At last, BG Has a beater of a general they can rely on! Skullbriar, the Walking Grave has arrived, and he is indeed a moving graveyard, death seems to follow this humble creature anywhere!
An analysis of the General
Without a doubt, when it comes to an aggressive strategy, Haste is the champ of keywords to have on a general. Skullbriar comes out swinging, and stays aggressively costed as he gets bigger even as he becomes more expensive. This makes Skullbriar an effective threat throughout the game, meaning we can lessen the load on threats in the deck (though, it's always a good idea to keep a few of them around, just in case). To help along with the threatening aspect, we want Skullbriar to be able to connect with our opponent (since that also makes him bigger). We'll be loading up on equipment and other sources of trample.
Skullbriar has a unique mechanic of keeping all counters that remain upon him, notably +1/+1 counters, which he even gives himself, but also fate counters, bribery counters, +1/+2 counters, and (sadly) -1/-1 counters. This can make our poor general a bit vulnerable, an ill-timed Black Sun's Zenith can certainly ruin our day. Likewise, we don't want him being tucked, or bounced, as he'll lose all his hard earned coolness.
To protect our threatening doom bringing General, I have decided that the easiest way to protect him is simply to kill him off if anything bad threatens itself. The deck should be heavy on the sac outlets.
Likewise, he likes having +1/+1 counters. Loading up the deck with similar beasties, and other cards that buff a theme, seems like a good idea.
Going into a secondary level of a theme, with all of this sacrifice we'll be running, we don't want those to be dead draws. A heavy recursion theme seems like a good idea. Depending on the aggression level of your meta, Gravepact effects will be very strong with this theme.
So far, this may sound a lot like other GB Decks, specifically Savra, Queen of the Golgari; and there certainly is a lot of similarity. Savra plays a strong sacrifice theme, and plays strongly on the Gravepact aspect to control the board, put out a threat, and beat face. Skullbriar is quite the reverse. He is the threat, the control is at a lower level, you don't need to lock out your opponent until you have a strong threat, he's already there! You just want to open up the way for the face beatings is all.
Coming out fast and hard
There are a few cards for the aggresive opener cards to really come out swinging by letting you drop skullbriar turn 1.
While these all offer a card disadvantage, we just want to beat face, so who cares?
Goals and themes
The idea behind the deck is to drop Skullbriar, give him +1/+1 counters, and turn him sideways. The equipment gives him trample, Pact and kill effects clear the way. Simple, really.
There is also a minor artifact theme in the deck for card advantage, color fixing, and protection in the GY.
Methods of Trample/Evasion - 9 (+1 sac outlets, +1 recursion) 1 Loxodon Warhammer - this is about as trample as you can get 1 Sword of Vengeance - does everything, and then some. 1 horned helm - cheap 1 vorrac battlehorns - Not only does this give trample, but it limits the number of blockers, you're almost guaranteed to floor it over the speedbump. 1 rancor - returns itself 1 brawn - stays though wrath effects. 1 whispersilk cloak - forget blockers, just go for the face. 1 sword of light and shadow - recursion, +2 good protections, thank you 1 Bramblewood Paragon - low warrior count, but who cares!
Recursion - 9 1 Nim Deathmantle - gives some evasion, blinks stuff back. 1 Strands of night - awesome. Instant speed, cheap, to-play revival. 1 Genesis - solidly good. 1 Corpse Dance - best buyback spell ever, we run so much sac, there is no disadvantage. 1 Summoning Station - A very solid token generator, high upfront cost mitigated by lack of use cost, and re-usability. Works solidly with other cards in the deck. 1 Reassembling Skeleton - brings itself back. 1 Bloodghast - ditto. 1 Glissa, the Traitor - Artifact package for advantage/colorfix/protection of equipment. 1 Crucible of worlds - lands. We're saccing some.
My math is off, I'm counting 99 cards in here, so I'm missing something in this list.
