Go Nuts | Building You Chatterfang, Squirrel General Commander Deck

If you’ve ever wanted to weaponize some cuddly critters and turn an adorable army into something truly terrifying, a Chatterfang, Squirrel General commander deck is your fantasy. This green-black menace takes a simple idea—make tokens—and twists it into a value engine, board control tool, and win condition all at once.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through how to build a Chatterfang Commander deck, what to aim for in the early, mid, and late game, and which cards are absolutely essential.

Let’s make some squirrels.

Why Chatterfang Works

Chatterfang isn’t just a squirrel lord. He gives every token you make extra value by tacking on a 1/1 Squirrel for each time. Whether you’re making a beast, a treasure, or a food token, you're doubling your board presence.

His second ability lets you turn those little rodents into removal fuel by sacrificing them to give a creature +X/-X. He’s efficient, flexible, and more dangerous than he looks.

Early Game Strategy: Set Up the Engine

In the early turns, your goal is to ramp and start setting up your token engines. You want mana and a token-generating base as quickly as possible.

Priority Plays:

• Ramp: Cards like Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves, and Three Visits help you hit Chatterfang early.

• Token Creators: Get Tireless Provisioner, Nest Invader, or Squirrel Sanctuary onto the board early to start building a squirrel army.

• Chatterfang Itself: Try to play him around turn 3 or 4, depending on how much ramp you’ve hit.

  
  

If your table underestimates what’s coming, great. The longer Chatterfang lives, the more pressure you can apply without going all-in.

Mid Game Strategy: Flood the Board and Control

By now, you’ve hopefully got a board of squirrels and some form of value engine going. Your job in the midgame is to either control the board with Chatterfang’s +X/-X ability or start going wide.

Key Cards:

• Chatterstorm and Acorn Harvest: These generate tons of squirrels and give you sacrificial ammo or pressure.

• Doubling Season or Parallel Lives: These don’t just double squirrels, they also double any kind of token, pushing you toward explosive plays.

• Evolution Sage: If you're running fetches or ramp spells, this plus proliferate can make your army grow out of control with +1/+1 counter synergy.

  
  

This is also a good time to drop Skullclamp and start drawing ridiculous amounts of cards with squirrel fodder.

Late Game Strategy: Overrun or Drain

Chatterfang decks usually win by either overwhelming the table with a horde of beefed-up squirrels or using a combo to drain life.

Win Paths:

• Craterhoof Behemoth or Overrun effects: You’ve got a swarm. Time to swing.

• Poison-Tip Archer: Every squirrel that dies takes opponents with it. Combo this with Earthcraft or Pitiless Plunderer for game-ending loops.

• Torment of Hailfire: You’re in green, so mana isn’t a problem. One big cast of this ends games in style.

  
  

Keep in mind that Chatterfang gives you built-in removal with his sacrifice ability. If you’ve got 10 squirrels, that’s +10/-10 you can throw around at instant speed.

5 Must-Include Cards for Chatterfang

Here are five cards I consider absolute staples in this deck:

The Odd Acorn Gang

The Odd Acorn Gang let's you tap squirrels to buff other squirrels and give them trample. Mid to late game when you are tapping 5-10 squirrels and buffing 5-10 squirrels you can break down barriers fairly easily. plus you now draw cards when your squirrels deal combat damage to your opponents.

Scurry Oak

Scurry Oak is a combo engine hiding in a cute little 1/2 body. Whenever a +1/+1 counter is placed on it, it creates a 1/1 squirrel token. Now consider adding a card like Ivy Lane Denizen and you’ve got infinite squirrels. With Chatterfang on the board, those tokens spiral even faster, potentially triggering game-ending board states. It’s not just a squirrel maker, it’s a one-card combo core when paired with the right support.

Coat of Arms

In any tribal or token-heavy deck, Coat of Arms turns quantity into an overwhelming force. Since most of your creatures are squirrels, this artifact gives each of them a massive power and toughness boost for each other squirrel on the battlefield. Even a dozen tokens suddenly become a lethal strike force. This is the kind of card you drop right before combat to finish off the table with style.

Parallel Lives

This card is the heart of doubling effects in green token decks, and it’s especially devastating in Chatterfang builds. Parallel Lives doubles all tokens you create—including squirrels Chatterfang makes in response to your regular tokens. That means a simple play like casting Avenger of Zendikar can produce an absurd number of squirrels and plants. With this on the field, every token spell or ability becomes explosive, multiplying your board and your options dramatically.

Academy Manufactor

This innocuous artifact becomes a full-on token factory. Any time you would make a Clue, Food, or Treasure, Academy Manufactor gives you all three instead. That triples your token output, and for each one, Chatterfang adds a squirrel. So a single Treasure token from Revel in Riches now becomes a Treasure, Clue, Food, and three squirrels total.

Is a Chatterfang Commander Deck For You?

Chatterfang is one of those commanders that people laugh at until they realize just how fast squirrels can scale out of control. He’s fun, flexible, and strong without feeling oppressive. Plus, let’s be honest—winning with squirrels is just cooler than winning with dragons.

If you like token synergies, combo potential, and a little bit of absurdity, Chatterfang delivers. Just make sure you have enough dice to track all your tokens… and maybe a warning sign for your playgroup. 🐿️