Chatterfang, Squirrel General Commander Deck Guide

Last updated on February 25, 2025

Chatterfang, Squirrel General | Illustration by Jason A. Engle

Every once in a while, it’s nice to check in on some favorite commanders to see how we can improve our decks. Bloomburrow season gave squirrel players lots of new toys: Golgari Squirrels () was a theme in the Bloomburrow Limited environment, while the Squirreled Away Commander precon gave us some new squirrel commanders to consider.

So what does our old friend Chatterfang, Squirrel General have to play with now? If you’re already a Chatterfang player, you’ll find a mix of classics you should already have and some newer cards that you may want to swap in.

Regardless, I hope this guide gives you something to gnaw on!

The Deck

Scurry Oak | Illustration by Mark Zug

This deck is a combination squirrel commander, token commander, and sacrifice commander. Because many Bloomburrow squirrels care about food, that’s naturally a bit of a subtheme, but it’s not the focus. I run Experimental Confectioner combos in my Gyome, Master Chef and Sam and Frodo decks, and I don’t want those food-themed play patterns to get stale.

The Commander: Chatterfang, Squirrel General

Chatterfang, Squirrel General is just so good. It doubles your token production by giving you Squirrel tokens whenever you produce other tokens, and it combos so easily. I don’t try to be a combo player, but this lil guy combos with a stiff breeze.

Its activated ability is a mana sink that you can use either to pump up a creature or remove a creature since it’s +X/-X, and the flexibility is really appreciated since you can afford to run less removal in favor of more…

Squirrels!

This decks is chock full of Bloomburrow cards, and to start, Camellia, the Seedmiser gives you incredible value. It’s a typal lord that gives your squirrel army menace, it gives you Squirrels when you sacrifice foods, and its forage ability is a built-in sac outlet for your foods. Ravenous Squirrel gives you an activated ability to gain life and refill your hand and another outlet to sacrifice your artifacts and creatures.

The Odd Acorn Gang pairs nicely with Camellia. Menace means that your attacking squirrels are harder to block, so this squirrel warrior can consistently fill your hand. The Odd Acorn Gang also gives your squirrels a tap ability that lets you assemble Squirrel-Tron 3000, but it’s an offense-only move since you have to do it at sorcery speed.

Hazel of the Rootbloom can tap for a lot of mana when your token generation is online, and it makes your Food, Clue, and Treasure tokens into reusable resources. Its end step trigger generates four Squirrel tokens with just Hazel and Chatterfang on the field.

Squirrel Sovereign is a simple but effective typal lord, but Squirrel Mob can get absolutely huge in this deck.

Toski, Bearer of Secrets is another good target to pump up with The Odd Acorn Gang’s ability as an indestructible, mandatory attacker. That hinders your card draw from Toski’s ability, though, so weigh your options appropriately.

Honored Dreyleader is good when you play it on curve since it grows as you accumulate tokens, but it’s even better if you can play it after you’ve already established your board state. As a trample card, it’s another good creature to assemble Squirrel-Tron around.

Valley Rotcaller’s attack trigger can be especially deadly, since it’ll drain everyone at the table based on the number of squirrels you have. I didn’t include Experimental Confectioner in this iteration, but its Rat tokens accelerate a Rotcaller win.

Thornvault Forager is a combination of a mana dork and a squirrel tutor, and the forage ability is just another use for your Food tokens if you ever find your pantry overstocked.

Scurry of Squirrels’ double helping of myriad gives you more attackers and some more token synergies. Note that the tokens created by myriad are copies of Scurry of Squirrels, but their own myriad abilities don’t trigger since they’re already attacking as they enter.

Although Bloodroot Apothecary doesn’t really help your strategy other than by counting as another squirrel, it punishes any player making use of noncreature tokens, usually artifact tokens. I find that it acts as bait: It’ll cost your opponent a removal spell that they’d have otherwise used to target your commander or one of your other good squirrels.

Krosan Beast is just here as a pet card that I once pulled in a $5 pack of rares. I really like the idea of casting this late and equipping it with Sword of the Squeak to make it absolutely gigantic.

