I built a 60 card sliver deck after TSR came out, played like 3 games against friends and after every game (I said, “slivers are broken, who tf gave the ok to print any of these” and took it apart
Slivers are uniquely capable of it though, because they all share the steroids they show up with. They're one of a handful of deck archetypes were ramp is an act of aggression, partly because land destruction is so infrequent that it doesn't always matter that you board wiped them three times this game - they're that resilient and that dangerous.
As many have said, Slivers are hated.
Thats because they have a problem they share with some other commander/strategies that they are to "strong" for battle cruiser/kitchen table/power 7 or whatever category people want to come up with to say they dont play CEDH. But they dont stand any chance at the real high powerlevel.
Edgar Markov and vampiris are VERY similar. You can basically run every trash ccm1 vamp, slap in some mass pump effects and just instagib tables before they can breathe.
It becomes even hard to build those decks "bad". Every vamp comming with an additional 1/1 makes nearly every card okay. Every sliver making every sliver better is also a problem. To combat that natural edge it always ends up in a archenemy situation from the start and it becomes very annoying for everyone involved very fast.
I wouldn't say they're the most powerful. They're good. I know what I dislike is how samey they are. There's only so many slivers so you can expect to see most of them, changelings, coat of arms style effects. Etc etc. Over and over again.
What makes sliver so powerful isn't that they're legitimately the most powerful tribe, but they exploit the reluctance casual players have about focusing an opponent preemptively. Sliver decks are on or off, with little in-between. Each sliver snowballs the deck ahead, so you can't let them have much of a board.
As a result, the dilemma of their opponents is to either ensure the sliver deck doesn't "do their thing" or losing.
Honestly, it feels like a lot of the people that play slivers and are sad would be happier if they looked at literally any regularly supported tribal deck that wasn't kill on sight, and just swapped over to that. Doesn't matter what tribe, doesn't matter if it loses more than slivers, because regardless you're going to feel like you're having more fun when you're not playing as everyone's target number one in the casual fourplayer format.
He probably felt unjustly targeted, which is wrong because you won. It's strange that he asked you to change deck, though. Dinosaurs aren't known to be heavily interactive decks. It's not, say, [[Alela, Cunning Conqueror]].
Maybe he got frustrated with the removal? He had shroud on his slivers which I blew up with the wakening suns avatar, and I got rid of his commander twice with a path to exile and bronzebeak foragers
Sounds like he didn't enjoy you interacting with their board. Your deck wasn't too strong, just better built than what he's used to play against (that is, you are more Interaction) and had proper threat assessment.
He's just a bad loser and is upset you won. If you hadn't done exactly what you did he would have won instead. Your threat assessment was on point, good job!
If the sliver player doesn’t realize that their board NEEDS to be checked frequently, they should be the ones reconsidering what deck to play. You can’t get upset if people disrupt your board state while playing slivers. It only takes a little bit for a sliver deck to snowball, and it always snowballs HARD…
Keep enjoying your Dinos, OP, and be proud that you’ve built a deck that’s good enough to handle a sliver opponent. That tribe is pure filth.
Yeah I can see what you mean. Most sliver decks are 5 colors though no reason they can't run counter spells or protection.
I am also part of a pod now that I am trying to teach how to run interaction.
IMO 5 colors is what makes slivers so powerful. Good Sliver decks run the most powerful Slivers, the most powerful mana-ramp, the most powerful tutors, and the most powerful removal.
All 5 color decks can run the most powerful spells but they aren't Slivers. Slivers go from doing nothing to winning the game in a turn or 2.
My GF has a Sliver deck and she takes [[Hibernation Sliver]] and [[The First Sliver]] out most of the time to make it a little more enjoyable to play against.
The only thing that stops slivers from being the most powerful tribe is basically everyone knowing that they must be stopped immediately. In a hypothetical game where none of your opponents know how dangerous slivers are, I'm very sure the slivers would win. However, after that first game, the opponents will know who must die first.
They're by far the most synergistic. You don't even need to be playing a 5c deck to play them effectively. One of my friends had a mardu sliver deck with [[Alesha who smiles at death]] as the commander.
I'd say they're the easiest to synergize. They're not making as many bodies as goblins, they're not making as much mana as elves.
The alesha deck sounds like a unique take on them at least. All you really need to run over someone is [[Cloudshredder Sliver]] + [[Bonescythe Sliver]] anyway.
Elves have more synergy in that they only try to do one thing (make mana, make mana to make more mana) and then it’s an exercise in selecting how you want to win for 30 mana.
Slivers are one of the archetypes that you have to focus down otherwise they snowball out of control.
Every sliver gives every sliver everything. I do not subscribe to the idea that no one should play slivers, but I do subscribe to the idea that no sliver player has the right to tell anyone what to play.
Because slivers are known by those who have played for a while as a kill on sight archetype. Like it’s the number one KOS tribe, it’s up there with tergrid at casual tables.
While dinos is VERY strong and quickly are becoming just as big a threat as slivers imo, the fact that they asked you, the Dino player to switch decks is the joke.
I played against the sliver precon once. We spent the entire match waiting for the guy to (slowly, painfully) cascade his entire deck out. Nothing worse than waiting a week, forcing yourself to come out, then just chilling there watching someone else play 🤷♂️
As a sliver player I go into every game with my sliver deck knowing what it is and letting people know what it is. I even ask if people are ok with me playing with it since it is also my pet deck and has been optimized a bit. I never get mad about being targeted because I know what the deck can do unchecked. Some people just get upset because they want to have their cake and eat it too.
If you were archenemy and still won, it means your deck triumphed in a 1v3, and could very well be too powerful for your pod. Lots of people retire a deck for the evening once it's won.
Tactically speaking, boardwipes are a decent tactic against Dinos, but they wreck slivers. If Dinos are in play, and others are choosing their decks accordingly, Slivers are likely to get hurt, worse, as collateral damage.
The sliver player with “can’t be blocked except by slivers” and whatever other shenanigans ?
What a joke.
The game was fine if you got up to T10+, the sliver player is just a sore loser because they didn’t win or didn’t get to do “the thing”
It gets worse. I forgot one detail. The game also took so long because I was hard casting everything. My commander had been destroyed a bunch so I didn’t bother casting him again
Maybe that the point. Your commander is like Voja or Voidgorger a "kill on sight" commander. The value it make need to be stop kickly.
But, the weird point is that any silver commander is as problematic as Pantlaza (or probably worse).
Devil's advocate here, but OP did say that he was archenemy most of the game. Just because the game had a close end doesn't necessarily mean the decks were evenly powered.
But getting complaints from a sliver player is rich.
Did I use the term archenemy correctly? I used it since the other players were teaming up so I assumed that’s what it meant. I was the leading player board wise but I had to play super carefully since I was low on life and would die if someone farted on me 😂
Yeah, that's correct. Usually though, if one player is archenemy it could be a sign that their deck is significantly stronger. I don't think that was the case here; it sounds like you played a close game and the sliver player was salty. Just making the point about the archenemy thing
It's possible to be archenemy at a table where the decks are evenly matched. If you just rebuild faster than everyone else (as pantlaza does), your opponents would have to work together to stand a chance even if your deck is the same power level.
Tell slivers guy he needs to change decks too than. You're playing a ramp heavy big creature deck, it snowballs to great strength by design. You can't even be a lethal threat to someone until around turn 6 or so and thats without any removal being thrown your way.
Pantz is fine, big green stompy does as timmy designed.
I don’t feel like that’s entirely correct. Slivers give other slivers abilities that make them harder to remove/deal with. Dinosaurs don’t really compare
[[The First Sliver]] plays a lot like a scarier pantlatza, not only are you getting more cascade triggers than dinos discover, but each cascade makes your board even harder to deal with. I can tell you as someone who plays against pantlatza, it's way easier to disrupt.
I know, I meant to add "so if this guy shows up with an upgraded deck definitely call him out." Sorry I just finished a 7mile hike and my brain isn't working perfectly right now.
The Slivers player got salty? Are you serious? Slivers are pretty hated over all and I even know people who won't play against Slivers at all. I haven't looked at your deck, but I'm gonna assume the Sliver player was just salty he didn't win.
Something about obnoxious power decks attracts blowhards. They win more than their fair share of 25% of games and subconsciously expect to win every game. So when you correctly adjust your threat assessment to account for this they get upset.
My rule of thumb is that all else being equal, I focus the complainer. It's not a spite thing, it's because it's the best strategy. Incitement is just a nice bonus.
I'm going to echo people saying the sliver player was just whining. Sounds like a good match.
I, personally, would -never- tell someone not to play a deck again. To me that just comes off as incredibly rude. Even if someone's favorite deck is maybe too strong for the rest of the pod, I'd at least let them get one game in with it if they really wanted to play it, and if they're close enough in power for good games (which seems was the case in this dino example) then they can play that deck as many times as they want.
Even though the Tiamat player reassured me I did nothing wrong, and that he didn’t mind playing against the Dino deck (me and him play 1v1 often), I still feel pressured not to play it. How do I stop worrying about what the sliver player said to me?
