SQL Native Client 11 - SQL Server 2017
Microsoft has deprecated the SQL Server Native Client (NCLI) driver, however SQL Server itself uses a wire-protocol, TDS that is independent of the driver used by the client.

NCLI will continue to work for the forseable future, however no new work will be conducted by Microsoft on the NCLI driver.  

Pedro Lopez talks about the announcement, and subtle un-deprecation here.  Also included are some sample connection string changes that will help migrate over to the MSOLEDBSQL driver.