Skullbriar Voltron

Commander / EDH BG (Golgari)

kwaite

Instant (16)

• 1x Blossoming Defense
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Ranger's Guile
• 1x Reclaim
• 1x Seedling Charm
• 1x Tainted Strike
• 1x Veil of Summer
• 1x Vines of Vastwood
• 1x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Golgari Charm
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Dismember
• 1x Hero's Downfall
• 1x Hunter's Insight
• 1x Putrefy
• 1x Sudden Spoiling

Enchantment (13)

• 1x Hardened Scales
• 1x Predatory Hunger
• 1x Rancor
• 1x Sixth Sense
• 1x Spider Umbra
• 1x Eternal Thirst
• 1x Boar Umbra
• 1x Hydra's Growth
• 1x Myth Unbound
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Snake Umbra
• 1x Unspeakable Symbol
• 1x Greater Good

Artifact (15)

• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Basilisk Collar
• 1x Blade of the Bloodchief
• 1x Hot Soup
• 1x Infiltration Lens
• 1x Shadowspear
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Prowler's Helm
• 1x Ring of Kalonia
• 1x Ring of Xathrid
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Trailblazer's Boots
• 1x Fireshrieker
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Creature (12)

• 1x Bramblewood Paragon
• 1x Winding Constrictor
• 1x Managorger Hydra
• 1x Pir, Imaginative Rascal
• 1x Reyhan, Last of the Abzan *f-etch*
• 1x Forgotten Ancient
• 1x Graveborn Muse
• 1x Undead Warchief
• 1x God-Eternal Rhonas
• 1x Kalonian Hydra
• 1x Verdurous Gearhulk
• 1x Necropolis Regent

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Garruk, Primal Hunter

Commander (1)

Land (37)

• 15x Forest
• 1x Forge of Heroes
• 1x Jungle Hollow
• 1x Llanowar Reborn
• 1x Opal Palace
• 1x Pendelhaven
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 11x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Wood
• 1x Tectonic Edge
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Tranquil Thicket

Sorcery (5)

• 1x Thoughtseize
• 1x Nature's Way
• 1x Increasing Savagery
• 1x Natural Order
• 1x Rishkar's Expertise

---

Sideboard

Artifact (8)

• 1x Inquisitor's Flail
• 1x Key to the City
• 1x Mask of Memory
• 1x Umezawa's Jitte
• 1x Sword of Sinew and Steel
• 1x Sword of Truth and Justice
• 1x Tangle Wire
• 1x Grafted Exoskeleton

Creature (5)

• 1x Ulvenwald Tracker
• 1x Silent Arbiter
• 1x Slippery Bogbonder
• 1x Vulturous Zombie
• 1x Sower of Discord

Land (3)

• 1x Karn's Bastion
• 1x Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Alpha Authority
• 1x Canopy Cover
• 1x Compost
• 1x Phyresis

Instant (1)

• 1x Berserk

---

Maybeboard

Creature (16)

• 1x Elves of Deep Shadow
• 1x Experiment One
• 1x Phyrexian Dreadnought
• 1x Slitherhead
• 1x Obsessive Skinner
• 1x Vastwood Hydra
• 1x Fertilid
• 1x Force of Savagery
• 1x Lord of the Accursed
• 1x Manglehorn
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Varolz, the Scar-Striped
• 1x Corpsejack Menace
• 1x Creakwood Liege
• 1x Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
• 1x Underrealm Lich

Artifact (11)

• 1x O-Naginata
• 1x Cobbled Wings
• 1x Fleetfeather Sandals
• 1x Golgari Signet
• 1x Livewire Lash
• 1x Talisman of Resilience
• 1x Vorrac Battlehorns
• 1x Winter Orb
• 1x Loxodon Warhammer
• 1x Icy Manipulator
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Forced Adaptation
• 1x Retribution of the Ancients

Land (1)

• 1x Oran-Rief, the Vastwood

Instant (9)

• 1x Hunger of the Howlpack
• 1x Mutant's Prey
• 1x Supernatural Stamina
• 1x Withstand Death
• 1x Ancient Animus
• 1x Return to Nature
• 1x Strength of the Tajuru
• 1x Wildwood Rebirth
• 1x Return of the Wildspeaker

Sorcery (5)

• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Hunter's Prowess
• 1x Soul's Might
• 1x Casualties of War

---

skull briar aggro. good in 1v1, and good at pressuring opponents, however has trouble finish off multiple players. The deck can take players out of the game, seeming out of no where with commander damage or infect, however it has survivability issues. skull briar being the main body, your board state is often left open for counter attack. Because of this, lifelink is super important for the deck as any game with 2 or more opponents will often run into mid and late.

ideally, turn one is a set up, turn two commander, turn three buffing or protecting him. 1 cmc artifacts and non aura enchantments fall into this quite nicely.

skullbriar, uninterrupted, kills a player in 7 turns. any +1/+1 per turn effect beginning on at least turn 3 will speed this up to by one turn. consequently, it is best to target the weakest player, then challenge other players when skull briar is more beefy. A select few cards, fire shrieker, hydra's growth, and unspeakable symbol, speed this up to turn 5. This is assuming the ideal.

In this commander damage/aggro deck, the glaring issue is skullbriar being killed. Skull briar dying on turn 2 sets the clock back 2 turn. on both 2 and 4 this sets the clock back 4 turns, mind that this again, is only to kill 1 player, assuming no blocks. Consequently I think the best way to play is essentially bogals with lifelink, Make him uninteractable, and keep yourself from dying. still working out the deck but this is the direction

Also should note that he's kind of garbage in any meta with blue. Again, being that the deck centers around the commander, and him dying or being countered more than twice is essentially the death of you. He's a good 1v1, and a rough 4 player commander (at least in a Voltron build). You need to be able to maintain pressure into mid and late game to avoid taking out 1 player and then losing.

because the deck is an aggro deck, lands that come in tapped are largely avoided. llanowar reborn being one of the acceptions, as it sets up skullbriar to come down as a 2/2.

The back up win con in skull briar is hydras (managorger, forgotten ancient, Kalonian [should probably add primordial hydra too]). Several of these synergies with skullbriar, but the gist is big threats that gain counters on triggered abilities (i.e. you don't have to do anything for them to become a threat). stacked with the enchantments/artifacts meant to buff skullbriar, they pose a similar threat in the mid game with raw damage.

Hopefully I will sub theme infect too.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 3 Mythic Rares 18 - 11 Rares 34 - 6 Uncommons 14 - 1 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.43
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Wurm 6/6 G
Folders	EDH Decks