Cards that didn't make the cut
The list of honorable mentions is far longer than I expected, and can practically make a deck in itself. Based on playtesting, some of these cards may make it back in. Although she protects my equipment, I am uncertain how many cards slots I really want to dedicate to Glissa, and she may need to be removed in favor of just more solid consistency with the core themes, rather than splurging on a sub theme. If she comes out, Time of Need will come out as well, for a better tutoring effect (perhaps Beseech the Queen).
Elves. A brief thought was placed on an elf sub theme, with mana elves (acceleration), Immaculate magistrate, and some Reinforce cards (which didn't even make the list below. This was dropped for a more +1 counter/control scheme, but remains a deckbuilding possibility.
Recursion - mostly was looking for direct into play spells, or things that alone are awesome. 1 Oversold Cemetary - * so good, not enough creatures atm. In if Glissa leaves. 1 Gravedigger 1 Vigor Mortis 1 Stich together 1 Malevolent Awakening - * ooo, I like this one, just found it, may have to work it in. Could really abuse more ETB effects with this too. 1 Life from the loam - we're saccing lands, but only to one card. Protects from land D, but overall, it takes mana, and its a bit overkill for this deck. If glissa leaves, some cycling/fetch lands could help accelerate in her place. For now, it demands too much in the way of dedicating mana to run.
1 Unspeakable symbol - ow 1 Dragon Blood - see immaculate magistrate, meh 1 power conduit - +1 counter transfer 1 Ashnod's Transmogrant - was seriosuly considered with glissa package. There are other similar effects which means could go into a modular/arcbound package. Interesting thought.
Power too high 1 necropotence - BBB hurts, also, it's just not right. 1 tooth and nail - its another tutor of doom. Not that strong here, but still.
The deck is under playtesting. Although an initial land amount of 38 was designated, this, and many other cards are subject to change.
The Glissa Package takes up quite a large slot list, it works well together and is worth it, but I am concerned of it taking too much space away from the main theme. This will be something to look at during playtesting.
The pact effects, while they work well with the theme concern me. I play in a more casual, relaxed environment, and I never like seeing these effects hit the table, usually because they just slow down the game too much. I am hoping that with Skullbriar as a clock, that this has less of an impact. If I find they are slowing the pace of the game too much, or end up more in a control role rather than removal, I will likely give up getting rid of blockers via this method, and include more +1/+1 theme to simply go OVER the blockers.
Infinite (and non) combos: Many of the glissa package enablers (krark-clan ironworks, ashnod's altar) are deliberately not included, despite fitting the theme of the deck very strongly. In general, I tend to avoid infinite combos. There are, however, a few good combos in the deck, some are even infinite. The Mephidross+Triskellion made it in, as it doesn't kill players alone (although it does with doubling season...). Both cards are solid in their own right in this deck. Mephidross is great with skullbriar, and triskellion loves receiving +1 counters. Summoning Station, Salvaging station, and spawning pit work exceptionally well together. Inf act, summoning + spawning pit alone is good together. Perilous Forrays + bloodghast is just wrong. Bloodghast/Reassembling skeleton + skullclamp is wrong, etc...
Forgive my ignorance, but I don't really understand the point of Summoning Station in this deck. Could you elaborate on why it's there?
Alone, it's a good card. With Spawning pit (which was an auto-include) it is a very good card. Also, with the 1 drop artifacts that sac, it turns into a rather nice fodder outlet for the pact effects, which gets nicer with the Salvaging Station/Glissa.
If I get the three out (Summoning, Salvaging, Spawning pit), it gets kind of disgusting. If you have doubling season out with pit, or summoning station, or both, it just gets ridiculous.
It also works well with Attrition, Perilous Forays, and most other sac outlets. Although it has a high up-front cost (which is less of a deal in EDH), its lack of cost to produce a token is extremely strong. You have to dedicate/reserve 0 mana to it once its out.
In general, its power in edh is a bit higher as well. It's a group game, so more artifacts die and it triggers more. There are really nice artifacts that people want to kill (swords, akroma's memorial, etc...) which trigger it more, yet people never seem to put it up on the same level for destruction.
