the board looked like this, with plenty of options:

{Click here for Board Position 3}

I still don't know the correct play. He will have to tap four mana next turn to pay the Pact, so my options are:

Take Possession on the Frenetic Sliver.
Careful Consideration.
Slaughter Pact.

I don't want to play Damnation, since it will lose me my Infiltrator, and no one knows what will happen over on his side. I decided to play Take Possession on the Frenetic Sliver, but then I made a mistake. I decided to use the ability right away, in order to kill it (a 50/50 shot, which I "won," but I clearly wanted it to be dead). So it returned at the end of turn. I should've used the ability on my next turn before playing Damnation, so that his Slivers couldn't phase out. On his turn he paid for the Pact, and played another Forest to add a Virulent Sliver, drawing a card from it, before passing the turn.

I attacked with the Infiltrator, and played Slaughter Pact on the Frenetic Sliver. He used the Frenetic ability on all the slivers, and lost the important ones - Frenetic and Dormant — while keeping Screeching and Virulent (which return at the end of turn, so I don't play Damnation). I had six lands and still hadn't played a land this turn. I was holding Careful Consideration and Cancel. This is a decision that can win or lose a game. I decided to play Careful Consideration anyway, but I only drew Tolaria and colorless lands, so I have to pass with three mana open but without two Blue. He replayed more Slivers and I lost. I felt if I had played this game differently I could've won, as I still don't have a real idea of how "dangerous" and fast the slivers are.

Game 2 (on the play)

I kept 2 Terramorphic Expanse, Urborg, Infiltrator, Snapback, and 2 Careful Consideration. My opponent had a great curve with turn 1 Virulent Sliver, turn 2 Delay on my Infiltrator, and turn 3 Frenetic Sliver. On my next turn, I did not have the fourth land. My draws have been two Infiltrator and one Slaughter Pact, so I just played another Finkel. My opponent played nothing, so on my turn I attacked with the Shadowmage, drawing my fourth land, and then I played the third Infiltrator (which was also Delayed).

His next attack put me at 15 life and 4 Poison counters, but he didn't play anything else. On my upkeep, Delayed Infiltrator #1 came back, and I attacked with one, leaving one mage behind to block the Poison Slivers. I didn't draw a land, so my hand after the attack was: 3 Careful, Infiltrator #4, Pact, Tendrils, and Snapback. I don't want to put another mage on the table because maybe I'll need to play Damnation at some point, and I already had two on the table and one suspended. I also didn't want more cards from Careful; although more lands would be nice, it wasn't that crucial. I passed with mana open, with the option to play Careful at the end of his turn to filter my hand. And of course, if he plays a trick to sidestep my defensive Infiltrator, I can wreck him with Tendrils or Snapback (Two-Headed Sliver, for example). In this situation, he needs to make a move, not me. End of turn he cycled a Homing to get a Gemhide.

He played a Forest, now up to four lands. He tapped two to play Gemhide. With the mana-guy on the stack, I ditched one Careful to play Snapback on the Frenetic. It resolved. Then I played Tendrils on the Virulent, which also resolved. The Gemhide came into play, and he added a Two-Headed Sliver and passed. I attacked with my two Infiltrators and drew tons of cards. Initially, I wanted to play Slaughter Pact on his Gemhide, to deny him mana and set him back, but then I realized my only Black source was Urborg. If he had Boom/Bust to destroy it, I would lose, so I played Careful instead for even more cards. I passed, holding land, Careful, Cancel, Infiltrator, Pact, Strangling Soot, and Pull from Eternity. I was all tapped, which allowed him to resolve Telekinetic Sliver.

On my turn, the third Infiltrator that was suspended came back. He used one Sliver to tap one Infiltrator, as the other Sliver had been tapped for mana. I attacked for two cards, and played Strangling Soot on the Gemhide, to keep him low on mana, as this set him back to three lands (the Gemstone Mine had been exhausted). I passed with three mana untapped, and holding Cancel, Pact, Infiltrator, Teachings, Careful, land, and Pull.

And this is where I lost the game.

By now, he was out of Red mana. No Gemhide and no Gemstone Mine, so I should've used Slaughter Pact on my turn to kill Telekinetic. Even if he plays Mountain, Boom/Bust the Urborg, I still have Cancel and mana for it, so I will only lose if he has a Mountain, Boom/Bust, and Delay. I still decided to play safe and not lose to Pact because of Boom/Bust, so I passed, confident that I would eventually kill Telekinetic.

