Slivers are one of Magic’s most iconic creature types and it looks like we are going to see them return in the very near future. This is because they were mentioned several times in Episode 2 of the Edge of Eternities story. While they may not actually return in that upcoming set, it would be highly unusual for them to be mentioned so much for no reason.
So, with slivers seemingly about to receive the spotlight again for the first time in a while, I thought it would be a good time to recount their long history.
TEMPEST BLOCK: THE FIRST SLIVERS
Slivers first appeared in 1997’s Tempest, and they played a prominent role in that block’s story. One of the main antagonists of the story was a man named Volrath. He was the Phyrexianized ruler of an artificial plane called Rath, and he was preparing to invade Dominaria. In his travels in the multiverse, he discovered slivers on a plane that still hasn’t been identified.
He quickly became fascinated with slivers and started observing them. He noticed that they were shapeshifters that changed their shape and size depending on what other slivers were in the vicinity. Mechanically, this is represented by the fact that almost all slivers grant abilities to all slivers. Notably, these original slivers will buff your opponents’ slivers as well as your own.
Volrath was himself a shapeshifter, so he felt kinship with these strange creatures. As he continued to observe them, he also noticed they shared a single hivemind. He eventually located the source of the hivemind and all of the other slivers – the Sliver Queen. Her very will was the hivemind for all of the other slivers.
Volrath effectively infiltrated the sliver hive by making Metallic Slivers – artificial slivers that were accepted by the Queen and her brood. This gave him a degree of control over them, and allowed him to manipulate the slivers into coming with him to Rath.
He used the Sliver Queen and all of her slivers as guardians of the artifacts of the Legacy (if you want a deep dive on what exactly the Legacy is, I covered it in my article on the entire Magic story). This put her in direct conflict with the crew of the Weatherlight, who were attempting to construct a weapon using the same artifacts. They needed this weapon to stop the Phyrexian invasion of Dominaria.
The Queen and her brood were loyal to Volrath, but ultimately Karn, the Silver Golem, managed to appeal to her by comparing his relationship with the Legacy artifacts to her relationship with her brood. She agreed to let Karn and his crewmates have them.
Later, the Phyrexians used the slivers during the invasion of Dominaria, where they all fell in battle.
ONSLAUGHT BLOCK: RIPTIDE SLIVERS
The riptide biologists making new slivers with their replicator. I guess they’ve never seen Jurassic Park.
A century after the events of the Phyrexian invasion, a group called the Riptide Project discovered the remains of Slivers on Dominaria. This group of powerful wizards managed to use those remains to create a whole new brood of Slivers.
Predictably, this proved to be a bad idea. Slivers ran rampant, killing all of the riptide biologists, and they took over their island. After that, they began to spread and multiply throughout Dominaria.
Ultimately, this group of slivers ended up getting destroyed during the rise of Karona – manifestation of Dominaria’s mana. But those that did survive fused into a new type of hivemind – the Sliver Overlord. After the events of Karona’s war, they started to repopulate the plane.
TIMESPIRAL BLOCK: TIMESHIFTED SLIVERS
As a result of Karona’s war – and lots of other destructive events on the plane of Dominaria over the millennia – time rifts had formed all over the plane. This led to slivers from the Queen’s original brood being transported to the present.
The hardy nature of slivers and their near-limitless adaptability allowed them to thrive on the plane despite the fact that it was drained of almost all of it’s mana. They gathered around a new hivemind – The Sliver Legion.
From here, it’s unclear what happened to the Slivers of Dominaria. We’ve returned to the plane a few times since then, but Dominaria Slivers haven’t made any new appearances in the lore.
SHANDALAR – A NEW TYPE OF SLIVER
Slivers didn’t return again in until Magic 2014, and these slivers are different from their predecessors both aesthetically and mechanically. These slivers, which hail from a plane called Shandalar, are more humanoid in their appearance. They also have abilities that only affect slivers you control. It’s not entirely clear what their connection is to earlier Slivers.
SLIVERS BEFORE VOLRATH
While we haven’t received any new lore or stories about the original group of Slivers or their descendants on the plane of Dominaria, we did learn a lot more about the slivers on their home plane in Commander Masters.
The “Sliver Swarm” precon has Sliver Gravemother as its commander, and it came with an insert filling us in on her story. Apparently, slivers were domesticated and turned into beasts of burden on their original plane. They were treated horribly by their masters.
Those using the slivers had no idea that the Sliver Gravemother was underground slowly formulating a plan to free her children. In a single night, she and the other slivers turned on their masters, demolishing all of the cities and kingdoms on the plane.
SLIVERS IN EDGE OF ETERNITIES
“Sometimes, in movies, slivers mimic the sounds of things they hear. To lure you in. Of course, slivers aren’t real.”
“Maybe slivers grow inside you and jump out your ears.”
“A terrible thing dwells inside Sami, buried between heart and spine, like a sliver embryo…”
From Episode 2 of the Edge of Eternities story.
So far, the appearance of slivers in the Edge of Eternities story is just a cameo. They are mentioned as appearing in movies as scary monsters – somewhat akin to xenomorphs in the Alien franchise.
So, will Slivers show up as more than just a cameo?
It’s possible. As noted above, we have no idea what plane Slivers originated on. It’s possible that they are from The Edge, or some other location at the edge of the Blind Eternities, and that the memory of slivers has only lived on as fictional creatures.
That said, I don’t think slivers will be returning in Edge of Eternities. This is because I don’t think Wizards of the Coast would be keeping it a secret that they are coming back. After all, they are one of the most popular creature types in the game. They would want people to know as soon as possible. And we have almost the entire story now, and slivers haven’t been mentioned other than in Chapter 2.
However, I do think they will be returning in the near future. They wouldn’t be reminding us of Slivers unless they were.
With the existence of the Omenpaths, it’s possible for slivers to end up just about anywhere in the multiverse. For example, perhaps there are some on Lorwyn. Last time we saw that plane it was all about creature types, and we know that we’ll be returning there in Lorwyn Eclipsed early next year. Perhaps we’ll find that slivers have arrived on that plane?
It’s hard to know for sure. But I think we’ll get some new slivers in the near future, and that’s pretty exciting.
END STEP
What do you think? Will slivers return in Edge of Eternities, or in a future set? Let me know your take over on X or Bluesky.
Jacob has been playing Magic for the better part of 24 years, and he especially loves playing Magic’s Limited formats. He also holds a PhD in history from the University of Oklahoma. In 2015, he started his YouTube channel, “Nizzahon Magic,” where he combines his interests with many videos covering Magic’s competitive history. When he’s not playing Magic or making Magic content, he can be found teaching college-level history courses or caring for a menagerie of pets with his wife.