Essentially it's there to fuel the pacts, and because it works well with other cards in the deck.
I want to build a Skullbriar, the Walking Grave deck and looked here for inspiration. I really like the way you built around Skullbriar and am using this build as a guide for my EDH deck.
What do you think about Infiltration Lens as a possible include? It doesn't protect from spells but it makes attacking much more profitable when they have to block with multiple creatures. LMK what you think! Thanks
I want to build a Skullbriar, the Walking Grave deck and looked here for inspiration. I really like the way you built around Skullbriar and am using this build as a guide for my EDH deck.
What do you think about Infiltration Lens as a possible include? It doesn't protect from spells but it makes attacking much more profitable when they have to block with multiple creatures. LMK what you think! Thanks
Glad you like it! I've put this one on the side a little bit as its not quite as tuned as I would like, and I was busy tuning others, but this is a deck that stays close to the top of the list for fixing for me. I'd love to see your decklist if you ever get around to it, I'm sure you have a bunch of ideas I could use as well for mine.
The biggest flaw I noticed with this deck was actually the card advantage. I think the Infiltration Lens works very well here, especially to combat that.
I built out the deck and am using inquisitor's flail as one of the equipments.
Played last night and had that and sword of vengeance to make him a huge first strike, trample, vigilance threat!
Sword of Vengeance gives some of the most relevant abilities in EDH. Coupled with Skullbriar's low cost, I think it is one of the best equipment for him, despite him not needing the extra haste.
Doubling Skullbriar's damage is extremely good, but even better is double strike, as it allows him to trigger twice. I was playing around with adding not only fireshrieker but Grappling hook as well.
These also stack with the Inquisitor's Flail, making him a very fast clock.
With a few exceptions, I have actually considered removing a large portion of equipment from the deck. I this focusing on +1/+1 counters more is the stronger approach, since they stay on him. That will cut down some of the cost of re-equipping every time he dies. I think the equipment that stays is anything that gives him trample and doublestrike. (which is pretty much whats in the list, but could shuffle some around).
I'm also thinking of easing up a bit on the forced theme, and allowing some more generic goodstuff in, especially when it comes to draw. This deck is missing my typical black deck trio of Phyrexian arena, Graveborn muse, and Bloodgift Demon, and it shows when you play it.
I also want to fix up the mana a bit. 38 lands is a bit light, though more than acceptable for a cheap commander. I think a few extra good mana rocks wouldn't be a bad idea. Also, some of the one shot effects can go, I've felt that a turn 1 skullbriar doesn't do that much in a multiplayer game, its probably far stronger in 1v1. Mox diamond, chrome mox, elvish spirit guide can probably be safely cut. The gemstone caverns can probably stay, since it doesn't really take up a slot that the others do.
Dark Ascension has a lot of cool skullbriar toys coming out, and I'm really looking forward to rebuilding the deck once the set is out. The new GB sac land looks especially delicious.
You are conspicuously missing One with Nature. It's nothing short of ridiculous here.
Also, I strongly recommend you start your equipment package based around 5 swords, Loxodon Warhammer, and Mask of Memory, then add others until you hit the upper bound on the amount of equipment your deck can contain. My intuition says that you want to play both Fireshrieker and Grappling Hook in here as well.
The problem with defining [EDH] by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
Chancellor of the Tangle is the sixth, and so far final, way to get Skullbriar on turn 1. And if it's not in your opener, well, at least it's a fat speed bump that blocks anything like a champ(including Kaalia of the Vast decks) as the guy has reach. And vigilance, so you can beat, and defend.
Seems decent enough.
edit: Also, Unspeakale Symbol is like the fastest way to pump Skullbriar.
Chancellor of the Tangle is the sixth, and so far final, way to get Skullbriar on turn 1. And if it's not in your opener, well, at least it's a fat speed bump that blocks anything like a champ(including Kaalia of the Vast decks) as the guy has reach. And vigilance, so you can beat, and defend.