On his turn he drew a Mountain, and used one of his two Slivers to tap one of my Islands so that I can't Cancel, and played Frenetic Sliver. Since I don't have Cancel mana anymore, I misclicked, but I wanted to use Slaughter Pact in response on the Telekinetic. Let's just pretend this happened in a PTQ or Grand Prix, and your opponent played Frenetic Sliver and you said "sure" when you wanted to play something in response. "Sure" meant you didn't want to counter, but also meant that you had no more effects.

On my next turn I still had two more Infiltrator hits, but from here, he just kept adding Slivers and Slivers, tapping all my Infiltrators. We're playing draw go for a while, he has more Slivers than I have creatures, until one turn he lets me attack with Mages, and taps my lands instead. On his turn he taps the remaining lands, and afterwards plays Boom/Bust. He already had Gemhide Sliver on the table so the game was pretty much over here.

Loss 0-2

Match 3

Game 1 (On the draw)

I kept 2 Island, Dreadship Reef, Prismatic Lens, Cancel and Tendrils. He played turn 2 Gemhide Sliver and turn 3 Dormant Sliver. I Cancelled his turn 4 Telekinetic Sliver, and played Pact on the Dormant Sliver when I saw he didn't have enough mana to Boom/Bust (because he tapped for Telekinetic). Paying the pact on my upkeep left me all tapped (the three lands and the Lens, to filter for Black). He then played a second Dormant Sliver. Things got quickly out of control, especially with a third Dormant Sliver and later a second Telekinetic Sliver. This ensured I wasn't playing many more spells.

Game 2 (on the play)

I kept Tolaria, Island, Calciderm Pools, Factory, Chronicler, Venser, and Tendrils. My plan was to charge the land on turn 2 and transmute Tolaria into Urborg turn 3, to have access to Black mana and power Tendrils from there. He once again made a turn 2 Gemhide, turn 3 Dormant. I played Damnation on turn 4. He played Dormant #2. I killed it with Tendrils. On his fifth turn, he played Frenetic, Virulent, and Screeching Slivers. The board was now like this:

{Click here for Board Position 4}

I can...

... Play Venser when he attacks. Return his Frenetic to hand, and block the Virulent. This is pretty bad if he has Delay, as I lose a turn and the Venser.

... Play Careful for more cards and to dig for lands, and perhaps get rid of one of the extra Chroniclers.

... Suspend the Chronicler for one. This was the action I took, as I wanted an extra card, and this way I would have a body for the next turn.

He attacked me, and I received three Poison counters. He then played a Telekinetic after combat. The two cards I drew (from Chronicler and my draw step) were a land and Teachings. I decided to pass, and force him to use a sliver to tap the Chronicler. When he attacks with everyone, I'll play Venser, returning Frenetic, and taking down either Virulent or Telekinetic... assuming he doesn't have Delay. This play enables me to charge the storage land, so I can play Triskelavus next turn.

That was what happened, but he played one more Virulent before attacking. He used Screeching to tap the Chronicler and attacked with Telekinetic and Virulent, both with double Poison. I decided to block the Telekinetic and go up to five Poison counters. His board was then two Virulent Sliver and one Screeching Sliver. I had a Chronicler, and eight mana (if I used all the counters from my storage lands). I decided I had no need to slam down a Triskelavus right away, as I could only make one token, so I played an fresh-drawn Infiltrator, with mana left to charge one more counter or to play Teachings. My opponent played Gemhide and Telekinetic.

Next turn, he used his Slivers to deny me mana, so I couldn't play Triskelavus. He used them again on his turn to tap all my lands, so he can play Boom/Bust. He had Gemhide Sliver so he has tons of mana, while I'm left with no hands full of expensive cards.

Loss 0-2

Match 4

Game 1 (on the play)

I kept a not-so brilliant hand of 2 Island, Urborg, Calciderm Pools, River of Tears, Damnation, and Take Possession. Damnation is always the card you want to see against creatures, and the storage can speed the Take Possession. I used the simple rule that if my opening hand had mana to cast the spells, it was probably a keeper. This deck is so mana hungry.