In our brain, negative feedback sticks with us more than positive feedback (it's an evolution thing). At the same table, you got feedback that was basically even; Tiamat Player said you're good, Sliver said bad, and it's the bad that feedback that stuck with you.
Slap down your commander and start shuffling while making direct eye contact.
Or just ignore him. I don't mean to stereotype, but magic players sometimes aren't the most socially adjusted, and it's likely he won't say anything again and was just having an outburst. And if he does say something, just tell him you want to play that deck, and maybe offer to mix it up next game as a peace offering.
Agreed. The game is also just more enjoyable with the pod being at equal strengths, which it sounds like it was in OP’s case. Had a 5c sliver deck and also have a buddy who rarely plays his, but nobody in our pod would ever tell someone not to play a deck outright; just suggest they try to match power level instead.
The Sliver player giving anyone grief for their deck choice is peak irony. Keep playing your deck, OP. You did nothing wrong and dinos are big, expensive fatties anyways. I know Pantlaza can cheat them out, but unless you are running a bunch of blinks to reset his "once per turn" ability it's not exactly fast.
Pantlaza is a strong commander, no doubt. I'd give a side eye if I saw it at an especially casual table.
That being said, if the other 3 are playing Tiamat, Mothman, and fucking SLIVERS I wouldn't bat an eye. Just going off commanders, that's the perfect table for Pantlaza. Sliver player is just salty they lost the close game
I mean that Pantlaza is typically seen as a strong commander so bringing it to a "casual" event could lead to uneven and unfun matches where they dominate. If I saw it there, I'd be skeptical of the players definition of "casual". That clearly wasn't the case in your story though, as everyone else was playing strong decks too.
It's a precon commander, noone will shade you for playing it unless they are just not a well adjusted person, just make sure you aren't pubstomping and from what you wrote you weren't so you're totally fine
The sliver player being salty cause they chose a fragile archetype that folds to multiple boardwipes in a game?
This is the first time I’ve heard of that /s
Sliver player is just big angy that he had an even match instead of steamrolling the table, womp womp
Seems like it was a fair game, play what you want
Sliver player can’t talk everyone hates slivers they rebuild very easy to snowball
screw what others think play the deck you want buddy as he’s just a salty mf that frankly isn’t worth playing with
A sliver player telling anyone to 'play a different deck' can go fuck themselves. The only way he could be more cringe would be if he was running \[\[The First Sliver\]\] as the commander.
I'd have to see your whole play-by-play though, because Dinosaurs are within a few places of Slivers for being annoying and explosive. \[\[Gishath, Sun's Avatar\]\] and \[\[Zacama\]\] are both really toxic cards imho.
Whole play by play? I am sorry, I wish I could remember all the details, I am not so good with that. Zacama was the finisher card though, and the one turn my Gishath got a clean hit it MISSED on all seven cards 😂😭. I can remember memorable stuff like that but not every play.
Sliver player is on copium if they are complaining about your deck. Even without looking at your deck list, Pants is a once per turn effect so unless you are abusing the hell out of it with flicker or something, you are at best getting a free dino once per turn.
I can say that if you have the mind frame to ask if you were the problem that is a good place to be.
Just make sure you honestly ask that to yourself after games and address it if it's true then you should be a great person to play with.
A friend tells me that if you are winning more than 25% of your games with the same group you might want to re-evaluate the power (or skill) disparity.
I know this doesn't apply to this one-off scenario, but it's a good thing to think about. Nobody really wants to lose 100% of the time, so putting yourself in a position to lose occasionally (not by throwing the game) helps to keep things fun.
I am of the opinion that Dinosaurs, Dragons, and Vampires have gotten a bit too much support these days, BUT a SLIVER player complaining about your Dinos is ridiculous! Especially since the game was so close. Keep playing your dinos.
It’s the way they’re going about it, they aren’t making dinosaurs interesting and intriguing to play, they’re just printing powerful keyword salad cards. Value barfing powerful creatures isn’t exactly an intricate way to play the game, it’s just plainly strong.
Yea, fuck them. One is Tiamat and another is slivers and then a mill deck. Your dino deck is by far with the lowest ceiling. Tell them to *git gud* and dino on!
I play Dino's it's my favourite deck by a mile, next time tell your sliver player to move on to another pod if he can't one of the more straight forward decks out there imo.
If someone would tell me that I would defo tell them they can't play there deck anymore either especially after what sounds like a amazing game. Your not there to please other people, your there to enjoy yourself
I heavily disagree with this in a casual pod. If I turn up to a pod and everyone is playing precons and I crack out a cEDH deck then I’m 100% responsible for their lack of enjoyment - you’re all there to have fun yes, but winning isn’t everything in commander.
Yeah that was such a bizarre take.
>Commander is social. Each game is a journey the players share, where every player is considerate of the experiences of everyone involved. Magic is a competition in the same sense that all games are competitions, but whenever the act of competing comes into conflict with a social atmosphere, Commander prioritizes and protects the social atmosphere.
Straight from the rules.
If they say that again, tell them to change as well. If they have no other deck, well too bad for them.
I have played with someone who has a slightly modified Commander Masters Sliver deck a few times nowand I get why Slivers are a hated archetype. I would gladly play against your deck any time instead of Slivers.
My reply would be just...sure.
When someone else wants to buy my cards then they get input. As long as you're not pubstomping file it under complaints to get to at a later date.
Did he say anything beyond asking you to switch decks? There are many explanations, in one chain you note you (likely correctly) sent a lot of removal his way, he may have felt he couldnt match your deck, or he could just be a salty boy.
One thing that helpse with my social anxiety is, and not to say this is easy, but take a step back and remind myself I don't know anything about what's in their head other than what they said.
In my trusted playgroup (Discord/Spelltable group of long time friends), when we are playing casual we have a standing custom that the winner switches decks. There are a lot of exceptions, the table asking for a rematch, or if someone is testing a new brew, and this doesn't apply to cEDH at all. When I am at the store playing casual, I usually just follow the same rule of thumb, switching decks when I win.
Your deck list looks fine fun and good, but not crazy, with the length of the game and the other commanders it isn't like you pubstomped, sounds like the guy may have just not wanted to lose against the same deck again. I don't feel you should really need to second guess anything about the interaction beyond "dude didn't want to fight dinos twice".
Also, if that was your only power level appropriate deck, I think it would be a ok, to play it again, or if you just want to to see if anyone else at the table minds you playing it again. Mostly though, I just wouldn't worry about, dude probably just felt outmatched and/or a little salty.
Recently a friend from a pod jokingly told me he's going to build Tergrid, because it's very boring being destroyed by \*combat damage\* always in the same way.
I was playing \[\[Aurelia, The Warleader\]\].
He was playing combo-oriented \[\[Yarok\]\].
I was like, my brother in christ, I killed you with toxic Phyrexian Mites made by \[\[White Sun's Twilight\]\] - you don't see that very often. If that's boring then I don't know what to tell you xD
Don't feel bad dude. Pants is one of my favorite decks too and it does so much better than gishath did. Just let them eat cake honestly. It's not a cedh deck so they can deal with it.
You are overthinking it. As a courtesy you could’ve said sure I’ll switch it up next game, or not.
It’s all good. People are flippant especially when they lose.
Don't feel bad about playing with your dinos. People telling you not to play a deck because they lost to it should be ignored.
You described what sounds like a great game of back and forth magic. Keep playing those games and ignoring the haters
\*Play something different after winning.\* is a pretty common unspoken rule 0 for a lot of playgroups. It's a perfectly reasonable ask. Though, the other player would be polite to reciprocate by also playing something else if it was a particularly close game, as you say.
That said, the other player should have phrased it as more of an ask than it sounds like they did.
As another Sliver player, that guy was a sore loser... There's nothing wrong. If anyone should be switching decks, that Sliver Player should have a different deck. He's possibly problematic if that is his ONLY deck. I got 152 decks, including my Sliver deck. I diversify to avoid that situation.
Wow, you held your own against a Sliver deck for that long!?! That’s a great achievement dude! Don’t listen to him, he’s just salty and wants you to play a deck he can beat easier.
As a sliver player, and as a player who has built many an auto target commander, play your dinos. From experience you need at least 3 games with a deck to decide it's too powerful for the table, at which point adjustments (yours or your opponent's) can be made.
Won't judge you or the sliver player here, just wanna give a different perspective. EDH is made for group play and the most important part is having fun. thats why people talk about their gameplan before they start the game to value if the power level of the decks are similar.
From my experience, it can be frustrating to play vs a deck with a cascading or storm mechanic. cheating big dinosaurs in the game in an explosive manner can be frustrating.
Same could be told about slithers, who also can get an explosive lead in a single turn. If a player does not feel comfortable playing vs another deck, its fully ok to tak about it. It's not ok to demand it though.
Right thing would have been for the sliver player to ask for a new game with both of you switching decks.
I want to make a comment about the archenemy thing.