Other Token Generators

Your non-squirrel sources of Squirrel tokens start with Chitterspitter, Chatter of the Squirrel, and Chatterstorm, and I don’t think I need to explain those.

Drey Keeper brings along some Squirrel tokens when it enters, and its activated ability can serve as a repeatable mana sink and a mass pump ability.

A couple enchantments help with the Squirrel tokens, too. Squirrel Nest is a land aura, while Squirrel Sanctuary wants you to bounce it back to your hand for value.

Second Harvest gives you instant-speed token generation that’s best used later in the game, especially if you have Scute Swarm tokens to copy. Verdant Command and Rootcast Apprenticeship each have Squirrel token modes, but their nature as modal spells gives you lots of flexibility.

Nested Shambler is solid as a 1-drop that you’re happy to sacrifice, and you can always pile any stray +1/+1 counters onto it if you don’t have your Scurry Oak out.

As a Fallout fan, I chose to use Animal Friend over Cloakwood Hermit, even though the +1/+1 counter text mostly fizzles since there are only three equipment cards in this deck. Animal Friend is cheaper than the background, and I prefer its attack trigger to an end step trigger that needs your nontoken creatures to die, given the lack of reanimator pieces here.

Academy Manufactor is a source of extra utility tokens, and Pitiless Plunderer is one of your death payoffs and combo pieces.

Doubling Season is here since Foundations gave us some cheaper prints of it, but I choose Black Market Connections over Parallel Lives because I didn’t want to completely break the bank. I appreciate the black enchantment’s modality, and you still get two token generating abilities.

Peregrin Took is another token-making creature, and it gives you an outlet to use Food tokens for card draw rather than lifegain. Gilded Goose enters with a Food token, and you can use it both to generate and sacrifice Food tokens.

Tireless Provisioner and Scute Swarm just have classic landfall abilities that token decks want to take advantage of. Once you’re copying Scute Swarm, those tokens are perfect for copying again with Hazel of the Rootbloom’s end step trigger.

Other Sac Outlets and Death Payoffs

Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, Nadier's Nightblade, and Mirkwood Bats are mandatory tech in any deck that sacrifices this many creature tokens. Bastion of Remembrance is basically Zulaport Cutthroat on an enchantment.

Deadly Dispute and Village Rites are both sacrifice outlets and draw cards, very useful in any deck that’s filled with sac fodder. Plumb the Forbidden is even better, since you can copy the spell as many times as you can afford to sacrifice creatures and pay life.

Ashnod's Altar is a classic sacrifice outlet, and it’s a source of infinite mana whenever you’re able to generate infinite Squirrel tokens. With the number of creatures you’ll be sacrificing, Moldervine Reclamation is a terrific Golgari card for some card draw and lifegain.

Skullclamp is still really good at filling your hand by equipping it to creatures you plan to sacrifice.

+1/+1 Counters

There’s a minor subtheme of +1/+1 counters in this deck. Oakhollow Village can spread them around fairly well for you, while Ivy Lane Denizen gives you counters whenever green creatures enter, including all your Squirrel tokens. It interacts nicely with your commander and Scurry Oak; in fact, Scurry Oak is probably your best target for any ability that lets you choose which creature gets +1/+1 counters.

Staples and Glue

Typical Golgari removal includes spells like Assassin's Trophy and Putrefy, and green’s best removal spell, Beast Within. Chatterfang’s activated ability will be your other main source of removal since it gets around indestructible, but Swarmyard Massacre can be a one-sided sweeper for you.

There’s a traditional ramp spells package that includes Cultivate, Rampant Growth, Nature's Lore, and Kodama's Reach to fetch the lands you need and help you hit your land drops.

Heroic Intervention is an important combat trick for protection purposes, especially considering how many creatures you have. My creatures die when I want them to, thank you very much.

Sylvan Anthem is, well, an anthem, and its scrying helps to filter the top of your deck for the best answers. Beastmaster Ascension is a “slower” anthem, though you have enough creature tokens that you could easily get enough quest counters the same turn you cast it.

