While Magic’s Partner mechanic is largely used as a way to access more colors in cEDH, some of its implementations over the years have been a bit more interesting. Specific MTG Partner pairs, like Brallin, Skyshark Rider and Shabraz, the Skyshark, for example, have a lot more to offer beyond their mere color identities. This Human/Shark duo is incredibly powerful, unlocking a ton of different combos alongside plenty of stellar synergies.
Brallin, Skyshark Rider & Shabraz, The Skyshark MTG
Style points for running a Human riding a Shark as your Commander aside, Brallin and Shabraz are legitimately powerful mechanically, too. Brallin is a powerful discard-based burn engine, while Shabraz gains you life for each card you draw. Both also scale up with a +1/+1 counter on their respective triggers, which can result in some big bodies very quickly indeed.
Naturally, both legends are fantastic with wheel effects like Windfall, since they offer a ton of discard and draw at once. Cards like Faithless Looting, and Connivers like Ledger Shredder, offer easy double-trigger value here too. This will get you a ton of damage triggers, which are nice alone but particularly good if you kit Brallin out with something like Grafted Exoskeleton or Basilisk Collar. The plentiful lifegain from Shabraz is also nice, enabling synergies with cards like Aerith Gainsborough and Ocelot Pride.
Since their stats can get out of hand quickly, you can include cards that leverage huge Brallin/Shabraz bodies for some big swings. Chandra’s Ignition and Soul Immolation, for example, can convert them into massive board clears and burn damage. Both Commanders can grant each other evasion, too, which makes it possible to take out multiple opponents at once simply by attacking in some cases. For protection, you can consider cards like The Ozolith and The Ooze to maintain your stash of accumulated counters post-removal.
The One-Two Combo Crew
Great as they are in day-to-day gameplay, Brallin and Shabraz are particularly good at enabling combos. In fact, both legends unlock several two-card wins, making them extremely dangerous to have in the command zone.
With Brallin, for example, you can kit it out with Curiosity for an easy infinite. With this card in play, discarding to hand size in the end step will let you ping with Brallin, draw with Curiosity, and repeat the process. As long as you have more cards in your library than your opponents have life, this wins on the spot. You can sub in Ophidian Eye and Tandem Lookout for Curiosity here, as some extra redundancy.
Shabraz has even more to offer in the combo department, creating an infinite loop with Drogskol Reaver. As soon as you draw a card with both in play, you’ll gain life from Shabraz, causing you to draw again. This will let you draw your entire deck for an easy win with Thassa’s Oracle or Laboratory Maniac. The triggers here aren’t optional, however, which means you’ll need an instant-speed way to ditch one of the pieces, like Path to Exile, to avoid decking yourself.
For a less risky line, enchanting a Famished Paladin with Prophetic Ravings or Ocular Halo will go infinite in a similar way. With this setup, you have full control over your draws, so you can stop once you’re out of cards or you’ve found your win. With all of these combos, having Brallin in play as well opens up another potential win by simply discarding everything you draw for a huge burst of damage.
An Underplayed Duo
Though they lack the raw power of the more popular MTG Partner Commanders, Brallin, Skyshark Rider and Shabraz, the Skyshark are excellent in their own right. Running the pair not only gives you a built-in curve and two solid on-board threats, but also easy access to a bunch of combo wins as well.
Despite all of these virtues, the duo actually doesn’t see as much play as you’d expect. As a pair, only 3,659 players run them at the helm according to EDHREC data. They do crop up more in the 99, with Brallin in around 25,000 decks and Shabraz in around 20,000, but hardly anyone is taking advantage of their Partner combination.
Perhaps because of this relative obscurity, you can pick up both Brallin and Shabraz fairly cheaply right now. Brallin’s original Commander 2020 foil printing can be had near-mint for just $2, and Shabraz isn’t much more at $2.48.
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