Maybeboard


Squee gives red access to unique card advantage opportunities. You get 1 free discard every turn… so make the most of it!

The only drawback to playing Squee is that you have to cast him AND sacrifice him to get start getting value… but if can you do it efficiently, it's worth it!

Squee needs to be in your hand. This doesn't necessarily mean you sacrifice him, but it usually does. For any sac outlet, there should be some incidental value, not just sending Squee to the graveyard. Broader applicability outside of the early game is important.

Sacrifice Outlet Ratings

based on my subjective rating scale: ( speed / value / scaling ) ☆ = testing

Speed Rates how quickly Squee is handled

  • S Tier - 0 mana or 1 mana with ability to setup in advance
  • A Tier - 1 mana or 2 mana with ability to setup in advance
  • B Tier - 2-4 mana (sacs consistently T4)
  • C Tier - 5 mana (will sac by T4 with 1 mana ramp, or consistently by T5)
  • D Tier - unpredictable sacrifice timing

Value Rates the resources gained, besides sacrificing Squee.

  • S Tier - Draws 3+ Cards, Ramps 3+ Mana, Game Ending
  • A Tier - 2 cards, 2 mana, Large Creature/Damage
  • B Tier - 1 card w/ another effect, 1 mana, Situational Creature/Damage
  • C Tier - 1 card w/o another effect, Small Creature/Damage, Life Gain
  • D Tier - No incidental value

Scaling Rates applicability during the mid/late game.

  • S Tier - High late game value
  • A Tier - High mid game value, Moderate late game value
  • B Tier - Moderate mid game value, Situational late game value
  • C Tier - Situational mid/late game value
  • D Tier - Rare mid/late game value

Included:

  • Lands - Command Beacon, High Market, Desert
  • ☆ ( S+/ C-/ D ) Campfire - The fastest start we can get (Squee goes straight to our hand as early as T2), but really not very good otherwise. The life gain can matter, but it is almost never an effective use of our mana unless we just have extra. Better as an insurance policy against graveyard hate.
  • ( S / A / C-) Greater Gargadon - For 1MV, you can sacrifice multiple permanent types for free at instant speed. Setting this up on T1 or T2 lets us sac Squee before we untap on T4.
  • ( A / S / A ) Skullclamp - Staple.
  • ☆ ( B / A / B-) Broadside Bombardiers - Sacs Squee for 5 damage to any target! Sacrificing a Dragon late game to deal 6-10 additional damage also seems pretty serious, although I think I would only part with a Dragon if that kind of damage leads to player death. There isn't much to sacrifice besides Squee during the midgame (occasional tokens), so hard to say how this will perform on average.
  • ( B / B+/ A ) Fiery Confluence - Can remove early artifact ramp and while taking out Squee and other small creatures like mana dorks. Pretty strong Turn 4 play and scales well.
  • ( B / B+/ A ) Indomitable Creativity - Similar to Industrial Advancement, but better in that we can also remove "must kill" targets, and recycle treasure into other permanents.
  • ( B / B / A-) Industrial Advancement - The payoff is good enough that its worth recasting Squee when you have extra mana for a chance at a dragon. You can sometimes sac other creatures effectively as well. Only downside here is that we can whiff.
  • ☆ ( B / B / B+) The Elder Dragon War - "Read Ahead" lets you pick which mode to start on. (1) is a Pyroclasm effect that can take out Squee and other creatures on curve. (2) lets you discard X draw X, on a turn you are guaranteed to have Squee in hand. (3) makes a 4/4 Dragon. Worst case this is cast as a 4 mana 4/4 Dragon.
  • ( C / A / S ) Tibalt's Trickery - It’s possible to play this and Squee as early as T3, with a T2 Ruby Medallion. The risk of whiffing in this deck is pretty low, most things can be cast proactively. Also, this scales into the late game a silver bullet for difficult to answer threats.
  • ( C / A / A ) Scourge of Valkas - Similar to Dragon Tempest, but works without needing another card for the trigger. Firebreathing helps it scale to be a late game threat.
  • ( D / A+/ A+) Dragon Tempest - The haste effect is quite powerful, being able to remove Squee is incidental value.
  • ( D / A+/ A-) Mask of Memory - The opponent will either be forced to block Squee, or we will draw each turn. Once Squee is in hand, this is a powerful card draw engine with Squee.
  • ( D / A / B+) Sticky Fingers - Our creatures are mostly 4-6MV, so having extra treasure around a significant benefit. This is basically free to play, and we will always have Squee to enchant. Squee becomes a target because we are generating usually 2-3 treasure at a critical point in the game where we are slightly behind from casting Squee.

