Welcome to the world of Squee Storm
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This is copy pasted (with a few alterations) from my mtgsalvation post about this deck found here. The list is somewhat out of date, but I plan to update it in the near future. some elements also didn't make it on to this post such as the changelog, but hopefully I'll be able to update the post with the changelog eventually. The list has been fully updated with the addition of a table of contents as well as a Changelog!
This is HailMary.dec, or as I like to call the list: 50,000 Volts Straight to the Nipples. This list is inspired by Tryno and ISBPathfinder's cooperative list. While my own game plan has begun diverging greatly from theirs much credit goes to them for tinkering with and figuring out ways in which this useless little goblin can be put to use. I wanted to create this thread in order to discuss Squee and the way I am using him. Namely, discussing Squee as the commander of a mono red storm list.
Before we take a look at the list I'd like to talk about why this deck wins. Not how it wins, hopefully you'll gain a sense of how reading through the post, but why it wins. In order to do that we have to address the elephant in the room: Why Squee?
We're going to go about answering this question in two ways. First by asking: Why not Squee, i.e. who can we use instead? And second by investigating what Squee actually offers us.
We're going to go about answering this question in two ways. First by asking: Why not Squee, i.e. who can we use instead? And second by investigating what Squee actually offers us.
- Neheb, the Eternal Neheb is probably the best non-Squee commander for this list as it stands. His potential to create huge surges of mana is invaluable to a storm turn. I would probably suggest a few alterations to the deck such as cutting out parts of the goblin package as well as some of the more limited cost reduction effects in favor of group damage effects. Price of Progress, Acidic Soil, and Pyrohemia are all good options here. You're probably also going to want a couple of ways to protect Neheb via artifacts, so things like Darksteel Plate, and the boots. Hammer of Nazahn is a new one from c17 that I find myself wanting in decks with high-profile commanders like Neheb. Neheb packs a lot of power, and in mono-red this can be a serious liability. Outside of artifacts red just doesn't have many ways of protecting a highly impactful creature such as Neheb, so I've always found commanders like this too glass cannony for my tastes. My biggest recommendation for a deck like this is to expect Neheb to eat removal spells, and have a plan for when he's not on the board.
- Jaya Ballard, Task Mage My current Squee list stemmed originally from an artifact heavy Jaya Ballard control list. Jaya is an excellent commander and, if you're looking into building mono-red control, one that I would highly recommend you check out. Again you're going to need some protection artifacts to keep the hate off Jaya. My favorites were Plate, the boots, and a sneaky set of magebane armor to keep Jaya from killing herself with her "ultimate." Make friends with a blue mage at the table, because you're not going to be able to do everything yourself. And make sure you study up on Weebo's Primer. Jaya is a very fun, political commander for those looking for mono-red control.
- Daretti, Scrap Savant If you're looking for a more artifact centric take on mono-red spell-slinger Pathfinder has a nice post here. Daretti's minus is excellent for recurring artifacts that are good in spell-slinger such as Pyromancer's Goggles, Mirari, or Primal Amulet, and his plus makes sure your hand is always filled with gas. Personally I have two issues with Daretti. First of all, this list was born from Jaya which utilized artifacts heavily and when I retooled my list I decided to move away from artifacts and more towards pure spell-slinger/storm. Second, is that Daretti draws a lot of hate. This is a recurring theme for a lot of mono-red's most popular commanders, and in my opinion red just doesn't have a lot of options available for protecting those high profile creatures.
- Purphoros, God of the forge/Krenko, Mob Boss If you're looking for a more standard goblin tribal list these two are probably a good place to start as far as commanders go. Krenko will make sure you have a constant supply of goblins, where as Purphoros will give you reach beyond the combat step. Both are pretty scary and garner well-earned fear, but Krenko is going to require a lot more protection than Purphoros because of the lack of indestructible. Similar to the other commander options Krenko is difficult to protect and also loves eating removal. Purph less so, but he will scare people and they will focus you. They both feel pretty linear to me as well, i.e. step 1) land commander step 2) produce tokens step 3) ??? step 4) profit, but I don't know maybe that's just my experience of playing against them.
Why Squee?