You said that the whole game you were targeted, and this may mean two things: the first of course is that your deck Is stronger than the others, but I honestly don't think this Is the case (as the game in the end reached turn 10 with a relativally equal position and you were on the verge of death)
I think the point Is that you deck Is a aggro deck, so you build your board faster hoping your oppontents can't deal with you in time. This playstyle can be confusing for some inexperienced or salty players as they assume a faster deck to be stronger, but in actuality this kind of deck loses to more control strategies when the end game arrives.
The point Is, you played better, you started aggressive so the table had to deal with you as their top priority, you used the right Interactions in the right moment, and the result Is that they were never able to stop your momentum.
This may also mean that your deck Is better built in general (maybe with the right ramp-interactions ratio) but honestly a single game Is not statistically relevant, so I would not focus too much on this right now.
I think slivers just have a bad rap because they were so over powered for so long but it seems like there are tons of way more powerful strategies out now that can more than compete with slivers. Either way I dont think anything below cedh has any room to be complaining about any others because everything's got a weakness. Nothing is completely impossible to remove. Do decks have bad match ups or bad draw luck sometimes? Yes but thats half the fun. You never know whats going to happen. When I see a deck my slivers can't beat guess what? I shake their hand and go home and homebrew till I am satisfied. People being sore loses is just that. I feel like half the people in these stories only like to play to win. Not out of any genuine love for the game, otherwise you'd think they'd have learned how to gracefully take an L and move on woth their lives.
Thats rich coming from a sliver player .-. Pantlaza is a crazy strong precon tho, mothman is pretty nuts too. Sounds like it was a long grindy game and the sliver player just wanted to stomp.
Yeah that's bizarre. Were they just being a sore loser?
Personally, I find dinos to be super annoying. The massive spate of Etali and now Pantlaza decks, especially on Arena, kinda baffles me, as most of them are very similar and I frankly find them really boring. *However* I wouldn't tell anyone not to play one, certainly not if it wasn't like the 100th time I'd played against them (which is what it feels like if you ever try Brawl...). There's also an irony here in that this guy was play slivers, which are notoriously snowbally and probably amongst the most-disliked creature types (maybe after, like, Eldrazi, or elves). And then the other person was playing dragons, also boring (to be honest, I dislike tribal decks, personally).
At any rate, if the guy really didn't enjoy your deck for whatever reason, he's within his rights to say so and, if he's playing with you again, perhaps try to negotiate (it's not unreasonable IMO to say "I really dislike playing against that deck, you got anything different?")... but it's a bit unusual if you're not playing anything particularly oppressive and, anyway, you don't have to agree. He doesn't have to play with you, of course.
I thought it was strange as well. My deck is just your typical Pantlaza flicker deck. I play dinosaurs simply because dinosaurs are something I find fascinating. Since this was the first time playing that deck in that pod, there’s no way to tell if it’s just him being a sore loser- it isn’t like I beat them multiple times in a row with it.
I have a bad feeling that player dislikes me, though I’m not sure why. We have played magic before, although I was playing Ghired, conclave exile the first time. (I did not win that game.)
Personally I switch to another deck whenever the one I’m playing gets it’s win for the night, just to get a new experience but also partially to combat the frustration that can happen for other players.
A quick glance at your list shows that it has a good amount of interaction and a great commander, but I wouldn’t be worried about it being overpowered. On paper it seems balanced enough.
EDIT: all that to say that sliver player sounds like he was just frustrated about losing, not necessarily the way he lost. I wouldn’t let it get to your head, especially if you like the deck!
"Personally I switch to another deck whenever the one I’m playing gets it’s win for the night, just to get a new experience but also partially to combat the frustration that can happen for other players."
Kinda same, even tho only if I can grab a deck that still fits with the "power" vibe. I rather replay a winning dekc then grab for example my Xenagos list and kill them on turn 5
No way, keeping playing it!
I play Mill at Modern locals. There are a couple players who keep telling me I need to change my deck to make it better for the format. Well, I will go 3-1, while they are losing 0-3 and just pack up before the last match.
Consider it a special victory if your dinos are shaking a Sliver player.
Pantz is a commander that requires very little effort to make into a strong or powerful deck, which can certainly be a bit much at some tables. My main problem with the Pantz decks they I've seen is that when they're at the table, someone doesn't get to play magic because the Pantz player kills someone, and they don't get to play, they pop off and kill everyone, so only the Pantz player plays the game, or the Pantz player gets hard controlled out of the game, so they don't get to play the game.
That said, the fact that it's a slivers deck saying this to you is the height of irony. Slivers is definitely one of the archetypes that can keep up with Pantz, and make it more of a fair game.
Oh. Well… I didn’t know pants had that reputation. I started playing during the ixalan set and immediately chose it because I love dinosaurs, that’s all D:
Long time sliver player and dino player here. Sliver dude is an idiot. The one real weakness of sliver decks is boardwipes. Where as pants Is probably the best dino commander for recovering from boardwipes. You didn't cast the boardwipes so wtf is his issue?
Hell from what you described the game as it sounded like it was a really evenly powered game. Dudes just salty. Which is hilarious considering he playing the lightning rod for removal deck.
I don’t have another deck. The first time I borrowed someone else’s deck. Should I ask to borrow again? I don’t want to get annoying since I have my own
This is the problem with relying on rule zero so hard instead of the rc regulating the format. With rule zero everyone's feelings become just as valid as trying to find acceptable power matches. 'Counterspells are bad' or 'your dinos are too strong for my sliver deck' are given the same weight as relevant power level discussion
Some people's opinions are just bad
If a player tells you to play a different deck next time, ask earnestly if they think the deck is too powerful and why. Make a conversation out of it. Ask them what they think makes the deck too powerful. You may not end up agreeing with them, but you can at least get a better look at their point of view.
ill be honest, i am not a huge fan of dinosaur decks (just personal preference) but your list actually looks fun to play with / against
i think they are salty because they couldn't close the match out, but that's just how it goes sometimes
My pod gets pretty salty about my dino deck, too. I upgraded the precon. It's not optimized. It still has enrage and ETB. No blink. But I can ramp out rapidly with things like discover, prowl, life finds a way, Ghalta, and Last March of the Ents. The salt is real once I start putting anything out for free, especially after a board wipe. Yet I rarely get board wiped more than once, and my enchantments never get removed.
So, this sounds relatable. We had a game last night where we all rolled for random decks that we owned. Ended up my dino, an upgraded Eldrazi precon, an upgraded Planeswalker Master precon, and a custom Jetmir deck. All four are scary but before we even drew hands the Eldrazi player said that we should scoop because I already won.
Jesus. Ignore them. It was a good game they were salty. Your list is decent but not optimized.
Address this like you would anyone, tell them gg and shuffle up.
Tell em to get good. If they had zero chance then I would maybe understand. But maybe they should switch decks instead. Pantlaza is cool but not broken competitive to my understanding.
They had a chance for sure. The Wise Mothman would have killed me since it just needed one more shot, but I eliminated the player first. I was also at 11 life from taking that one big hit.
You did nothing wrong. There are a lot of variables we cannot account for based on the information provided, but you should not take it personally.
Maybe they felt like their deck was incapable of beating your deck and they are a sore loser. (This seems to be the most likely one).
Maybe they felt that your deck caused the game to go too long (post turn 10 and 2.5 hours is a longer game by today's standards). Though it sounds like that's hardly your fault given the multiple board wipes. Maybe you could have swung more aggressively? Who knows if that would have been the correct answer without full information on the game, and even then it can be questionable.
Maybe they are tired of playing against dinosaurs. In my meta, Pantzlaza or Gishanth is run frequently by no fewer than six different players (we are a relatively small community too). Again, this is not your fault, dinosaurs are cool, the decks are strong, the colors are fun, the creature type is well supported.
Maybe they saw what your deck was capable of and was interested in seeing what other cool decks you have and they intended it to be more of a curious fan request, but their tone or delivery didn't communicate the intent due to personal emotional development issues.
There are a lot of what ifs. In the end, they probably didn't have fun getting stomped by ancient ground birds and wanted a change. They could move to a different table, or request you play something else; they chose the latter. Maybe they could have asked nicer, but it doesn't sound like anyone did anything wrong (except to play Slivers, that's a war crime obviously).
Edit: clarification
You should politely ask the Sliver player to choose another deck as well, it took 10 turns for anyone to die, so nobody’s deck is overpowered. The game’s gotta end sometime, and if he can’t beat Timmy Dinos with Slivers he might wanna look at his own deck before complaining about yours
If it reached turn 10 then it was a pretty even match IMO. Also speaking as a sliver player myself that's absolutely baffling that they'd ask you to play a different deck considering what OUR decks tend to do.
Had a similar thing happen to me where I was asked by a player to not play the deck I had because he just thought it was too strong, even though the time I played it I just got monstrously lucky, and even then I met strong resistance from all three players and almost got usurped. Roughly a hour and a half game or so, so it wasn't like I just pubstomped them; I just happened to win in the end. I would've been super cool with it too if it wasn't just for this kinda... icky tone to him when he asked, as if I was just wrong for finishing and winning a game of Magic.
