Skirge Familiar

Creature — Imp

Flying

Discard a card: Gain {B}.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (46)

WisemanYata on Maralen Cannon

1 month ago

Thank you, I had seen the idea of using Ad Nauseam and effects like Sickening Dreams together in 60 card formats years ago and it blew my mind. Those decks all had serious drawbacks though. They required many tutors (to ensure that you actually draw at least one tutor) and some effect to prevent Sickening Dreams from doing damage to you as well. I figure having a tutor as your commander frees up most of the space in the deck, and using Exsanguinate instead means you don't have to worry about hurting yourself.

The tricky parts about trying to speed up this combo are the ways that the EDH/Commader format restrict card access and the way Ad Nauseam limits itself. Having a 99 Card Library means that you are significantly less likely draw any individual card than you would be in a 60 card format. You could compensate for that by padding the deck with a bunch of tutor and draw effects and a bunch of mana ramp effects, but there aren't very many of those cards with low mana values. Adding higher mana value cards and cards with other effects also means that you can't draw as many times from Ad Nauseam because of its life loss clause for each time you add a card to your hand with its effect. The end result is that adding mana ramp doesn't make you much more likely to get out Maralen out before turn 3, and then you still need to acquire both Skirge Familiar and Ad Nauseam. As far as I can tell, the earliest this type of combo can ever reliably go off in EDH/Commander is turn 5, but I find turn 6 to be more likely.

Even so, turn 6 is not really guaranteed, but it is pretty reliable. There's a fair chance that an opponent will try to stall or answer you (keep in mind that Maralen of the Mornsong forces your opponents to tutor as well) either because they don't know what you're planning and that scares them, or because they do know what you're planning and that scares them even more. So I'd say trying to pop by turn 6 is a realistic goal.

Sorry for the massive wall of text.

CommanderNeyo on Gitrog Combo

2 months ago

I love the The Gitrog Monster, and he was the first commander that I built and owned.

Some recommendations I have for you are:

If you are wholly committed to the combo, Squandered Resources will become one of the best cards in your deck. It lets you generate significant amounts of mana and card draw to find Skirge Familiar and Dakmor Salvage.

Although not as good, I also enjoyed having Zuran Orb in my commander deck to draw boat-loads of cards.

Splendid Reclamation is great, allowing you to grab several of the lands that inevitably land in the graveyard. I would consider it necessary if you run Squandered Resources.

Underrealm Lich can let you dig deep into your deck when The Gitrog Monster is out.

I would recommend running a lot more fetchlands as well, since they work to help you draw cards. Anything that can grab a forest or swamp, so that you can grab Bayou or Overgrown Tomb

Nurturing Peatland was almost made for the frog, since it draws two cards when he is out. I also personally like Cryptic Caves.

If you add these lands, then I would also recommend adding Crucible of Worlds and Ramunap Excavator, since they will help you replay them to draw more cards.

DawnsRayofLight on Chainer, Dementia Master

2 months ago

As someone who has played Chainer for close to a decade, I have some suggestions I would like to offer. (though everyone's decks run differently!)

34-35 lands is usually enough. I would recommend 34 with Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip that gives you 5 spots:

In those spots:

Mana Crypt

Thought Vessel

Charcoal Diamond

Coldsteel Heart

Jet Medallion

(Or all the expensive artifacts like Grim Monolith or what have you)

In place of:

1x Cast Down--> Lethal Scheme: This card is amazing in any reanimator list

1x Culling the Weak--> Phyrexian Altar: you need more sac outlets with some staying power

1x Dismember--> Soul Transfer: seems janky, but versatile

1x Doom Blade--> Baleful Mastery: you can hit more with it.

1x Go for the Throat--> Infernal Grasp

1x Power Word Kill--> Deadly Rollick/Altar of Dementia: for a better killspell or for a sac outlet

1x Sacrifice--> Ashnod's Altar: need more sac outlets with staying power

1x Terror--> Meteor Golem: This guy helps so much with things Black cannot remove

1x Victim of Night--> Karn Liberated: This guy helps so much with things Black cannot remove

Cruel Tutor--> Mikaeus, the Unhallowed: bonkers for some staying power, also has combo potential

Unmarked Grave--> Putrid Goblin: this or Walking Ballista are good for combos with Mikaeus. Putrid GOblin + Ashnod's Altar/Phyrexian Altar + Mikaeus = infinite mana (or sub ashnod's altar for mill).