This deck is a kind of ridiculous and a bit of a meme deck and choosing Squee for our commander is somewhat meant to reflect that. However, during my testing Squee has proved to have many subtle, yet legitimate, advantages over other mono-red commanders.
The way I see it playing storm effectively involves the management of two key aspects: your clock, and your opponents clock. Storming off requires some setup and you can increase your consistency in a storm deck by either decreasing the amount of set up time, or by increasing the amount of time it takes opponents to kill you. For example, modern storm decks run cost reducers such as Goblin Electromancer, and cantrips/rituals such as Manamorphose in order to hit their storm turn fast and reliably. In contrast a mono blue Baral storm edh list will run a wall of counter spells in order to buy them time to set up their storm turn. Squee accomplishes this goal in a bit of an unorthodox way: overwhelming incompetence. The theory is that if you sit down at a table with Squee against three strong commanders, you will be overlooked. You will get extra time to set up your storm turn as people will not take your deck seriously. This underestimation is exactly what we are counting on. Is it a bold move? Yes absolutely. Does it work out for us every time? No not really. Is it a fun way to go about a game of commander anyway? 100%
The Deck:
Decklist
Approximate Total Cost:
Card Analysis:
In this section I'm going to look at the cards individually and via packages, why I run them, why they work in the deck, and alternatives you can use.
Goblins
At only 15 creatures this deck could hardly be considered a tribal deck. That being said, it does run a fair number of goblins. This is mainly because they are cards I would want anyway that just happen to be goblins (Guttersnipe), or because they are are cards that work well with what Squee is trying to do (Sharpshooter). Then there are the goblins in here meant to support the rest of the package (Matron, Krenko).
At only 15 creatures this deck could hardly be considered a tribal deck. That being said, it does run a fair number of goblins. This is mainly because they are cards I would want anyway that just happen to be goblins (Guttersnipe), or because they are are cards that work well with what Squee is trying to do (Sharpshooter). Then there are the goblins in here meant to support the rest of the package (Matron, Krenko).
- Skirk Prospector A must have for any Squee list, and quickly becoming one of my favorite goblins. Primarily it is a sacrifice outlet that also functionally reduces the cost of Squee by one. Can act as a ritual if enough goblins are on the field, and in the late game you can sacrifice any goblins that are no longer necessary to help clinch the mana necessary for the winning play.
- Dark-Dweller Oracle Let's us sacrifice Squee and generate card advantage. Can also sacrifice any of the random token that this deck loves to litter everywhere.
- Goblin Sharpshooter Another great goblin for Squee. Offers limited removal, but that's not really why he's here. Functionally he can act as a sac outlet for Squee, as he will untap if you use him to kill Squee. He can also be a win con if we get enough bodies on the field, the probability of this happening is greatly increased for every copy of Insult we can get active in a turn. Also makes a great target for Heat Shimmer, especially if we can copy shimmer a couple of times.
- Pashalik Mons This is a relatively new addition and I'm still looking to see how he performs before I solidify his spot. His first ability gives us removal when we need it as well as a wincon on our storm turns. With just him and a sac outlet Squee becomes a nice little pinger. His second ability is somewhat expensive, but if we don't have a sac outlet/anything else to spend our mana on it can be a nice little sink.
- Guttersnipe The incremental damage is nice, especially on storm turns. Works great with Insult and co' to snipe down the whole table with nice chunks of damage. Good with Neheb, the Eternal to refund our mana on second main phase, which works better the more opponents you have.
- Treasure Nabber The flavor of this card is just too good to pass up. it also helps that he is actually pretty good ramp. The variance is a little high as some games he won't do much of anything while other games he will net you a ton of mana. Just the fact that he is monored ramp that is tutor-able with Matron is enough for me to justify his inclusion.
- Squee, Goblin Nabob I mean, how could I not play him??? In all seriousness though he's pretty good in the deck. He can be discarded to any number of filtering effects, he is a goblin, and he's best friends with Skullclamp
- Goblin Matron Only 9 other goblins in the list, but they're good enough to warrant running a tutor. Don't really know what else to say to be honest.
