It's another terrible deck by yours-truly! Okay, this one might not be up to par with my Karador deck, but I just started putting this one together. While I have a very rough idea of how I want the deck to operate and specific goals I want it to accomplish, I need your help to make it happen!
GENERAL INFORMATION
Skullbriar, the Walking Grave is a terrific general for those of us wanting aggression and control in one deck! The color combination of BLACK and GREEN provides superb control elements, while the general allows us terrific capabilities for getting in aggressive early-game damage. This deck's focus is on capitalizing on these two elements and providing a very stable platform with which to wreck an opponent in a 1v1 match-up!
Skullbriar costs two mana, one of each of his general colors. This makes him very fast to get out, and really doesn't hurt too much when he dies. Yes, he will die. All generals tend to, and even more-so do generals who want to get in there to deal damage. There are three ways we will focus on getting in our damage to kill our enemies:
Commander Damage (Preferred)
Regular Damage
Infect
Commander damage would be the most likely to happen, since Skullbriar gets more counters when he hits your opponent, and generally will be hitting a bit earlier than they can get some decent defenses on the board. Getting to 21 damage with him would be faster, but I think it is safe to say they aren't going to let you to do that just because you want to.
If you can't get that commander damage in, then we go to the other two types: regular damage, and Infect. You would think that needing only 10 poison on your opponent, you could get that on faster. But the problem here is that there is only one creature with Infect in the deck, and no proliferate.
Unlike my Karador deck, this is not a deck intended to be for drawing out the game for long stretches of time. Inevitably you will play against the Azami, Lady of Scrolls deck, or the other blasted control decks that make you cry because they are drawing everything out far too long. We have some answers for that, but we don't want that to happen. In general, my EDH decks have focused on a strong control element supported by a mediocre aggression element. Yes, I'll get the damage in there, but it will be eventually. With this, I want to flip that and provide a strong aggression focus with a solid support cast.
The next two posts will be about deck construction, general strategy, and the like. As always, comments and criticism is accepted, and I look forward to this deck being a great new addition to my team!
"The above post is the opinion of the poster and is not indicative of any stance taken by the President of the United States, Congress, the Department of Defense, the Pentagon, the Department of the Navy, or the United States Marine Corps."
When it comes right down to it, all "Voltron" decks focus on one thing: get the general out, support the general, and let the general do the damage. If the general can't do it, then it's up to another big beaty creature to do the dirty deed for him.
Skullbriar is a great general for this because he has the following:
He gets bigger as he connects.
His converted mana cost (CMC) is two mana, meaning he can die and be recast quickly, and multiple times!
The counters he has on him stay!
Now, there's two weaknesses for the deck. The first is -1/-1 counters: if he has ANY on him when he dies (at least enough to bring his toughness to 0), he stays dead. You can't recast him without having some way of pumping him by at least +0/+1. This makes cards like Scar a definite problem for the deck.
The second is "tucking". In general, blue and white are the best colors for this. "Tucking" is using cards such as Oblation and Condemn to put the creature back into the deck. The other way is if he's bounced to the hand (via Unsummon, for example). You lose any and ALL counters on him.
So now we've got that out of the way, the general strategy has been explained. You want to focus on getting in that damage and getting it in quick. Once you do, it's smooth sailing, so to speak!
"The above post is the opinion of the poster and is not indicative of any stance taken by the President of the United States, Congress, the Department of Defense, the Pentagon, the Department of the Navy, or the United States Marine Corps."
"The above post is the opinion of the poster and is not indicative of any stance taken by the President of the United States, Congress, the Department of Defense, the Pentagon, the Department of the Navy, or the United States Marine Corps."
Captain, United States Marines
"Peace through superior firepower."
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Skullbriar costs two mana, one of each of his general colors. This makes him very fast to get out, and really doesn't hurt too much when he dies. Yes, he will die. All generals tend to, and even more-so do generals who want to get in there to deal damage. There are three ways we will focus on getting in our damage to kill our enemies:
Commander damage would be the most likely to happen, since Skullbriar gets more counters when he hits your opponent, and generally will be hitting a bit earlier than they can get some decent defenses on the board. Getting to 21 damage with him would be faster, but I think it is safe to say they aren't going to let you to do that just because you want to.
If you can't get that commander damage in, then we go to the other two types: regular damage, and Infect. You would think that needing only 10 poison on your opponent, you could get that on faster. But the problem here is that there is only one creature with Infect in the deck, and no proliferate.
Unlike my Karador deck, this is not a deck intended to be for drawing out the game for long stretches of time. Inevitably you will play against the Azami, Lady of Scrolls deck, or the other blasted control decks that make you cry because they are drawing everything out far too long. We have some answers for that, but we don't want that to happen. In general, my EDH decks have focused on a strong control element supported by a mediocre aggression element. Yes, I'll get the damage in there, but it will be eventually. With this, I want to flip that and provide a strong aggression focus with a solid support cast.
The next two posts will be about deck construction, general strategy, and the like. As always, comments and criticism is accepted, and I look forward to this deck being a great new addition to my team!
Captain, United States Marines
"Peace through superior firepower."
2 Yavimaya Elder
3 Troll Ascetic
4 Glissa, the Traitor
5 Moriok Replica
6 Oracle of Mul Daya
7 Thrun, the Last Troll
8 Brawn
9 Smogsteed Rider
10 Solemn Simulacrum
11 Bellowing Tanglewurm
12 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
13 Spiritmonger
14 Wurmcoil Engine
15 Reanimate
16 Demonic Tutor
17 Sign in Blood
18 Night's Whisper
19 Cruel Edict
20 Black Sun's Zenith
21 Profane Command
22 Cultivate
23 Beseech the Queen
24 Maelstrom Pulse
25 Explosive Vegetation
26 Barter in Blood
27 Diabolic Tutor
28 Dread Return
29 Beacon of Unrest
30 Life's Finale
31 Plague Wind
33 Naturalize
34 Shred Memory
35 Doom Blade
36 Murder
37 Dark Banishing
38 Putrefy
39 Slice in Twain
40 Sol Ring
41 Sensei's Divining Top
42 Horizon Spellbomb
43 Nihil Spellbomb
44 Golgari Signet
45 Skullclamp
46 Runechanter's Pike
47 Nim's Deathmantle
48 Lightning Greaves
49 Helm of Kaldra
50 Champion's Helm
51 Darksteel Plate
52 Sword of Fire and Ice
53 Sword of Light and Shadow
54 Sword of Feast and Famine
55 Sword of War and Peace
56 Shield of Kaldra
57 Grafted Exoskeleton
58 Lashwrithe
59 Batterskull
60 Argentum Armor
62 Phyrexian Arena
63 Strands of Undeath
64 Asceticism
65 Garruk, Primal Hunter
66 Sorin Markov
Skullbriar is a great general for this because he has the following:
Now, there's two weaknesses for the deck. The first is -1/-1 counters: if he has ANY on him when he dies (at least enough to bring his toughness to 0), he stays dead. You can't recast him without having some way of pumping him by at least +0/+1. This makes cards like Scar a definite problem for the deck.
The second is "tucking". In general, blue and white are the best colors for this. "Tucking" is using cards such as Oblation and Condemn to put the creature back into the deck. The other way is if he's bounced to the hand (via Unsummon, for example). You lose any and ALL counters on him.
So now we've got that out of the way, the general strategy has been explained. You want to focus on getting in that damage and getting it in quick. Once you do, it's smooth sailing, so to speak!
Captain, United States Marines
"Peace through superior firepower."
Captain, United States Marines
"Peace through superior firepower."