Seems decent enough.
edit: Also, Unspeakale Symbol is like the fastest way to pump Skullbriar.
Wow, Unspeakable Symbol is exactly the kind of card that will make the cut for my list.
I am tweaking it a lot and playing it at least twice a week right now in 2v2, 3v3, and Emperor games. I will post a deck list once I get closer to something polished that I like.
Cards I will try:
Draw - Arena, Necro, etc.
Discard - Hymn, Duress, Inquisition, Mind Shatter, etc.
Equipment - Swords, Mask of memory, Dbl Strike Equip
My play group is usually 2v2 or 3v3 and plays really good blue decks, so the random discard is pretty key for me to include as card advantage.
Yes indeed! I actually picked one up for this deck, but it's been on a low priority to rebuild. There are a few other self-recursive creatures I'm looking at, high among them being Masked Admirers.
An analysis of the General
Without a doubt, when it comes to an aggressive strategy, Haste is the champ of keywords to have on a general. Skullbriar comes out swinging, and stays aggressively costed as he gets bigger even as he becomes more expensive. This makes Skullbriar an effective threat throughout the game, meaning we can lessen the load on threats in the deck (though, it's always a good idea to keep a few of them around, just in case). To help along with the threatening aspect, we want Skullbriar to be able to connect with our opponent (since that also makes him bigger). We'll be loading up on equipment and other sources of trample.
Skullbriar has a unique mechanic of keeping all counters that remain upon him, notably +1/+1 counters, which he even gives himself, but also fate counters, bribery counters, +1/+2 counters, and (sadly) -1/-1 counters. This can make our poor general a bit vulnerable, an ill-timed Black Sun's Zenith can certainly ruin our day. Likewise, we don't want him being tucked, or bounced, as he'll lose all his hard earned coolness.
To protect our threatening doom bringing General, I have decided that the easiest way to protect him is simply to kill him off if anything bad threatens itself. The deck should be heavy on the sac outlets.
Likewise, he likes having +1/+1 counters. Loading up the deck with similar beasties, and other cards that buff a theme, seems like a good idea.
Going into a secondary level of a theme, with all of this sacrifice we'll be running, we don't want those to be dead draws. A heavy recursion theme seems like a good idea. Depending on the aggression level of your meta, Gravepact effects will be very strong with this theme.
1 Butcher of Malakir
1 Savra, Queen of the golgari
1 Attrition
1 Fleshbag Marauder - sadly, not run
So far, this may sound a lot like other GB Decks, specifically Savra, Queen of the Golgari; and there certainly is a lot of similarity. Savra plays a strong sacrifice theme, and plays strongly on the Gravepact aspect to control the board, put out a threat, and beat face. Skullbriar is quite the reverse. He is the threat, the control is at a lower level, you don't need to lock out your opponent until you have a strong threat, he's already there! You just want to open up the way for the face beatings is all.
Coming out fast and hard
There are a few cards for the aggresive opener cards to really come out swinging by letting you drop skullbriar turn 1.
1 mox diamond
1 chrome mox
1 gemstone caverns
1 elvish spirit guide
Goals and themes
The idea behind the deck is to drop Skullbriar, give him +1/+1 counters, and turn him sideways. The equipment gives him trample, Pact and kill effects clear the way. Simple, really.
There is also a minor artifact theme in the deck for card advantage, color fixing, and protection in the GY.
To be expanded upon later
1 Skullbriar, the Walking Grave
Mana Ramp - 7 (+1 in sac outlets)
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Sol ring
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 mox diamond
1 chrome mox
1 elvish spirit guide
1 fertilid - loves +1/+1 counters
Tutors - 3 (+1 in sac outlets)
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Time of Need - Gets Savra, Glissa, and Skullbriar should tuck actually resolve
Methods of Trample/Evasion - 9 (+1 sac outlets, +1 recursion)
1 Loxodon Warhammer - this is about as trample as you can get
1 Sword of Vengeance - does everything, and then some.
1 horned helm - cheap
1 vorrac battlehorns - Not only does this give trample, but it limits the number of blockers, you're almost guaranteed to floor it over the speedbump.