- Krenko, Mob Boss When you cast Krenko, even with just a few other goblins on the field, one of two things happen. He eats some removal, or he eats all your opponents. The card gets out of hand quick, and while he's certainly not game plan number one, goblin beats makes a great backup plan. Even just a few activations will turn prospector into a ritual which can drastically improve a storm turn. Also Skullclamp...
- Siege-Gang Commander Comes along with some bodies, is a sac outlet for Squee (though quite an expensive one to be real), I dunno just a nice all rounder I guess. Might get the axe at some point.
- Goblin Dark-Dwellers Really good card imo. Is tutor-able with matron and really unlocks your graveyard. Also four is a non-zero amount of damage, especially when it's getting multiplied by 4 or even 8 with insult and co'.
Hail Mary
This is my favorite package in the deck, and one I have found to be much, much more effective than I thought it would be. As it turns out, taking extra turns is incredibley powerful... who woulda thunk.
You'll notice an exclusion of sundial of the infinite in my list which, by all means you should run... if you're a scrub. In all seriousness though, I don't really feel like you need the dial. Often times all you need is that one extra turn of setup before your storm turn to really go off. A large part of the strategy of this deck is timing these cards correctly, as if you don't you actually just lose the game. I do see potential for a different style of deck which pulls the other extra turn spells in and leans in to artifact synergies to make infinite extra turns with sundial of the infinite. However, it feels like this deck would be drastically different from the one I have here and would probably involve a different commander as well as some other colors. This is my favorite package in the deck, and one I have found to be much, much more effective than I thought it would be. As it turns out, taking extra turns is incredibley powerful... who woulda thunk.
- Glorious End This card is really good. Mostly because of things people say after you state "I have a response" to an X=14 Torment of Hailfire. They will ask you with a scoff "what do you have a counterspell in mono red?" and you will look them in the eyes and say "Yes" and it will feel amazing. Not only is this card a catchall *counterspell, when cast on an opponents upkeep during a 1v1 situation it can also serve as pseudo extra turn spell.
*Terms and conditions may apply: The card exiles all spells and effects on the stack thus getting around non counterable spells, but as such it is not great at protecting your own spells from countermagic. If countermagic is a problem in your meta I would recommend adding Pyroblast/Red Elemental Blast to your list. - Final Fortune Again, this card is really good. A two mana extra turn spell that doesn't cost $30,000 and isn't banned in commander? And it's at instant speed? The downside is steep, but if you're casting this card you should already have a plan for that, or it is literally your last ditch effort for staying in/winning the game.
Reverberate and Co'
These cards are... explosive. Many would say that perhaps they are all a bit "winmore" but I disagree, these cards, specifically in combination, are what allow you to win. Chaining them together and finding ridiculous combinations is where the power, and fun, of this deck lies. Three, four, five, or even six copies of one spell is pretty par for the course and often how you will end the game with this deck.
Copy Spells:
These cards are... explosive. Many would say that perhaps they are all a bit "winmore" but I disagree, these cards, specifically in combination, are what allow you to win. Chaining them together and finding ridiculous combinations is where the power, and fun, of this deck lies. Three, four, five, or even six copies of one spell is pretty par for the course and often how you will end the game with this deck.
Copy Spells:
- Reverberate/Fork Classic and versatile. Can be used to copy counter-magic to protect your spells, can be used on opponent's spells, or can just be used to power up your own big finisher.
- Howl of the Horde Quickly becoming one of my favorites. Raid is very easy to trigger with Squee around, and doubling your spells twice gets out of hand quick. In combination with other copy effects you can very easily get four or six copies of whatever big finisher you have planned.
- Mirrorpool This card is underplayed imo. I usually use the first ability, however the second can be incredibly useful in the right situation. While the abilities on this card are a little pricey, the opportunity cost for playing it is next to zero. We're mono color so we don't need to worry about color fixing, and it's one of three lands that enter tapped which isn't even that big of a deal for this deck anyway.
- Primal Wellspring Of all the effects this is the hardest one to turn on, but once it gets going it is very nice. Being able to copy a spell every turn will build up value incredibly quickly. The other side, Primal Amulet, is also nothing to scoff at, cost reducers are very good in this deck.
