Skullbriar Fitness

Commander / EDH BG (Golgari) Counters Voltron

Trveheimer

Land (30)

• 1x Bayou
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Castle Locthwain
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Fabled Passage
• 4x Forest
• 1x Gaea's Cradle
• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 4x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Wood
• 1x Undergrowth Stadium
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Woodland Cemetery

Sorcery (8)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Jarad's Orders
• 1x Life / Death
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Unearth
• 1x Unmarked Grave

Artifact (6)

• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Null Rod
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x The Ozolith
• 1x Tome of Legends

Instant (22)

• 1x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Avoid Fate
• 1x Berserk
• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Deadly Rollick
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Invigorating Surge
• 1x Malakir Rebirth  ^Flip
• 1x Natural State
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Savage Summoning
• 1x Seedling Charm
• 1x Snakeskin Veil
• 1x Solidarity of Heroes
• 1x Tainted Strike
• 1x Unexpected Fangs
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Veil of Summer
• 1x Vines of Vastwood
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Enchantment (11)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Branching Evolution
• 1x Carpet of Flowers
• 1x Evolutionary Escalation
• 1x Greater Good
• 1x Hardened Scales
• 1x Kenrith's Transformation
• 1x Mirri's Guile
• 1x Rancor
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Unspeakable Symbol

Commander (1)

Creature (21)

• 1x Allosaurus Shepherd
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Brawn
• 1x Collector Ouphe
• 1x Daring Fiendbonder
• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Duskfang Mentor
• 1x Elves of Deep Shadow
• 1x Elvish Spirit Guide
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fiend Artisan
• 1x Filth
• 1x Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
• 1x Manglehorn
• 1x Reyhan, Last of the Abzan
• 1x Scavenging Ooze
• 1x Slippery Bogbonder
• 1x Titanoth Rex
• 1x Verdurous Gearhulk
• 1x Winding Constrictor

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Vraska, Golgari Queen

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Sideboard

Creature (2)

• 1x Elvish Spirit Guide
• 1x Managorger Hydra

Instant (1)

• 1x Beast Within

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Skullbriar has spend the whole pandemic in the gym, and he is eager to get buff really quick! The curve is as fit as ever, the counters are stacked, lets show off!

Several ways to protect our main guy and disrupt the enemies gameplans. The general Idea is that with Skullbriar, counters become potentially viable because he keeps them, and while their inherent counter-gain is slow, with the Keyword counters and inherent haste its hard to get rid of skullbriar. We can try to outvalue our opponents and simply recast Skully or use one of the few reanimation options. Remember; Skullbrian keeps their counters in any zone except on our hand!

All this is why I decided against equipment since 1) the inevitable growth of skullbriar through counters seems easier, 2) the keyword counters replace the usual utility equipments and 3) being able to run Null Rod and Collector Ouphe is great.

The fact that the only sources of Hexproof and Indestructible are Creatures is actually not that Bad since we have a lot of to-hand and to-graveyard tutors for Slippery Bogbonder and Daring Fiendbonder . It's also not absolutely necessary to get these but if the Goal is to win instead of just maybe kicking one Opponent out of the Game, it usually boils down to having at least hexproof.

there used to be much more token utility in here that didnt made the cut when i reworked the deck, mostly because it rarely all came together. I still run Reyhan, Last of the Abzan and The Ozolith because the ruling works out that if skullbriar dies, he keeps the counter but they will also be redistributed. With cards like Reyhan or Managorger Hydra and our sacoutlets Greater Good and Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord this means doubling down on the Sacrifice Value AND the counters. However, all these are rather rare because it would mean optimal draws so I ended up removing a lot of the "If counters would be placed, add one additional" cards with the exception of a few very good ones. For example I decided against Corpsejack Menace in Favor of Branching Evolution because of mana efficiency and being less easy to remove.

A few whacky spots that im considering better alternatives for are Verdurous Gearhulk but I like it for being able to be tutored with the Creature-Tutors but it hurts if topdecked with Dark Confidant . Same goes for Titanoth Rex , but I will have to play more to see if I want to replace them.

So summed up: Plan A; get a hexproof and a indestructible counter and kill via commander damage and the various ways to get around blockers. Plan B; sacrifice a Buff Skullbriar to Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord

Date added	3 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 47 - 1 Rares 25 - 2 Uncommons 11 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	1.97
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Emblem Vraska, Golgari Queen