1 rancor - returns itself
1 brawn - stays though wrath effects.
1 whispersilk cloak - forget blockers, just go for the face.
1 sword of light and shadow - recursion, +2 good protections, thank you
1 Bramblewood Paragon - low warrior count, but who cares!
Sac Outlets - 9 (+2 lands)
1 Thought Picker Witch
1 Carrion Feeder
1 Spawning Pit - best ever
1 Dimir House Guard - tutors for pact, savra, rootkin
1 helm of possession - always good
1 Attrition - Pact/kill effect
1 Greater Good - awesome!
1 Perilous Forays - awesome! Acceleration. Stupid sick with Bloodghast. Still good with any token producer/reassembling skeleton.
1 Fallen Ideal - evasion, pump, and sac outlet in one! And it comes back!
1 Savra, Queen of the Golgari
1 Grave Pact
1 Butcher of Malakir
Recursion - 9
1 Nim Deathmantle - gives some evasion, blinks stuff back.
1 Strands of night - awesome. Instant speed, cheap, to-play revival.
1 Genesis - solidly good.
1 Corpse Dance - best buyback spell ever, we run so much sac, there is no disadvantage.
1 Summoning Station - A very solid token generator, high upfront cost mitigated by lack of use cost, and re-usability. Works solidly with other cards in the deck.
1 Reassembling Skeleton - brings itself back.
1 Bloodghast - ditto.
1 Glissa, the Traitor - Artifact package for advantage/colorfix/protection of equipment.
1 Crucible of worlds - lands. We're saccing some.
Advantage Engine - 8 (+oodles, sac outlets)
1 Skullclamp
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Scrabbling claws
1 Phyrexian Furnace
1 Chromatic Sphere
1 Chromatic Star
1 Serum tank
1 Salvaging station
+1/+1 Shenaniganry - 12
1 Doubling Season - ah ha ha ha ha
1 Blade of the Bloodchief
1 Predatory hunger
1 Sadistic Glee
1 Rite of passage
1 Spike weaver
1 Spike feeder
1 Triskellion
1 Mephidross vampire
1 Vigor
1 Forgotten Ancient
1 Cytoplast root-kin
1 High Market - sac outlet
1 Phyrexian Tower - sac outlet
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Bayou
1 Overgrown tomb
1 Bojuka bog
1 strip mine - get rid of maze of ith
1 ghost quarter - likewise
1 gemstone caverns
1 command tower
1 Oran rief the vastwood - *
1 shizo, death's storehouse - evasion
1 temple of the false god
13 swamp
12 forest
My math is off, I'm counting 99 cards in here, so I'm missing something in this list.
Cards that didn't make the cut
The list of honorable mentions is far longer than I expected, and can practically make a deck in itself. Based on playtesting, some of these cards may make it back in. Although she protects my equipment, I am uncertain how many cards slots I really want to dedicate to Glissa, and she may need to be removed in favor of just more solid consistency with the core themes, rather than splurging on a sub theme. If she comes out, Time of Need will come out as well, for a better tutoring effect (perhaps Beseech the Queen).
Elves. A brief thought was placed on an elf sub theme, with mana elves (acceleration), Immaculate magistrate, and some Reinforce cards (which didn't even make the list below. This was dropped for a more +1 counter/control scheme, but remains a deckbuilding possibility.
1 Beseech the queen - had enough in here. May replace Time of need.
1 Lilliana vess - too slow
1 Green Sun's Zenith - too situational in a half black deck
Beat
1 Vulturous Zombie
Equipment
1 fireshrieker - too much hate, not enough oomph.
Destruction - Pact effects will be handling this realm. If they turn out to be un-needed, we may simply forgo removal, and just run Skullbriar over the tops of corpse to get where he's going.