- Bonus Round This card is ridiculous, it makes your storm turns that much more explosive, and allows for many many shenanigans.
- Commune with Lava When played correctly this card can be very powerful. Some things to keep in mind: It is instant speed, and the cards stick around until your next end step. When cast to dig for a specific spell make sure you leave the mana up to cast that spell should you find it. Doubling this card just makes it that much better, and it often allows you to see the better part of your deck during your storm turn.
- Jaya's Immolating Inferno The legendary requirement is pretty easy to fill with Squee around. This card will finish games especially when combined with a couple extra copies and or Insult
- Insult // Injury I ******* love this card. It will steal you games out of nowhere. Let's do some algebra real quick. When calculating extra copies of this spell the formula is pretty simple: 2^X where X is the number of copies you have active. 3 copies active? 2^3=2*2*2=8. 4 copies active? 2^4=2*2*2*2=16. Now all the sudden your lightning bolt is doing 3*16=48. 4 copies is not difficult to achieve with Howl and all the graveyard interaction I've jammed into the list. 48 damage is insane, people will not see it coming. Seriously, just try this card. It is so good, and so satisfying.
- Heat Shimmer Another underplayed card imo. It is incredibly versatile being able to copy your stuff or your opponents. With additional copies it gets crazy, even when just looking at your own creatures. 3-4 extra copies of Guttersnipe? Incredible. Flayer? that Squee damage is going to build fast. Sharpshooter? Ping all the things. It's counterintuitive, but casting a couple copies of this on Krenko will pump your goblin count massively out of the blue.
- Mana Geyser And of course. Who could forget about the ole Geyser? Sometimes you just need some mana.
- Finale of Promise This card is very interesting. It's graveyard recursion that scales really well with copy spells. If you live the dream and get to cast this for x10 with a Bonus Round or something active you should probably just win the game.
- Electrodominance Another interesting one. It's pretty new to the list so I'm still testing it but I like it so far. It scales well with copy spells as well as Insult and it's an instant which is nice.
Storm Package
The list only runs two actual storm cards, the reason I call it Squee Storm is because often, the turns you win play out like storm turns play out. The list also runs quite a few cards that you are probably used to seeing in storm lists.
Support Cards:
The list only runs two actual storm cards, the reason I call it Squee Storm is because often, the turns you win play out like storm turns play out. The list also runs quite a few cards that you are probably used to seeing in storm lists.
Support Cards:
- Squee, the Immortal Squee actually does something here! With a sac outlet he becomes three mana: increase your storm count by 1. Not great but with a cost reducer it's a bit better. If we can get a cost reducer and Prospector on the field then it's just one mana to increase your storm count by one, which is not too bad at all.
- Neheb, the Eternal Really good at making mana. Storm likes a lot of mana. He's also really good at blocking, and getting in for attacks. You could run him as your commander.
- Ruby Medallion The best of the cost reducers. Comes down on two, reduces everything. 10/10 would cast again.
- Primal Amulet It's a bit pricey and it only reduces for instants and sorceries, but the payoff for flipping it more than makes up for these downsides. Worth noting too that you don't have to flip it when it reaches four counters, you can keep it on the amulet side for a bit if you want to keep the cost reduction effect.
- Recoup Graveyard recursion in mono-red, yes please. It's a little limited but currently my list is at 21 sorceries so this card has no trouble finding a target. Both our storm cards and many of our finishers are sorceries and this card is quite useful in getting multiple uses out of them. Also has flashback so I think technically that's card advantage of +1.
- Past in Flames More graveyard recursion! This is the classic storm piece, and allows you to burn through resources, and then re-burn through those resources. Honestly this one card is probably a lot of what makes mono red storm viable at all. Also has flashback itself so that's neat.
- Runaway Steam-kin This card is excellent for the deck. It gives a cost reduction on all our red spells which is great when we are storming off, when we are casting Squee and basically just all the time.
- Empty the Warrens Good storm card. Can be used as a finisher, or just a value cast with storm count of like 4 or 5. Loves clamp and Krenko. With Prospector on the field it can be a ritual, refueling you with mana necessary to keep storming off.
