Contents:
1) What is Tribal Squirrels?
2) Card Choices
3) Decklists
4) Technical Play, Tips, and Tricks
5) Matchups and Sideboarding Strategy
6) Variations
1) What is Tribal Squirrels?
Tribal Squirrels is a Legacy Deck that uses ramp to get a large amount of mana early in the game. It can then use value cards to flood the board with tokens and either pump them, or just win by going wide. The deck is remarkable consistent and is capable of a turn 5 win through mild/heavy interaction. Since the strategy goes so wide, often blockers aren't even an issue.
Most of the cards used in the deck were printed in Odyssey, and with the exception of some of the team pump spells, Tribal Squirrels has been a strategy since Odyssey was first printed in 2001. The deck has remained largely the same and has frequented casual and kitchen table games since its conception nearly 15 years ago. It is worth noting that the deck did originally contain an infinite combo using Earthcraft and Squirrel Nest Earthcraft has since been banned in Legacy.
2) Card Choices
There are three very important types of cards in a Squirrels deck:
a) Ramp Arbor Elf Untaps a land to create a minimum of 1 extra mana per turn. Also combos well with Swarmyard and Wild Growth
Wild Growth Combos well with Arbor Elf and can be played on turn two and tapped immediately
Garruk Wildspeaker Garruk's +1 is an Arbor Elf effect that can target multiple lands. Not only can he ramp, his -4 also acts as an overrun and a win condition. His -1 should only be used in the most desperate of situations.
Deserted Temple Combos well with Wild Growth though, it does not actually net any mana gain unless the land is enchanted with 2 Wild Growths. While it has synergy with other cards in the deck, I find it's inability to directly produce green mana sometimes difficult to work around
Gaea's Cradle Seriously good card. I wouldn't run it as a 4-of, max of two, but this card is ridiculous. I currently don't run any because they're expensive. Good card's good.
b) Token Generation
Chatter of the Squirrel Best token generation in the deck, can be flashed back to gain card advantage at sorcery speed.
Squirrel Wrangler While you do have to sac your land to fuel, the upside is huge. Being able to create tokens and pump them--all in the same card is incredible. Note, however, that Squirrel Wrangler isn't a Squirrel himself.
Liege of the hollows Can be way more beneficial for you than your opponent if used at the right time. Not great without a sacrifice outlet though.
Nut Collector It gives you a lot of Squirrels, but it's a little slow and weak (cmon, a 1/1?) to run in Legacy.
c) Pump and Wincons
Obelisk of Urd Can be played off of a Deranged Hermit as early as turn 3, great topdeck and all around versatile card.
Beastmaster Ascension Very few strategies can make this card work the way Squirrels does. Note that Beastmaster Ascension triggers on attacking, so the creatures that trigger it still get buffed through combat.
Overrun While it will win you the game, it's not a very versatile card and Garruk Wildspeaker is better.
Adaptive Automaton Great card for Tribal Strategies overall, good card with good upside. Dies to removal pretty well though.
Tribal Unity Hilarious card that will kill your opponents out of no where. No one expects this effect at instant speed.
Squirrel Mob While it doesn't pump your other creatures, it can get pretty huge by itself.
Swarmyard Has great synergy with Arbor Elf and while it doesn't pump your creatures, it protects them nicely.
Coat of Arms Provides serious power, but at a certain point, you are just winning. No need to deal 800 damage, just 20 (who am I kidding, this is green ramp! Of course we are trying to deal 800 damage!)
Eldrazi Monument Hate the sacrifice clause, but I love the effects! Flying Squirrels!
Krosan Beast Like Nut Collector the card is a little slow and it's going to be really tough to hit threshold since our tokens can't enter the graveyard.
Second Harvest Doubles your tokens at instant speed, thank you Shadows Over Innistrad!
Parallel Evolution Doubles your tokens at sorcery speed, 1 more mana than Second Harvest, but it can be flashed back.
Parallel Lives Doesn't have an immediate effect on the board. A little slow.
The deck is pretty self-explanatory. Play your ramp spells first to try and increase the clock of the deck. Turn 1 Arbor Elf turn 2 Wild Growth yields 4 mana for an Acorn Harvest. Try to always set a fast clock, you should be winning turn 5 no matter how many blockers they have. The difficulty of the deck is being sure your opponent can't win before you. This deck stomps control and miracles, I almost never lose to that deck, but it struggles keeping up and interacting with combo.
Against casual decks this deck is great, but combo is a huge weakness and it runs rampant in Legacy. I have tried a version online with force of will and other mild counters main, but it dilutes the deck and barely slows combo.
Interesting interactions:
If you have 6 mana, you can play deranged hermit, then tap all 5 creatures and use your 1 floating mana to play obelisk of urd.
The best possible ramp strategy is turn 1 Arbor Elf turn 2 Wild Growth get 4 mana, play Garruk Wildspeaker generate 3 mana play either chatter and flash it back or play Squirrel Nest.
Always enchant the same land if you have multiple Wild Growth. Even though it makes you more vulnerable to wasteland it increases your ramp and gives you better targets for Squirrel Mob to destroy.
Finally, I HEAVILY recommend at least 2 Genesis Hydra in the sideboard, maybe even maindeck. It may not seem like a good Legacy card, but it helps us play threats even through counters. It may seem weak but it's a solid 2 for 1 in the right match and I may switch it to maindeck.
5) Matchups and Sideboarding Strategies
Our strongest match is against miracles because our cards have weird mana costs and we can dodge counters easily. Sideboard in 4 [card]Sundering Growth[card] and 2 [card]Genesis Hydra[card].
Burn is a decent match, we can flood the board shutting off their creature burn, but Legacy Burn runs enough instants and sorceries that the game can be tough. Side in Bow of Nylea and 4 Druid's Deliverance and Tangle.
Every combo ever, side in 4 Sundering Growth and pray they have artifacts and enchantments because it's all the interaction we have. Genesis Hydra can also be good if they have heavy counters but no wasteland because we can ramp into it.
Eldrazi, easy win, we can chump and take them in the late game.
All in all, our deck is pretty strong, at least in some matchups. While it's not intended to be budget, the deck isn't expensive and is really fun to play.
6) Variations
There are really only two variations, combo and aggro/ramp. While the combo version isn't actually legal right now, it is played casually quite a bit and is a very strong deck. It's only main flaw is that, since the squirrels enter tapped, it can't win until turn 4, the same turn aggro/ramp can win without much interaction. I believe aggro/ramp is the stronger variation, and that's why I'm playing it.
At the end of the day, if you are playing Tribal Squirrels you aren't going to win a Pro Tour, expect to lose quite a bit, even at casual FNM-style events. But trust me, you will have a lot of fun playing and, to me, that's what this wonderful game is all about.
Thank you's:
My cousin who helped me design this deck!
All the great people at my FNM who gave their input
Wedge from the ManaSource for getting me interested in Squirrels
izzetmage (I used his U/R Storm primer as a basic shell for mine)
This might give a few better match-ups in testing. Again just how I was tinkering with a Squirrel build for Legacy.
Private Mod Note
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Stasis players like me are like those old gray haired convicts that have been locked up for 40 years straight. You can take us in a fight but you know you'll lose a testicle in the process of winning.
Decks I play
Legacy
Dredge 0
DredgeGBRU
AffinityXRUB
GoblinsRWB
10 land StompyG
BurnR
DreadstillURW
BelcherGR
Death and Taxes W
Enchantress GWR
BUILDING
Legacy Lands GBRUW
I'll never tell you the flavor text of Teferi's Imp!!
I've also been loving Genesis Hydra in the board, and I've been liking a second Bow of Nylea as well as 2 Phyrexian Revokers. For the sake of my wallet I would like to keep my build mono green, but absolutely let me know if multicolor builds work better.
Nourishing Shoal looks good, winter orb is interesting, but if we run that I think we cut down on other lands an instead play voyaging satyr and utopia sprawl. I don't approve of Trinisphere and thorn of the amethyst. Personally, I am looking at this deck to go deep into the tribal aspects, so I am more concerned with our deck being able to funtion quickly. I will test a build that uses winter orb and more enchantments though.
By hanktheobesedog
Contents:
1) What is Tribal Squirrels?
2) Card Choices
3) Decklists
4) Technical Play, Tips, and Tricks
5) Matchups and Sideboarding Strategy
6) Variations
1) What is Tribal Squirrels?
Tribal Squirrels is a Legacy Deck that uses ramp to get a large amount of mana early in the game. It can then use value cards to flood the board with tokens and either pump them, or just win by going wide. The deck is remarkable consistent and is capable of a turn 5 win through mild/heavy interaction. Since the strategy goes so wide, often blockers aren't even an issue.
Most of the cards used in the deck were printed in Odyssey, and with the exception of some of the team pump spells, Tribal Squirrels has been a strategy since Odyssey was first printed in 2001. The deck has remained largely the same and has frequented casual and kitchen table games since its conception nearly 15 years ago. It is worth noting that the deck did originally contain an infinite combo using Earthcraft and Squirrel Nest
Earthcraft has since been banned in Legacy.
2) Card Choices
There are three very important types of cards in a Squirrels deck:
a) Ramp
Arbor Elf Untaps a land to create a minimum of 1 extra mana per turn. Also combos well with Swarmyard and Wild Growth
Wild Growth Combos well with Arbor Elf and can be played on turn two and tapped immediately
Garruk Wildspeaker Garruk's +1 is an Arbor Elf effect that can target multiple lands. Not only can he ramp, his -4 also acts as an overrun and a win condition. His -1 should only be used in the most desperate of situations.
Deserted Temple Combos well with Wild Growth though, it does not actually net any mana gain unless the land is enchanted with 2 Wild Growths. While it has synergy with other cards in the deck, I find it's inability to directly produce green mana sometimes difficult to work around
Gaea's Cradle Seriously good card. I wouldn't run it as a 4-of, max of two, but this card is ridiculous. I currently don't run any because they're expensive. Good card's good.
b) Token Generation
Chatter of the Squirrel Best token generation in the deck, can be flashed back to gain card advantage at sorcery speed.
Acorn harvest While not as efficient as Chatter of the Squirrel, Acorn Harvest can create more bodies and provide more card advantage at instant speed.
Deranged Hermit Creates 4 friends and acts as a pseudo-lord for as long as he lives. Great topdeck and can be ramped into as early as turn 3.
Squirrel Nest Has great synergy with Arbor Elf and Garruk Wildspeaker, can be used through multiple turns.
Squirrel Wrangler While you do have to sac your land to fuel, the upside is huge. Being able to create tokens and pump them--all in the same card is incredible. Note, however, that Squirrel Wrangler isn't a Squirrel himself.
Liege of the hollows Can be way more beneficial for you than your opponent if used at the right time. Not great without a sacrifice outlet though.
Nantuko Shrine Why give your opponent chump blockers?
Nut Collector It gives you a lot of Squirrels, but it's a little slow and weak (cmon, a 1/1?) to run in Legacy.
c) Pump and Wincons
Obelisk of Urd Can be played off of a Deranged Hermit as early as turn 3, great topdeck and all around versatile card.
Beastmaster Ascension Very few strategies can make this card work the way Squirrels does. Note that Beastmaster Ascension triggers on attacking, so the creatures that trigger it still get buffed through combat.
Garruk Wildspeaker +1 excels at ramp, -4 is a great overrun.
Oran-Rief, the Vastwood Enters tapped is a problem, but the pump is really nice.
Overrun While it will win you the game, it's not a very versatile card and Garruk Wildspeaker is better.
Adaptive Automaton Great card for Tribal Strategies overall, good card with good upside. Dies to removal pretty well though.
Tribal Unity Hilarious card that will kill your opponents out of no where. No one expects this effect at instant speed.
Squirrel Mob While it doesn't pump your other creatures, it can get pretty huge by itself.
Swarmyard Has great synergy with Arbor Elf and while it doesn't pump your creatures, it protects them nicely.
Coat of Arms Provides serious power, but at a certain point, you are just winning. No need to deal 800 damage, just 20 (who am I kidding, this is green ramp! Of course we are trying to deal 800 damage!)
Eldrazi Monument Hate the sacrifice clause, but I love the effects! Flying Squirrels!
Krosan Beast Like Nut Collector the card is a little slow and it's going to be really tough to hit threshold since our tokens can't enter the graveyard.
Second Harvest Doubles your tokens at instant speed, thank you Shadows Over Innistrad!
Parallel Evolution Doubles your tokens at sorcery speed, 1 more mana than Second Harvest, but it can be flashed back.
Parallel Lives Doesn't have an immediate effect on the board. A little slow.
3) Decklists
Wedge from the ManaSource:
2x Adaptive Automaton
3x Squirrel Mob
4x Arbor Elf
2x Liege of the Hollows
4x Chatter of the Squirrel
2x Parallel Evolution
2x Tribal Unity
4x Squirrel Nest
4x Wild Growth
2x Druid’s Call
2x Beastmaster Ascension
4x Swarmyard
2x Deserted Temple
BadWolfMTG:
2 gaea's cradle
2 mosswort bridge
1 pendelhaven
4 mutavault
4 swarmyard
4 birds of paradise
2 deranged hermit
1 Nylea God of the hunt
4 chatter of the squirrel
4 acorn harvest
4 druid's call
1 nature's will
2 nature's will
3 parallel lives
3 tangle
2 Eldrazi Monument
1 bow of nylea
HanktheObeseDog's deck:
4 swarmyard
4 wild growth
3 Squirrel Nest
4 Arbor Elf
4 Chatter of the Squirrel
4 Acorn Harvest
4 Deranged Hermit
3 Squirrel Mob
2 Squirrel Wrangler
2 Obelisk of Urd
2 Beastmaster Ascension
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
2 Second Harvest
4 Druid's Deliverance
4 Sundering Growth
3 Leyline of Vitality
1 Bow of Nylea
1 Tangle
2 Genesis Hydra
4) Technical Play, Tips, and Tricks
The deck is pretty self-explanatory. Play your ramp spells first to try and increase the clock of the deck. Turn 1 Arbor Elf turn 2 Wild Growth yields 4 mana for an Acorn Harvest. Try to always set a fast clock, you should be winning turn 5 no matter how many blockers they have. The difficulty of the deck is being sure your opponent can't win before you. This deck stomps control and miracles, I almost never lose to that deck, but it struggles keeping up and interacting with combo.