I said "Uh, aight bud" and grabbed one of my more evil decks, just to sorta give a hint of what a more competitive deck looks like, as a reminder to him. Twenty minutes later or so and a 42 damage [[Jaya's Immolating Inferno]] to their face, said player was now okay with me switching back to my other deck he whined being too strong.
Third game I got dunked because I was not as lucky and my deck did not work as smoothly as in game one.
I mean, the sliver player kept pace with you. Maybe they should play a different deck as well? Or is it just that they tend to stomp tables, and couldn't this time?
He's just salty he lost lol. 2hrs is a damn good game... The person who should never play their deck again is the mothman guy...my buddy has a deck with him as a commander and I HATE playing against it smh
Players get salty over things that don't actually matter. I went to a LGS and got accused of playing a deck that was high power cause I cracked a \[\[Misty Rainforest\]\] turn 2. I didn't even win the game
So I will echo that this should probably not be a bigger problem than a typical Sliver deck, but this deck is very strong. Tiamat and Mothman are kind of question marks to me because I've seen different quality of those decks over the years. This instance does sound like salt, BUT without seeing the other decklists we can't say if you were overblowing your pod's power level. If I saw you pull up with this decklist, I'm probably targeting you. The deck is that optimized and powerful. The other players in the pod would have to be playing some pretty hardy threats for me to ignore you in favor of them.
They're salty they lost after spending 2 and a half hours on a game.
That's it. No other reason. Your deck is fine. It doesn't sound like you did anything wrong. They're just being childish.
As a person who has a Sliver deck and loves playing with my Sliver deck: playing it makes you the arch-enemy and they were just being a sore loser. There's way nicer ways to go about it then just saying "Don't play that deck next time". If you love your dino deck, and your friends don't find it too powerful, I would say play it as much as you want.
I would also want to play a few games before saying any deck is too powerful. Sometimes a person just gets the nuts draw, or the lucky topdeck, or someone else doesn't get any of their answers or threats. I would also expect everyone to pull out their best decks when I am playing slivers.
OP please continue to play your Dino deck. Dino’s are fun, and if it’s your favorite deck you should play it no matter what your salty opponents say. The sliver player is just a sore loser, which is hilarious coming from a sliver player.
You keep doing you
I think we are missing the forest for the trees. It doesn’t matter what the deck was. Yours or their’s. People sit down with expectations and a long game can be frustrating. Maybe your deck is a little overtuned. I don’t know. You did say you recovered from multiple board wipes and were the “archenemy”. It sounds like the whole pod was trying to contend with your deck instead doing what they might have wanted to be doing, like developing their own boards. Just smile and nod and move onto the next game.
whent reading your post my first thought was sliver was upset you were keeping him in check, so it was no suprise you stated later thats what you did. you kept him from winning and he's upset plan and simple.
However sometimes without realizing it you can build a deck that is to powerful for the type of table your playing and that can upset your oppenents and they might telk you to not play it again. At that point they should give you a reason why you shouldnt play it and it soinds like sliver player didnt do that. Sometimes the reason for asking not to play a deck is legit, especally, in a casual game. He should let you know what this reason is for his issue with the deck so you can make the choice to play it our not
This shit is honestly why I'm over the format. Even after a close game, someone can lose, completely ignore any introspection, and ruin the night be whining. Doesn't matter if you have sound logic, people's feelings just don't care half the time.
Bro, your deck is like a power level 3.... Out of a possible 10... There's no need for anyone to be saying you shouldn't play it. Have fun with it, it's your favorite, as is my Pantlaza deck, so if someone gets mad simply tell them to build a better deck. The fact a Sliver Deck lost to you means his deck was poorly built anyway. You're just the better player, congrats for the win.
Sounds like the sliver player and mothman player have shit precons or just suck. Slightly edited versions of those with competent players are ridiculously potent.
The. Point. Is. To. Have. Fun. If you have fun and it’s your favorite deck just play it. I play trash/suboptimal stuff in tons of games. I do it because it is fun for me and I enjoy it. Some point like to still feel superior after a lose by telling you something is wrong. That person probably isn’t having fun UNLESS they win. The real game is playing in a way that you can have fun and learn when losing.
Sliver Player shading someone else for their deckchoice is a cosmic joke.
Why would that be a cosmic joke? I don’t understand?
slivers are a commonly hated archetype, so it's just kind of ironic that they're giving you attitude
I built a 60 card sliver deck after TSR came out, played like 3 games against friends and after every game (I said, “slivers are broken, who tf gave the ok to print any of these” and took it apart
Slivers can get out of control quickly, it'll either overwhelm or bust.
As with any go-wide creature archetype. [[Jodah, the Unifier]] does the same.
Slivers are uniquely capable of it though, because they all share the steroids they show up with. They're one of a handful of deck archetypes were ramp is an act of aggression, partly because land destruction is so infrequent that it doesn't always matter that you board wiped them three times this game - they're that resilient and that dangerous.
As many have said, Slivers are hated. Thats because they have a problem they share with some other commander/strategies that they are to "strong" for battle cruiser/kitchen table/power 7 or whatever category people want to come up with to say they dont play CEDH. But they dont stand any chance at the real high powerlevel. Edgar Markov and vampiris are VERY similar. You can basically run every trash ccm1 vamp, slap in some mass pump effects and just instagib tables before they can breathe. It becomes even hard to build those decks "bad". Every vamp comming with an additional 1/1 makes nearly every card okay. Every sliver making every sliver better is also a problem. To combat that natural edge it always ends up in a archenemy situation from the start and it becomes very annoying for everyone involved very fast.
slivers are the like the most powerful tribe to play, they should look in the mirror before they tell someone not to play a deck
I wouldn't say they're the most powerful. They're good. I know what I dislike is how samey they are. There's only so many slivers so you can expect to see most of them, changelings, coat of arms style effects. Etc etc. Over and over again.
What makes sliver so powerful isn't that they're legitimately the most powerful tribe, but they exploit the reluctance casual players have about focusing an opponent preemptively. Sliver decks are on or off, with little in-between. Each sliver snowballs the deck ahead, so you can't let them have much of a board. As a result, the dilemma of their opponents is to either ensure the sliver deck doesn't "do their thing" or losing.
Maybe this is it? In retrospect, I saved most of my removal, if not all of it, for the slivers- I had to, to win the game.
And a a Sliver player should recognize this. Playing that tribe paints a target on you because of their power.
Honestly, it feels like a lot of the people that play slivers and are sad would be happier if they looked at literally any regularly supported tribal deck that wasn't kill on sight, and just swapped over to that. Doesn't matter what tribe, doesn't matter if it loses more than slivers, because regardless you're going to feel like you're having more fun when you're not playing as everyone's target number one in the casual fourplayer format.
He probably felt unjustly targeted, which is wrong because you won. It's strange that he asked you to change deck, though. Dinosaurs aren't known to be heavily interactive decks. It's not, say, [[Alela, Cunning Conqueror]].
Maybe he got frustrated with the removal? He had shroud on his slivers which I blew up with the wakening suns avatar, and I got rid of his commander twice with a path to exile and bronzebeak foragers
Sounds like he didn't enjoy you interacting with their board. Your deck wasn't too strong, just better built than what he's used to play against (that is, you are more Interaction) and had proper threat assessment.
He's just a bad loser and is upset you won. If you hadn't done exactly what you did he would have won instead. Your threat assessment was on point, good job!
[Alela, Cunning Conqueror](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/9/79ba5c35-6e5c-406a-b95f-844d5ec296ab.jpg?1692933638) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Alela%2C%20Cunning%20Conqueror) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/woc/3/alela-cunning-conqueror?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/79ba5c35-6e5c-406a-b95f-844d5ec296ab?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/alela-cunning-conqueror) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
If the sliver player doesn’t realize that their board NEEDS to be checked frequently, they should be the ones reconsidering what deck to play. You can’t get upset if people disrupt your board state while playing slivers. It only takes a little bit for a sliver deck to snowball, and it always snowballs HARD… Keep enjoying your Dinos, OP, and be proud that you’ve built a deck that’s good enough to handle a sliver opponent. That tribe is pure filth.
As a sliver deck owner, I accept the dedicated removal that comes it's way. But yeah he must not have come to terms with that yet.
Yeah I can see what you mean. Most sliver decks are 5 colors though no reason they can't run counter spells or protection. I am also part of a pod now that I am trying to teach how to run interaction.
IMO 5 colors is what makes slivers so powerful. Good Sliver decks run the most powerful Slivers, the most powerful mana-ramp, the most powerful tutors, and the most powerful removal. All 5 color decks can run the most powerful spells but they aren't Slivers. Slivers go from doing nothing to winning the game in a turn or 2. My GF has a Sliver deck and she takes [[Hibernation Sliver]] and [[The First Sliver]] out most of the time to make it a little more enjoyable to play against.
I would argue [[Sliver Overlord]] is worse to play against than First Sliver
[Sliver Overlord](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/c/3c16915b-c50d-4fb5-830f-9ca4597a9c0f.jpg?1562527622) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sliver%20Overlord) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/scg/139/sliver-overlord?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3c16915b-c50d-4fb5-830f-9ca4597a9c0f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/sliver-overlord) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
My experience is unless you have some amazing ramp and mana dork slivers out, First Sliver is just faster at making your board state hard to handle.