- Ignite Memories Haven't gotten a huge amount of testing with this card but it seems pretty nice. Honestly Grapeshot is probably better, and you could even run both if you're into that kidna thing, but I believe in the heart of cards and so I will take the high-variance option thank you very much.
Card Draw and Filtering
Historically mono-red has struggled for card advantage in EDH. However, in this fresh year of 2019 there are actually plenty of options and tricks available to fulfill your card advantage wishes. This is no blue deck, and there is no way to get around that, so we have to take what we can get but it's not all bad. Particularly in this deck which doesn't commit a lot of resources to the board, I generally don't find myself wanting for more card draw.
Historically mono-red has struggled for card advantage in EDH. However, in this fresh year of 2019 there are actually plenty of options and tricks available to fulfill your card advantage wishes. This is no blue deck, and there is no way to get around that, so we have to take what we can get but it's not all bad. Particularly in this deck which doesn't commit a lot of resources to the board, I generally don't find myself wanting for more card draw.
- Runehorn Hellkite I really like this dragon. The effect costs more than Reforge, but only by one, as this list has no way to reliably trigger miracle. The dragon can be activated at instant speed too which is a huge upside as it allows you to use it the end-step before your turn giving you first access to the new grips. It's great to have in the deck as a tutor target when you late game top-deck a Gamble. The card is also a nice flying beater/blocker which the deck is kind of lacking.
- Skullclamp Good card is good card. With Squee it becomes a four mana divination, which honestly, imo is one of the biggest incentives for running Squee as your commander. Just don't be surprised when this card eats a removal spell lol.
- Hazoret's Monument Great with Squee. Reduces cost and gives us a rummage every time we cast him. If it sticks around it allows us to see a large portion of the deck during the course of the game.
- Burning Inquiry/Goblin Lore Bad cards are bad. Probably play something like Wild Guess here instead. But turn one Inquiry has to be one of my favorite plays, and can really throw a wrench in your opponent's plans. Digging four deep is also pretty relevant especially in mono red, discarding at random can be rough but the deck has enough graveyard synergy that it's usually not too bad. Also, have I mentioned that I believe in the heart of the cards? Because I believe in the heart of the cards :p.
- Faithless Looting Cheap looting that lets us draw cards before we discard. 10/10. Can also be cast from the graveyard so technically it breaks even on card advantage instead of being -1.
- Tormenting Voice/Cathartic Reunion Good cards that let you see more of your deck. Be careful, people love to counter these spells, and when they do it will feel bad. The discard is part of the cost so if you copy them you get to draw more without having to discard more so thats neat.
- Wheel of Fortune Good card is good.
Walkers
In general, I dislike planeswalkers, which is why you'll only see three in my list. Mostly due to their over-saturation in the story and on the cardboard. I also feel like my dislike for Atraxa Superfriends - and the lazy, good-stuff, deckbuilding it promotes - bleeds over onto planeswalkers a bit. But these ones are special, and red (one only in spirit, but if Karn Liberated had a color he'd have to be red flavor wise riight?).
In general, I dislike planeswalkers, which is why you'll only see three in my list. Mostly due to their over-saturation in the story and on the cardboard. I also feel like my dislike for Atraxa Superfriends - and the lazy, good-stuff, deckbuilding it promotes - bleeds over onto planeswalkers a bit. But these ones are special, and red (one only in spirit, but if Karn Liberated had a color he'd have to be red flavor wise riight?).
- Jaya Ballard Long ago (2010) my parents bought junior-mage-isabelle Premium Deck Series: Fire and Lightning for Christmas. I loved it. My friend would only let me play it against him once per day because it was so much better than the kitchen table decks we were brewing at the time. A few years later (2015) I was itching to build a new commander deck, after dabbling in the format for about a year or so. Digging through my collection I stumbled upon Jaya Ballard, Task Mage|PD2 and knew what I had to do. Jumping on to the forums I found Weebo's Primer and studied up on mono-red EDH. I assembled what I could out of my collection, and instantly fell in love. In April of 2018 I bought a fat pack of Dominaria, I pulled Squee and not much else. I had already been thinking about retooling my mono-red list with a different commander but it wasn't until a month later that I would pull the trigger on this project. I was in target buying some things when I decided to pick up a pack of Dominaria, and who should I pull but Jaya Ballard. I knew what the heart of the cards was telling me. That day I decided I would build Squee-Storm, and I haven't looked back. Oh yeah also, she's good in the deck. Both pluses are relevant and if we ever to get ultimate it's "Welcome to Value Town, population: Us"
- Karn Liberated Good card is good. Is one of two ways this list has to interact with enchantments so thats neat. Chaining extra turns into his ultimate is also fun (and will likely result in a win via opponents scooping).
