No EDH deck is unbeatable. There will always be something out there that has just the right angle, just the right interaction, or even just the right amount of luck to be able to steal the victory you so richly deserve. I don't love anything that calls itself "unbeatable" but when I pulled The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl out of a booster pack I had the sneaking feeling that I'd wind up building yet another Squirrel deck.

I've built Squirrels before. I've thrown Squirrel combos into decks and I even took the "Squirreled Away" Bloomburrow Commander precon deck, converted it into a Ygra, Eater of All deck and played it on and off for a few years. I kept much of the Squirrel backbone of that precon together, but I don't think I ever hit any Squirrel-themed wincons. That deck won games, but never on the fluffy backs of Squirrel tokens. Today's list is my first step in trying to rectify that.

A Squirrel Girl EDH Deck

When I opened The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, I didn't immediately start planning my build. I was still wrestling with whether or not I'd be building any Marvel Super Heroes Commander decks at all. It didn't take long to realize I had decks from Lorwyn Eclipsed that I wasn't playing. Once I had identified a handful of decks to take apart, it was relatively easy to talk myself into building yet another mono-Green EDH deck. I do love playing Green in Commander.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is a 4/4 Squirrel Human Hero for that really, really likes Squirrels. Her triggered ability will have me create a 1/1 Green Squirrel Creature token when she enters play or attacks. In fact, Squirrel Girl loves Squirrels and her activated ability will let me create X 1/1 Green Squirrel Creature tokens where X is the number of Squirrels I control. That second ability costs , so this deck is going to want to make lots of mana.

I could easily build this deck around just making tons of mana and pouring it into Squirrel Girl's activated ability, but it feels more on theme to play a mix of nontoken Squirrels and ways to make lots of mana. I'm going to be building this as a Bracket 3 deck so combos are on the menu. Squirrel combos, that is. A Girl's got standards after all, and those standards require that any combo I run involves Squirrels.

Important Nontoken Squirrels

When you're pushing up towards high powered or even cEDH play, you generally want to tune up your deck so that you aren't running any cards that don't actively contribute to winning the game. I find that a little boring. I'm not trying to build a low-powered deck, so I'm going to run a modest nontoken Squirrel theme without running every single Squirrel card I can find. Some might not be great, but they're in here for a reason.

Lorwyn Eclipse's Chomping Changeling looks vaguely like a Squirrel, but it's actually a Changeling so it has every Creature type. It's in this list as a Squirrel-themed functional equivalent to Reclamation Sage. When it enters, I'll destroy up to one target Artifact or Enchantment. It will also contribute to my Squirrel count, which doesn't matter a lot, but it does matter.

Following in the footsteps of cards like Eternal Witness, Timeless Witness, and Evolution Witness, the only odd thing about Curious Forager is that it wasn't named Foraging Witness. This 3/2 Squirrel Druid will let me forage when it enters play. To forage, I'll exile three cards from my Graveyard or sacrifice a Food. If I Forage when it enters, I may return target permanent card from my Graveyard to my hand.

If the majority of my Creatures will be 1/1 Squirrel Creature tokens, Squirrel Sovereign is a cheap way to basically double the power of my token army. This 3/3 Squirrel Noble will give other Squirrels I control +1/+1. That still won't save my tokens from the ravages of an Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, or a dreaded Massacre Wurm, but it will make it roughly twice as easy for my furry friends to eventually kill the table.

Cards like Propaganda and Ghostly Prison present a real challenge to decks that are trying to go wide and win by attacking with a huge token army. These Enchantments force you to play a tax for each Creature you are trying to attack with. Honored Dreyleader is a serviceable way to get around that obstacle. This 1/1 Squirrel Warrior has Trample, and will get a +1/+1 counter on it for each other Squirrel and/or Food I control. Whenever another Squirrel or Food I control enters, I'll put a +1/+1 counter on Honored Dreyleader. That means I can make a zillion Squirrels, put a zillion +1/+1 counters on this Squirrel Warrior, and only have to pay the tax once by simply attacking with a single large Creature.

I'd be running more Legendary Squirrels if so many of them weren't in Golgari colors. I'm limited to Green, but I'm happy to be able to run Toski, Bearer of Secrets. This 1/1 Squirrel can't be countered, is Indestructible, and attacks each combat if able. That's good, but what's great is that whenever a Creature I control deals combat damage to a player, I'll draw a card. If I were to kill the table with a zillion Squirrel tokens, my opponents would die before I'd draw myself out and lose, but Toski will give a card draw for each Creature that does combat damage.

Making Squirrel Tokens

I am running a handful of Squirrel Token generators that are worth a mention.

While it isn't a Squirrel, Deep Forest Hermit is a 1/1 Elf Druid that creates four 1/1 Green Squirrel Creature tokens when it enters. It also gives Squirrels I control +1/+1, but it doesn't stick around for long. It has Vanishing 3, so it enters with three time counters on it. I'll remove a time counter at the beginning of each upkeep, and when the last is removed it gets sacrificed.