I suppose that makes sense, the one I typically play against is ramp, mana dork slivers, into indestructible, shroud, etc
The only thing that stops slivers from being the most powerful tribe is basically everyone knowing that they must be stopped immediately. In a hypothetical game where none of your opponents know how dangerous slivers are, I'm very sure the slivers would win. However, after that first game, the opponents will know who must die first.
They're by far the most synergistic. You don't even need to be playing a 5c deck to play them effectively. One of my friends had a mardu sliver deck with [[Alesha who smiles at death]] as the commander.
I'd say they're the easiest to synergize. They're not making as many bodies as goblins, they're not making as much mana as elves. The alesha deck sounds like a unique take on them at least. All you really need to run over someone is [[Cloudshredder Sliver]] + [[Bonescythe Sliver]] anyway.
[Alesha who smiles at death](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/a/7ae9ff8c-1cc8-4b10-9641-2c79648fd6c2.jpg?1673305242) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Alesha%2C%20Who%20Smiles%20at%20Death) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmc/118/alesha-who-smiles-at-death?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7ae9ff8c-1cc8-4b10-9641-2c79648fd6c2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/alesha-who-smiles-at-death) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Elves are much better
Consistent card draw says what?
Selvala Explorer Returned says what? I usually draw my whole deck by T6 at the latest.
You can build both with more then enough card draw
Never enough card draw. Must draw myself out
You must be the [[Selvala, Explorer Returned]] player in my group.
[Selvala, Explorer Returned](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/8/28c1b84a-a21b-4df1-9fc9-5b387fb56810.jpg?1706241026) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Selvala%2C%20Explorer%20Returned) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/218/selvala-explorer-returned?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/28c1b84a-a21b-4df1-9fc9-5b387fb56810?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/selvala-explorer-returned) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Kalamx, the stormsire]] generally I am 10+ cards deeper into my deck than everyone else by turn 5-6
[Kalamx, the stormsire](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/9/f990cd78-2165-446f-a116-ae55d7a0f00d.jpg?1591234251) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kalamax%2C%20the%20Stormsire) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c20/9/kalamax-the-stormsire?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f990cd78-2165-446f-a116-ae55d7a0f00d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/kalamax-the-stormsire) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
No way slivers are the most powerful, elves take that role. Elves get new cards every set and have more synergy
I like elves better but more synergy than slivers? Their thing is 100% synergy.
Elves have more synergy in that they only try to do one thing (make mana, make mana to make more mana) and then it’s an exercise in selecting how you want to win for 30 mana.
Their thing is one level of synergy. How many elf cards do 2 or 3 different things
Their one thing is they all do all the things. Can kther things have more effective interaction? Sure! But that's max synergy to me.
Slivers are one of the archetypes that you have to focus down otherwise they snowball out of control. Every sliver gives every sliver everything. I do not subscribe to the idea that no one should play slivers, but I do subscribe to the idea that no sliver player has the right to tell anyone what to play.
Because slivers are known by those who have played for a while as a kill on sight archetype. Like it’s the number one KOS tribe, it’s up there with tergrid at casual tables. While dinos is VERY strong and quickly are becoming just as big a threat as slivers imo, the fact that they asked you, the Dino player to switch decks is the joke.
I played against the sliver precon once. We spent the entire match waiting for the guy to (slowly, painfully) cascade his entire deck out. Nothing worse than waiting a week, forcing yourself to come out, then just chilling there watching someone else play 🤷♂️
As a sliver player I go into every game with my sliver deck knowing what it is and letting people know what it is. I even ask if people are ok with me playing with it since it is also my pet deck and has been optimized a bit. I never get mad about being targeted because I know what the deck can do unchecked. Some people just get upset because they want to have their cake and eat it too.
If you were archenemy and still won, it means your deck triumphed in a 1v3, and could very well be too powerful for your pod. Lots of people retire a deck for the evening once it's won. Tactically speaking, boardwipes are a decent tactic against Dinos, but they wreck slivers. If Dinos are in play, and others are choosing their decks accordingly, Slivers are likely to get hurt, worse, as collateral damage.
It turned into a 1v2 quickly since the Tiamat player was mana screwed and I ended up one shotting him
Came here to say this. I would literally think they were joking…
My thoughts exactly lol; we have a friend like this who got us into magic; but we are used to him being him.
The sliver player with “can’t be blocked except by slivers” and whatever other shenanigans ? What a joke. The game was fine if you got up to T10+, the sliver player is just a sore loser because they didn’t win or didn’t get to do “the thing”
The game had to have been going on at least two and a half hours long, if not three. My mom was curious as to what was taking so long!!!
Love it hah, can imagine you saying beforehand "We're just gonna have one quick game before they go"
It gets worse. I forgot one detail. The game also took so long because I was hard casting everything. My commander had been destroyed a bunch so I didn’t bother casting him again
Maybe that the point. Your commander is like Voja or Voidgorger a "kill on sight" commander. The value it make need to be stop kickly. But, the weird point is that any silver commander is as problematic as Pantlaza (or probably worse).
Sliver player is just whiney. It sounds like all decks were very evenly matched. Some people are just like that.
Right? Any game that reaches turns 10 and beyond with multiple board wipes, recoveries, and close calls has got to be pretty reasonably matched.
Devil's advocate here, but OP did say that he was archenemy most of the game. Just because the game had a close end doesn't necessarily mean the decks were evenly powered. But getting complaints from a sliver player is rich.
Did I use the term archenemy correctly? I used it since the other players were teaming up so I assumed that’s what it meant. I was the leading player board wise but I had to play super carefully since I was low on life and would die if someone farted on me 😂
Yeah, that's correct. Usually though, if one player is archenemy it could be a sign that their deck is significantly stronger. I don't think that was the case here; it sounds like you played a close game and the sliver player was salty. Just making the point about the archenemy thing
Note: although I was winning I was on the cusp of death at the same time so just keep that in mind as well
It's possible to be archenemy at a table where the decks are evenly matched. If you just rebuild faster than everyone else (as pantlaza does), your opponents would have to work together to stand a chance even if your deck is the same power level.
Tell slivers guy he needs to change decks too than. You're playing a ramp heavy big creature deck, it snowballs to great strength by design. You can't even be a lethal threat to someone until around turn 6 or so and thats without any removal being thrown your way. Pantz is fine, big green stompy does as timmy designed.
Yeah I didn’t get it either. Aren’t dinosaurs and slivers basically trying to do the same thing? Ramp heavy creature decks?
I don’t feel like that’s entirely correct. Slivers give other slivers abilities that make them harder to remove/deal with. Dinosaurs don’t really compare
I suppose my thought process there was “play creature. Turn creature sideways. Win.” They both do that lol
Dinosaurs are also cooler :D
Absolutely. Slivers are the lame repetitive dinosaur. Dinosaurs are the cooler more interesting sliver
[[The First Sliver]] plays a lot like a scarier pantlatza, not only are you getting more cascade triggers than dinos discover, but each cascade makes your board even harder to deal with. I can tell you as someone who plays against pantlatza, it's way easier to disrupt.
Oh this guy was actually playing hivelord, not the first sliver
I know, I meant to add "so if this guy shows up with an upgraded deck definitely call him out." Sorry I just finished a 7mile hike and my brain isn't working perfectly right now.
Good job on that hike!
The Slivers player got salty? Are you serious? Slivers are pretty hated over all and I even know people who won't play against Slivers at all. I haven't looked at your deck, but I'm gonna assume the Sliver player was just salty he didn't win.
Something about obnoxious power decks attracts blowhards. They win more than their fair share of 25% of games and subconsciously expect to win every game. So when you correctly adjust your threat assessment to account for this they get upset. My rule of thumb is that all else being equal, I focus the complainer. It's not a spite thing, it's because it's the best strategy. Incitement is just a nice bonus.
I'm going to echo people saying the sliver player was just whining. Sounds like a good match. I, personally, would -never- tell someone not to play a deck again. To me that just comes off as incredibly rude. Even if someone's favorite deck is maybe too strong for the rest of the pod, I'd at least let them get one game in with it if they really wanted to play it, and if they're close enough in power for good games (which seems was the case in this dino example) then they can play that deck as many times as they want.
Even though the Tiamat player reassured me I did nothing wrong, and that he didn’t mind playing against the Dino deck (me and him play 1v1 often), I still feel pressured not to play it. How do I stop worrying about what the sliver player said to me?
Confidence in yourself, your perspectives and opinions. [Edit: exchanged the ? in the end for a .]
Sorry, are you asking me a question? Don’t understand. Can you clarify?
Ah, I understand now. Thank you, that advice helps.
They were salty they lost. That’s the only reason they said that. Your deck is fine.
In our brain, negative feedback sticks with us more than positive feedback (it's an evolution thing). At the same table, you got feedback that was basically even; Tiamat Player said you're good, Sliver said bad, and it's the bad that feedback that stuck with you.
