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Commander - Skullbriar, the Walking Grave

Commander / EDH BG (Golgari) Counters Voltron

JammerSoul

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Creature (23)

Artifact (10)

Land (36)

Enchantment (10)

Commander (1)

Commander: Skullbriar, the Walking Grave

Sorcery (11)

Instant (9)

Skullbriar charges forth, with the relentlessness of nature and the restlessness of death, a monstrosity that none can stop.

Skullbriar, the Walking Grave

Legendary Creature Zombie Elemental

Haste

Whenever Skullbriar, the Walking Grave deals combat damage to a player, put a +1/+1 counter on it.

Counters remain on Skullbriar as it moves to any zone other than a player's hand or library.

1 / 1

Plane: Unknown

On an unknown plane, Skullbriar was when a necromancer and elementalist attempted eternal life. However, the magic they formed instead fused them into the monstrous elemental. [1]

Skullbriar, the Walking Grave is a 1 / 1 with Haste for a and a which get's a +1/+1 counter every time it deals damage. However, what makes this commander great is it's last ability.

Counters remain on Skullbriar as it moves to any zone other than a player's hand or library.

This ability screams for us to play Voltron [3] with Skullbriar, will mainly be attacking with it and adding equipment, auras, and other abilities to help deal out damage. In the COMBOS & SYNERGY section, I'll go over the different ways to take advantage of Skullbriar's unique abilities as a Voltron Commander.

Creatures

Creatures like Corpsejack Menace, Winding Constrictor, and Forgotten Ancient all help us to amass a large number of +1/+1 counters of Skullbriar rapidly. Furthermore, creatures like Varolz, the Scar-Striped and Vastwood Hydra help us to branch out our strategy if necessary from Voltron. Varolz especially can take advantage of this with it's scavenge ability by gaining a massive amount of +1/+1 counters from Skullbriar by exiling it from the graveyard.

Sorceries

While we do have cards like Increasing Savagery and Verdant Confluence we also need to support our other needs. While we have the usual mana-fixing from Cultivate and Rampant Growth, what we should probably focus on is recession for our commander. Unearth and Vigor Mortis are both excellent choices for this.

Instants

Of course in order for Skullbriar to be effective in battle, the most efficient way to do this is to clear the path of any obstacles. Solidarity of Heroes, Abrupt Decay, and Golgari Charm are all powerful versatile cards that help Skullbriar's unique needs.

Enchantments

Here we have a mix of background support and direct auras to help us in our collection of +1/+1 counters. Hardened Scales and Death's Presence are easy to add in. However, Unspeakable Symbol gets special attention. Using life as a resource with this deck is a fast way to go over the top with this deck, both early and late game. Moving to more Voltron side of the deck we have Rancor, Forced Adaptation, and Journey to Eternity especially help our commander advance through the game.

Artifiacts

Ring of Kalonia and Ring of Xathrid are cheap artifacts that help develop Skullbriar while Lightning Greaves and card:Silkwhisper Cloak give us protection and evasion from our opponents.

Lands

Besides fixing our mana, Shizo, Death's Storehouse, Llanowar Reborn, and Rogue's Passage all help us deal damage to our opponent without risking trading with their creatures.

While Skullbriar does have a lot of impressive synergies, its important to note is does have some significant weaknesses. The key one being it's own ability. Any counter that is put on Skullbriar will remain, not just +1/+1 counters. This means that decks that play with infect and -1/-1 counters will have be a bad match up for Skullbriar, since if enough -1/-1 counters are put on it to place it into the graveyard or command zone, its basically a dead commander for the rest of the game unless there is a static effect in place that can keep form dying as a 0/0 when it enters the battlefield.

The second issue comes from Skullbriar's weaknesses to Tuck and Bounce effects, as these will not only remove any equipment or auras attached to Skullbriar but any and all counters on it.

Commander Strength: B

While Skullbriar is a very powerful commander that can easily take over a game, it also has significant weaknesses. Commanders Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons & The Scorpion God both provide solid checks against Skullbriar's playstyle. Furthermore, cards like Cyclonic Rift, Wash Out, and Cryptic Command are all very common in the commander format, and will especially hinder a Voltron strategy for Skullbriar.

Popularity: C

Currently, on EDHREC, there are 502 different decks made for Skullbriar, meaning that while most people are interested in it as a commander, its only just above average for Commander players.

Deck Price: C

While buying the the cards for the deck is pretty cheap for an average commander deck, buying the Devour for Power set would be both a good investment, as well as an expensive one considering it has many powerful cards exclusive to that set.

Competitive Level: B

As mentioned before, Skullbriar has the potential to be a powerful commander, is just held back by common checks and counters for the format.

Versatility: E

Unfortunately, while Skullbriar is powerful, its kinda a one trick pony, with its Voltron strategy being it's key focus. While other builds are possible, Skullbriar is pretty much locked into Voltron as its niche.

Developmental Potential B

Evasion and Voltron are both aspects of Magic The Gathering that will continue to show up, all of which could help Skullbriar's growth as a Commander.

None so far
The format of presenting this commander deck is a combination of Tomer Abramovici's Budget Commander: Nicol Bolas and Nate Burgess's Commander Focus Edgar Markov articles. Both were a huge help in writing a clear and concise commander deck analysis. Check out their articles in the sources tab below.
Abramovici, T. (2015, April 22). Budget Commander: Nicol Bolas. Retrieved October 11, 2017, from https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/budget-commander-nicol-bolas

[1] Beyer, D. (2011, June 22). Fifteen Commanders, Fifteen Tales. Retrieved April 29, 2018, from https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/savor-flavor/fifteen-commanders-fifteen-tales-2011-06-22

Burgess, N. (2017, September 25). Commander Focus Edgar Markov. Retrieved October 11, 2017, from http://articles.edhrec.com/commander-focus-edgar-markov/

EDHREC. (n.d.). Skullbriar, the Walking Grave. Retrieved April 29, 2018, from https://edhrec.com/commanders/skullbriar-the-walking-grave

Magic the Gathering. (n.d.). DEVOUR FOR POWER - MTG COMMANDER - CARD SET ARCHIVE. Retrieved April 29, 2018, from https://magic.wizards.com/en/content/devour-power-mtg-commander-card-set-archive

[2] Magic the Gathering. (n.d.). Skullbriar, the Walking Grave. Retrieved April 29, 2018, from http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=236485

MTG Wiki. (2017, August 10). Bounce. Retrieved April 29, 2018, from https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Bounce

MTG Wiki. (2017, February 10). Tuck. Retrieved April 29, 2018, from https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Tuck

[3] MTG Wiki. (2018, February 21). Voltron. Retrieved April 29, 2018, from https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Voltron

I hope you enjoyed my report of the Skullbriar, the Walking Grave. I plan on continuing the other 14 commanders from the original Magic: The Gathering Commander set form 2011. If you have any other commanders you want me to go over, let me know.

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98% Casual

Competitive