1 Creeping mold
1 Reap and Sow
1 Mwondulli acid moss - these kill maze of ith
1 acidic slime - *
1 Fleshbag Marauder - pact effect
1 dark hatchling
1 putrefy
1 nemesis trap
1 excecutioner's capsule - Glissa package
Proliferate
1 Contagion Clasp
1 Contagion Engine
1 Plaguemaw Beast - sac outlet
1 Throne of Geth - considered due to Glissa, without her, less so
1 Grim Affliction - *
1 Spread the Sickness - *
1 Core Prowler - so good as a saccer
1 Oversold Cemetary - * so good, not enough creatures atm. In if Glissa leaves.
1 Gravedigger
1 Vigor Mortis
1 Stich together
1 Malevolent Awakening - * ooo, I like this one, just found it, may have to work it in. Could really abuse more ETB effects with this too.
1 Life from the loam - we're saccing lands, but only to one card. Protects from land D, but overall, it takes mana, and its a bit overkill for this deck. If glissa leaves, some cycling/fetch lands could help accelerate in her place. For now, it demands too much in the way of dedicating mana to run.
+1/+1 Counters
Creatures that give
1 hunting Moa - begging to be sacced and recurred.
1 Forcemage Advocate - politics
1 Shambling shell
1 Fangren Firstborn
1 Immaculate Magistrate - low elf count, but its just tap...
1 spike rogue - moves between permanents, high cost of use
1 Fungal behemoth
1 Jugan, the rising star - expensive?
1 Cytospawn Shambler
1 Sporeback Troll
1 primordial hydra
1 mycoloth
1 festercreep
1 golgari grave-troll
1 phantom nantuko
1 slith predator
1 sekki, seasons' guide
1 forgotten harvest - i don't like exiling lands
1 ferocity
1 vampiric embrace - evasion, but meh
1 quest for the gemblades - * are you sure you want to block?
1 Unspeakable symbol - ow
1 Dragon Blood - see immaculate magistrate, meh
1 power conduit - +1 counter transfer
1 Ashnod's Transmogrant - was seriosuly considered with glissa package. There are other similar effects which means could go into a modular/arcbound package. Interesting thought.
Power too high
1 necropotence - BBB hurts, also, it's just not right.
1 tooth and nail - its another tutor of doom. Not that strong here, but still.
Power too low
1 Iron Shell beetle
1 Armor thrull - aw c'mon, he's awesome!
1 Broken fall
1 Molting skin
1 Golgari Guildmage - really 5 mana?
Caveats
The Glissa Package takes up quite a large slot list, it works well together and is worth it, but I am concerned of it taking too much space away from the main theme. This will be something to look at during playtesting.
The pact effects, while they work well with the theme concern me. I play in a more casual, relaxed environment, and I never like seeing these effects hit the table, usually because they just slow down the game too much. I am hoping that with Skullbriar as a clock, that this has less of an impact. If I find they are slowing the pace of the game too much, or end up more in a control role rather than removal, I will likely give up getting rid of blockers via this method, and include more +1/+1 theme to simply go OVER the blockers.
Infinite (and non) combos: Many of the glissa package enablers (krark-clan ironworks, ashnod's altar) are deliberately not included, despite fitting the theme of the deck very strongly. In general, I tend to avoid infinite combos. There are, however, a few good combos in the deck, some are even infinite. The Mephidross+Triskellion made it in, as it doesn't kill players alone (although it does with doubling season...). Both cards are solid in their own right in this deck. Mephidross is great with skullbriar, and triskellion loves receiving +1 counters. Summoning Station, Salvaging station, and spawning pit work exceptionally well together. Inf act, summoning + spawning pit alone is good together. Perilous Forrays + bloodghast is just wrong. Bloodghast/Reassembling skeleton + skullclamp is wrong, etc...
Changelog
None yet
1 nothing added
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Alone, it's a good card. With Spawning pit (which was an auto-include) it is a very good card. Also, with the 1 drop artifacts that sac, it turns into a rather nice fodder outlet for the pact effects, which gets nicer with the Salvaging Station/Glissa.
