Battalion of Bones

Pioneer Aristocrats BG (Golgari) Budget Casual Skeleton Tokens

PhocusEnergy

Creature (22)

• 4x Gutterbones
• 4x Persistent Specimen
• 2x Moss-Pit Skeleton
• 4x Reassembling Skeleton
• 4x Death Baron
• 4x Death-Priest of Myrkul

Instant (10)

• 4x Village Rites
• 4x Heartless Act
• 2x Hero's Downfall

Sorcery (2)

• 2x Diabolic Intent

Enchantment (4)

• 4x Skeletal Swarming

Land (22)

• 4x Necroblossom Snarl
• 14x Swamp
• 4x Woodland Cemetery

---

Sideboard

Instant (8)

• 4x Return to Nature
• 2x Tear Asunder
• 2x Pulse of Murasa

Sorcery (7)

• 4x Duress
• 3x Crippling Fear

---

Skeleton Tribal. Is it competitive? No way. Did I still build it? Absolutely.

A budget (~$50) tribal aristocrats deck looking to drop some low-cost skeletons early, start sacrificing them to draw cards, clear our opponents early threats with our removal suite, re-play our sacrificed skeletons, and then finish with Skeletal Swarming or a stack of our lords Death-Priest of Myrkul and Death Baron.

All comments or critiques welcome!

Creatures

• Gutterbones a threatening early skeleton that can be brought back cheap later in the game
• Persistent Specimen a good, cheap sac outlet, but it's higher re-play cost means we don't want too many of these.
• Moss-Pit Skeleton our strongest skeleton in a vaccuum, dropping as a 2/2 for GB, or able to be played as a late-game threat for 3GB. The G cost makes us want to avoid playing too many of these.
• Reassembling Skeleton our best skeleton to sacrifice, being the cheapest to re-play from the graveyard.
• Death Baron Our first lord, they give all of our skeletons (and other copies of Death Baron) +1/+1 and deathtouch.
• Death-Priest of Myrkul Our second lord, they give all of our skeletons and Death Baron's +1/+1, and can make skeleton tokens for 1 when any creature died during our turn.

Non-Creatures

• Village Rites sacrifice a skeleton, draw two cards, trigger our death triggers.
• Heartless Act kill an opponent's creature and trigger our death triggers on our turn.
• Diabolic Intent sacrifice a skeleton, tutor up our Skeletal Swarming, trigger our death triggers.
• Hero's Downfall kill an opponent's creature or planeswalker, trigger our death triggers on our turn.
• Skeletal Swarming our most powerful card by far, and it's usually GG when a copy hits the board. This card will immediately turn all skeletons we have on the board into monsters, AND start giving us even more skeletons at the end of every turn.

Sideboard

• Crippling Fear a one-sided boardwipes against aggro or zoo strategies.
• Deadly Brew a good swap-in against tempo decks that knock away our skeletons while dropping their own threats.
• Duress a good swap-in when our opponent's don't have many creatures.
• Pulse of Murasa a perfect answer to burn, gaining us a huge chunk of life and bringing back some of our burned creatures.
• Return to Nature our swap-in against artifact, enchantment, or graveyard-based decks.

Top Ranked	Achieved #13 position overall 1 year ago Achieved #4 position in Pioneer 1 year ago Achieved #1 position in Pioneer Sacrifice 1 year ago
Date added	2 years
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Pioneer legal.
Rarity (main - side)	22 - 3 Rares 16 - 4 Uncommons 8 - 8 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.37
Tokens	Skeleton 1/1 B
Folders	My Pioneer Decks