SQUIRRELED AWAY. one core, two configs.

Chatterfang, Squirrel General strategy guide

Squirreled Away runs Chatterfang, Squirrel General ({2}{G}), and every line of his text box is load-bearing. The token clause reads: “If one or more tokens would be created under your control, those tokens plus that many 1/1 green Squirrel creature tokens are created instead.” And {B}, sacrifice X Squirrels, is a one-mana sac outletAn effect that lets you sacrifice your own creatures at will, turning each death into triggers. stapled to removal, since +X/-X kills anything with toughness X or less. Forestwalk is a real clock once Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth is down: every land becomes a Forest, so every opponent controls one, Chatterfang is permanently unblockable, and a 3/3 that grows off Squirrels is a standing commander-damage threat.

The engine, shared by both

Everything before the module is the same in either build: token makers, doublers, and the sacrifice payoffs that turn each death into damage.

The two infinites, in both builds

Both loops are compact, both are tutorable, and both get disclosed before the first shuffle.

Wincon 1 · Nest plus Earthcraft, on a basic

Squirrel Nest plus Earthcraft, and the Nest must sit on a basic land: Earthcraft reads “Untap target basic land,” so a Nest on anything else never loops. Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth does not help here. It grants every land the Forest land type, not the Basic supertype, so it creates no new legal Nest target. Tap the enchanted basic for a Squirrel, two with Chatterfang out; Earthcraft taps a fresh Squirrel to untap that basic; repeat for arbitrarily many Squirrels. Every step is an activated ability, so the whole line runs at instant speed, and it is lethal on the spot with any drain on board.

Wincon 2 · The Altar loop

Chatterfang plus Pitiless Plunderer plus Ashnod’s Altar or Phyrexian Altar plus any drain. Sacrifice a Squirrel to the Altar for mana; Plunderer turns the death into a Treasure, and Chatterfang’s replacement puts a fresh Squirrel onto the battlefield alongside it. Every pass returns the Squirrel it spent, banks a Treasure, and puts a death trigger on the stack, so it is infinite mana and infinite death triggers at once. Zulaport Cutthroat, Bastion of Remembrance, Nadier’s Nightblade, or Mirkwood Bats bleeds the table out while the mana piles up.

Choose the line by turn three

The tutors are the scarce resource, and the two lines want different setups, so the choice gets made by turn three: the tutor fires on turn four, the attempt comes on turn five.

Nest plus Earthcraft is the faster line. Two cards, and it fires at instant speed with the mana open and the stack empty, which is the better target against counter-heavy or wrath-heavy tables.

The Altar loop is the grindier line. Every piece is an engine card the deck wanted anyway, so a half-built loop still plays a fair aristocrats game. Against removal-heavy attrition tables it is the better home for the tutors, because the pieces trade and rebuild where an enchantment pair just dies.

Sequencing

The drains

The fair finish

Not every game needs a loop. Natural Order sacrifices one Squirrel and puts Craterhoof Behemoth onto the battlefield for four mana, ending the game through a wide board on the spot; Green Sun’s Zenith at X equals eight does the same a turn later. Triumph of the Hordes is the answer to the seat you cannot out-drain: it gives the team trample and infect, and infect ignores life totals entirely, so a table sitting behind heavy lifegain still dies to ten poison. Species Specialist, naming Squirrel, is a steady draw off every Squirrel that dies; its trigger is a “may,” so decline it against an opposing Orcish Bowmasters rather than feed the pings.

The tutor tree

Demonic Tutor finds anything. Vampiric Tutor goes on an end step and must be cast last in any sequence: Green Sun’s Zenith, Crop Rotation, Kodama’s Reach, Natural Order, and the fetch lands all shuffle, and a shuffle scatters the card Vampiric just placed on top.

Emeritus of Woe is a second Demonic Tutor on a body: it prepares whenever two or more creatures died that turn, which is most turns here, and while prepared you cast a copy of its spell to find any card. Seven tutors total, and the same seven in both builds.

Green Sun’s Zenith finds green creature cards only, so it never finds Pitiless Plunderer, which is black. Small X for an engine body early; X equals eight puts Craterhoof Behemoth onto the battlefield late.

Diabolic Intent is Demonic Tutor while you are wide: the extra cost is sacrificing one token from a board of Squirrels, and the sacrifice itself feeds the death drains.

Crop Rotation is a four-mode land bullet at instant speed. Swarmyard against removal, since it regenerates a Squirrel and Chatterfang is one. Bojuka Bog against reanimation, exiling a graveyard on entry. Ancient Tomb on the combo turn, two extra colorless the turn the loop needs it. Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth to make Chatterfang unblockable: he has forestwalk, Yavimaya makes every land a Forest, so any defender sitting on a land cannot block him.

Flash interaction

The deck’s defense is instant-speed and mostly uncounterable. Hold it, do not lead with it.