If I get the three out (Summoning, Salvaging, Spawning pit), it gets kind of disgusting. If you have doubling season out with pit, or summoning station, or both, it just gets ridiculous.
It also works well with Attrition, Perilous Forays, and most other sac outlets. Although it has a high up-front cost (which is less of a deal in EDH), its lack of cost to produce a token is extremely strong. You have to dedicate/reserve 0 mana to it once its out.
In general, its power in edh is a bit higher as well. It's a group game, so more artifacts die and it triggers more. There are really nice artifacts that people want to kill (swords, akroma's memorial, etc...) which trigger it more, yet people never seem to put it up on the same level for destruction.
Essentially it's there to fuel the pacts, and because it works well with other cards in the deck.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
What do you think about Infiltration Lens as a possible include? It doesn't protect from spells but it makes attacking much more profitable when they have to block with multiple creatures. LMK what you think! Thanks
BUWRG My Trade List BUWRG
Played last night and had that and sword of vengeance to make him a huge first strike, trample, vigilance threat!
BUWRG My Trade List BUWRG
Glad you like it! I've put this one on the side a little bit as its not quite as tuned as I would like, and I was busy tuning others, but this is a deck that stays close to the top of the list for fixing for me. I'd love to see your decklist if you ever get around to it, I'm sure you have a bunch of ideas I could use as well for mine.
The biggest flaw I noticed with this deck was actually the card advantage. I think the Infiltration Lens works very well here, especially to combat that.
Sword of Vengeance gives some of the most relevant abilities in EDH. Coupled with Skullbriar's low cost, I think it is one of the best equipment for him, despite him not needing the extra haste.
Doubling Skullbriar's damage is extremely good, but even better is double strike, as it allows him to trigger twice. I was playing around with adding not only fireshrieker but Grappling hook as well.
These also stack with the Inquisitor's Flail, making him a very fast clock.
With a few exceptions, I have actually considered removing a large portion of equipment from the deck. I this focusing on +1/+1 counters more is the stronger approach, since they stay on him. That will cut down some of the cost of re-equipping every time he dies. I think the equipment that stays is anything that gives him trample and doublestrike. (which is pretty much whats in the list, but could shuffle some around).
I'm also thinking of easing up a bit on the forced theme, and allowing some more generic goodstuff in, especially when it comes to draw. This deck is missing my typical black deck trio of Phyrexian arena, Graveborn muse, and Bloodgift Demon, and it shows when you play it.
I also want to fix up the mana a bit. 38 lands is a bit light, though more than acceptable for a cheap commander. I think a few extra good mana rocks wouldn't be a bad idea. Also, some of the one shot effects can go, I've felt that a turn 1 skullbriar doesn't do that much in a multiplayer game, its probably far stronger in 1v1. Mox diamond, chrome mox, elvish spirit guide can probably be safely cut. The gemstone caverns can probably stay, since it doesn't really take up a slot that the others do.
Dark Ascension has a lot of cool skullbriar toys coming out, and I'm really looking forward to rebuilding the deck once the set is out. The new GB sac land looks especially delicious.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Also, I strongly recommend you start your equipment package based around 5 swords, Loxodon Warhammer, and Mask of Memory, then add others until you hit the upper bound on the amount of equipment your deck can contain. My intuition says that you want to play both Fireshrieker and Grappling Hook in here as well.
Seems decent enough.
edit: Also, Unspeakale Symbol is like the fastest way to pump Skullbriar.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Wow, Unspeakable Symbol is exactly the kind of card that will make the cut for my list.
I am tweaking it a lot and playing it at least twice a week right now in 2v2, 3v3, and Emperor games. I will post a deck list once I get closer to something polished that I like.
Cards I will try:
My play group is usually 2v2 or 3v3 and plays really good blue decks, so the random discard is pretty key for me to include as card advantage.
BUWRG My Trade List BUWRG
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek