Precon Upgrade Guide
Squirreled Away Upgrade Guide
What to cut, what to add, and how to play the Golgari Squirrel and tokens precon from Bloomburrow Commander, commanded by Hazel of the Rootbloom.
Bloomburrow
Squirreled Away
Tokens and mana flood the board fast, one of the format's best-regarded precons at launch. Out of the box, before any upgrades. How we rate precons
Buy Squirreled Away on TCGplayer →Quick verdict
Squirreled Away is the strongest of the Bloomburrow Commander decks out of the box, because its engine pieces were already strong cards. Hazel of the Rootbloom copies a token every end step, two if it's a Squirrel, and taps your tokens for mana, while Chatterfang, Squirrel General , Skullclamp and a row of death triggers turn those tokens into cards and drain. What holds it back is a handful of expensive or off-theme cards, a board wipe that kills your own board, few free ways to sacrifice tokens, and a mana base with too many tapped lands.
TurnZero HQ rates Squirreled Away a 2 out of 5 on difficulty and a 4 out of 5 on power, as it comes in the box. That is our editorial read, not an official Wizards rating. The full hundred cards are on the Squirreled Away decklist page, and every other precon we cover is on the precon directory.
How the precon plays
Hazel of the Rootbloom has two abilities. At the beginning of your end step, you create a token that's a copy of a target token you control, or two copies if that token is a Squirrel. Hazel can also tap, along with X untapped tokens you control, while you pay 2 life, to add X mana in any combination of colors. Squirrel tokens grow your board every turn, and the board then pays for your spells.
Most of the deck makes tokens for Hazel to copy. Chatterfang, Squirrel General adds a Squirrel to every batch of tokens you make, Deep Forest Hermit makes four Squirrels and pumps them, Chitterspitter and Squirrel Nest make one each turn, and Gilded Goose , Tireless Provisioner and Academy Manufactor make Food and Treasure. Second Harvest copies every token you control at instant speed.
The extra tokens then become fodder. Zulaport Cutthroat , Poison-Tip Archer , Bastion of Remembrance and Nadier's Nightblade drain the table when tokens die or leave, Morbid Opportunist and Moldervine Reclamation draw cards, and Skullclamp draws two for every 1/1 it's attached to when that creature dies.
What works out of the box
Hazel of the Rootbloom ↗
Copies a token every end step, two if it's a Squirrel, and turns your tokens into mana of any color. The board grows every turn without spending cards.
Chatterfang, Squirrel General ↗
Every time you create tokens, you also get that many 1/1 Squirrels. It roughly doubles the token output of the deck and gives Hazel more Squirrels to copy.
Skullclamp ↗
One mana to equip a 1/1 token, which then dies and draws you two cards. In a deck this full of tokens, it's the best draw engine in the box.
Zulaport Cutthroat ↗
Each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 whenever a creature you control dies. It turns a board of tokens into a slow drain.
Second Harvest ↗
Copies every token you control at instant speed. Late in the game it doubles your board in response to removal or right before combat.
Deep Forest Hermit ↗
Makes four Squirrels and gives all your Squirrels +1/+1. With Chatterfang out, it makes eight.
What needs improvement
The top of the curve has cards that don't help the engine. End-Raze Forerunners costs eight mana, Arasta of the Endless Web only makes Spiders when opponents cast instants or sorceries, and Decree of Pain destroys all creatures, including the token board that is the whole point of the deck.
The deck also has many drain and draw triggers for creatures dying, but few free ways to make your own tokens die on your schedule. Woe Strider and Ravenous Squirrel help, but neither turns a token into mana or value on its own. The mana base adds friction with several lands that always enter tapped. The land and mana base guide covers what to replace them with.
Upgrade ideas
Each upgrade below starts from something the deck does poorly and says what a replacement card has to do. The cards named are examples, not the only answer: if you own something else that does the same job, or a newer printing does it better, it goes in the same slot. Make one change at a time and play a few games between them, so you can tell which change helped. The general method is in how to upgrade a Commander precon →
1. Add free sacrifice outlets
Half the deck triggers when a creature dies, and Hazel makes more tokens every turn than you can usefully attack with. A free way to sacrifice them turns each spare token into drain, cards or mana whenever you want.
