Your deck should have Skullclamp

Long before Commander nights were run with life counter apps and pre-game Rule 0 talks, there was Skullclamp . Some say it was forged by a mad artificer who wanted to turn every battlefield loss into a story worth telling. Others claim it simply appeared one day in a binder, already sleeved, waiting for the right player to draw it.

They say Skullclamp has never truly been cast — it simply chooses a player and slides onto the table when the moment is right. In those games, creatures don’t “die” so much as they volunteer to join the great book club in the graveyard, each departure rewarded with more tales in the form of fresh cards.

The stories grow taller every year. Some swear they once clamped a Solemn Simulacrum and drew four cards “because the deck wanted it that way.” Others tell of a game where Skullclamp was equipped to a commander three times in a row, and each time the player returned stronger, like some sort of cardboard lich king.

I have a simple thesis that’d I’d like to propose to you in this post:

1. Cut a card from your deck.
2. Replace it with Skullclamp.
3. Win games in which you draw Skullclamp.

In token decks

Look, we all know what Skullclamp does in a token deck. It’s not a fair fight — it’s an industrial-grade woodchipper hooked up to a printing press. Equip, draw two, repeat until your deck starts to feel like an open-book exam where you wrote all the answers yourself. Saying Skullclamp is “good” in a token deck is like saying Lightning Bolt is “alright” at dealing three damage — technically true, but criminally understated.

In a swarm build, Skullclamp doesn’t just provide card advantage — it is the game plan. You’re no longer “making tokens to attack” or “filling the board for defense.” No, you are simply generating raw fuel for the Clampinator. Every 1/1 Squirrel you create might as well be a raffle ticket for your win condition. Sometimes the cards you draw lead to more tokens, which lead to more cards, which lead to more tokens, which… you see where this is going. It’s a perpetual motion machine with just enough mana cost to keep it from being banned outright. Probably.

Everywhere else

People like to pretend Skullclamp is only scary in a token deck, as if it politely sips tea in every other build. Nonsense. Even without a steady stream of 1/1 fodder, Skullclamp is still two mana to draw two cards — an exchange so good it should be illegal in Commander, yet somehow isn’t. Every creature becomes a walking life insurance policy, paying out in fresh cards the moment it meets an unfortunate end. Suddenly, every removal spell your opponents point at you feels like a generous gift.

• It’s good on blockers — That 10/10 eldrich abomination across the table might be fiending to swing at you, but the moment they realize your 2/1 blocker will replace itself with two cards, they think twice.
• It’s good on attackers — slap a Clamp on your creature, send it into the red zone, and watch it stroll past blockers because nobody wants to be responsible for your next draw step.
• It’s good for boardwipes — And if disaster strikes? If the board gets wiped clean? Congratulations, our opponent just payed six mana to give you two cards.

I know you love that big, splashy 8/8 dinosaur in your deck. It’s shiny, it’s foiled out, and it’s won you… what, maybe one game in the past year? You don’t need another oversized beater to clog up your hand while you pray for more draw. You need to eat your vegetables, and in EDH, Skullclamp is the broccoli that makes you grow up strong and full of options.

Cut something. Anything. That pet card you swear “just needs the right moment”? Gone. That overcosted finisher you never actually cast? Gone. Your greedy ass can live without it, because Skullclamp isn’t a luxury — it’s a foundation. And the best part? It’s only one mana to play, which means it slides into literally any mana curve without tripping over your precious tempo. You don’t have to redesign your deck around it. You don’t have to “test” it. You just put it in, and the next time you draw it, you’ll wonder how you ever tolerated living without it.