- Chandra, Flamecaller Chandra is very versatile. Her +1 can actually add a decent amount of pressure, also interacts well with Neheb and Insult. Her 0 is actual card advantage in mono-red so thats pretty neat. And her -X is there for when you need to wipe the board.
- Chandra, Torch of Defiance This is a new addition so I haven't tested her too much but she feels very at home in the list. All her abilities are relevant and if we ever get her ult it gives us a win con on a storm turn or just removal to help us survive until then.
The Rest
The rest of the cards that haven't been mentioned in the above packages. These are the standalone utility cards that make the whole deck go round. Here is probably also where there is the most flex in terms of cutting and testing different cards, however a few of these cards are very good for Squee.
Non-Lands:
The rest of the cards that haven't been mentioned in the above packages. These are the standalone utility cards that make the whole deck go round. Here is probably also where there is the most flex in terms of cutting and testing different cards, however a few of these cards are very good for Squee.
Non-Lands:
- Shreds of Sanity New addition, but seems like it could do work. As I shift away from the token sub theme one of the card types I've been trying to run more of is instants. I'm at 9 right now which is a little light for this effect but hopefully I'll be able to jam some more in the future. Graveyard interaction in red is pretty limited so I'm running almost all the effects that I can.
- Flayer of the Hatebound Very good card for Squee. With him and a sac outlet it makes every cast of Squee turn into a ping for two damage. With enough mana this can be a win con. A trick that I like: with Flayer on the field cast Squee from your graveyard and target Flayer with the damage, Flayer will un-die and come back to deal five damage to whatever you need to kill.
- Lightning Bolt|Premium deck series: fire and lightning Will go in every mono-red deck I ever build. People think it's bad and that's part of the reason it's so good. Also Bolting someone for 48 with the help of a couple Insult Is possibly the most satisfying way I have ever killed someone in this format.
- Chaos Warp Enchantment removal in mono-red. 10/10 would cast again. Sometimes the flip can be rough but in general getting rid of whatever you need to get rid of is worth the risk. If someone ever flips the card I warp I think I might just scoop on sight.
- Burn Away Graveyard hate is hard to come by in mono-red, and this card has more interaction with the rest of the deck than some of the artifact based hate. Also, 6 is a non zero amount of damage, it will kill things. Need to test it more to see if it is worth it over something like relic
- Sol Ring/Thran Dynamo/Darksteel Ingot/Caged Sun Ramp ramp ramp ramp ramp. Hopefully one day Caged Sun will become Gauntlet of Might but today is not that day.
- Shattering Spree If there's one thing mono-red is good at doing, it's blowing up artifacts. This is my favorite way of doing it, but feel free to substitute with whatever you have on hand/whatever your favorites are. If you're playing in a meta with lots of artifact decks I would recommend Vandalblast, in my own meta I don't usually want to blow up more than five artifacts anyway though. I generally try to be conservative with my removal usage in the deck because if you start getting hated on you will die pretty quick generally.
- Gamble Unconditional tutor for one mana. The discard is rough but I promise this is a good card. If you choose to run it make sure you have cards in the deck that enable you to Gamble even when it's the last card in your hand. So cards with flashback, or my favorite hellkite. Also, have a backup plan for when you inevitably discard the card you tutored for. Sometimes though you just got to believe in the heart of the cards.
- Goblin Grenade Similar to bolt but with more damage. The sacrifice cost is really easy to pay with Squee around.
- Shenanigans Another new addition. Very nice for repeatable artifact disruption, again if your meta is heavy with artifact decks I would recommend swapping out or jamming in a Vandalblast into your list.
- Desecrated Tomb Great value when casting Squee out the yard. The bats are really nice as flying blockers too which this list is pretty light on. I am starting to shy away from the token theme and so maybe this card will get axed some day, but I think it more than holds its own for now.
- Blasphemous Act Board wipe's are good in EDH. Should probably have a couple more in this list. I had Starstorm in here for a while, but just found myself cycling it away a lot. For now I'm just gonna wing it with the one.
- Goblin Bombardment This card is very good for Squee. Sac outlet that also does damage. Also it is not goblin specific so it can be used for any creatures you might have on the field. I think I need another sac outlet in this deck and have been wanting to get my hands on an Altar.
- Buried ruin Enough artifacts in the list to warrant this one. Also enough artifacts that love eating removal, i.e. Clamp, Primal Amulet, Caged Sun.
- Kher Keep Good card for any red list imo. This deck loves having random bodies on the field and the Keep is one of the best ways to do that. Besides not tapping for red mana, the opportunity cost for running this card is very low. A bit awkward that they're kobolds and not goblins but we find uses for them in chumping, bombarding and ole' reliable, just to name a few.
- Myriad landscape Not the most efficient ramp, but it makes do. With the small amount of ETB tapped lands we run in the list I'm alright with this being one of them. If that number increases in the future this card might get the axe but we'll see.
- Petrified Field I like to have a certain amount of colorless sources in the list for Mirrorpool and this is one that interacts well with that land, as it is able to fetch it from the grave for a second use. Field is underplayed imo.
- Strip Mine Please play strip mine in EDH.
- Temple of the False God Some people like it, some people don't. Been a staple for me in a lot of decks, but recently I've been feeling the urge to pull it out.
- Thespian's Stage Valakut synergies used to be much more key to the deck, thus the Stage. It's just kind of stuck around since those days. Can copy opponent's lands which is nice, but it might come out one of these days.
- Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle No longer a key part of the deck, but it's nice to have in here. The incidental damage is nice when we happen to draw it. Has nice synergy with Neheb.
- Path of Ancestry Recent addition. Has been great every time I play it. Enters tapped is a small price to pay for the reward of a scry on every Squee cast.
Changelog:
As of right now these are the changes that have been made since I stopped posting on mtgsalvation (I lost my password, rip) back in 2018. If you would like an account of the changes made previously, for now you can visit the mtgsalvation list here. Hopefully I'll eventually get those transferred over to this site, but for now here's a major overhaul that has taken place in the last half year or so:
Changes
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8/11/2019 Out:
- Young Pyromancer Initially this deck had a bigger token theme, but I noticed through testing that when I moved even more in that direction (with cards like Ashnod's Altar) I ended up being spread too thin. So young pz gets the axe for more storm centric cards.
- Burnished Hart Too slow, and without any real artifact synergy it doesn't feel worth it to me.
- Goblin Warchief Both of his abilities are nice, but I didn't feel the deck could take advantage of them well enough to justify his spot.
- Izzet Chemister Slow and fragile. When he works he feels great but I always very anxious playing him/using his ability because he really just felt like a removal magnet.
- Solemn Simulacrum Same as the Hart pretty much. Not enough artifact synergies to justify taking up a creature slot
- Goblin Trashmaster Would rather have a less conditional sac outlet and less conditional interaction. Can be good but on average didn't really work out like I was hoping he would
- Charmbreaker Devils Wanted less random graveyard recursion. Devils are also very expensive for a creature that just sits there for a turn cycle. I honestly really like the card though and he might return at some point
- Indomitable Creativity The flavor on this card makes me love it sooo much. But as I moved away from the token theme a bit I found myself drawing this with nothing to use it on
- Disrupt Decorum Another pet card of mine. I really like it but I think as the list has gotten more focused I've found better things to do with this slot
- Goblinslide Another token card that the deck has started to move away from. Incremental value is nice but playing off curve has gotten more and more painful as the list has gotten more refined
- Outpost Siege I like this card and it might see a return at some point but I got my hands on a Chandra, Torch of Defiance which just seems to be a bit better
- Vance's Blasting Cannons Not being able to play cards off this feels bad. It's also just a bit slow, as a storm deck I prefer one time use card draw that goes deeper.
