[Budget] SquirrelCraft

[DancingSheep]

Hello everyone!
As you all can see from the title, I'm looking for people to discuss my SquirrelCraft (or Army of Squirrels if you like). I've been playing MtG for some time now, but in the last 2 years I hardly took my card off their box.
Let me first tell you that I need this deck to play in a UNpowered and UNexpensive (eg. I'll never see a Mishra's Workshop) environment.
So, on with the deck! I'm currently playing this:

° LANDS (19)
7x Forest
4x Windswept Heath
4x Savannah
4x Plains

° CREATURES (5)
4x Argothian Enchantress
1x Plated Slagwurm

° SPELLS
4x Enchantress's Presence
4x Sterling Grove
4x Squirrel Nest
4x Wild Growth
4x Exploration
3x Earthcraft
2x Fertile Ground
2x Replenish
1x Solitary Confinement
1x Altar of Dementia
1x Seal of Cleansing
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Mirri's Guile
1x Lotus Petal
1x Fastbond

As you can see, it's a GW version with enchantresses. I'm also willing to change this into a UG version if it's clearly better, but don't suggest a 3-colors one because in my opinion it will be just a waste (remember is almost a for-fun deck).
I'll try to explain my past choices in this deck:

- Plated Slagwurm: since I run into Lobotomy, counter-heavy decks, I decided to add an alternative win. The first idea was to add Multani, but couldn't find it anywhere 
- Sterling Grove: i know, 4 might be too many, in my personal deck list I even wrote that i maybe will bring them to 2 or 3.
- Exploration: I read some complains about this card back in the days, but I feel I really can't leave this 1-mana enchantment home.
- Fertile Ground: some more mana boost. Sometimes is useful, sometimes is just another random enchantment... Don't know what to do about it.
- Replenish: this saved my day against counter-heavy and mass-destruction decks. At least 1 has to stay.
- Solitary Confinement: it has been useful in some situation when i needed 1 more turn to go off. If you got any good replacement, you're welcome to say it...
- Altar of Dementia: oh, I love this one! If I manage to combo with this card on the ground I'll win just by saying "pass".
- Mirri's Guile: the effect is nice and it costs just 1. Not bad to me, but feel free to cut it out.

I think there's not much need to explain the other cards! I took a look at new sets lists (I haven't been playing for a couple of years now) and saw these cards that might fit:
- Oblivion Ring
- Seal of Primordium
- Utopia Sprawl

I haven't tested any of these new ones, but I played the main deck for quite a long time. Hope you guys can help me with this one, because I really love this deck!!
If anything I wrote is unclear, please feel free to ask 

[Zelow]

1 do u have a sb? a good card for ur sideboard would be xatid swarm ease up your counterspell match ups. 2 if you were to add blue you have to test it with intruder alarm i dont think switching to ug would be that bad play control combo i think it would be nice to see creatures or squirels taping to hard cast fow but i will try a deck with this combo because i to love this combo i will go ug though and add goyfs

[DancingSheep]

1 do u have a sb?

Actually, I do have one. But since in my meta (I remember you it's a non-competitive one) is not needed I didn't even posted it.
A UG build is more like the original AoS deck, which wasn't so full of enchantments to use enchantresses. I have always been unsure about an Enchatress-SquirrelCraft deck with blue, mainly because of FoW.
Will I have enough blue cards to justify them?
And I was also not sure if to include blue just for defense (counters) or also for drawing (since I already draw A LOT with enchantresses).
If you test it, please let me know! 

[Zelow]

i forgot to add that you would need dryad arbors for intruder alarm witch would a potentail infinint green mana possiblity i think blue insted of white would be better and cut the encantress for blue draw and if its 10 proxy why not just add the moxen lotus recall and time walk i think it could be alot of fun go 2 earth craft and 2 intruder alarm ill try making my list something like this also this is just gonna be off the top of my head   3 forest 4 island 4 tropical island 2 windswept heath 2 polluted delta 2 dryad arbor 4 brainstorm 4 fow 1 recall 5 moxen 1 lotus 1 time walk 2 earth craft 4 squilnest 2 intruder alarm 1 rushing river 2 merchant scrolls 2 misderiction 1 fastbond 2 exploration then 11 other cards man sorry if this list is cracked out i got one heck of a head ach if i come up with a better list ill post it.