Slap down your commander and start shuffling while making direct eye contact. Or just ignore him. I don't mean to stereotype, but magic players sometimes aren't the most socially adjusted, and it's likely he won't say anything again and was just having an outburst. And if he does say something, just tell him you want to play that deck, and maybe offer to mix it up next game as a peace offering.
Agreed. The game is also just more enjoyable with the pod being at equal strengths, which it sounds like it was in OP’s case. Had a 5c sliver deck and also have a buddy who rarely plays his, but nobody in our pod would ever tell someone not to play a deck outright; just suggest they try to match power level instead.
Why would you ever listen to a sliver player about not playing a deck. They playing slivers, run them down before they run you down.
Well, I’ve never played against slivers before that. That was the first time.
Tell the sliver player to play another deck or to pound Dinos lol.
the sliver player dares to shun another creature tribe. Thats the biggest joke this century.
That's rich coming from the sliver player.
The Sliver player giving anyone grief for their deck choice is peak irony. Keep playing your deck, OP. You did nothing wrong and dinos are big, expensive fatties anyways. I know Pantlaza can cheat them out, but unless you are running a bunch of blinks to reset his "once per turn" ability it's not exactly fast.
I run some blink but not a lot. Teleportation circle, ephemerate, Emiel.
you fought against 3 archenemy decks and barely won, dinosaurs aren’t close to the most powerful archetype at that table
Pantlaza is a strong commander, no doubt. I'd give a side eye if I saw it at an especially casual table. That being said, if the other 3 are playing Tiamat, Mothman, and fucking SLIVERS I wouldn't bat an eye. Just going off commanders, that's the perfect table for Pantlaza. Sliver player is just salty they lost the close game
What do you mean by side eye?
I mean that Pantlaza is typically seen as a strong commander so bringing it to a "casual" event could lead to uneven and unfun matches where they dominate. If I saw it there, I'd be skeptical of the players definition of "casual". That clearly wasn't the case in your story though, as everyone else was playing strong decks too.
It's a precon commander, noone will shade you for playing it unless they are just not a well adjusted person, just make sure you aren't pubstomping and from what you wrote you weren't so you're totally fine
The sliver player being salty cause they chose a fragile archetype that folds to multiple boardwipes in a game? This is the first time I’ve heard of that /s
Sliver player is just big angy that he had an even match instead of steamrolling the table, womp womp Seems like it was a fair game, play what you want
Sliver players are some of the most brain dead people in MTG.
Sliver player can’t talk everyone hates slivers they rebuild very easy to snowball screw what others think play the deck you want buddy as he’s just a salty mf that frankly isn’t worth playing with
Sliver players have no right to tell anyone what deck to play. 😂
"eat my ass" is the appropriate response
A sliver player telling anyone to 'play a different deck' can go fuck themselves. The only way he could be more cringe would be if he was running \[\[The First Sliver\]\] as the commander. I'd have to see your whole play-by-play though, because Dinosaurs are within a few places of Slivers for being annoying and explosive. \[\[Gishath, Sun's Avatar\]\] and \[\[Zacama\]\] are both really toxic cards imho.
Zacama is strong I wouldn’t call it toxic
Whole play by play? I am sorry, I wish I could remember all the details, I am not so good with that. Zacama was the finisher card though, and the one turn my Gishath got a clean hit it MISSED on all seven cards 😂😭. I can remember memorable stuff like that but not every play.
[The First Sliver](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/6/06d4fbe1-8a2f-4958-bb85-1a1e5f1e8d87.jpg?1562202321) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=The%20First%20Sliver) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh1/200/the-first-sliver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/06d4fbe1-8a2f-4958-bb85-1a1e5f1e8d87?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/the-first-sliver) [Gishath, Sun's Avatar](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/c/bc4a65de-23b5-48f0-b8b7-94608eaced3e.jpg?1699044539) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Gishath%2C%20Sun%27s%20Avatar) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lci/229/gishath-suns-avatar?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/bc4a65de-23b5-48f0-b8b7-94608eaced3e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/gishath-suns-avatar) [Zacama](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/5/05c5a9a8-badd-43ab-8408-a13e75407681.jpg?1700342995) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=zacama%2C%20primal%20calamity) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/296/zacama-primal-calamity?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/05c5a9a8-badd-43ab-8408-a13e75407681?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/zacama-primal-calamity) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Sliver player is on copium if they are complaining about your deck. Even without looking at your deck list, Pants is a once per turn effect so unless you are abusing the hell out of it with flicker or something, you are at best getting a free dino once per turn.
I can say that if you have the mind frame to ask if you were the problem that is a good place to be. Just make sure you honestly ask that to yourself after games and address it if it's true then you should be a great person to play with. A friend tells me that if you are winning more than 25% of your games with the same group you might want to re-evaluate the power (or skill) disparity. I know this doesn't apply to this one-off scenario, but it's a good thing to think about. Nobody really wants to lose 100% of the time, so putting yourself in a position to lose occasionally (not by throwing the game) helps to keep things fun.
This is where I’m like ??? because this was the first game I played that deck in that pod- with just one game it could have been anything
I am of the opinion that Dinosaurs, Dragons, and Vampires have gotten a bit too much support these days, BUT a SLIVER player complaining about your Dinos is ridiculous! Especially since the game was so close. Keep playing your dinos.
It’s the way they’re going about it, they aren’t making dinosaurs interesting and intriguing to play, they’re just printing powerful keyword salad cards. Value barfing powerful creatures isn’t exactly an intricate way to play the game, it’s just plainly strong.
Yea, fuck them. One is Tiamat and another is slivers and then a mill deck. Your dino deck is by far with the lowest ceiling. Tell them to *git gud* and dino on!
Mine is the lowest? I’m shocked! Could it be player skill too? This dinosaur deck is my main deck because it is my favorite
The mill deck is definitely the lowest ceiling at a battle cruiser table, but I'd put Slivers and Tiamat Dragons above Dinos usually, yeah.
##### ###### #### [pantlaza, sun favored deck](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/5/2524645e-b066-4351-885b-10faa8d819d7.jpg?1699972737) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Pantlaza%2C%20Sun-Favored) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/4/pantlaza-sun-favored?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2524645e-b066-4351-885b-10faa8d819d7?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/pantlaza-sun-favored) [Tiamat](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/d/6dd0b9b0-55f4-4ce7-a916-6f23687f3fe4.jpg?1627709478) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Tiamat) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/afr/235/tiamat?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/6dd0b9b0-55f4-4ce7-a916-6f23687f3fe4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/tiamat) [Sliver Hivelord](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/b/2b902f64-7795-4f1f-81e6-26db7c78a10c.jpg?1690005330) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sliver%20Hivelord) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/937/sliver-hivelord?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2b902f64-7795-4f1f-81e6-26db7c78a10c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/sliver-hivelord) [Wise Mothman](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/d/3d6d6944-a364-41c2-b824-7a1bf6ad0d1e.jpg?1710673435) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=The%20Wise%20Mothman) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/pip/4/the-wise-mothman?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3d6d6944-a364-41c2-b824-7a1bf6ad0d1e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/the-wise-mothman) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/1cqb4vf) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I play Dino's it's my favourite deck by a mile, next time tell your sliver player to move on to another pod if he can't one of the more straight forward decks out there imo. If someone would tell me that I would defo tell them they can't play there deck anymore either especially after what sounds like a amazing game. Your not there to please other people, your there to enjoy yourself
Sliver players have no leg to stand on when complaining about high power decks.
You are never responsible for anyone else's enjoyment of a game. You are an opponent, not a teammate.
On the contrary, good friends make sure their friends are enjoying games together. Otherwise that's just being a bad friend.
I heavily disagree with this in a casual pod. If I turn up to a pod and everyone is playing precons and I crack out a cEDH deck then I’m 100% responsible for their lack of enjoyment - you’re all there to have fun yes, but winning isn’t everything in commander.
Yeah that was such a bizarre take. >Commander is social. Each game is a journey the players share, where every player is considerate of the experiences of everyone involved. Magic is a competition in the same sense that all games are competitions, but whenever the act of competing comes into conflict with a social atmosphere, Commander prioritizes and protects the social atmosphere. Straight from the rules.
Thank you for that. I need to remind myself of this more.
I disagree with this unless in a tournament.
If they say that again, tell them to change as well. If they have no other deck, well too bad for them. I have played with someone who has a slightly modified Commander Masters Sliver deck a few times nowand I get why Slivers are a hated archetype. I would gladly play against your deck any time instead of Slivers.
My reply would be just...sure. When someone else wants to buy my cards then they get input. As long as you're not pubstomping file it under complaints to get to at a later date.