Against casual decks this deck is great, but combo is a huge weakness and it runs rampant in Legacy. I have tried a version online with force of will and other mild counters main, but it dilutes the deck and barely slows combo.
Interesting interactions:
If you have 6 mana, you can play deranged hermit, then tap all 5 creatures and use your 1 floating mana to play obelisk of urd.
The best possible ramp strategy is turn 1 Arbor Elf turn 2 Wild Growth get 4 mana, play Garruk Wildspeaker generate 3 mana play either chatter and flash it back or play Squirrel Nest.
Always enchant the same land if you have multiple Wild Growth. Even though it makes you more vulnerable to wasteland it increases your ramp and gives you better targets for Squirrel Mob to destroy.
Finally, I HEAVILY recommend at least 2 Genesis Hydra in the sideboard, maybe even maindeck. It may not seem like a good Legacy card, but it helps us play threats even through counters. It may seem weak but it's a solid 2 for 1 in the right match and I may switch it to maindeck.
5) Matchups and Sideboarding Strategies
Our strongest match is against miracles because our cards have weird mana costs and we can dodge counters easily. Sideboard in 4 [card]Sundering Growth[card] and 2 [card]Genesis Hydra[card].
Our deck has a decent matchup against delver as long as we can stall the game a little. 4 maindeck wastelands swarmyard tough, but overall the mathup is actually ok. Side in 4 druid's deliverance and [card] Tangle[card] and 2 [card] genesis hydra [card].
Burn is a decent match, we can flood the board shutting off their creature burn, but Legacy Burn runs enough instants and sorceries that the game can be tough. Side in Bow of Nylea and 4 Druid's Deliverance and Tangle.
Every combo ever, side in 4 Sundering Growth and pray they have artifacts and enchantments because it's all the interaction we have. Genesis Hydra can also be good if they have heavy counters but no wasteland because we can ramp into it.
Eldrazi, easy win, we can chump and take them in the late game.
All in all, our deck is pretty strong, at least in some matchups. While it's not intended to be budget, the deck isn't expensive and is really fun to play.
6) Variations
There are really only two variations, combo and aggro/ramp. While the combo version isn't actually legal right now, it is played casually quite a bit and is a very strong deck. It's only main flaw is that, since the squirrels enter tapped, it can't win until turn 4, the same turn aggro/ramp can win without much interaction. I believe aggro/ramp is the stronger variation, and that's why I'm playing it.
At the end of the day, if you are playing Tribal Squirrels you aren't going to win a Pro Tour, expect to lose quite a bit, even at casual FNM-style events. But trust me, you will have a lot of fun playing and, to me, that's what this wonderful game is all about.
Thank you's:
My cousin who helped me design this deck!
All the great people at my FNM who gave their input
Wedge from the ManaSource for getting me interested in Squirrels
izzetmage (I used his U/R Storm primer as a basic shell for mine)
Hope ya'll enjoy! I sure did!
This opens up main deck Blood Moon and a sideboard like this:
This might give a few better match-ups in testing. Again just how I was tinkering with a Squirrel build for Legacy.
Decks I play
Legacy
Dredge 0
DredgeGBRU
AffinityXRUB
GoblinsRWB
10 land StompyG
BurnR
DreadstillURW
BelcherGR
Death and Taxes W
Enchantress GWR
BUILDING
Legacy Lands GBRUW
I'll never tell you the flavor text of Teferi's Imp!!
Nourishing Shoal looks good, winter orb is interesting, but if we run that I think we cut down on other lands an instead play voyaging satyr and utopia sprawl. I don't approve of Trinisphere and thorn of the amethyst. Personally, I am looking at this deck to go deep into the tribal aspects, so I am more concerned with our deck being able to funtion quickly. I will test a build that uses winter orb and more enchantments though.