Punctuation and appropriate capitalisation are requirements of posting on TMD.
-Godder

[DancingSheep]

First of all: no proxies! I've seen just a couple of proxy tournaments ever here in Italy, plus since it's a deck for a NON-competitive meta why would I bother using P9?
In these days I managed to test 2 versions of a UG deck: the first one is still based on enchantresses for a massive draw and the other one is relying on blue to manipulate the deck.
I'll might post the lists later (got them on the other computer), but I'll share my thoughts on those ideas.
The blue-draw list is more solid, I had the right cards when needed (mostly) and could play them all. But this list was even slower than my current WG deck! And it was also not as funny to play, but this is another thing.
The blue-enchantress was as fast as the current white-one, but sometimes I had useless cards in my hand. The real good ones in here have been. FoW, Rushing River, Brainstorm, Misdirection.
I even tried to put Standstill in it, but it worked half the times.

Please remember this deck is NOT for the current tournaments meta! 

[ristoman]

If I were you, I'd add blue for the staples you mentioned (Brainstorm, FoW, MisD) plus Intuition, and Gifts. You have a lot of 4-of that you need to go off so either one could help you get them at instant speed. Enlightened Tutor already helps you in that. A few cheap restricted staples should be considered, things like Sol Ring and Regrowth... I'd also look into the cheaper moxes (diamond and chrome, the boost can never hurt). Sylvan Library also should be a shoo-in, enchantment AND card manipulation.

You could also take this a slightly different way by concentrating on Replenish and adding Attunement... Draw a lot, Discard all your enchants and then return them to play to go off with an army of squirrels (even add Concordant Crossroads for same turn win?)... That is, if in your meta you can get to unpowered 3W without losing first and it seems to me like you totally can. You are also saying you draw a lot of useless cards, with Attunement they'd be discard fodder. Attunement could also warrant the inclusion of Deep Analysis, maybe only as a 1 or 2-of, or even Accumulated Knowledge.

So as you see there's a lot you can do without spending too much money, and I believe they'd be all interesting directions. But given that at heart this wants to be a combo deck, you need a *lot* of search and draw, otherwise any blue deck will be able to outcontrol you and outrace you even with a single Meloku. All in all it's an interesting idea, and given that your meta is very weak you actually have a lot more freedom to experiment. Let us know how it all works out!

[DancingSheep]

Some nice comments finally! 
Let's discuss this!!

I already considered a WGU version, but I think forcing a third color into the deck will just slow me. But your ideas about blue were so good I tried to come up with a UG list!
First let me tell you something:
- I never managed to get a Sol Ring at a decent price, so currently I lack it 
- Sylvan Library works as a Mirri's Guile in this deck. I used to have a couple of Libraries in my list, but I never ever used the draw effect (I'm already drawing a lot!) and they were used only for the deck manipulation one.
- I used also Diamond Mox but as this deck gets lot of mana easily, it was usually an unnecessary toy. I can still try it again if you feel it could boost well!

Now, here's a WIP list:
° LANDS (19)
7x Forest
4x fetch (Windswept Heath?) -> which fetch-lands should i use?
4x Tropical Island
4x Island

° CREATURES (4)
4x Argothian Enchantress -> since I got more defense, there's no need for an alternate winning way

° SPELLS (37)
4x Accumulated Knowledge
4x Force of Will
4x Brainstorm
2x Rushing River

4x Enchantress's Presence
4x Wild Growth
4x Exploration
3x Squirrel Nest
3x Earthcraft
1x Fertile Ground
1x Mirri's Guile
1x Fastbond

1x Altar of Dementia
1x Lotus Petal

Here are some thoughs:
- Intuition seems too much important in this deck, need to find a place for at least 2 of it!
- I'm not sure about Gifts Ungiven. It seems good at first sight, but the more I think about it the more I get unsure about which cards will I choose. 
- This deck is almost the one I tested before and I found out some problems! Sometimes I couldn't play FoW due to lack of blue, or missed a FoW when needed it (same with River). 

I will try and test this version again as soon as I get some of yours suggestions! Thanks for the nice analysis!

[ristoman]

I think right now the worst thing about the deck is that there are not that many threats (just the 3 Squirrel Nests, which rarely come down if you don't have Earthcraft in play already or viceversa). There's mostly just mana production / acceleration and card manipulation, which is needed but sometimes I feel like I'm playing a lot of stuff but not getting anywhere. It would be fine if you played the deck like a Control deck, but really you want to play as many permanents as possible each turn. You said yourself you draw a lot. A critter like Vinelasher Kudzu could help (I'm not going to suggest the obvious Tarmogoyf since you're shooting for a budget build), or even Yavimaya Enchantress. I remember a deck that used Endless Wurm and all the Wild Growth, Overgrowth and Fertile Ground. Maybe he could be a needed fatty, especially if you start accumulating card drawing permanents and want to get rid of them.