Suggested Drops, see next list for suggested replacements

Blood Pet--> sort of an eh card, I might think of something with more oomph

Liliana, Heretical Healer  ^Flip--> I do like her, she just never did anything when I ran her.

Ruthless Technomancer: I have debated a lot adding him, in something like Korvold, he is an all-star, in chainer, he can be good, but I would almost always rather have Disciple of Bolas

Skirge Familiar: I get the reason it is in here, but there are better cards.

Black Market: It's nice, but can be too slow.

Liliana of the Dark Realms: I just have never been a big fan, she feels too lackluster.

Final Parting: good card, but I feel you can part with some tutor because you have MORE than enough

Sidisi, Undead Vizier: good card, but I feel you can part with some tutor because you have MORE than enough

Rune-Scarred Demon: good card, but I feel you can part with some tutor because you have MORE than enough, there also some stronger creatures to fit in the spot.

Suggestions

Archon of Cruelty: expensive mana wise but an all star.

Kokusho, the Evening Star: has been in my deck from the beginning and has flat out won me games.

Brainstealer Dragon: seems janky, but I added to just try it and it has been amazing.

Black Market Connections: You need more draw (also helps with ramp)

Phyrexian Arena: You need more draw

Bolas's Citadel: an amazing card. Wins games all the time.

Disciple of Bolas: card draw and life gain

Fell Stinger: card draw

Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed: Great for recursion

Reanimate, Liliana, Death's Majesty, Living Death. and Animate Dead: it is good to have other means of reanimation if Chainer keeps getting removed (I also suggest sac outlets to help keep your creatures from getting exiled when they spot remove Chainer)

Hope this helps! Here is my list to maybe show you how I run the list: The True Meaning of Death and Taxes

bushido_man96 on Who wants some keyword soup?

4 months ago

Oriq Loremage is a tutor you should consider. Very good here, and very budget. Skirge Familiar is a good creature for dumping creatures into your graveyard and ramping for it.

It does appear that you could use some more card draw. I'd cut Selective Adaptation for something like Rishkar's Expertise. Minion Reflector seems ok, but I don't think it's what you want to do here. But, if it's an effect you'd like more of, Dual Nature might fit the bill.

SufferFromEDHD on Sidisi Land Nauseam

4 months ago

Awesome list. I like Skirge Familiar alongside Ad Nauseam and Torment of Hailfire is a good fit. Only suggestion would be a few utility lands. Maybe a mana rock or 2.

Here's my version Sidisi 1CMC storm/glass cannon

BruhYouFarted on Can I Cheese Grave Scrabbler's …

5 months ago

Let's say I use Skirge Familiar to Madness Grave Scrabbler. In response to the ETB trigger, can I sacrifice Scrabby to Thermopod and retrieve it with it's own ability, or do I have to have a second Scrabbler in the yard for the combo?

bushido_man96 on adVENTUREs in the Dungeon

5 months ago

Skirge Familiar could help you tear through a dungeon quickly.

zAzen7977 on K'rrik Salvage Storm Shadowborn Apostle

9 months ago

It’s really tough to choose what I’d cut for more removal, but you have a few flex spots. It’s also meta-dependent.

Collective Brutality is my first choice to swap for Deadly Rollick. I get the life gain and discard, but I’d rather exile a creature for free.

Plunge into Darkness can be useful, but the first mode requires creatures to sac, and the second costs life, which is already precious enough, and exiles your own cards while searching. I’d rather run Damnation as a back-up creature sweeper, since Toxic Deluge is so life-intensive and sometimes I want a choice between the two.

Zombie Infestation is an occasional win-con but is weak on its own, I would swap it for Font of Agonies. Font is a nightmare for creature-heavy decks, allowing you to lock-down the board until an opponent removes it. As an alternative, Oubliette with K’rrik costs only 1 mana and is pretty nasty too. Or Baleful Mastery or Murderous Rider, since you aren’t running any Planeswalker removal.

Personally I’m not a fan of Skirge Familiar, it’s expensive at 4 mana (with K’rrik) and it’s usefulness depends on cards in hand. I’d rather run Bolas's Citadel (3 mana with K’rrik), which can combo off by itself, plus I can complete the infinite combo with Sensei's Divining Top and Aetherflux Reservoir.

I’m not a big fan of Torment of Hailfire either. You need lots of mana to pull it off and it’s a dead card during early turns. I’d rather run Soul-Guide Lantern for one-sided graveyard hate, since I don’t see any in the deck. Plus you can search for it with Urza's Saga.

These are nitpicky suggestions, just food for thought :)