Not included:

  • ( A+/ B+/ C-) Infernal Plunge - Ramping mana, and sacrificing Squee at 1MV makes this a very fast/efficient card. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of targets besides Squee. We play a handful of token producing cards, but most of our creatures are too valuable to sac at sorcery speed.
  • ( A / B / C ) Marauding Raptor - Ramping all creatures and killing off Squee quickly is very good. The damage can hurt the overall value, although the only negative interactions at this time are with Inti, Seneschal of the Sun, Currency Converter. I don't think this can be in the list at the same time as Broadside Bombardiers, so I tend to cut Raptor when I'm experimenting with creatures that die to its ability. Incidental synergy with Wrathful Red Dragon and Brash Taunter.
  • ( A / B / C-) Crack the Earth - Seems like it would work well with Treasure and other tokens when it isn't sacrificing Squee, but can be very dependent on board state. I you can cast this turn 3 or 4 though for Squee, it will usually do a lot of damage to our opponents'.
  • ( A / C+/ C-) Culling Dais - This is fast, but only drawing 1 card without another effect is not good value for the mana investment. The card draw is also delayed, and there is a small risk that you get no cards if it is destroyed. Of course, there is the upside we draw 2-3 cards.
  • ( C / B-/ C+) Erratic Portal - Kind of slow, but can save/flicker our own creatures like Squee, and tax our opponents.
  • ( D / A / B ) Curse of Opulence - Similar to Sticky Fingers in that you get Gold each turn. You will have to target a player early on, creating a political opponent, and other players will get the opportunity to benefit with Gold via attacking that player as well. There is a bit of a risk/reward nature to the way this card plays in my experience, with the other players ramping and with the political divide.
  • ( D / A- / B+) Grafted Wargear - This will make Squee a solid threat until we get another creature in play, at which point Squee will be sacrificed as we equip it.

You get 1 free discard every turn, so make the most of it!

☆ = testing

Single Discard:

Recurring Discard:

Discard Matters:

Redundancy for Squee (Lieutenants):

Not Included:

  • Wild Guess / Tormenting Voice / Witch's Mark - Honestly these plays about as well as every other version of this effect, but we seem to have reached a critical mass.
  • Spit Flame - can represent multiple free discards at a low cost. I've played this card a lot and am currently just testing Lightning Bolt over it as pinch removal.
  • Flamewake Phoenix - A lot like Squee, but reversed (sacs often, discards once, whereas Squee discards often, sacs less often). This would be significantly better if it could block, as the 2 damage is pretty irrelevant, so it depends a lot on our ability to draw into payoffs. See Industrial Advancement/Broadside Bombardiers/etc.
  • Fiery Temper - Slightly awkward to cast. Removal is best when it can be saved for the perfect moment. The timing restriction here can be annoying to play around.
  • Cathartic Reunion - We want to limit our discards to 1 when possible. This also can't be cast if you have only Squee in hand, which has burned me before.
  • Faithless Looting - Better if we cared about the graveyard, since it does not represent card advantage, only selection.
  • Collector's Vault - Most spells are drawing at least 2 cards. Repeatable 1 card and 1 treasure for 2 mana is decent. The initial investment of "2-mana-get-nothing" before activation occurs is what hurts this the most.
  • Hazoret's Monument - 3 mana for ramp is okay. The value is dependent on what we have in hand, since we have a lot of noncreature spells. Playing this for 3 mana into a single payoff is slow.
  • Argentum Masticore - Removing nonland permanents is very good. At the same time, you have to wait until your next upkeep, so it is slow, vulnerable, and usually a target.
  • Fault Line - Mostly one-sided instant-speed board wipe, combos with Solphim, Mayhem Dominus and Brash Taunter. Fault Line is better than Earthquake because we untap immediately after a large cast, not giving opponents any opportunity to recover.

