This card review’s subject was decided by Scryfall’s Random Card feature, and the RNG (Random Number Generation) offered us a fairly useful Tribal creature in Watcher Sliver. One of the White slivers from the Time Spiral set, it was reprinted in Time Spiral Remastered, printed as a common in both cases. As common Slivers go, it’s fairly mediocre, giving all Slivers +0/+2, with a 2/2 body for four mana (3 generic and 1 White mana).
Fortunately, Watcher Sliver has seen competitive play in Pauper, the format which uses only cards that have been printed at one time or another at common. Can you build a winning Pauper Deck with Watcher Sliver? The list that we found that probably uses Watcher Sliver the best is this Green and White Slivers deck list that was used in a special Pauper tournament in Brazil.
The list below is from November 2017, so bear that in mind if you want to build a similar Pauper Sliver deck:
Creatures (38)
3 Gemhide Sliver
2 Lymph Sliver
4 Muscle Sliver
3 Plated Sliver
4 Predatory Sliver
2 Quick Sliver
4 Sentinel Sliver
4 Sidewinder Sliver
4 Sinew Sliver
2 Spinneret Sliver
4 Virulent Sliver
2 Watcher Sliver
Non-Creature Spells (4)
3 Lead the Stampede
1 Rancor
Lands (18)
2 Blossoming Sands
8 Forest
8 Plains
Sideboard
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Circle of Protection: White
1 Forest
1 Fragmentize
1 Gnaw to the Bone
2 Natural State
3 Obsidian Acolyte
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Standard Bearer
1 Sundering Vitae
1 Take Down
This deck is rather creative and has plenty of different ways to control the game, as well as win the game. It does seem to be spread out in a lot of directions, though. To be fair, despite a fair number of Slivers being printed since this deck was built, there are only two we could consider adding to this deck: Enduring Sliver and Lancer Sliver. Enduring Sliver features Outlast, a mechanic that is much too slow for most competitive formats, including Pauper. Lancer Sliver is a three-mana White Sliver that gives your Slivers first strike.
If you’re to venture outside of Pauper, there are far better options at four-mana for Slivers, especially Bonescythe Sliver in White, that gives all of your Slivers double strike. Even in Commander, where many Slivers from across Magic the Gathering history are allowed to shine, Watcher Sliver doesn’t get much love. However, it does see a fair bit of usage in Sliver Legion decks, thanks to its Commander boosting all Sliver creatures +1/+1 for each Sliver on the battlefield. Suddenly, the two-point boost in toughness becomes relevant, as now your Slivers become not just big in a hurry, but also extra bulky.
Watcher Sliver may be often overlooked, but it certainly shouldn’t be forgotten. Most of the time, four mana is going to get you a lot more bang for your mana investment. Still, it had its short time in the sun for that Rio Pauper tournament and still gets love in many Sliver Legion decks. You often don’t appreciate those extra points of toughness until your opponent realizes that their creatures no longer trade favorably with your little army of Slivers. Until we researched the history of this card, we never realized Watcher Sliver could pack so much punch in the right deck, and now, at least its tiny niche will be allowed the credit it deserves.
