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AoS Primer
(Extended)
A virtually dead deck as it may seem, you don’t actually need
Earthcraft to create an army of rabid mammals. AoS (Army of Squirrels)
is a deck that abused Earthcraft and Squirrel Nest together to generate
an infinite amount of creatures. However, the deck has been reproduced
without Earthcraft, and has survived. Although Earthcraft bought the
deck together, the deck lived on without it. Here is AoS.
Mana: (25)
22x Forest
1x Wasteland
1x Chrome Mox
2x Gaea's Cradel
Spells: (22)
4x Chatter of the Squirrel
4x Squirrel Nest
4x Parallel Evolution
2x Druid’s Call
2x Acorn Harvest
2x Overrun
1x Crop Rotation
Creatures: (15)
4x Squirrel Wrangler
4x Squirrel Mob
3x Deranged Hermit
2x Nut Collector
2x Seedborn Muse
SB
4x Naturalize
2x Defense of the Heart
1x Deranged Hermit
3x Sphere of Resistance
3x Wasteland
4x Ground Seal for me, but depends on meta
This is AoS. There really is only one way to describe this deck: chaos.
Throughout the game you will be playing 5+ creatures a turn, attacking
with six 27/27 Squirrels, and almost 25 other 2/2 Squirrels. This deck
is an extremely fast deck when played with Chrome Mox. It gets really
crazy when the Mobs come out, because, well, +1/+1 for each
squirrel…stacks. You’ve heard the legends, now its time to take this
deck for a fall.
So, you see some cards in there that you know, and I’m pretty sure
some that you have never seen. Wastelands are very risky in AoS, but I
prefer MD one. Maybe two (or zero), depending on your meta. Chrome Mox
is a deadly card in this deck, as one extra mana can send forth a horde
of squirrels at your enemy. As is Crop Rotation, which (though very
slightly) accels your mana, and also takes you two cards closer to
threshold. Gaea's Cradel is a great mana acell card. Chatter and Nest
are key in this deck, along with the slightly more optional Acorn
Harvest. Overrun is a great card, turning your creatures (even the
non-squirrels) into tramplers. These are your win condition, making them
a *somewhat* valuable part of this deck. Druid’s Call is more
squirrels for you, and also makes your opponent wonder if they really
want more squirrels. Parallel Evolution is a very, very good card in
this deck. Doubling the amount of squirrels you have is just one of the
most crazy and stunning moves in the game of Magic. Its simply stunning
to see your opponents face when you say, “Okay, I’ll play Parallel
Evolution” (watch them read it). “So, I double my tokens from ten to
twenty, then my two Squirrel Mobs become 22/22s”. Then, just watch
when you say “Oh, this turn I’ll flashback, so now I have forty”.
They flip. They surrender, cheat (it’s happened to me: trust me, 42
squirrels attacking is making your win look a little…distant), stare,
or mutter “Counter, counter, um…oh crap”. Anyway, on to Squirrel
Wrangler. I’m sure you’ve seen this guy, even non-squirrel decks
occasionally stick him in. He’s basically just a utility card here,
since his effects are stellar in this deck. The Squirrel Mobs need no
explaining, I think. Deranged Hermit is another utility in this deck.
Even with his echo cost, the squirrels stay. A quick +1/+1 to all
squirrels is still a great contribution to the…cause. Nutty (Nut
Collector) is a decent selection. He occasionally backs the deck up, but
is an overall good creature in the deck. His threshold is plain crazy
when a Deranged Hermit is in play. When you see Seedborn Muse, you may
wonder, but it’s all the rage when you have a couple dozen squirrels
attack, then untap them anyway. Seedborn is needed. 2 is a good amount;
I’ve found that 3+ doesn’t work.
The SB
Naturalizes are obvious; enchantments/artifacts are always fun to hate.
Defense of the Heart is a plain great card. This is murder against
Sligh, Affinity, and other fast-creature decks. Basically, you go for
Nutty and Seedborn, or two Nuttys, or stick in something powerful and go
for it. I actually considered putting a Thorn Elemental in SB, just
because of DotH. Defense is a really fun card in this deck. Experiment
with different creatures until you find two you like. Generally, I fetch
Nutty/Seedborn, Nutty/Nutty, Nutty/Mob, Hermit/Nutty, or
Seedborn/Hermit. There is a final Deranged Hermit SB, just in case.
Sphere of Resistance, though highly debatable, is actually somewhat
useful in AoS. Your typical spells cost 1 or 2 to win. Sphere will
definitely hurt them more than you, especially if they get mana screwed.
The Sphere is mainly a stall tactic until you draw a Parallel Evolution
with a Squirrel Nest generating squirrels until then. Once you cast a
Parallel Evolution, it becomes slaughter. Wastelands are optional,
it’s just a habit for me to put em’ in whenever I can. The final
four slots are open, depending on your meta. You may have a certain
rogue deck that is dependant on something. I use Ground Seal because
reanimator can be brutal.
That is AoS. |
