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Squallbble Up [Primer]

Commander / EDH Aggro Bracket 3 Goad Mercenary Midrange Multiplayer Pillow Fort Primer RBW (Mardu) Theme/Gimmick

Crow_Umbra

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Land (35)

Enchantment (5)

Creature (29)

Sorcery (7)

Commander (1)

Commander: Squall, Gunblade Duelist

Instant (12)

Artifact (11)

Maybeboard

Creature (28)

Enchantment (26)

Instant (17)

Sorcery (3)

Artifact (1)

It's time to Squallbble Up. Yes, this is my second Mardu deck to feature a Kendrick Lamar reference in the past year. Coincidentally enough, it's the second Mardu Final Fantasy commander I've brewed this year to use a Kendrick reference.

My deck brewing efforts are reincarnated in a new Mardu concept. Besides Mardu Blink/Exile Matters, the archetype I've wanted most next was Mardu Goad. I initially was interested in Squall, Gunblade Duelist as a group slug piece in my Isshin, Two Heavens as One deck, but upon closer reading I realized that Squall triggers off any creatures attacking your opponents (with the chosen number for power or toughness).

IP, ownership, the blueprint is by me

Mr. Get Off, I get off and mop feet

This deck traces its "roots/lineage" to my Nelly Borca, Impulsive Accuserfoil and Isshin, Two Heavens as One decks respectively, and both are in Squall's 99 (for now).

The concept for this deck is pretty simple and straightforward. Squall encourages ,or in some cases, forces your opponents to squabble up. Beyond Squall's damage trigger, the deck makes use of other political pieces that reward your opponents (and you) for hitting each other, and uses pillow fort and fog effects to protect against eventual crack backs. In this first iteration the deck utilizes a few Aggro creatures and token generators to switch up and apply its own Aggro pressure once the timing is right.

The deck currently features no combos, but a Breath of Fury based combo could probably fit right in if needed.

"I got hits, I got bucks, I got new paper cuts

I got friends, I got foes, but they all sitting ducks"

Before you run off to brew your own version of this deck, it may be worth considering some of the potential strengths, weakness, and stigmas of this play style. Goading and playing politics may not be everyone's cup of tea, whether piloting or being on the receiving end.

Highlights

  • These types of decks tend to scale to the table they are playing at.

  • Strategies like Goad are very interactive and help break up stalemated board states.

  • As a form of control, Goad is slightly less "feels bad", since it still gives players some autonomy over their game actions and doesn't slow down the game in the way that Stax and other forms of Control tend to do.

  • Goad can help redirect more aggressive and established boards away while you establish and build up resources.

  • Decks that run smaller utility creatures, or tend to run fewer creatures (spell slinger) may have a harder time maintaining board presence.

  • "Incentive" cards provide a means to wheel and deal with politics in a manner that is more proactive and aggressive compared to Group Hug decks.

Drawbacks

  • Goad/Politics decks tend to scale to the table they are playing at lol. This is definitely a double-edged aspect to this strategy.

  • Playing politics is also very group (and pilot) dependent to be most effective.

  • Goad is often considered a "Second Place Strategy", as they can have a harder time closing out games if they make it to a 1 v 1.

  • Due to needing a volume of Goad enablers and political incentives, a deck like this may need a lot of reps to fine-tune components like quantity and type of removal, as well as alternative win-cons such as combos for those 1 v 1 scenarios.

  • Speaking of fine-tuning category quantities, this deck can be commander dependent for the damage support element, and may need more dedicated means of protecting Squall, power buffs to augment his damage trigger output, and Blink for resets.

The aspect of the deck that will be sure to tickle most brewers brains and be a source for decision paralysis and reconsideration. When choosing a number on Squall, Gunblade Duelist's ETB, there are a few key decision branches to consider:

  • Which P/T number is most common at the time of ETB
  • Is it more advantageous to pick a number that is more consistent for your own permanents, leading to trigger consistency?
  • Do you strike deals and pick a number based on an opponent's board if they are willing to help?

Blink pieces can help reset this as needed, but without density that may not happen often. Here are some baseline P/T numbers of creatures in this deck for consideration as of 10/16/25:

Baseline Power

  • Variable/ baseline 0 - 1 creature( Life of the Party )

  • P1: 3 creatures, plus 1 creatures that make 1/1 tokens ( Ellie, Brick Master ), assuming those tokens survive a turn rotation to be declared as attackers next turn.

  • P2: 9 creatures

  • P3: 7 creatures, including Squall

  • P4: 4 creatures

  • P5: 3 creatures

  • P6: 0 creatures

  • P7: 1 creature

Baseline Toughness

  • T1: 3 creatures, plus 2 creatures that make tokens with 1 toughness ( Ellie, Brick Master & Life of the Party ), assuming those tokens survive a turn rotation to be declared as attackers next turn.

  • T2: 9 creatures, including Squall

  • T3: 7 creatures

  • T4: 6 creatures

  • T5: 3 creatures

Just focusing on our own creatures, the sweet spot will likely be in the baseline P/T range of 2-4.