Not included:

  • Ilharg, the Raze-Boar - There is an issue sometimes where we get to Turn 5 or 6, and we've drawn many expensive creatures. This card can play hasty dragons, and also get additional "enters" triggers.
  • Dual Strike - Copying spells like Unexpected Windfall, the copy is created without having to discard a second card since the discard is a cost. Dual Strike targets everything of value in our deck, and often allows us to smooth our curve while drawing extra cards and making extra treasure in the early/mid game. Reverberate/Fork are slightly less mana efficient, but you get access to copying opponents' spells, which changes a lot how we play the spell. Fork is a better card in a vacuum, but for Squee's purposes Dual Strike feels better to me most of the time.
  • Earthquake - Redundancy for Fault Line.
  • Stuffy Doll - Redundancy for Brash Taunter.
  • Chain Reaction/Star of Extinction - Alternative board wipe options, more fuel for the Brash Taunter/Wrathful Red Dragon.
  • Mudslide - A hate card for non-flying creatures, so pretty one-sided. Playing this reactively after a big attack can be a quite inconvenient for our opponents.

<= 4 MV

  • A Atsushi, the Blazing Sky - A lot of value and utility on a good body.
  • B+ Manaform Hellkite - We cast a lot of non-creature spells for value, and the tokens synergize well with Dragon Tempest, Scourge of Valkas, Terror of the Peaks, and some sac outlets.
  • C+ Leyline Tyrant - Interesting potential ramp, and potential removal. It depends on our mana situation whether we actually get to take advantage of either effect, so often it is just an inexpensive Dragon with a delayed ping.
  • C Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge - Sacrificing Squee or removing creatures will net treasure. Earthquakes are combo pieces with this card. Blasphemous Act and then casting this after is awesome. On its own, we may not have the artifacts to attack, but the body is good for blocking as well. Overall this is highly variable card but can have fun outcomes. 3 MV!

5 MV

  • S Goldspan Dragon - This ramps the turn it comes in so it feels like it costs 3 mana and is all but guaranteed to ramp even more, especially in a deck playing other treasure sources (which we have). Can get wildly out of control.
  • A+ Bonehoard Dracosaur - Cards, tokens, and treasure. This has everything IF we can have an upkeep with it.
  • A Terror of the Peaks - An even better type of Dragon Tempest effect, since it deals damage based on power and considers all creatures!
  • B+ Wrathful Red Dragon - Game ending combo potential with Blasphemous Act and Reckless Endeavor. Makes our dragons essentially unblockable due to the damage threat, and also very effective blockers. Synergizes particularly well with Manaform Hellkite and Nesting Dragon
  • B Scourge of Valkas - Another Dragon Tempest effect is nice. This one gets an immediate trigger when it comes down though, unlike Dragon Tempest and Terror of the Peaks. Firebreathing is a plus, but the body is slightly undersized.
  • B Nesting Dragon - We can't make a token playing this on curve, and only get 1 egg per turn thereafter, but the eggs are dragons and flip to dragons -- double triggering with Dragon Tempest and Scourge of Valkas. They can also be used effectively with sac outlets and hatched with Earthquakes. Tokens can be useful in this deck due to the inclusions for Squee.
  • B- Thundermaw Hellkite - This almost guarantees combat damage, tapping down all flying blockers. Getting in for damage also matters for some dragons. Otherwise, its just a hasty 5/5 for 5, and that seems a fair price.

6 MV

  • A Inferno of the Star Mounts - High reliability.
  • B Hellkite Tyrant - Value is matchup dependent, but can be really great. Needs to get in unblocked.
  • B- Steel Hellkite - Not a great body for 6 MV, but kind of a useful card in that it is one of the few solutions to enchantments. Needs to get in unblocked to get any value, and still needs additional mana after connecting.
  • B- Ryusei, the Falling Star - The delayed earthquake is usually good value, but because it is delayed, a lot of times it just feels like casting a 6 mana 5/5 which is not good!

>= 7 MV

  • A+ Utvara Hellkite - The dragons can come down immediately if we already have other dragons to attack with (or a haste enabler), which is often game ending if unchecked.
  • A Drakuseth, Maw of Flames - Having the ability to deal extra damage to face or remove problematic creatures/planeswalkers from multiple players before blocks happen is really great utility, and it is more consistent than Balefire Dragon because it does not require combat damage to occur. Often times it removes blockers with its ability and guarantees player damage!
  • A Balefire Dragon - Capable of a devastating wipe for 1 player if we can get in unblocked.

