Squirrels hold a special place in Magic: the Gathering history. If you look at it in a wide enough lens, they should be considered the game's first meme. They represent Magic's sillier side (squirrels are the unofficial mascot of Un-sets after all, just look at the Acorn set symbol) that, in rare circumstances, gets to bleed over into the competitive version of the game.

They have even crossed over into tournament play from time to time, as a core component of the original The Rock deck (the squirrels made by Deranged Hermit represented the 'millions" of the Rock's fans) and Squirrel Craft combo deck that used Squirrel Nest and Earthcraft to make infinite squirrels, a combo sometimes seen in Vintage.

So, it is no surprise that Head Magic Designer Mark Rosewater himself, one of the game's biggest advocates for both the Marvel Super Heroes set and the sillier aspects of the game, chose The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl to preview in his first article once the official previews for Marvel Super Heroes began.

Who is Squirrel Girl and why is she unbeatable?

As a quick notes for those of us that love character lore, Squirrel Girl is, "Unbeatable" in the sense that, in the Marvel Universe, her character has defeated most of the major villains. Yes, she has beaten Thanos. Yes, she has beaten Doctor Doom (and given him a case of sciurophobia). Even the gigantic, planet-eating cosmic entity Galactus considers her a friend. Her comic run is great and you should check it out.

How, you might ask? Well, with her positive attitude... And an unrelenting army of squirrels. That helps too. And, even with opponents as great as the mighty Emrakul, you throw enough squirrels at the situation and you can take them down.

All of this is exemplified on the card, in her Ability. She brings along a squirrel when she enters. Not exactly an army. It's her Activated Ability that has the potential to get out of hand. There is no tap requirement on the Activated Ability. There is no, "Only activate this ability once per turn" clause. With enough Green mana, you can make an infinite number of squirrels.

With that goal in mind, what might a deck designed around creating an infinite amount of squirrels look like in the current Standard metagame?

Squirrel Girl's Squirrel Army | MSH Standard | Travis Hall

• Creatures (27)
• 3 Jennifer Walters
• 4 Badgermole Cub
• 4 Enduring Vitality
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu
• 4 Thornvault Forager
• 4 The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl

• Instants (6)
• 3 Erode
• 3 Restoration Magic

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Michelangelo's Technique

• Lands (23)
• 3 Plains
• 6 Forest
• 2 Abandoned Air Temple
• 2 Ba Sing Se
• 2 Gathering Place
• 4 Temple Garden
• 4 Hushwood Verge

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At its heart, this is a combo deck. Once you get The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl into pay, you're looking for a way to turn her squirrel-generating Ability into mana, so that you can use that mana to create more squirrels.

Card Choices

Enduring Vitality

To make infinite squirrels, we're going to need to make infinite mana. The easiest way to do that is going to be to leverage the Creatures that Squirrel creates to generate the necessary mana to make even more squirrels.

Enduring Vitality is the best way to do this in Standard, turning each squirrel token into a mana dork. The fact that it can require multiple removal spells to get rid of, makes this an easy auto include. Now, if there is just some way to give those tokens, Haste, hopefully in Green...

Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu

Enter Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu! One of the last cards to be spoiled has one of the best abilities. The Static Ability allows us to harness Enduring Vitality and immediately tap squirrels created by Squirrel Girl to make more squirrels, which then can be tapped to make even more squirrels.

His Activated Ability, to create two mana, can also be used to fuel the combo. This was the perfect card for the deck, and seeing it spoiled really drove me to build this deck.

Michelangelo's Technique

We're looking to get three combo pieces onto the board to go infinite, and we need a way to increase our consistency in doing so. Nature's Rhythm was originally considered in this slot, but Michelangelo's Technique is the be the best way to get multiple combo pieces on the board all-at-once.

Restoration Magic

Restoration Magic is the best protection spell in Standard at the moment, and since we're playing White, it's an easy include. Enduring Vitality has a built-in protection mechanism, but the other major parts of the combo need some help. Besides, the art, with the ears, looks a little squirrely, so it's on theme!

Badgermole Cub

Badgermole Cub, the best Green card in the format, slips in under the idea that, if we can't make infinite squirrels, maybe we can just make as many as possible and it'll be enough. Turning each squirrel into two mana via Enduring Vitality can get you pretty far, even if you don't have Shang-Chi available.

Jennifer Walters

Like Voice of Victory in so many current decks, Jennifer Walters provides protection against counterspells and against Instant-speed removal. The fact that we're also playing both of the necessary colors to unleash The Sensational She-Hulk is an awesome bonus (making this card a fairly strong back-up plan).

Conclusion

Almost any problem can be solved if you throw enough bodies at it, and in the immortal words of Squirrel Mob, "An army of squirrels is still an army." I'm excited to give this one a try as soon as the set releases.

Bonus Deck List!

What if we left the combo potential in the deck but focused on the other squirrels in the format, courtesy of Bloomburrow?

Do you like squirrels? I LOVE Squirels! | MSH Standard | Travis Hall

• Creatures (27)
• 1 Bonecache Overseer
• 1 Spider-Ham, Peter Porker
• 3 Camellia, the Seedmiser
• 3 Enduring Vitality
• 3 Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu
• 4 Osteomancer Adept
• 4 Squirrelanoids
• 4 The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl
• 4 Vinereap Mentor

• Instants (5)
• 2 Cache Grab
• 3 Feed the Cycle

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Michelangelo's Technique

• Lands (24)
• 4 Swamp
• 5 Forest
• 3 Restless Cottage
• 4 Blooming Marsh
• 4 Overgrown Tomb
• 4 Wastewood Verge

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I will be running these decks, or something close to them, in the Early Access event on June 17th on my Twitch channel. Stop in and see how they play!

I've also been working on a Spotify Playlist for this set release, songs for Marvel Super Heroes. Give it a listen when you're busting packs or firing the queues on Magic Arena!

You can find more of my Magic musings and decks on Twitch and on Bluesky.