What to look for Permanents that let you sacrifice a creature at no mana cost, ideally giving you something for it. Ones that produce mana let you keep casting spells with the tokens you sacrifice.
Cut, for example
Plaguecrafter Each player sacrifices a creature. You'll usually sacrifice a token, but opponents choose their worst creature, so it rarely removes the threat you need gone.
Insatiable Frugivore A four-mana 2/4 that makes Food and needs a full graveyard to do more. Its pump costs another four mana plus Food.
Add, for example
Ashnod's Altar ↗
Sacrifice a creature to add two colorless mana. Each Squirrel token becomes two mana and a death trigger.
Viscera Seer ↗
One mana: sacrifice a creature to scry 1. It's free to use, so you can sacrifice tokens in response to removal or a wipe.
Pitiless Plunderer ↗
Makes a Treasure whenever another creature you control dies. With Academy Manufactor out, that Treasure also comes with a Food and a Clue.
2. Double the token output
The deck's strength is how many tokens it makes, and Hazel copies one every turn. Doubling every token you create pushes Hazel's mana, Chatterfang's Squirrels and every death trigger further.
What to look for Permanents that double tokens or create a token every turn on their own, so Hazel always has something to copy.
Cut, for example
End-Raze Forerunners Eight mana for a 7/7 that pumps your team for one turn. It is a fine finisher in a ramp deck, but too expensive for this one.
Arasta of the Endless Web Makes a 1/2 Spider only when an opponent casts an instant or sorcery. That depends entirely on the table, and the rest of the deck makes tokens far more reliably.
Add, for example
3. Protect the board and the commander
Everything runs through Hazel and the token board. A board wipe or a removal spell on Hazel slows the deck down for several turns, and the box offers no way to stop either.
What to look for Instants that protect all your permanents, or equipment that gives Hazel hexproof. Haste also matters, since Hazel taps for her mana ability.
Cut, for example
Decree of Pain Eight mana to destroy all creatures. It draws a card for each one, but it wipes the token board you spent the game building.
Add, for example
Heroic Intervention ↗
Two mana at instant speed: your permanents gain hexproof and indestructible until end of turn. It saves the whole board from a destroy wipe.
Swiftfoot Boots ↗
Gives Hazel hexproof and haste. Haste matters because Hazel taps for mana, so with Boots she can do it the turn she comes down.
4. Replace the tapped lands
This deck wants to play a two-drop token maker and then Hazel on curve, and every tapped land puts that off a turn. The box has several lands that always enter tapped and do little else.
What to look for Black-green lands that enter untapped all or most of the time. Lands with the Swamp or Forest type also help Woodland Cemetery and Tainted Wood .
Cut, for example
Haunted Mire A Swamp Forest that always enters tapped. Its land types help a little, but an untapped dual does more.
Barren Moor Enters tapped and taps only for black. Its cycling is a minor upside in a deck that draws plenty.
Jungle Hollow Enters tapped for 1 life. The life gain doesn't make up for the lost tempo.
Add, for example
Overgrown Tomb ↗
Enters untapped for 2 life, and as a Swamp Forest it turns on Woodland Cemetery and Tainted Wood.
Deathcap Glade ↗
Enters untapped once you control two other lands, which is almost always true after the first two turns.
Undergrowth Stadium ↗
Enters untapped as long as you have two or more opponents, which in a normal Commander game means always.
Win conditions
The upgraded deck wins the same way, with more control over the timing. Build a board of Squirrels with Hazel of the Rootbloom , Chatterfang, Squirrel General and Parallel Lives , then sacrifice the extras to Ashnod's Altar or Viscera Seer while Zulaport Cutthroat , Poison-Tip Archer and Bastion of Remembrance drain each opponent. When the board is wide enough, The Odd Acorn Gang and Deep Forest Hermit turn the Squirrels into a combat finish instead.
Who should buy this precon
A good first precon for someone who likes building a big board, and one of the stronger decks out of the box. Hazel does the same thing each end step, and the deck mostly asks you to keep making tokens and decide when to sacrifice them. The one thing to watch is the number of triggers once the board fills up, which takes a few games to track comfortably.
Checked against the printed decklist on October 10, 2026.
Track how the upgrades actually perform.
TurnZero HQ keeps a win rate per deck version, so you can change a few cards, play some games, and see the difference instead of guessing.
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