To be honest, Mirri's Guile is cute but using it recursively is not that productive, not until you find a fetchland... At least Library allows you to pay 8 and see 3 new cards. Intuition allows to get those cards out of your deck instantly. You can't beat search with manipulation.

Fastbond does not help with the Explorations, meaning, when it comes down you'll be taking damage after the first land regardless... I dont think that warrants cutting Bond but be careful with that.

Given the number of Forests you run (including Trops), I would just use 4 Utopia Sprawl instead of the 5 wild growth + fertile ground.

I think Altar of Dementia is a nice kill, cheap and instant speed... However you can't use it until both Squirrel Nest and Eartchraft come down... It borders on win more. The Legacy versions of this deck use Words of War as their main kill, useful if you can't attack with the squirrels. Splashing red could be problematic but a lone Taiga and the Utopia Sprawls could help?

I'd go:

-4 Wild Growth
-1 Fertile Ground
-1 Mirri's Guile
-2 Rushing River
-1 Forest
-1 Altar of Dementia

+4 Utopia Sprawl
+1 Words of War
+1 Regrowth
+2 Intuition
+1 Gifts Ungiven
+1 Taiga

As your Gifts targets I'd go Regrowth / Words of War / Squirrel Nest / Earthcraft, maybe swap Intuition for any one of the 4 you already have in your hand.
BTW, Intuition for 3 AK is almost always a great play =)

I'd definitely read up on Enchantress decks in Legacy... I mean the more I look at this, the more I want to check those out... Some of them have a nice toolbox approach, but are mainly GW.

[meadbert]

It turns out there is a pretty good Squirel Craft Gifts pile.

I think the idea is you go Replenish, Argivian Find, Earthcraft and Squirrels Nest.
Your opponent will give you Replenish and Squirrel's Nest so it will take 7 mana to get your combo.

You could run Gifts, Intuitions, Replenish and Enchantment bombs such as Decree of Silence or Yawgmoth's Bargain.  If you are running unpowered then Yawg Will and Bargain are worse, thus sticking with UGW probably makes the most sense.

If you have Replenish in hand you can Intuition for Earthcraft, Squirrel's Nest and Decree of Silence.  No matter what you get you are sitting pretty.

Going back to your original list, if you are going to run Fastbond and 4 Sterling Groves then just run Crucible of Worlds.  Fastbond + Crucible has several infinite combos.  Wasteland + Nomad Stadium mean you never get damanged again.  Nomad Stadium is white and thus on color for this deck.  Centaur Garden can make any creatures as big as you want.  2xMishra's Factory will allow you to make a Factory as big as you like.
Horizon Canopy and Wasteland allow you to draw your whole deck.  Since Horizon Canopy produces G and W it is very on color and could be a perfect fit.

Also, in such an Enchantment and Artifact heavy deck Replenish and especially argivian Find are worth considering.

[DancingSheep]

(1) I think the idea is you go Replenish, Argivian Find, Earthcraft and Squirrels Nest.
Your opponent will give you Replenish and Squirrel's Nest so it will take 7 mana to get your combo.

(2) You could run Gifts, Intuitions, Replenish and Enchantment bombs such as Decree of Silence or Yawgmoth's Bargain.  If you are running unpowered then Yawg Will and Bargain are worse, thus sticking with UGW probably makes the most sense.

(3) If you have Replenish in hand you can Intuition for Earthcraft, Squirrel's Nest and Decree of Silence.  No matter what you get you are sitting pretty.

(4) Going back to your original list, if you are going to run Fastbond and 4 Sterling Groves then just run Crucible of Worlds.  Fastbond + Crucible has several infinite combos.  [...]

(5) Also, in such an Enchantment and Artifact heavy deck Replenish and especially argivian Find are worth considering.