- Runaway Steam-kin Great mana producer, essentially gives us a cost reduction on all our red spells. With its addition there is actually an infinite combo in the deck (as much as I try to avoid that). With Steam-kin,Prospector, and Medallion/Monument we get infinite storm count and infinite mana. I'm alright with this combo because it is 4 cards and doesn't do anything on it's own. Plus it's really fun.
- Pashalik Mons Good finisher that is tutor-able with Matron. The sac outlet is good if we don't have anything else to do with our mana.
- Treasure Nabber Really fun ramp card that is relevant at every table (if not every game).
- Fork I finally got one! It's in German.
- Electrodominance Fun card that scales well with both Insult and Copyspells
- Desecrated Tomb Excellent way to get value out of casting Squee from the yard. The bats get scary quick.
- Shenanigans Love this card haha, and it's really good. Repeatable artifact removal. Neat.
- Goblin Lore Ya know, this card probably isn't good. But I gotta run it cause I believe in the heart of the cards and it also digs us pretty deep. There are also quite a few cards that we don't mind being in our graveyard so much.
- Bonus Round This card will lead to some explosive turns. Just be careful with it as it also doubles your opponent's spells for the turn.
- Shreds of Sanity Gives us more graveyard recursion which is always welcome. I think I may need to up the instant count a little bit to make it work better though.
- Finale of Promise Pretty similar to Shreds of Sanity. Graveyard recursion is neat. May need more instants.
- Chandra, Torch of Defiance Really nice four drop. All her abilities are relevant and if we ever get her ult it gives us a win con on a storm turn or just removal to help us survive until then.
Strategy Coming soon
One more thing for those who are curious:
50,000 Volts Straight to the Nipples
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Besides playing magic the gathering I sometimes find myself hanging out with friends who would rather play a different card game, many of you probably know what I'm talking about but for those who don't, it's called "Cards Against Humanity." It's a fun party game (improved a great deal by inebriation of some description imo) and one of the cards in it is "50,000 Volts straight to the nipples." The reason this title applies so well to this deck is for the simple reason that when I created this deck, it deck was capable of delivering around 50,000 damage in a single lightning bolt. Of course this is a magical christmas-land set up but it's still impressive. So how do you do it? Here are the necessary cards:
Ok so the set up goes like this (It assumes all these cards are in your hand and that Mirrorpool, Petrified Field, and Primal Wellspring are on the battlefield): Attack with a creature --> cast Howl of the Horde off of Primal Wellspring --> Reverberate --> Mirrorpool targeting Howl --> Insult. At this point you have 8 copies of Insult active, but the fun doesn't stop there. Petrified Field targeting Mirrorpool and playing it as your land for turn --> Past in Flames --> Howl of the Horde --> Reverberate --> Mirrorpool targeting Howl --> Insult. This gets you another 6 copies of Insult for a total of 14. Because math your damage is now multiplied by 2^14 or 16,384. Cast yourself a humble little Lightning Bolt and all of the sudden you've just delivered 49,152 volts straight to the sorry sorry nipples of your unwitting opponent. In the year or so I've had this deck it has collected many more copy spells and so there is much more possible damage, I'm not sure how much but I will figure it out at some point.
Decklist
Approximate Total Cost:
Ok so the set up goes like this (It assumes all these cards are in your hand and that Mirrorpool, Petrified Field, and Primal Wellspring are on the battlefield): Attack with a creature --> cast Howl of the Horde off of Primal Wellspring --> Reverberate --> Mirrorpool targeting Howl --> Insult. At this point you have 8 copies of Insult active, but the fun doesn't stop there. Petrified Field targeting Mirrorpool and playing it as your land for turn --> Past in Flames --> Howl of the Horde --> Reverberate --> Mirrorpool targeting Howl --> Insult. This gets you another 6 copies of Insult for a total of 14. Because math your damage is now multiplied by 2^14 or 16,384. Cast yourself a humble little Lightning Bolt and all of the sudden you've just delivered 49,152 volts straight to the sorry sorry nipples of your unwitting opponent. In the year or so I've had this deck it has collected many more copy spells and so there is much more possible damage, I'm not sure how much but I will figure it out at some point.
