Alright, so I've got quite a few games with Skullbriar under my belt now and the deck has evolved so I figured I'd update my list and share some thoughts.
Skullbriar can be situationally amazing. Against slower opponents he quickly puts them on the back foot. However, if they can answer him right out of the gate my deck turtles-up and begins playing a grindy, card-advantage game. A lot of the +1/+1 counter-theme cards were cute, but rarely did anything. When Skullbriar is good he doesn't need them, and when he isn't good they don't push him over the edge, so I cut most of the expensive ones. There is still good synergy with +1/+1 counter cards, but they need to be ones I'm happy to draw by themselves.
I was finding myself a little mana-light, so I upped my land count a bit. I feel like I've got a good mix of utility lands and enough ways to find specific ones. Realm Uncharted specifically is amazing. It's very important to have a sac outlet to protect Skullbirar (and enable other shenanigans), so I typically grab High Market, Phyrexian Tower, Petrified Field, and a Utility land to ensure I get one. By now people have wised up and usually just give me both sac outlets to deny me the utility land. I would like to find room for a Dust Bowl, especially for when I 1v1, but I don't want too many colorless lands. As mana-hungry as the deck can be, the pain from Ancient Tomb is very relavent, so I might chop that to make room.
Death Cloud is incredible and accounts for a majority of my wins. To focus the deck towards operating under a no land/no creature/no hand situation I added the planeswalkers. I generally don't like them as they're huge targets and can't be reanimated, but they're too powerful combined with pox effects to ignore.
I tried to shore up all my life-loss effects with more life-gain. Sword of Light and Shadow is generally great, and Scavenging Ooze gives me another solid GSZ target. Even with those, I think this area--killing myself--is one I need to work on some more.
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I saw where a hippo was not, and said no. This will not do.
I also play Weiss Schwarz, Chaos, Vanguard and Wixoss.
Weiss Schwarz Sets
Accel World, Angel Beats, Familiar of Zero, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Guilty Crown, Kill La Kill, Robotics;Notes, Sword Art Online.
Chaos Partners
Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Iona, Kirishima, Kongou.
Dangan Ronpa: Asahina, Togami.
Freezing: Vibration: Chiffon, Satelizer.
Vanguard Clans Favoured
Angel Feather, Dark Irregulars, Genesis, Neonecter, Pale Moon, Shadow Paladins, Tachikaze.
I totally forgot about Llanowar Reborn. It adds value to all my land-tutor effects, which can really only grab Treetop Village (awesome BTW) when I need a threat. It is a little worse in multiplayer since it will often be a casualty of random sweepers, but it's definitely worth a shot.
Jugan, the Rising Star is interesting. I tend to get into late-game situations where I'm reanimating something with Corpse Dance or Dawn of the Dead for ETB value every turn and saccing them to High Market/Greater Good/etc. to dodge the exile. Using Juran that way seems especially good. There's the obvious interaction with Skullbriar, but can also give me 10 life with Spike Feeder, or sandbag the counters on Forgotten Ancient. It could be used politically... Not to mention a 5/5 flier by itself is pretty solid. I'll give him a try too. Thanks!
Private Mod Note
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I saw where a hippo was not, and said no. This will not do.
1 Skullbriar, the Walking Grave
Land (34)
7 Forest
6 Swamp
1 Command Tower
1 Bayou
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Marsh Flats
1 Windswept Heath
1 Barren Moor
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Treetop Village
1 Khalni Garden
1 Bojuka Bog
1 High Market
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Petrified Field
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Strip Mine
1 Ancient Tomb
Creature (16)
1 Reassembling Skeleton
1 Eternal Witness
1 Spike Feeder
1 Loaming Shaman
1 Undead Gladiator
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Spike Weaver
1 Brawn
1 Forgotten Ancient
1 Chameleon Colossus
1 Phyrexian Plaguelord
1 Ant Queen
1 Mycoloth
1 Primeval Titan
1 Grave Titan
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Diamond
1 Sol Ring
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Blade of the Bloodchief
1 Skullclamp
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Mortarpod
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Golgari Signet
1 Crucible of Worlds
Enchantment (9)
1 Exploration
1 Rancor
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Necropotence
1 Greater Good
1 Doubling Season
1 Call to the Grave
1 Shape of the Wiitigo
Instant (11)
1 Crop Rotation
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Berserk
1 Vines of Vastwood
1 Realms Uncharted
1 Corpse Dance
1 Hatred
1 Bounty of the Hunt
1 Decree of Savagery
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Strength of the Tajuru
1 Unearth
1 Reanimate
1 Life//Death
1 Life from the Loam
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Smallpox
1 Pox
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Damnation
1 Triumph of the Hordes
1 Beacon of Unrest
