Bonescythe Sliver
Double strike is the keyword the Sliver tribe's anthem cycle had been circling without ever landing, and this is where it arrives: a shared combat-damage doubler that turns every body in the swarm into a two-step attacker. The math is the whole reason the effect lives on a lord here rather than as a single Sliver's gift. Most lords add a flat point or two of power, scaling the team linearly; double strike multiplies whatever power is already on the board, so it gets more dangerous the more other anthems and counters you have stacked underneath it. A board of vanilla 1/1s suddenly hits for two each; a board that has already been pumped hits twice for a number that ends games. It also reframes blocking math entirely, since first-strike damage clears smaller blockers before they connect, letting the rest of the team trade up or survive combat unscathed. The cost is the obvious lever the design pulls to keep it honest: at four mana for a fragile 2/2, it asks for a board that already exists, which is the opposite of what an aggressive tribe wants to be doing on turn four. It is a payoff, not a threat, the capstone you reach for once the swarm is wide enough that doubling it matters more than adding another attacker.