Chatterstorm is a 2 mana Sorcery with Storm that will create a 1/1 Green Squirrel Creature token. Storm spells get copied for each spell cast before it but since it's a Sorcery I'm unlikely to catch anything but my own spells in my Storm count when casting it.

Chitterspitter is a morbid little Artifact as it will let me sacrifice a token to put an acorn counter on it. That token will most likely be a Squirrel, but this card will give my Squirrels +1/+1 for each acorn counter on it. Fear not, for Chitterspitter can also tap for one Green mana to create a 1/1 Green Squirrel Creature token. This might not be the oddest Squirrel magic trick in Magic, but it's got to be in the running.

The biggest way this deck is going to be making Squirrel tokens is from The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl's activated ability.

Parallel Lives is a four-mana Enchantment that does one thing and does it well. If an effect would create one or more tokens under my control, it creates twice that many tokens instead. If I were to start with four Squirrels and activate Squirrel Girl's ability once, instead of making four Squirrel tokens, I'd create eight tokens. Another activation and I'd go from 12 Squirrels all the way up to 36 Squirrels.

Making more mana is probably the most direct path to victory, as mana will also help me pay my Commander Tax if Squirrel Girl gets removed. I'm running some modest mana advantage cards like Eladamri's Vineyard, Rites of Flourishing, Nyx Lotus, and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx.

I'm also running a handful of mana doublers. Mana Reflection will let me tap a permanent for mana and have it produce twice as much mana. Vernal Bloom is an Enchantment that will let anyone tap a Forest and produce an extra Green mana in addition to the mana that Land would have produced. Gauntlet of Power is also in the list, and will let me choose a color and both buff Creatures of that color by +1/+1 and have basic Lands that produce that color add an additional mana when they are tapped. Those last two affect everyone, so I'll need to be careful to not give a tablemate's Green deck too much help.

The biggest reason I planned to build this deck as a Bracket 3 list was that I wanted to include Seedborn Muse. This five mana Spirit is a Game Changer that lets me untap all permanents I control during each other player's untap step. With the ability to generate a modest eight mana, I'd be able to activate Squirrel Girl twice on each other player's turn. If I were starting with just two Squirrels at a four player table, I'd untap on my next turn with 128 Squirrels. If I'm starting with four Squirrels I'd end up with 256 Squirrel Tokens on my next turn. Easily enough to kill the table.

Combo Town

You could build a combo-less Squirrels deck. With The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl it's very easy to make infinite Squirrels and not all playgroups enjoy dealing with decks that can go infinite. For my first draft of this list I'm going to be running combos but not running tutors and I'll see how the deck does before I decide whether to push it up or down in power. I might just play it on and off for a month and then unsleeve it to build a new Hobbit deck when The Hobbit boosters hit the shelves in mid-August

This is an oldie but a goodie. With Earthcraft in play, it lets me tap an untapped Creature I control to untap target basic Land. The Creature doesn't have to have Haste, which matters a lot as Green doesn't have much in the way of Haste enablers. Squirrel Nest is an Aura that enchants a Land and lets it tap to create a 1/1 Green Squirrel Creature token. You can do this on the end step before your turn to try to avoid getting blown out by a Massacre Wurm, and then swing for the win if nobody has a Propaganda or Ghostly Prison in play.

Scurry Oak is a three mana Treefolk with Evolve that will have me create a 1/1 Green Squirrel Creature token whenever one or more +1/+1 counters are placed on it. Ivy Lane Denizen is a four mana Elf Warrior who will have me put a +1/+1 counter on target Creature whenever another Green Creature I control enters play. As long as I keep putting counters on Scurry Oak, I'll keep creating Squirrels, which will let me keep putting +1/+1 counters on something.

The above combos don't even require a Haste enabler, though my army will have to wait a turn cycle before attacking for the win. If I have Concordant Crossroads in play I'll have a few more options available.

Concordant Crossroads gives all Creatures Haste, so it's risky to play this and not just win on that turn. With enough Squirrels you can use cards like Jaheira, Friend of the Forest or Enduring Vitality to go infinite. You just need five or more Squirrels. Jaheira and Enduring Vitality each let you tap your Creatures for mana. With five Squirrels in play, tap four of them to make four mana and use Squirrel girl to double your Squirrels, creating five Squirrel tokens. Tap four of those to double your Squirrels again and make ten additional Squirrel tokens. Keep going until you have enough Squirrels to attack and kill the table.

Phyrexian Altar might be the hardest way to do this trick, and again you'll need Haste or you'll have to wait a turn cycle before attacking. The challenge is that this Artifact has you sacrifice Creatures to generate mana, so your Squirrel count has to be nine or higher. If you have nine Squirrels in play, you can sacrifice four to make four mana and use Squirrel Girl to double your Squirrels. You'll now be at ten Squirrels and you can again sacrifice four to double them again. Each time you'll have one additional Squirrel so you just do this until you have an army big enough to win the game.