My opponent started with turn 2 Gemhide Sliver and turn 3 Virulent, attacking for one Poison counter and leaving two mana open. I had Damnation and Careful Consideration, and played Damnation anyway for two reasons: one, he didn't have Frenetic Sliver out so it would be a two-for-one; and two, if he played Delay, then there was a chance that Damnation would resolve in three turns from now, which may still be in time to clear the board. If I play Damnation later and it gets Delayed, I may not have the luxury of three more turns.

The Damnation resolved, and he played another Gemhide and a Two-Headed Sliver. I played a Lens and Careful Consideration, tapping out, and passed. He cycled Homing into a Frenetic and played it, doing everything in the same turn thanks to Gemhide Sliver. On my turn, the board was like this:

{Click here for Board Position 5}

My play was to suspend Chronicler for three. Then on the next turn, draw two cards, and with the Chronicler at two counters, play Prismatic Lens and Take Possession on the Frenetic Sliver. The following turn I could draw two cards, and with the Chronicler at one, hopefully draw a Damnation in these four cards. I'd then use the Frenetic ability and reset the board, with a 50% chance of the Frenetic returning to him.

The flaw in this plan was that I didn't live that many turns.

On the turn after I suspended Chronicler for three, he cycled Homing into Virulent, played it, and attacked, leaving me with 4 Poison counters. He also played a Screeching Sliver. There were now five slivers on the table, and I needed two creatures to block one. I played Take Possession on Frenetic Sliver, but he cycled another Homing into Virulent #3 and attacked, putting me at 12 Poison counters.

Game 2 (on the play)

I mulliganed six lands and a spell into a no-lander, and had to keep the following five: Dreadship Reef, Urza's Factory, Damnation, and 2 Tendrils of Corruption. My opponent mulliganed just once.

Nobody played anything on the first three turns, which I used to charge my storage land with two counters. I had drawn a second Dreadship Reef for turn 3, but no fourth land for turn 4. Holding 2 Tendrils, Damnation, Teachings and Infiltrator, I decided to remove two counters to play it, most likely into a Delay. The reasons were that I had nothing to do, and even though Delay would hurt me now because I had to remove two counters, it would also wreck me later when I needed to kill creatures. Also, with the board clear, Infiltrator would come back in three turns with haste still in time to hit.

Indeed it was Delayed, and he played Telekinetic Sliver. It could be a problem, since I had very few lands. I drew Terramorphic Expanse and passed. He played Firewake Sliver. I cracked Expanse to get a Swamp. On my upkeep he tapped my two lands, and I used the mana to play Tendrils for one on the Firewake. My draw was River of Tears, so now I had five lands, to his one Telekinetic. He added a Screeching, but with summoning sickness.

The Infiltrator came into play, and was tapped by Telekinetic. I drew a Prismatic, played it, and shot Tendrils for one on the Screeching. He did nothing on his turn, so now he had only a Telekinetic for my Infiltrator. I had many choices for Teachings. I could go for Cancel, since now the board is even; for Careful Consideration to draw more cards; for another Teachings to start a small chain; but I went for Strangling Soot, to kill his lone Telekinetic, having two flashbacks in the graveyard as insurance: Soot and Teachings.

Once I killed the Telekinetic, the Shadowmage started attacking. He never drew Dormant Sliver, so now it was a very unbalanced battle. I drew many more cards and won with Factory tokens, which allowed me to mount a defense against Frenetic, Virulent, and Two-Headed Sliver, and later to alpha strike for the win. I only won this "mulligan to five" game because my opponent never put pressure on me, and gave me lots of time to recover.

Game 3 (on the draw)

I kept Island, Urborg, Infiltrator, 2 Tendrils and 2 Damnation. I never drew the third land before losing, but didn't matter. I could've had lands coming out of my ass, and I'd've still lost. It's kind of cool, because I have this theory that you'll lose one in every X games due to mana problems, and if that game is the same game in which your opponent has an unbeatable draw, or it's game 1 against a matchup you can't win before sideboarding, then it's almost like two losses in one game — you've used your manascrew in a game you would've lost anyway. This probably doesn't make any sense, but I like to think positive and see the good side of things.

About the game: he played Virulent #1 on turn 1. Virulent #2 on turn 2. On turn 3 he played a land, and tapped two for Gemhide Sliver. He used the other land and the mana from the two Virulents to play a Firewake, and attacked me with Gemhide and Firewake, putting me at 6 Poison counters. It's my turn 3, and I'm facing four slivers each with Poison 2, and I already have six counters. All the Slivers have haste, and there are no good blocks for me because of Firewake. If I could choose a game to be manascrewed, it would definitely be this one!