Once again, it turns out that a 3-color deck would be optimal.  So, why not showing me a list of what are you thinking? I'm very bad at building 3-colors deck as I always have problems with mana and have to test them a lot to get them working properly. Thank you.
Now, about your thoughs:
(1) Yep, nice one.
(2) 4-colors is a big NO. It's a non-competitive meta, I'm not looking for 1st-turn win (even if I'm currently on an average 4 turn kill).
(3) Nice one! Hadn't considered Decree as I have been looking only for playable enchatments (and it costs 8  ).
(4) Nah, not many non-basic lands in here. Not worth using Wastelands and I'm not using Strip Mine either. Better focusing on something else!
(5) I'm already using Replenish and it's veeeery useful! I also tried Argivian Find, but as Replenish was broken, this one was mostly useless.

[Mon, Goblin Chief]

Some years ago, I entertained the idea of making an actual SquirrelCraft Enchantress combo-deck (instead of a CONTROLcombo deck as Army of Squirrels was). I simply ran 2-color, basically monoG but with a slight B-splash. Why Black? Well, because of one single card: Squandered Resources. With the Explorations and Fastbond (and the very good Gaea's Touch), Resources allows you to almost allways combo out a turn earlier. As you are not in a competetive meta (where non-disruptive combo should goldfish turn 2, not 3), my list might provide you with some additional ideas. It looked roughly something like this:

SquanderedEnchantress

Enchantress' (13)
4 Enchantress Presence
3 Argothian Enchantress
2 Verduran Enchantress
4 Living Wish

Accell (18)
4 Exploration
1 Fastbond
2 Gaea's Touch
3 Squandered Resources
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Wild Growth

Kill (7)
3 Squirrel Nest
4 Earthcraft

protection (3)
3 City of Solitude

bah-roken
1 Yawgmoth's Will

Lands (19)
3 Bayou
5 Fetch
11 Forest

SB:
1 Argothian Enchantress
1 Verduran Enchantress
1 Serra's Sanctum
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Fetch
1 Glacial Chasm
1 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa or some other kill (you can produce insane amounts of mana during the combo)
4 Elephant Grass

possibilities:
Xantid Swarm
Nezumi Bone Reader
Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant
Goblin Bombardment MD /Thoughtpicker Witch SB to make SquirrelCraft into an instant-kill
Choke

Explanations for some more rarely used cards:

Gaea's Touch: Touch is great if you have enough basic Forests. Just always make sure to always use its landdrop before using up that of Exploration. The great thing about Touch is obviously that you can sac it during your combo-turn to get a landdrop for no manacost.

Squandered Resources
Resources is quite bad for starting the combo, but is your best insurance that you don't fall out of it once started because of all the lands you can drop with the Explorations, Fastbond and Touches. You should be putting all your Wild Growth-effects on a single basic Forest anyway (so you can tap Enchantress's with Earthcraft for tons of mana), which means you can sac all the other lands without problems.

Verduran Enchantress
The deck really really wants to drop an Enchantress turn 2. This might be the worst of the Enchantress's, but it is one at least.

Living Wish
Again, more Enchantress's. The Reason Argothian is in the SB is that it is far more likely to have 4 mana by turn two than 5. Living Wish also protects you from randomly dying to Lobotomy, Extirpate or Cranial Extraction.

Glacial Chasm
Allows you to go pretty much infinite with Fastbond landdrops.

Yaggie's Win
Will + Resources + Fastbond might as well be infinite mana. You can also sacrifice the land with the Wild Growth's effects on it in response to Will to get usually enough Enchantments to simply draw your deck.

It would obviously be possible to run the Black Tutors in place of the Living Wishes, but you would loose the Extraction-Protection and would need a bigger B-splash to support turn 1/2 Tutors. You would get to run all Argothians MD and better Fastbond-access, though.

[DancingSheep]

Here I am! Sorry if I didn't answered you before, but I took my time to test a BG version before saying anything.
Squandered Resources is a very good card and fits perfectly in this deck, but I feel that  is kinda weak.
I try to explain this better:
-  has Replenish, Tutor, Argivian Find, Solitary Confinement and usually works well with enchantments
-  has counters and general defending spell

During my testing I felt that the speed given by Squandered Resources was not enough to change the support color of my deck.
Still, SR is an awesome card in here and I'm gonna give it more testing soon!

About the Verduan Enchantress, there is really no need for her and for Living Wish (i thought about the Wish myself back in the days). My enchantress-ratio is good enough for me.
City of Solitude is a very nice addiction to my deck vs counter heavy ones. I'm definitely gonna find a couple of spots for it!
I already tried Serra's Sanctum in the first versions of my deck, but the problem is that it gives  when mostly I need  ...  a shame for such a good card!