These all assume that you don't have a token doubler, and don't take into account mana you already have available. I expect The Squirrel Girl won't always go infinite, but it will do so fairly often, and when it does it will usually win the game.

Tuning Squirrel Girl for Different Brackets

If you were to play this list at Bracket 2 tables, I expect this list would be nigh-unbeatable. Don't do that, or at least, don't intentionally do that. Pubstomping happens, but ideally you want the tables you crush to get crushed because of luck or just good play on your part, and not because you ran a deck that you knew was way too powerful for the decks you were playing against.

Most of the time I do like to think that power imbalances in EDH games are not instances of pubstomping. I've tried to choose my words more carefully when I feel like I'm getting crushed in a game. Blaming myself for not having more answers or not playing something powerful enough isn't always enough to compensate when I'm clearly kind of pissed off, but the truth is that I'm usually just annoyed at the situation or at my own deck's performance. It's rare that I'm genuinely aggravated at a tablemate.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl

• Creatures (17)
• 1 Bloodroot Apothecary
• 1 Chomping Changeling
• 1 Curious Forager
• 1 Deep Forest Hermit
• 1 Enduring Vitality
• 1 Honored Dreyleader
• 1 Ivy Lane Denizen
• 1 Jaheira, Friend of the Forest
• 1 Regal Force
• 1 Scurry Oak
• 1 Scurry of Squirrels
• 1 Seedborn MuseGC
• 1 Squirrel Sovereign
• 1 Tippy-Toe, Terrific Partner
• 1 Toski, Bearer of Secrets
• 1 Treetop Sentries
• 1 Voracious Varmint

• Instants (5)
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Harrow
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Return to Nature
• 1 You Look Upon the Tarrasque

• Sorceries (12)
• 1 Chatterstorm
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Harmonize
• 1 Kamahl's Druidic Vow
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Nature's Lore
• 1 Overrun
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Shamanic Revelation
• 1 Skyshroud Claim
• 1 Sylvan Scrying
• 1 Three Visits

• Enchantments (13)
• 1 Bear Umbra
• 1 Beastmaster Ascension
• 1 Concordant Crossroads
• 1 Earthcraft
• 1 Eladamri's Vineyard
• 1 Growing Rites of Itlimoc
• 1 Mana Reflection
• 1 March of the World Ooze
• 1 Parallel Lives
• 1 Rites of Flourishing
• 1 Squirrel Nest
• 1 Vernal Bloom
• 1 Wilderness Reclamation

• Artifacts (15)
• 1 Caged Sun
• 1 Chitterspitter
• 1 Gauntlet of Power
• 1 Idol of Oblivion
• 1 Illusionist's Bracers
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Nyx Lotus
• 1 Phyrexian Altar
• 1 Rings of Brighthearth
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Slate of Ancestry
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Sword of the Animist
• 1 Sword of the Squeak
• 1 Throne of the God-Pharaoh

• Lands (37)
• 33 Forest
• 1 Buried Ruin
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1 Oakhollow Village

Buy This Deck Export text

Lowering the Power Level

To power this list down I think your first step is to drop out the combos. From there I might look at playing things that let you power a Creature up equal to the number of Creatures you control. You could easily play a few good pieces of Equipment that could turn a modest number of Squirrels into a win with Overwhelming Stampede. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is easy to play as a combo deck, but there is a world where a lower powered, fairer Squirrel Girl deck could play and not be a problem for a low powered playgroup. You'd just have to be careful about what you place in the 99, and you'll still have games where you can create a huge number of Squirrels just through making mana and spending it on her activated ability.

Raising the Power Level

If you wanted even more than I'm giving you in today's list, the obvious path to powering this list up is to load in some tutors to go get your combo pieces. You could drop out a few nontoken Squirrels and add in Concordant Crossroads, Fauna Shaman, and the like so that you're hitting that Ivy Lane Denizen / Scurry Oak combo more often, or you're able to grab Enduring Vitality in nearly every game. I like variety but if you're really trying to push up into Bracket 4 you want a lot more consistency than my decks usually provide.

Final Thoughts

This is one of those rare times where this list is an exact match to what I've got sleeved up in paper. As things turned out, my usual Tuesday night at the LGS was the victim of an extra long, and extra draining workday. I was all set to bring this deck and play it at least once, but after 11+ hours of coding, I was cooked. These things don't happen that often, but I was genuinely looking forward to taking this list for a spin.

I'm honestly expecting to play this a few times, have a few games where it feels like a bit too much for the table, and then take it apart to build a possibly Squirrel-themed Treefolk deck. The Hobbit previews are in full force and I'm hoping against hope to see some interesting Treefolk in the set. I have no good reason for that, as Ents make no appearance in the book. That's OK. I often hope for unrealistic things.

I'll be pivoting to The Hobbit either next week or the week after, but I've enjoyed dipping my toes into Marvel Super Heroes, even if I prefer my Universes Beyond sets to be medieval fantasy themed.

That's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!