Loss 1-2

Match 5

Game 1 (on the play)

I kept with Island, Swamp, Factory, Academy Ruins, Infiltrator, Cancel, and Triskelavus. My first play was the Infiltrator on turn 3, and by then I already had a Poison counter and was facing this scenario:

{Click here for Board Position 6}

I chose to attack with Infiltrator at the expense of four Poison counters next turn, because I needed cards. If he had Two-Headed Sliver then I would've felt really bad, but staying on defense was also a valid option. I went for it and drew a Tendrils, which I used on Virulent Sliver at the end of turn, so I wouldn't take more Poison counters. He lost the flip, and the Virulent Sliver was gone. He did have a Two-Headed Sliver, so I'm glad I attacked, and he also played Firewake Sliver thanks to Gemhide. The attack brought me to 17 life, with one Poison counter, facing five different Slivers.

Since there was no threat of poison, and they're all 1/1 except for Frenetic, I attacked for one more card. Staying on defense wasn't also very good, because Firewake Sliver guaranteed any sliver traded with my Shadowmage. After the attack I had five lands and Lens in play, holding Chronicler, Triskelavus, 2 lands, and Cancel, which I used to counter Homing Sliver. The attack brought me to 12 life, since I had gained one from Grove of the Burnwillows.

On my turn I attacked again, and the new cards I saw were Take Possession and Slaughter Pact. I didn't have two Blue for the Take Possession at that moment - I had Cancelled the turn before thanks to Lens - but eventually I'd be able to play Take on Frenetic and pay one to sacrifice it with the Firewake ability. For now, I played Triskelavus, and had the Pact to play on the Two-Headed Sliver, so my Triskelavus could block one Sliver in combat. He played Gemhide and Virulent, so now there are six 1/1 Slivers and one Frenetic attacking me.

I used Pact on Two-Headed so I can block. I have two very complex choices here. Should I block Virulent or Firewake? Each will only have a 50% of dying because of Frenetic ability. He won't use the Firewake ability to pump a creature for two extra damage using the blocked Sliver because he only has one mana untapped, and he needs it to protect the Slivers when I untap my lands with Triskelavus in play next turn.

I chose to block Virulent Sliver to put the decision on my opponent. If he uses the Frenetic ability, then there's a 50% chance of saving it. If he doesn't use it, it will die, but I'll receive five poison counters, going up to six. He chooses to let the poison plan go, and try to save it for a better board position, since I was left at six life after the attack.

At six life and facing five Slivers, including Firewake Sliver I need to block all of them... because if one goes through, he'll sac the others for lethal damage. I drew a Tendrils, so now I attack with Infiltrator to draw a card and set him a trap. An unblocked creature is lethal if he sacrifices three slivers to it. He has five slivers, I only have four blockers - one Triskelavus and the three tokens I can make. If he goes all-in, I use Tendrils on my creature and gain seven life. I drew a Cancel from the Mage.

On his turn he attacked with all five, and I made three Trisk tokens. I blocked all of his attackers except for the Screeching Sliver. He sees through it and doesn't sacrifice three Slivers, although I could've been bluffing. After stacking damage, there was a dance involving priorities, sacrificing Trisk tokens, and flipping coins. When the dust settled. he was left with Gemhide, Frenetic, and Screeching with me at five. I could've used Ruins end of turn to return Triskelavus to the top of my deck, but at the time I didn't think I needed it.

Instead I played a second Infiltrator to block. He attacked me with all three, and I blocked Gemhide. He flipped to try to save it, and won. I went down to two life, still with Tendrils backup, and he only had one card in hand. I could've used Ruins once again, but refused to do it, because I only had eight mana so I couldn't play Triskelavus and Cancel on the same turn. I was keeping Cancel mana open, or making Factory tokens, until I gathered ten mana to play both Triskelavus and Cancel. One turn I spent the Cancel on Dormant Sliver, but I didn't bother to recur Triskelavus back because he was almost dead on the board, so I guess it was overconfidence.

I attacked with a big Chronicler and a Shadowmage. I had a Factory token and a Shadowmage on defense still with Tendrils backup. On his turn, his two remaining cards were Two-Headed Sliver, which resolved, and he attacked with everything. I could only block one of his creatures, so I shot the Tendrils on my Mage, but his remaining card was Delay.