Prosperous Innkeeper’s creaturefall ability is just one of the ways that you have to gain life aside from consuming Food tokens.

Garruk, Cursed Huntsman gives you three loyalty abilities with good value. The first gives you good sacrifice fodder and some token generation, the second gives you removal and card draw, while the ultimate ability gives you an anthem of an emblem. You should be able to get it the turn after you cast Garruk more often than not, given the number of sac outlets you have to trade in those Wolf tokens for loyalty.

While you might be tempted to run a Shamanic Revelation in this deck, and you could draw a lot of cards if you cast it here, I chose to run a Preposterous Proportions instead. The art of the normal printing is simply perfect, and this kind of overrun effect can be really good for you.

The Mana Base

This deck’s mana base is fairly bog standard for a Golgari deck. There’s green-black dual color lands of varying stripes, plus Command Tower and Exotic Orchard.

I’ve made use of typical mana rocks in Arcane Signet, Talisman of Resilience, Golgari Signet, and Sol Ring. You have access to green’s ramp and a bunch of Treasure tokens, plus Enduring Vitality turns all your creatures into color fixing mana dorks, so you don’t really need much else here. Bootleggers' Stash is nice since there’s so many interactions here that’ll turn your lands into mass token generators.

As far as utility lands go, Bojuka Bog is here to provide graveyard hate. Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth enables Chatterfang’s forestwalk ability by turning all lands into forests.

Swarmyard gives you some typal regeneration. I slot in Mudflat Village and Oakhollow Village since they don’t enter tapped and their abilities give you some creature recursion and +1/+1 counters, respectively. Three Tree City is a fantastic legendary land for a typal deck that plans to go this wide, especially since sacrificing Treasure tokens or using Ashnod's Altar to pay for its ability plays into your sacrifice synergies.

The Strategy

This deck has multiple avenues to win, but they all focus on generating a lot of tokens. It’s just a matter of getting enough pieces online to eke out a win.

You want your commander out early with this deck: Since you can cast it from the command zone, it’s your most consistent token doubler. Your lords and Sylvan Anthem help to make your armies of tokens more powerful both on offense and on defense.

Victory comes from stitching together token generation, sacrifice outlets, and payoffs. Your Blood Artist effects will drain some of your opponents’ life as you sacrifice your Squirrels, and Chatterfang’s activated ability can sweep away opposing threats to leave your army open to swing. You’ve got combos that’ll lead to an infinite army of Squirrel tokens, and those infinite Squirrels can lead to a few infinitely tall creatures or infinite life drain from Valley Rotcaller.

Note that this deck doesn’t have any haste enablers aside from Lightning Greaves, so you won’t always be able to surprise your opponents with the various ways you have to assemble infinitely tall creatures.

Combos and Interactions

This deck has a lot of token generation interactions. You have a bunch of token doublers and adders, you have creaturefall effects, you have abilities that trigger when tokens, creatures, and artifacts die…. I won’t outline all the interactions, but there’s a few key infinite combos that you should keep in mind.

Chatterfang, Squirrel General and Pitiless Plunderer can team up to clear out all of your opponents’ creatures except anything with hexproof or shroud. With access to 1 black mana, some squirrels to sacrifice, and both Chatterfang and the Plunderer on the field, you can trade in Squirrels to kill an opposing creature. Your dead squirrels all generate Treasure tokens, and each of those Treasure tokens gives you a matching Squirrel token. Rinse and repeat until all acceptable targets are dead.

There’s also a neat interaction with Ivy Lane Denizen and Scurry Oak. All you have to do is have a green creature enter the battlefield, even just one of your Squirrel tokens. As a green creature enters, the elf warrior can give Scurry Oak a +1/+1 counter, and then the treefolk can give you a green Squirrel token, which triggers Ivy Lane Denizen…. Etc., etc., ad infinitum ad nauseum.