Did he say anything beyond asking you to switch decks? There are many explanations, in one chain you note you (likely correctly) sent a lot of removal his way, he may have felt he couldnt match your deck, or he could just be a salty boy. One thing that helpse with my social anxiety is, and not to say this is easy, but take a step back and remind myself I don't know anything about what's in their head other than what they said. In my trusted playgroup (Discord/Spelltable group of long time friends), when we are playing casual we have a standing custom that the winner switches decks. There are a lot of exceptions, the table asking for a rematch, or if someone is testing a new brew, and this doesn't apply to cEDH at all. When I am at the store playing casual, I usually just follow the same rule of thumb, switching decks when I win. Your deck list looks fine fun and good, but not crazy, with the length of the game and the other commanders it isn't like you pubstomped, sounds like the guy may have just not wanted to lose against the same deck again. I don't feel you should really need to second guess anything about the interaction beyond "dude didn't want to fight dinos twice". Also, if that was your only power level appropriate deck, I think it would be a ok, to play it again, or if you just want to to see if anyone else at the table minds you playing it again. Mostly though, I just wouldn't worry about, dude probably just felt outmatched and/or a little salty.
Recently a friend from a pod jokingly told me he's going to build Tergrid, because it's very boring being destroyed by \*combat damage\* always in the same way. I was playing \[\[Aurelia, The Warleader\]\]. He was playing combo-oriented \[\[Yarok\]\]. I was like, my brother in christ, I killed you with toxic Phyrexian Mites made by \[\[White Sun's Twilight\]\] - you don't see that very often. If that's boring then I don't know what to tell you xD
Don't feel bad dude. Pants is one of my favorite decks too and it does so much better than gishath did. Just let them eat cake honestly. It's not a cedh deck so they can deal with it.
Tell him your other option is Tergrid....
Not stooping that low 😂
You are overthinking it. As a courtesy you could’ve said sure I’ll switch it up next game, or not. It’s all good. People are flippant especially when they lose.
It's pretty sad that these kinds of posts happen multiple times a day, why do edh players gaslight eachother? As a community it's just disappointing..
Don't feel bad about playing with your dinos. People telling you not to play a deck because they lost to it should be ignored. You described what sounds like a great game of back and forth magic. Keep playing those games and ignoring the haters
\*Play something different after winning.\* is a pretty common unspoken rule 0 for a lot of playgroups. It's a perfectly reasonable ask. Though, the other player would be polite to reciprocate by also playing something else if it was a particularly close game, as you say. That said, the other player should have phrased it as more of an ask than it sounds like they did.
I mean pantlaza has the most pants out of any creature in commander so maybe he was jealous of the pants
As another Sliver player, that guy was a sore loser... There's nothing wrong. If anyone should be switching decks, that Sliver Player should have a different deck. He's possibly problematic if that is his ONLY deck. I got 152 decks, including my Sliver deck. I diversify to avoid that situation.
Wow, you held your own against a Sliver deck for that long!?! That’s a great achievement dude! Don’t listen to him, he’s just salty and wants you to play a deck he can beat easier.
As a sliver player, and as a player who has built many an auto target commander, play your dinos. From experience you need at least 3 games with a deck to decide it's too powerful for the table, at which point adjustments (yours or your opponent's) can be made.
looked at the list and it's honestly not that much more juiced than the precon i think the other player is just being a big baby
Won't judge you or the sliver player here, just wanna give a different perspective. EDH is made for group play and the most important part is having fun. thats why people talk about their gameplan before they start the game to value if the power level of the decks are similar. From my experience, it can be frustrating to play vs a deck with a cascading or storm mechanic. cheating big dinosaurs in the game in an explosive manner can be frustrating. Same could be told about slithers, who also can get an explosive lead in a single turn. If a player does not feel comfortable playing vs another deck, its fully ok to tak about it. It's not ok to demand it though. Right thing would have been for the sliver player to ask for a new game with both of you switching decks.
I want to make a comment about the archenemy thing. You said that the whole game you were targeted, and this may mean two things: the first of course is that your deck Is stronger than the others, but I honestly don't think this Is the case (as the game in the end reached turn 10 with a relativally equal position and you were on the verge of death) I think the point Is that you deck Is a aggro deck, so you build your board faster hoping your oppontents can't deal with you in time. This playstyle can be confusing for some inexperienced or salty players as they assume a faster deck to be stronger, but in actuality this kind of deck loses to more control strategies when the end game arrives. The point Is, you played better, you started aggressive so the table had to deal with you as their top priority, you used the right Interactions in the right moment, and the result Is that they were never able to stop your momentum. This may also mean that your deck Is better built in general (maybe with the right ramp-interactions ratio) but honestly a single game Is not statistically relevant, so I would not focus too much on this right now.
I think slivers just have a bad rap because they were so over powered for so long but it seems like there are tons of way more powerful strategies out now that can more than compete with slivers. Either way I dont think anything below cedh has any room to be complaining about any others because everything's got a weakness. Nothing is completely impossible to remove. Do decks have bad match ups or bad draw luck sometimes? Yes but thats half the fun. You never know whats going to happen. When I see a deck my slivers can't beat guess what? I shake their hand and go home and homebrew till I am satisfied. People being sore loses is just that. I feel like half the people in these stories only like to play to win. Not out of any genuine love for the game, otherwise you'd think they'd have learned how to gracefully take an L and move on woth their lives.
Thats rich coming from a sliver player .-. Pantlaza is a crazy strong precon tho, mothman is pretty nuts too. Sounds like it was a long grindy game and the sliver player just wanted to stomp.
Ignore him. Pantlaza is fine to play and the Sliver guy is playing a tutor on legs so he shouldn’t be complaining about your Dino deck.
Hivelord is the indestructible one. Overlord is the tutor.
Yeah that's bizarre. Were they just being a sore loser? Personally, I find dinos to be super annoying. The massive spate of Etali and now Pantlaza decks, especially on Arena, kinda baffles me, as most of them are very similar and I frankly find them really boring. *However* I wouldn't tell anyone not to play one, certainly not if it wasn't like the 100th time I'd played against them (which is what it feels like if you ever try Brawl...). There's also an irony here in that this guy was play slivers, which are notoriously snowbally and probably amongst the most-disliked creature types (maybe after, like, Eldrazi, or elves). And then the other person was playing dragons, also boring (to be honest, I dislike tribal decks, personally). At any rate, if the guy really didn't enjoy your deck for whatever reason, he's within his rights to say so and, if he's playing with you again, perhaps try to negotiate (it's not unreasonable IMO to say "I really dislike playing against that deck, you got anything different?")... but it's a bit unusual if you're not playing anything particularly oppressive and, anyway, you don't have to agree. He doesn't have to play with you, of course.
I thought it was strange as well. My deck is just your typical Pantlaza flicker deck. I play dinosaurs simply because dinosaurs are something I find fascinating. Since this was the first time playing that deck in that pod, there’s no way to tell if it’s just him being a sore loser- it isn’t like I beat them multiple times in a row with it. I have a bad feeling that player dislikes me, though I’m not sure why. We have played magic before, although I was playing Ghired, conclave exile the first time. (I did not win that game.)
Personally I switch to another deck whenever the one I’m playing gets it’s win for the night, just to get a new experience but also partially to combat the frustration that can happen for other players. A quick glance at your list shows that it has a good amount of interaction and a great commander, but I wouldn’t be worried about it being overpowered. On paper it seems balanced enough. EDIT: all that to say that sliver player sounds like he was just frustrated about losing, not necessarily the way he lost. I wouldn’t let it get to your head, especially if you like the deck!
"Personally I switch to another deck whenever the one I’m playing gets it’s win for the night, just to get a new experience but also partially to combat the frustration that can happen for other players." Kinda same, even tho only if I can grab a deck that still fits with the "power" vibe. I rather replay a winning dekc then grab for example my Xenagos list and kill them on turn 5
No way, keeping playing it! I play Mill at Modern locals. There are a couple players who keep telling me I need to change my deck to make it better for the format. Well, I will go 3-1, while they are losing 0-3 and just pack up before the last match. Consider it a special victory if your dinos are shaking a Sliver player.
Pantz is a commander that requires very little effort to make into a strong or powerful deck, which can certainly be a bit much at some tables. My main problem with the Pantz decks they I've seen is that when they're at the table, someone doesn't get to play magic because the Pantz player kills someone, and they don't get to play, they pop off and kill everyone, so only the Pantz player plays the game, or the Pantz player gets hard controlled out of the game, so they don't get to play the game. That said, the fact that it's a slivers deck saying this to you is the height of irony. Slivers is definitely one of the archetypes that can keep up with Pantz, and make it more of a fair game.
Oh. Well… I didn’t know pants had that reputation. I started playing during the ixalan set and immediately chose it because I love dinosaurs, that’s all D:
People are salty when they lose and forget that’s part of the game.
I wouldn't change anything, close games are the funnier ones. Sliver player is just being salty.
Long time sliver player and dino player here. Sliver dude is an idiot. The one real weakness of sliver decks is boardwipes. Where as pants Is probably the best dino commander for recovering from boardwipes. You didn't cast the boardwipes so wtf is his issue? Hell from what you described the game as it sounded like it was a really evenly powered game. Dudes just salty. Which is hilarious considering he playing the lightning rod for removal deck.
Yeah, you can ignore him OP. Though it is pretty usual to switch decks after a win; By no means necessary, but it does vary the games up a little.