Not included:

  • A+ Themberchaud - Earthquake is pretty huge in this deck. This is a better version of Ryusei, the Falling Star. Unfortunately, this card was "secret lair only", so I will not own this until it is a bit cheaper. Maybe it will get a reprint in "Universes Within" like Lucille had into Gisa's Favorite Shovel.
  • A- Ancient Copper Dragon - Can produce insane amounts of treasure. However, the card is $80, and slow/vulnerable.
  • B- Lathliss, Dragon Queen - I don't think we have the "critical mass" of Dragons to make this card consistently good.

Having a high land density makes the deck consistent. I would not recommend cutting lands from the deck for multiple reasons:

  • High Curve - We would like to play our first 5 lands as often as possible, because that is where most of our creatures are at.
  • High Demand - Even while casting expensive creatures, we want to be discarding Squee for value each turn, so having access to the additional mana we need is important.
  • Low Risk - There is little risk of flooding, because the lands make great discard fodder if are unlucky and draw too many. At that point, we've guaranteed tempo -- mission accomplished.

Chance to have ≥3 lands before mulligan

  • 36 lands: 50.108%
  • 37 lands: 52.469% (+2.361%)
  • 38 lands: 54.803% (+2.334%)
  • 39 lands: 57.105% (+2.302%)
  • 40 lands: 59.371% (+2.266%)

Chance to have ≥5 lands by Turn 5

  • 36 lands: 45.641%
  • 37 lands: 48.775% (+3.134%)
  • 38 lands: 51.893% (+3.118%)
  • 39 lands: 54.976% (+3.083%)
  • 40 lands: 58.013% (+3.037%)

It's almost a coin flip whether the deck is able to play lands through Turn 5, and card draw won't be optimal until Squee is online. Every land removed from the deck reduces the odds of playing 5/5 lands by >3%, and I'd like to be able to hit those land drops more than half the time. Running 38-39 lands feels safest, and I wouldn't go lower than 37.

https://www.channelfireball.com/article/How-Many-Lands-Do-You-Need-in-Your-Deck-An-Updated-Analysis/cd1c1a24-d439-4a8e-b369-b936edb0b38a/ is a great article about calculating the number of lands you should have in a deck. We have some cards that are artificially raising our curve like Greater Gargadon, Blasphemous Act, Anger, etc. For the number of "cheap card draw or mana ramp spells", the value is somewhat subjective.

Formula from the article: 31.42 + (3.13 * average mana value) – (0.28 * number of cheap card draw or mana ramp spells) Our value: ~38.5 (last I checked)

Besides missing land drops, colorless land is also surprisingly inconvenient even in a mono colored deck. I've cut colorless lands to ensure Mountains are available for Shattering Spree, Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, Firebreathing effects, etc.

Chance to have ≥2 colorless lands by Turn 2

  • 6 colorless lands: 9.136%
  • 7 colorless lands: 12.173% (+3.037%)
  • 8 colorless lands: 15.445% (+3.272%)
  • 9 colorless lands: 18.898% (+3.453%)

Squee Lands:

  • Command Beacon - Works well for super fast starts, but depends a lot on what else is in hand, because we will be down a land... Usually a better option as an insurance policy against graveyard hate.
  • High Market - Free, sacrifice outlet for Squee
  • Desert - Free, sacrifice outlet for Squee. However, Squee needs to be unaffected by summoning sickness so it is slightly slower than High Market.

Other:

Not included:

  • Sanctum of Eternity - This can be good for Squee, but is a bit too mana intensive. This card very rarely is actually activated.
  • Blast Zone - Investing a lot of mana into this over multiple turns means losing very significant tempo, so there has to be a big impact for it to be worth activating.
  • Terrain Generator - We need to be flooded for this to be worth activating. If we don't have multiple Mountains in hand, we may will spend our turn/mana "ramping" only to miss our land drop the next turn (resulting in no ramp).

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Revision 33 See all

(1 day ago)

Date added 4 years
Last updated 1 day
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

15 - 0 Mythic Rares

36 - 0 Rares

9 - 0 Uncommons

10 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.71
Tokens Copy Clone, Dinosaur 3/1 R, Dragon 2/2 R, Dragon 4/4 R, Dragon 5/5 R, Dragon 6/6 R, Dragon Egg 0/2 R, Dragon Illusion */* R, Goblin Shaman, Rogue 2/2 B, Treasure
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