Story time.

I've been playing Magic for a long time. Most of my life. 30 years, as of next year.

Yeah, I'm old.

In most of that time, there has been one constant for me. Everyone who's been playing a long time has one. One deck or group of cards you always returned too when you needed a pick me up. One glimmering hope when you feel like Magic is getting stale and you just need to have some fun.

For me, it's squirrels.

I've had some form of a dedicated squirrel deck built since I first played Odyssey. When Bloomburrow was released I played them almost non-stop for weeks, trying to find the right configuration to make them competitive.

Alas, it wasn't to be. The format was too fast, and squirrels was one of the tribes lacking a decent 1-drop, giving it to hard a climb to make them relevant. One or two of them would see play here and there (notable in the Insidious Roots deck), but the tribe fell to the back of the line while mice, rabbits, and even bats showed out on occasion.

But, with Vivi all over the Arena ladder, I was feeling kind of bummed as I languished in the Diamond Tier, throwing brew after brew against the little Black mage and his Cauldron until I was exhausted. So, I woke up last weekend and decided to give squirrels another go. Even if they didn't win, at least I'd be having fun, right.

Well, it turns out they did win. A lot. I went 7-1 against the Vivi decks and shot from Diamond to Mythic in just a day. It turns out, the squirrels just needed the format to slow down a touch.

Here There Be Squirrels | Standard | Travis Hall

• Creatures (25)
• 3 Bristlebud Farmer
• 3 Disruptive Stormbrood
• 3 Tough Cookie
• 4 Camellia, the Seedmiser
• 4 Osteomancer Adept
• 4 Overlord of the Balemurk
• 4 Vinereap Mentor

• Instants (7)
• 1 The End
• 2 Urgent Necropsy
• 4 Feed the Cycle

• Sorceries (4)
• 1 Strategic Betrayal
• 3 Tragic Trajectory

• Lands (24)
• 2 Forest
• 4 Swamp
• 1 Fountainport
• 1 Soulstone Sanctuary
• 2 Cavern of Souls
• 2 Underground Mortuary
• 4 Blooming Marsh
• 4 Restless Cottage
• 4 Wastewood Verge

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Urgent Necropsy
• 2 Deadly Cover-up
• 2 Ghost Vacuum
• 2 Pawpatch Formation
• 2 Scavenging Ooze
• 3 Duress
• 3 Strategic Betrayal

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Card Choices

I wanted to start with this one because it has been amazing. One of the biggest issues with battling the Vivi/Cauldron decks is that the deck runs three very powerful permanents that you must answer in any given matchup, and they are all different card types. It's difficult to find ways to answer all of them. Get Lost, for example, can kill a Vivi or a Proft's Eidetic Memory, but can handle Agatha's Soul Cauldron. Urgent Necropsy is a card that can kill any of the three... or even all three at once! The ability to take out multiple problem permanents even allows you to catch back up in the card advantage race. This card has been fantastic against the Vivi decks (and also strong against the Dimir decks), and if you plan to build this deck, or any other Golgari deck in the near future, you should strongly consider packing some of these in your 75.

One of the main reasons to consider going with a squirrel heavy version of Golgari is that it really opens up the deck to explore the Food interactions, and those interactions are headlined by Feed the Cycle. If you can reliable Forage, then this is the best removal spell in Standard, able to take out any of those problematic Outlaws that Shoot the Sheriff struggles against (hello Marauding Mako) while also able to nail the troublesome planeswalkers: Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Ral, Crackling Wit, Elspeth, Storm Slayer, and Ugin, Eye of the Storms.

These are your early game removal spells. Though, with Food tokens laying around, it's easy to turn on Tragic Trajectory, and late-game Disruptive Stormbrood can get rid of those problematic artifacts/enchantments. It also doesn't hurt that Stormbrood is a removal spell you can, "find" with Overlord of the Balemurk.

Kind of the fundamental engines of the deck. Many decks struggle with getting rid of a 5/5 and both can fill your graveyard to fuel Forage. Farmer brings a couple of food tokens when it enters, and extremely relevant ability, but can also rumble with most of the creatures seeing play.

There are times when playing with this feels like you get to cast Yawgmoth's Will in Standard. The ability can be game changing, and untapping with this in the late game can often be game ending. And yet, it's also a great wall, as it doesn't care how big your opponent's Fear of Missing Out is, Deathtouch will kill it just the same.

The last card to make the list. It counts as two Food cards for Camellia or Feed the Cycle and can also turn all of those Food tokens you might have laying around into 4/4s in the late game. A great enabler that also functions as an alternate wincon.

I saved her for last because she's the queen and she wins more games than any other card in the deck. Do not underestimate her abilities. Sometimes, you drop her and then cast a Feed the Cycle to get rid of creature, and oh, here's a free 1/1 since you sacrificed a Food token to make that removal spell cheaper. Or, you need to gain life in a race, so you start sacrificing your Food tokens, but you get free 1/1s to also chump block. And then, when you're ready, you shift into beatdown mode and those 1/1s start growing. Now, you have a team of squirrels, they're all huge, and they even have menace, so you need to hold back all your creatures, and watch in horror as the squirrel horde keeps growing...

If you're slamming into the Vivi decks over and over and you want a deck that can give them a very good fight, give this one a go. It has the best removal package in the format, can fight just about anything, and is surprisingly adaptive.

Not to steal Spider-Man's thunder, but maybe the Camellia is the hero Standard has been waiting for?

You can find more of my Magic musings on Twitter/X @travishall456 and on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/anakinsdad.bsky.social