Conclusion: I should've played more aggressively with Triskelavus earlier, and more cautiously on the last turns, to avoid losing to Two-Headed Sliver and Delay. Another loss that could've been a win...

Game 2 (on the play)

I kept with 2 Expanse, Urborg, Tendrils, Cancel, Chronicler, and Spell Burst.

Turn 1 Virulent Sliver acted like an Isamaru: it could attack ten times for the win, which was a problem for my counter-heavy hand. He followed with turn 2 Two-Headed Sliver, so now he had a decent clock and had no need to play anything else. On my turn 3 I passed sitting on double Cancel, Spell Burst, and Tendrils, but he just attacked and played nothing, putting me at three Poison counters. I didn't draw a fourth land, but I pulled a Pact, which was dangerous here since I only had three mana and he might have Boom/Bust after sideboarding. I passed once again.

He attacked me, and I rose to five Poison counters. He laid his fourth land and played Gemhide Sliver, keeping two open, so I assumed he had Delay and wanted to leave mana open for a Damnation. I Cancelled the Gemhide, since it was all I could do and I had plenty of counters. I drew my fourth land and passed. He attacked me to seven poison counters and played nothing. I shot Tendrils at the end of his turn, targeting Virulent. He Delayed it. I untapped and played Damnation, which he also Delayed... and he then played Boom/Bust on his turn, sealing the game. He only needed one more attack after that.

Loss 0-2

Match 6

Game 1 (on the play)

I mulliganed Island, Ruins, 2 Damnation, Pull, Chronicler and Careful. I kept the following six: River of Tears, Dreadship Reef, Urborg, 2 Infiltrator, Chronicler.

He started with turn 1 Screeching Sliver, turn 2 Virulent + Screeching #2 and attacked me for one Poison counter. I played my Infiltrator, and he had no land to follow and no play. To make things worse, one of his two lands was a Gemstone Mine. Since I was facing three poisonous slivers, I played my second Infiltrator before combat, as I don't think drawing an extra card is worth three poison counters in this scenario. It resolved, so I attacked with Infiltrator #1. He played Two-Headed Sliver and attacked, putting me to four Poison counters, On my turn, the board was like this:

{Click here for Board Position 7}

I could either attack with both, draw two and play Damnation; or attack with just one, leaving the other to block, and play Tendrils on the Two-Headed. I decided to be greedy and hold on the Damnation to draw more cards. While this was correct in the W/G Goyf matchup, I think in this matchup it's better to play Damnation when you can safely kill many slivers, because they can drop the Frenetic and ruin your plans. Luckily for me, he did not have the third land yet so he just passed again, and then again the following turn. I was busy drawing cards, and suspended a Chronicler for two, hoping to Damnation the turn after and then make my big Chronicler to clean up.

When I tapped for Chronicler, he drew land three and played a Frenetic. On my turn I played Damnation and kept Cancel mana open. He flipped some coins, and when all is done, he saved a couple of Screeching Slivers. The turn after I suspended another Chronicler, this time for one, since I was looking to end the game fast, and suspend for one left me with Cancel mana open. With two 8/8 Chroniclers, soon he was in chump blocking mode, and Cancel backup meant he was dead.

Game 2 (on the draw)

I mulliganed Island, Plains, Cancel, Tendrils, Teachings, Chronicler, Strangling Soot. I kept these six: Urborg, Dreadship Reef, Factory, Tendrils, Cancel, Infiltrator.

His start was once again a poison attack - turn 1 Virulent, turn 2 Gemhide, and turn 3 Two-Headed. I played Lens on turn 2, so on my third turn there was no point in playing Infiltrator since it couldn't block. The Lens allowed me to play Tendrils on the Virulent, removing (for now) the threat of the poison. On his turn he played Frenetic and didn't attack, to leave two mana open from the Slivers. I played Infiltrator, and indeed it was Delayed. His next play was Telekinetic Sliver, losing a Gemstone Mine for the Blue mana. On my upkeep, the situation was this:

{Click here for Board Position 8}

He used his two Slivers to tap my two lands. I took mana from them and played Strangling Soot on the Frenetic. If the Frenetic dies, then I can kill Telekinetic with Tendrils next turn. It was a 50-50 coin flip that could decide the match. He lost, which made things a lot better for me. I drew a land, played it, and passed holding Cancel and Tendrils, but with no Island yet.

