Three months ago wizards launched the Premium Deck Series with a tantalizing preview of what would become the first deck in that series. Consisting of 60 fully foiled cards, the PDS looks to be a great addition to the ever expanding MTG lineup. Since the announcement, the MTG community has been abuzz with speculation about the contents of that Sliver deck. The synergy, versatility and outright dominance of the sliver creature type is something magic players have both craved and loathed over the years. Love them or hate them, slivers are a memorable staple in the Magic the Gathering universe. But before you run out and drop a few Hamiltons on this glossy new commodity, let’s take a look at what this deck’s got and what this deck’s not.

Premium Deck Series: Slivers

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Creatures (30) 1 Acidic Sliver 1 Amoeboid Changeling 1 Armor Sliver 1 Barbed Sliver 1 Brood Sliver 1 Clot Sliver 1 Crystalline Sliver 1 Frenzy Sliver 1 Fungus Sliver 1 Fury Sliver 2 Gemhide Sliver 1 Heart Sliver 1 Hibernation Sliver 1 Homing Sliver 2 Metallic Sliver 1 Might Sliver 2 Muscle Sliver 1 Necrotic Sliver 1 Quick Sliver 1 Sliver Overlord 2 Spectral Sliver 1 Spined Sliver 1 Victual Sliver 2 Virulent Sliver 1 Winged Sliver Lands (25) 2 Ancient Ziggurat 5 Forest 2 Island 3 Mountain 2 Plains 1 Rootbound Crag 2 Rupture Spire 2 Swamp 2 Terramorphic Expanse 2 Vivid Creek 2 Vivid Grove Other Spells (5) 1 Aphetto Dredging 1 Coat of Arms 1 Distant Melody 1 Heartstone 1 Wild Pair

What it’s got

If the new Premium Sliver deck has one thing in spades, it’s style. The presentation of this product is superlative. If the blinding rainbows eminating from the packaging itself don’t lure you in the complimentary deck box and foiled cards surely will.

The deck itself has a taste of everything sliver. Rolling all five colors, the deck grabs slivers from every set they were printed in. Most modern sliver builds focus on one or two key slivers while this deck attempts to do it all. Slivers are the innate masters of synergy. Play a bunch of slivers and the deck will probably work on some level. Wizards really wanted to showcase as many unique slivers as possible so you won’t see more than two copies of any card in the deck.

The deck is certainly playable on its own but any Magic player worth his salt will want to tweak the deck to taste. If only to playset out some of the better slivers and give the deck a bit more focus. As with all tribal decks, you’ll need to watch out for the sweep. Though, there isn’t really anything in this deck to deal with the sweep (Aphetto Dredging doesn’t really count) so looking out for it won’t help much! Just don’t commit everything to the board all at once. Got three 3/3 double strike, fliers out there? You’re probably set for a while. Save some of those slivers for post-wipe.

Like all sliver decks, if you manage to keep your creatures on the table you’re looking at an incredible end game. Nasty slivers with any and all abilities circling the Sliver Overlord; does it get any better? Give the non-sliver spells a second glance as well. They’re all killer sliver support cards, though I’d probably swap an expensive card like Wild Pair for another bomb like Door of Destinies or Sliver Queen.

As preconstructed decks go, this deck is quite playable on it’s own. Though at $35 (that’s 3.5 Hamiltons to all you G’s out there) you’d expect nothing less.

What it’s not

But it’s not all rainbows and distant melodies for this premium deck. There are several things that could have made this latest premium offering more valuable. While it would have been impossible to include everyone’s favorire sliver in a 60 card deck I would have liked to have seen a few of the more obvious baddies.

The two most obvious omissions are the Sliver Queen and Sliver Legion. I understand the need to protect the Magic economy, and I realize that Wizards is not in the business of selling MTG singles. But would it have hurt to included the single most iconic sliver of all time? From the Vault: Exiled and Dragons both dished out several foil rares and mythics at the same price. Premium Decks: Slivers could do with another mythic or two and is distinctly lacking in queenly blood!

As I said, everyone has their favorite sliver but can this deck really function effectively without Essence Sliver? That was always a centerpiece of the sliver decks in my meta. If you had to choose a handful of abilities for your slivers, I’d put lifelink near the top of that list. There are also several obvious swaps that could have been made such as Watcher Sliver over Armor Sliver or anything over Barbed Sliver. The Heartstone makes some of these activated abilities more palatable, but with only one copy included in the shiny foil box, you really can’t count on that card showing up. That lack of consistency is something that will plague this and any other preconstructed deck. Rarely does Wizards put more than two copies of any card into a deck. Most Magic players understand that playsets offer a more predictable and focused outcome.

Me too, Volrath, me too.

The mana base is actually fairly impressive for only including one rare land. But this is another area you’ll want to tweak heavily. A Reflecting Pool or four couldn’t hurt. You could even throw in a few more M10 duals/Zendikar fetches if you’ve got them. Obviously wizards couldnt have included these mana fixers in a set like this. You’ll never see a precon that includes high value, tournament level, standard, utility cards. Wizards needs you to tear through packs to find those!

Of course, most precons are meant to be tweaked and altered to taste. But with an all foil, unique set-symboled deck you’ll lose some of that coolness each time you squeeze in a dusty old Tempest sliver. While I don’t expect any precon to be perfect out of the box, this deck could have been made a bit more standalone with a few minor tweaks.

Conclusion

As with any purchase, value is what you’re looking for. With “From the Vault”, you can buy a set at MSRP and sell the cards for double what you’ve paid for them. Does PDS:Slivers pack that kind of raw value? Not exactly. I would more readily compare this to the “Duel Decks” where you’re just about breaking even. Since the value is homogeneous, you’ll want to consider your own personal feelings about the cards. Do you enjoy playing with Slivers or other tribal decks? The idea of having a ready-made casual, multiplayer deck, 100% foiled is certainly appealing. The hardcore Spike probably doesn’t have need for 25 shiny slivers while an EDH aficionado is chomping at the bit to get his or her hands on this package.

In a recent tweet, legendary designer/developer and Hall of Famer Mike Turian notes that it’s always okay to tweak anything they make. That is part of the fun of Magic. So if you’re okay sliding a few unfoiled slivers into this lustrous pack and your meta supplies a venue for legacy, casual decks I’d say go ahead and pick one of these babies up. It’s also one of those pre-constructed decks that could easily be bought in a pair, entwined together and made into one singular super deck! This deck isn’t for everyone, but I know more than one planeswalker who’s excited to smash some faces in with slivers once again.

Cool Stuff Inc. is the only store I’ve seen so far with a pre-order still at MSRP. Though I doubt they’ll fly off shelves quite like FTV did, they’ll probably sell out fairly quickly.

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The Premium Deck Series: Slivers Box includes:

• 60-card premium foil deck, 5 rares, 1 mythic
• Exclusive Spindown life counter
• Foil deck box
• Strategy insert
• Magic “learn to play” guide

Deck Design and Development Team: Ken Nagle and Mike Turian
Release date: November 20, 2009
MSRP: $34.99

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In other news…

The name of the third and final set in the Zendikar block has been revealed!  Slated for Spring of 2010, RoE will feature 249 cards.  Stay glued to the Rise of the Eldrazi Spoiler Page for more information as soon as we get it!

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1. Magic in 2010 – A Wishlist of Predictions
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3. Deck Ideas – Conflux Combos