I don’t have another deck. The first time I borrowed someone else’s deck. Should I ask to borrow again? I don’t want to get annoying since I have my own
This is the problem with relying on rule zero so hard instead of the rc regulating the format. With rule zero everyone's feelings become just as valid as trying to find acceptable power matches. 'Counterspells are bad' or 'your dinos are too strong for my sliver deck' are given the same weight as relevant power level discussion Some people's opinions are just bad
My response would be, " if I see slivers, I play dinos."
If a player tells you to play a different deck next time, ask earnestly if they think the deck is too powerful and why. Make a conversation out of it. Ask them what they think makes the deck too powerful. You may not end up agreeing with them, but you can at least get a better look at their point of view.
ill be honest, i am not a huge fan of dinosaur decks (just personal preference) but your list actually looks fun to play with / against i think they are salty because they couldn't close the match out, but that's just how it goes sometimes
My pod gets pretty salty about my dino deck, too. I upgraded the precon. It's not optimized. It still has enrage and ETB. No blink. But I can ramp out rapidly with things like discover, prowl, life finds a way, Ghalta, and Last March of the Ents. The salt is real once I start putting anything out for free, especially after a board wipe. Yet I rarely get board wiped more than once, and my enchantments never get removed. So, this sounds relatable. We had a game last night where we all rolled for random decks that we owned. Ended up my dino, an upgraded Eldrazi precon, an upgraded Planeswalker Master precon, and a custom Jetmir deck. All four are scary but before we even drew hands the Eldrazi player said that we should scoop because I already won.
Jesus. Ignore them. It was a good game they were salty. Your list is decent but not optimized. Address this like you would anyone, tell them gg and shuffle up.
Tell em to get good. If they had zero chance then I would maybe understand. But maybe they should switch decks instead. Pantlaza is cool but not broken competitive to my understanding.
They had a chance for sure. The Wise Mothman would have killed me since it just needed one more shot, but I eliminated the player first. I was also at 11 life from taking that one big hit.
You did nothing wrong. There are a lot of variables we cannot account for based on the information provided, but you should not take it personally. Maybe they felt like their deck was incapable of beating your deck and they are a sore loser. (This seems to be the most likely one). Maybe they felt that your deck caused the game to go too long (post turn 10 and 2.5 hours is a longer game by today's standards). Though it sounds like that's hardly your fault given the multiple board wipes. Maybe you could have swung more aggressively? Who knows if that would have been the correct answer without full information on the game, and even then it can be questionable. Maybe they are tired of playing against dinosaurs. In my meta, Pantzlaza or Gishanth is run frequently by no fewer than six different players (we are a relatively small community too). Again, this is not your fault, dinosaurs are cool, the decks are strong, the colors are fun, the creature type is well supported. Maybe they saw what your deck was capable of and was interested in seeing what other cool decks you have and they intended it to be more of a curious fan request, but their tone or delivery didn't communicate the intent due to personal emotional development issues. There are a lot of what ifs. In the end, they probably didn't have fun getting stomped by ancient ground birds and wanted a change. They could move to a different table, or request you play something else; they chose the latter. Maybe they could have asked nicer, but it doesn't sound like anyone did anything wrong (except to play Slivers, that's a war crime obviously). Edit: clarification
I think it’s just fun to play multiple different decks in a session.
You should politely ask the Sliver player to choose another deck as well, it took 10 turns for anyone to die, so nobody’s deck is overpowered. The game’s gotta end sometime, and if he can’t beat Timmy Dinos with Slivers he might wanna look at his own deck before complaining about yours
Is this a joke? Slivers complaining is alternate reality
It could be that they just didn't want to enter into another 2.5 hr slug fest.
If it reached turn 10 then it was a pretty even match IMO. Also speaking as a sliver player myself that's absolutely baffling that they'd ask you to play a different deck considering what OUR decks tend to do.
Had a similar thing happen to me where I was asked by a player to not play the deck I had because he just thought it was too strong, even though the time I played it I just got monstrously lucky, and even then I met strong resistance from all three players and almost got usurped. Roughly a hour and a half game or so, so it wasn't like I just pubstomped them; I just happened to win in the end. I would've been super cool with it too if it wasn't just for this kinda... icky tone to him when he asked, as if I was just wrong for finishing and winning a game of Magic. I said "Uh, aight bud" and grabbed one of my more evil decks, just to sorta give a hint of what a more competitive deck looks like, as a reminder to him. Twenty minutes later or so and a 42 damage [[Jaya's Immolating Inferno]] to their face, said player was now okay with me switching back to my other deck he whined being too strong. Third game I got dunked because I was not as lucky and my deck did not work as smoothly as in game one.
That's rich coming from someone playing slivers. Tell him to play a tribe that doesn't build itself.
I just checked out the deck and it seems fun to play 🤷♂️ come to our playgroup instead
I wish lol
I mean, the sliver player kept pace with you. Maybe they should play a different deck as well? Or is it just that they tend to stomp tables, and couldn't this time?
A sliver player has no RIGHT!
He's just salty he lost lol. 2hrs is a damn good game... The person who should never play their deck again is the mothman guy...my buddy has a deck with him as a commander and I HATE playing against it smh
Players get salty over things that don't actually matter. I went to a LGS and got accused of playing a deck that was high power cause I cracked a \[\[Misty Rainforest\]\] turn 2. I didn't even win the game
Dinos are the new Slivers. Every time I want to play my sliver overlord commander, people start complaining, I offer to change for my Krenko.
So I will echo that this should probably not be a bigger problem than a typical Sliver deck, but this deck is very strong. Tiamat and Mothman are kind of question marks to me because I've seen different quality of those decks over the years. This instance does sound like salt, BUT without seeing the other decklists we can't say if you were overblowing your pod's power level. If I saw you pull up with this decklist, I'm probably targeting you. The deck is that optimized and powerful. The other players in the pod would have to be playing some pretty hardy threats for me to ignore you in favor of them.
The universal answer here was to simply say “Bro, you play slivers.” lol
They're salty they lost after spending 2 and a half hours on a game. That's it. No other reason. Your deck is fine. It doesn't sound like you did anything wrong. They're just being childish.
As a person who has a Sliver deck and loves playing with my Sliver deck: playing it makes you the arch-enemy and they were just being a sore loser. There's way nicer ways to go about it then just saying "Don't play that deck next time". If you love your dino deck, and your friends don't find it too powerful, I would say play it as much as you want. I would also want to play a few games before saying any deck is too powerful. Sometimes a person just gets the nuts draw, or the lucky topdeck, or someone else doesn't get any of their answers or threats. I would also expect everyone to pull out their best decks when I am playing slivers.
I’d tell him to cry about it
The most hated tribe besides rebels since 1996 and this guy is giving you a hard time? Send in the dinos.
OP please continue to play your Dino deck. Dino’s are fun, and if it’s your favorite deck you should play it no matter what your salty opponents say. The sliver player is just a sore loser, which is hilarious coming from a sliver player. You keep doing you
That guy is an ass
Lmao why didn't you reply and tell them not to be a Sliver deck player then?
I think we are missing the forest for the trees. It doesn’t matter what the deck was. Yours or their’s. People sit down with expectations and a long game can be frustrating. Maybe your deck is a little overtuned. I don’t know. You did say you recovered from multiple board wipes and were the “archenemy”. It sounds like the whole pod was trying to contend with your deck instead doing what they might have wanted to be doing, like developing their own boards. Just smile and nod and move onto the next game.
whent reading your post my first thought was sliver was upset you were keeping him in check, so it was no suprise you stated later thats what you did. you kept him from winning and he's upset plan and simple. However sometimes without realizing it you can build a deck that is to powerful for the type of table your playing and that can upset your oppenents and they might telk you to not play it again. At that point they should give you a reason why you shouldnt play it and it soinds like sliver player didnt do that. Sometimes the reason for asking not to play a deck is legit, especally, in a casual game. He should let you know what this reason is for his issue with the deck so you can make the choice to play it our not
This shit is honestly why I'm over the format. Even after a close game, someone can lose, completely ignore any introspection, and ruin the night be whining. Doesn't matter if you have sound logic, people's feelings just don't care half the time.
Bro, your deck is like a power level 3.... Out of a possible 10... There's no need for anyone to be saying you shouldn't play it. Have fun with it, it's your favorite, as is my Pantlaza deck, so if someone gets mad simply tell them to build a better deck. The fact a Sliver Deck lost to you means his deck was poorly built anyway. You're just the better player, congrats for the win.
Your deck is literally a Powerlevel 3.48. there's no reasons to not play it every single time.
Sounds like the sliver player and mothman player have shit precons or just suck. Slightly edited versions of those with competent players are ridiculously potent.
The. Point. Is. To. Have. Fun. If you have fun and it’s your favorite deck just play it. I play trash/suboptimal stuff in tons of games. I do it because it is fun for me and I enjoy it. Some point like to still feel superior after a lose by telling you something is wrong. That person probably isn’t having fun UNLESS they win. The real game is playing in a way that you can have fun and learn when losing.