There are a few options which can change the base power and/or toughness of other creatures which can also be another means of controlling which number selected would be most advantageous.

  • Mirror Entity - Of the options listed here, this makes the most sense for inclusion, mostly since it lets me control the P/T of my own board.

  • Sudden Spoiling - A bit corner case-y, but can also be used for defensive purposes.

  • The Meep - Kind of clunky for inclusion since this deck doesn't really want to sacrifice its own creatures.

  • Curse of Conformity - This has some flexibility since I could enchant myself, especially since 3 is one of the "Sweet spot" options to select. Technically could also be used as an incentive piece by offering it to someone with a weaker board.

  • Maha, Its Feathers Night - Second most likely for inclusion since it makes blocks tougher for opposing boards.

  • Harmonious Archon

Most players won't be onboard for a Goad/Encourage Combat experience, so we need to be able to consistently draw into answers. The deck features a mix of cantrips, small burst effects, and repeatable ones. Generally speaking, the repeatable draw effects are dependent on combat in some way: either connecting for combat damage, or opponents connecting with each other for incentives. Many of these cards will be covered again in a later section on political pieces.

Potential consideration:

Admittedly this is an area of the deck that will likely need 1-2 more slots. I haven't play-tested much yet, but from general experience, I think another Treasure producer or two will help round things out.

Rocks

The Money and Power

Likely candidates for eventual inclusion

Anthems help to break parity once Goad and political incentives fall through, and we need to pivot to more proactive aggro. I tried to include some Power/Toughness modifying anthems, primarily in the form of +1/+1 counters or static buffs to help give Squall some more juice on his attack trigger damage. I use "anthem" as a broad term for any effects that enhance the power and/or toughness, or grant additional keywords to one or more creatures.

Play-testing will determine how much I will want to use Power/Toughness buffs that affect my entire board, vs just focusing those buffs on Squall. I realize that changing the power and toughness of my board after Squall drops can be kinda clunky, especially if I don't have Blink effects to have him ETB and reset.

Goad decks make the mistake of only forcing your opponents to attack each other. Sometimes you just need to have the right incentives to be able to encourage attacks, rather than force them.

  • Shadowspear - Have Squall hold it to regain life off his damage trigger, or offer to help your opponents remove troublesome permanents.

  • Ellie, Brick Master - I'm sure we will eventually get a Duskmourn or Innistrad flavored In-Universe printing or proxy. Anyways. Give your opponents some support with extra bodies to help them attack.

  • Generous Plunderer - A treasure for your troubles, or some burn damage for you otherwise.

  • Breena, the Demagogue - One of a handful of effects that reward your opponents by hitting each other. It's a great draw piece in Isshin. Additionally, Breena triggers if multiple opponents being attacked have more life than other opponents... She also helps stack +1/+1 counters on Squall for more damage on his trigger.

  • Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor - The next installation of "hit each other, draw cards".

  • Lightning, Army of One - Sometimes you really have to sweeten the deal for erasing one player. Things get silly if Lightning connects with double strike or additional combats.

  • Nils, Discipline Enforcer - His end step trigger offers up an opportunity to wheel and deal with where his donated +1/+1 counters end up. He also is another means of stacking counters on Squall.

  • Xantcha, Sleeper Agentfoil - Another means to incentivize punishing one player and benefiting from it.

  • Nelly Borca, Impulsive Accuserfoil - Another installment of "draw cards for smacking opponents to their faces".

  • Seifer, Balamb Rival - Besides the goad, the "donate" deathtouch helps encourage folks to have less worry against not so favorable blocks.

  • Karazikar, the Eye Tyrantfoil - The final installment of "draw cards for throat punching an opponents".

Often enough the table won't buy into incentives and firm encouragement. They won't go attack each other, but Goad will have them poppin it in combat.

Goading and incentives won't always hold up, and eventually we will need other means of board and self protection. Although I know that a deck like this needs a higher volume of Pillow Fort effects, I don't really enjoy them (lol). I may eventually change some of those slots for more proactive and reactive interaction (probably removal).

Commander focused Protection

This section may expand a bit to include some options like Bastion Protector.

  • Command Beacon - Technically not protection, but helps Squall avoid commander tax if he's been removed multiple times.

  • Plaza of Heroes

  • Ephemerate - Also a useful means of resetting Squall's chosen number. Other blink spells like Cloud Shift or Otherworldly Journey could be additional options, especially since Otherworldly Journey also adds a +1/+1 counter.

  • Lightning Greaves - Mostly intended to help keep some heat off Squall, but easily a Haste enabler for any of our aggro threats.

  • Soul Partition - Pseudo protection and pseudo removal spell.

Board and Self protection

Pillow Fort

Shenanigans

The removal currently in the deck is a bit light for my taste. Ideally I'd like to add at least one more targeted removal piece, maybe two if I can pull it off. My gut tells me I might repurpose the pillow slots into more removal.

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