He used Summoner's Pact to get Virulent Sliver, and played it (and a Screeching Sliver). He now had five slivers, including Telekinetic, Virulent, Two-Headed, and I'm at two Poison counters. I used Tendrils on my turn to kill his Gemhide, so he didn't have mana to pay the Summoner's Pact, and thus he lost.

2-0 Win

Results:

Matches: 2-4

Games: 5-8

Pre-sideboard games: 2-4

Post-sideboard games: 3-4

Games on the play: 2-5

Games on the draw: 3-3

Conclusions

No matter how you break down the results, Blue/Black never gets a winning percentage in this matchup. This is only a small sample, so I can't precisely state exact number, but I would say this is a bad matchup for Blue/Black. The results can improve to maybe a 40% winning expectation. There are two stages in playtesting. Stage 1 involves the first games you play, just to get a feel of things: who's favored, what are the threats, the possible game plans, the duration of the games. These six matches were the first time I saw the Poison Slivers deck in action, so it's safe to say this was Stage 1. Last week, when I tested the matchup against G/W Goyf, I was already at Stage 2 of playtesting the matchup. I already had some games under my belt, and I knew exactly what plays and when I should do, as well as their main threats (Griffin Guide and Mystic Enforcer).

When I acquire much more experience in this matchup, I feel I'll pick up a couple more wins here and there. Playing this series and watching the replays surely helped my understanding of what I was doing wrong. Despite that, it will still be a bad matchup, no matter how prepared you are. You probably don't want to face this matchup, but if you do, trust me... it will be much better to know what to expect. Comparing Match 1 to Match 6, it's obvious that my line of thought and planning had improved. While it still had many flaws, my planning was much more elaborate than in the first games. Here are some pointers to those playing the matchup from this side.

After sideboarding a little differently in the first few games, I settled on this plan:

Out: 2 Take Possession, 1 Teferi, 1 Pull from Eternity, 1 Mystical Teachings.

In: 1 Strangling Soot, 1 Tendrils, 1 Venser, 1 Snapback, 1 Spell Burst.

I tried leaving the Pull, leaving the Teachings, and bringing Haunting Hymn, but the plan I have right now should be close to what should be done.

The problem in this matchup is they have many angles of attacking the Blue/Black deck, and each one is so distinct from the others; you have no idea what to expect. I identified five plans they can execute, depending on their draws:

Poison
Early Virulent Slivers mean a couple of poison counters that won't fade away. You can stop an early damage rush by regaining life with Tendrils, but even if you deal with Virulent, at any time they topdeck or cycle for another one you can suffer an unexpected death.

Damage
Frenetic and Firewake will prevent you from gaining life with Tendrils, and a Firewake means there will rarely be any good blocks for you, and an unblocked attacker can be lethal.

Card Advantage
While Poison Slivers is a deck that doesn't care about card advantage, if they resolve a Dormant Sliver it can quickly reload their hand and refill the board with many creatures... and all of a sudden they'll get rid of Dormant for a lethal attack. You can't keep up with killing Slivers if they're all cantrips.

Prison Lock
Telekinetic Sliver or Boom/Bust prevent you from playing your spells, and most of the time the Sliver deck has a better board position, or it can keep playing his spells thanks to Gemhide Sliver.

Uncertainty
Every time there's a Frenetic Sliver on the table, you have no idea of the outcome of the cards you play.

That is why, I think, it's vital to counter Frenetic Sliver and Dormant Sliver, or to kill Dormant before things get out of control. Hopefully, the rest of your removal should be enough to kill Virulent or Telekinetic, but with only a 50% chance of success when killing a sliver, or if all slivers draw a card when they come into play, you won't win the game.

Despite all the bad news, I don't think you should consider abandoning the Blue/Black deck. New decks are always popular when they appear, but eventually they start to decrease in numbers. Blue/Black is a Tier 1 deck, arguably the most powerful and balanced deck in the field, and less vulnerable to metagame shifts. Even if the Poison Slivers deck remains a serious contender and stays in the metagame, the large card pool available in Blue/Black means it will have to adapt. Time will tell if the Poison Slivers are here to stay, but from what I saw, I liked it.

Thank you for reading,

Tiago