Both of these combos generate infinite Squirrel tokens, and you have plenty of things that you can do with that. Infinite squirrels means an infinitely tall creature equipped with Sword of the Squeak, or an infinitely tall Honored Dreyleader or Squirrel Mob. You can use Valley Rotcaller’s attack trigger for infinite lifedrain, you can sacrifice an infinite number of creature tokens to Ashnod's Altar for infinite mana…. I could probably write a book just about the interactions that are possible with all the different board states you could have.

Rule 0 Conversation

Chatterfang combos with so many cards, so you’ll have to judge whether your playgroup is fine with them or not. Personally, I’ll build in infinite combos but I won’t put in many tutors so that I have to draw into them, but everyone has their tolerance levels for different play styles and power levels. Sometimes you just need a way to end a game that’s gone on too long.

Most of your combos are highly interactable, and your opponents should run enough removal in their Commander decks to deal with them. Bloodroot Apothecary is a bit of a stax piece that punishes other players, but it only cares about noncreature tokens and is just one creature that dies to a Doom Blade. Yes, I’m playing this card to force you to react to it. That’s what my pal Bugs Bunny calls, “stragedy.”

Budget Options

The mana base is always the place to start when trimming a deck’s budget. You can swap out any dual color lands that you don’t have for ones that you do. Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth’s main role is to make Chatterfang virtually unblockable, but you don’t have to attack with your commander in this deck. And Three Tree City is replaceable, though you miss out on a lot of mana and a flavorful card.

I used Enduring Vitality since I had one lying around and wanted to highlight a Duskmourn: House of Horror card you can use in your Chatterfang build, but Jaheira, Friend of the Forest is very similar. It’ll turn all your tokens into mana sources, but they’ll only tap for green.

You may want to wait for another print run of Bloomburrow Commander to pick up Hazel of the Rootbloom. If you can pick up a Squirreled Away precon at a reasonable price, you’ll find many of the pieces this deck wants, but if not, other token generators like Nut Collector or Arasta of the Endless Web can take its place.

Bloodroot Apothecary may be expensive for a card that doesn’t really help you, but Deep Forest Hermit still makes four squirrels when it enters.

Heroic Intervention is among green’s best combat tricks, but something like Tamiyo's Safekeeping can slot into your mana curve instead. It won’t save your whole army of creatures, but it’ll save a key piece.

You can swap in Primal Vigor for Doubling Season, and I guess Black Market is adequate in place of Black Market Connections. It’s another death payoff, though you’re locked into mana generation with it and lose out on more tokens.

Skullclamp, Lightning Greaves, and Ashnod's Altar are some of the other high-ticket items in this deck, but I wouldn’t suggest cutting them. They’re such staples that if you bought them for your Chatterfang deck and decided to scrap it someday, you’d probably have another deck that wants each of them.

Other Builds

You can lean harder into the squirrel theme by cutting out some non-squirrels, and you can even consider cards like Earl of Squirrel if your Commander environment is fine with silver borders.

I’d build around Hazel or Camellia if I wanted a food squirrel deck, but you can build Chatterfang into a food commander. Ygra, Eater of All and Bloomburrow’s foraging squirrels are your friends here.

Another Chatterfang deck I’d be curious to see looks to assemble infinite Squirrel token combos in concert with creatures like Champion of Lambholt and Scion of the Wild that can grow infinitely tall. Better still, generate infinite squirrels, then cast a Banner of Kinship so that they all have infinite power and toughness.

Chattering Conclusion

Squirrel Mob | Illustration by Carl Critchlow

I’ll leave you with a story of silly pack luck that happened while I was building this deck. I went to pick up an order of cards from my local game store and decided to pick up a pair of Modern Horizons II Set boosters. You know, because of the squirrel on the packaging. Well, one booster had a Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth, which I still needed. The other had an Urza's Saga. I don’t need a third Urza's Saga in my collection. But I do need a Doubling Season….

Which direction do you or would you build your Chatterfang deck? Do you think MTG x Marvel will give us an on-color Squirrel Girl to play with other squirrels we have so far? Get chattering in the comments below, or join the squirrel den on the Draftsim Discord.

Until next time, stay nutty!

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