1 Primal Command
1 Decree of Pain
1 Green Sun Zenith
1 Death Cloud
1 Skullbriar, the Walking Grave
Land (37)
7 Forest
4 Swamp
1 Command Tower
1 Bayou
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Marsh Flats
1 Windswept Heath
1 Polluted Delta
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Barren Moor
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Treetop Village
1 Khalni Garden
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Urborg
1 High Market
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Petrified Field
1 Tower of the Magistrate
1 Rishadan Port
1 Strip Mine
1 Ancient Tomb
Creature (17)
1 Reassembling Skeleton
1 Bloodghast
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Eternal Witness
1 Spike Feeder
1 Loaming Shaman
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Spike Weaver
1 Brawn
1 Forgotten Ancient
1 Bloodgift Demon
1 Phyrexian Plaguelord
1 Primeval Titan
1 Grave Titan
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Diamond
1 Sol Ring
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Blade of the Bloodchief
1 Skullclamp
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Golgari Signet
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
Enchantment (8)
1 Rancor
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Necropotence
1 Greater Good
1 Doubling Season
1 Call to the Grave
1 Dawn of the Dead
Instant (8)
1 Crop Rotation
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Berserk
1 Vines of Vastwood
1 Realms Uncharted
1 Corpse Dance
1 Hatred
1 Skeletal Scrying
Sorcery (15)
1 Unearth
1 Reanimate
1 Life//Death
1 Life from the Loam
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Smallpox
1 Pox
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Damnation
1 Primal Command
1 All is Dust
1 Decree of Pain
1 Green Sun Zenith
1 Death Cloud
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana Vess
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Skullbriar can be situationally amazing. Against slower opponents he quickly puts them on the back foot. However, if they can answer him right out of the gate my deck turtles-up and begins playing a grindy, card-advantage game. A lot of the +1/+1 counter-theme cards were cute, but rarely did anything. When Skullbriar is good he doesn't need them, and when he isn't good they don't push him over the edge, so I cut most of the expensive ones. There is still good synergy with +1/+1 counter cards, but they need to be ones I'm happy to draw by themselves.
I was finding myself a little mana-light, so I upped my land count a bit. I feel like I've got a good mix of utility lands and enough ways to find specific ones. Realm Uncharted specifically is amazing. It's very important to have a sac outlet to protect Skullbirar (and enable other shenanigans), so I typically grab High Market, Phyrexian Tower, Petrified Field, and a Utility land to ensure I get one. By now people have wised up and usually just give me both sac outlets to deny me the utility land. I would like to find room for a Dust Bowl, especially for when I 1v1, but I don't want too many colorless lands. As mana-hungry as the deck can be, the pain from Ancient Tomb is very relavent, so I might chop that to make room.
Death Cloud is incredible and accounts for a majority of my wins. To focus the deck towards operating under a no land/no creature/no hand situation I added the planeswalkers. I generally don't like them as they're huge targets and can't be reanimated, but they're too powerful combined with pox effects to ignore.
I tried to shore up all my life-loss effects with more life-gain. Sword of Light and Shadow is generally great, and Scavenging Ooze gives me another solid GSZ target. Even with those, I think this area--killing myself--is one I need to work on some more.
You have Orien-Rief, but did you try Llanowar Reborn? It's one use, but like with Ulasht it can have good value.
This may seem janky, but what are your thoughts on Jugan, the Rising Star? If he has a home anywhere it's here.
Main Decks
Diaochan, Iroas, God of Victory, Kaalia, Marton, Ulasht, Volrath,
Kaervek, Prossh, Titania
Amusing or Themed
Progenitus
Pauper Guildmages
Azorius Boros Dimir Golgari Gruul Izzet Korozda
Orzhov Rakdos Rix Maadi Selesyna Simic Skarrg Zameck
I also play Weiss Schwarz, Chaos, Vanguard and Wixoss.
Accel World, Angel Beats, Familiar of Zero, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Guilty Crown, Kill La Kill, Robotics;Notes, Sword Art Online.
Chaos Partners
Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Iona, Kirishima, Kongou.
Dangan Ronpa: Asahina, Togami.
Freezing: Vibration: Chiffon, Satelizer.
Vanguard Clans Favoured
Angel Feather, Dark Irregulars, Genesis, Neonecter, Pale Moon, Shadow Paladins, Tachikaze.
Wixoss - Just trial decks for now!
Jugan, the Rising Star is interesting. I tend to get into late-game situations where I'm reanimating something with Corpse Dance or Dawn of the Dead for ETB value every turn and saccing them to High Market/Greater Good/etc. to dodge the exile. Using Juran that way seems especially good. There's the obvious interaction with Skullbriar, but can also give me 10 life with Spike Feeder, or sandbag the counters on Forgotten Ancient. It could be used politically... Not to mention a 5/5 flier by itself is pretty solid. I'll give him a try too. Thanks!