Separate Components

I got in a few games against Jason and Menasor did well for the most part, or at least did what I expected it to do.

The matches I did well in usually were against some kind of creature combo and the matchups I did badly in were ones that Jason either had excessively fast mana, as with a Mycosynth Lattice/Cloudpost deck, (although those games were very close) or with something just striking from out of left field.

Here's a picture I call: "Fuck I hate Confusion In The Ranks"

What I really like about this picture is how it tells you so much about how goddamn evil Confusion In The Ranks is especially when Norin the Wary is added. Even the mighty Jitte has betrayed you. It really informs you how utterly shit is must feel to know that in the presence of one card, all of your plans have gone to Nuremberg for the fireboming.

Don't stay up. They ain't comin' back.

And the thing that really pisses me off the most about this picture is knowing that one single card would have saved me: Naturalize. One Naturalize and all those neat tricks wither like a wurm in the sun and I can continue my Sliver beatdown the way the gods intended.

On the other hand, I believe this really demonstrates why Crystalline Sliver is so key to the Sliver deck. But where we have limitations, there are opportunities to innovate!

When I look at Menasor, I can see that there are plenty of redundancies built into it and in this area I might be able to whittle out some space for cards that might let this deck beat difficult matchups. The high end of this deck uses Might Sliver to boost my creatures but with Muscle Sliver, Sedge Sliver and Umezawa's Jitte providing boosts for my creatures, do I really need it? Five mana is quite a bit and I'd like to win the game if I'm in that position.

While I'm at it, the other creature that sticks out is Darkheart Sliver. If I'm sacrificing my Slivers, I'd rather do it because I have an Acidic Sliver on board, not in order to extend a game that I can't win. So let's swap that out for a Fungus Sliver. I have plenty of regeneration effects: why not play into that and pump my creatures at the same time?

This still leaves me with three slots to add in that could be helpful. First card to test: Krosan Grip. If anything can put a stop to these kinds of shenanigans, Krosan Grip can.