Squirreled Away already has almost everything you could ask for from a dedicated token precon. It makes huge numbers of creatures, converts tokens into mana, rewards them for dying and comes with several cards that would normally be headline upgrades in a Golgari token deck.
Hazel of the Rootbloom ties those pieces together in a way that makes every token on your battlefield more useful. She can tap your tokens to generate mana, then creates another copy of one of your tokens at the end of the turn. If the chosen token is a Squirrel, Hazel creates two copies instead.
The stock deck already includes Chatterfang, Squirrel General, Chitterspitter, Deep Forest Hermit, Second Harvest, Beastmaster Ascension, Skullclamp, Academy Manufactor, Nadier’s Nightblade and several strong sacrifice payoffs. The best upgrades therefore do not need to reinvent the deck. They need to make Hazel’s token engine faster, give her better tokens to multiply and provide reliable ways to turn an enormous battlefield into a win.
How Hazel Turns Tokens Into Mana and More Tokens
Hazel of the Rootbloom costs for a 3/5 Squirrel Druid. You can tap Hazel, pay 2 life and tap X untapped tokens you control to add X mana in any combination of colors. Those tokens do not have to be creatures or Squirrels. Treasure, Food, Clue and other untapped tokens can all help pay the cost.
That distinction is particularly important in Squirreled Away because the deck already produces several different token types. A Food token can effectively function as mana through Hazel without being sacrificed, which means it can still be used for its normal ability later. Creature tokens that entered this turn can also be tapped for Hazel’s ability even if they have summoning sickness, because Hazel’s ability is the one doing the tapping rather than an activated ability of those creatures.
Her second ability is what makes Squirrels especially attractive. At the beginning of your end step, Hazel creates a copy of target token you control. If that token is a Squirrel, she creates two copies instead. This means even an ordinary 1/1 Squirrel can multiply steadily, while more valuable Squirrel tokens can produce considerably more value.
Hazel consequently gives the deck a natural rhythm. Generate tokens during the early game, use some of them as mana to deploy larger engines, then allow the best token on the battlefield to reproduce at every end step. Once token doublers and death payoffs become involved, that simple loop scales remarkably quickly.
Best Squirreled Away Upgrades
Camellia, the Seedmiser is one of the most natural additions to the deck. She gives your other Squirrels menace, immediately making a wide board harder to block, while sacrificing Food can create additional Squirrel tokens. Her forage ability can also put +1/+1 counters across your Squirrel army, giving the deck another way to convert an established board into lethal combat.
Peregrin Took is equally attractive even though he is not a Squirrel. Whenever one or more tokens would be created under your control, he creates that many tokens plus an additional Food. Hazel can tap that Food for mana without sacrificing it, while the extra artifact token also works with cards such as the stock Academy Manufactor. Peregrin can later sacrifice three Foods to draw a card, giving excess tokens another useful purpose.
Mirkwood Bats approaches the deck from the opposite direction. Whenever you create or sacrifice a token, each opponent loses 1 life. Squirreled Away does both constantly, which means Mirkwood Bats can turn the token engine into a win condition without requiring combat. This becomes particularly valuable after opponents establish enough blockers to make a traditional Squirrel attack difficult.
For another aristocrats payoff, Pitiless Plunderer is extremely powerful. Whenever another creature you control dies, it creates a Treasure token. Those Treasures can cast spells normally or be tapped through Hazel for mana without being sacrificed. Together with the stock Chatterfang, Squirrel General and a suitable sacrifice outlet, Pitiless Plunderer can also push the deck into infinite-combo territory, so whether you include it depends partly on the power level you want.
At the premium end, Parallel Lives is exactly what a deck like this wants from a token doubler. If an effect would create tokens under your control, it creates twice that many instead. Hazel’s end-step ability becomes dramatically more dangerous, and every Squirrel generator elsewhere in the deck improves at the same time. You do not need an expensive token doubler for Squirreled Away to function, but it is one of the clearest upgrades if you want to raise the deck’s ceiling.
Keep the Strong Token Core Already in the Precon
One of the easiest mistakes when rebuilding a token deck is replacing too much of the infrastructure that already works. Squirreled Away has an unusually high number of cards worth preserving.
Chatterfang, Squirrel General is arguably the most important creature outside Hazel herself. Whenever you create one or more tokens, Chatterfang adds that many Squirrel tokens to the batch. He can also sacrifice Squirrels to give another creature +X/-X, turning an oversized token army into removal when necessary.
Deep Forest Hermit immediately creates four Squirrels and gives your other Squirrels +1/+1. Chitterspitter creates Squirrels over time and can gradually increase the power of the entire tribe, while Squirrel Sovereign is an inexpensive lord that makes every Squirrel more threatening.
The precon also already has excellent non-Squirrel payoffs. Nadier’s Nightblade drains every opponent whenever one of your tokens leaves the battlefield, while Zulaport Cutthroat, Bastion of Remembrance and Poison-Tip Archer make creature deaths increasingly dangerous. That gives Squirreled Away a useful second path to victory when attacking with dozens of small creatures is no longer practical.
Second Harvest is also much stronger than it can initially appear. Doubling the creature tokens already on your battlefield at instant speed can create an enormous army immediately before your turn or in response to an opponent committing to another play. Combined with Beastmaster Ascension, even ordinary 1/1 Squirrels can quickly become a lethal combat force.
The upgrade therefore works best when you add a handful of cards that improve this foundation rather than replacing stock cards simply because they came in a precon.
What to Cut
Some of the easiest cuts come from subthemes that Hazel does not need to emphasize. Gourmand’s Talent has legitimate Food synergy, but its life-gain and Raccoon package takes several steps before producing the kind of battlefield Hazel wants. A more focused Squirrel build can use that slot for a direct token generator or payoff.
Chittering Witch creates Rat tokens when it enters and can sacrifice creatures to shrink opposing threats. The ability is useful, but four mana for a non-Squirrel token generator becomes less attractive when Hazel specifically rewards copying Squirrel tokens twice.
Ogre Slumlord has a similar issue. Producing Rats whenever other nontoken creatures die can generate a large battlefield, but at five mana it sits outside the central Squirrel engine. If you want to keep the deck broader and more aristocrats-focused, it remains playable; a dedicated Hazel build has more synergistic options.
Decree of Pain is powerful but extremely expensive at eight mana. The cycling mode provides some flexibility, but a deck trying to establish a large token battlefield usually wants cheaper interaction that does not require consuming an entire late-game turn. Casualties of War is also expensive, although its flexibility makes it more defensible depending on your table.
I would not automatically remove Woe Strider. The body is not a Squirrel, but it provides a free sacrifice outlet and creates another token when it enters. That is a useful piece of infrastructure in a deck with Nadier’s Nightblade, Zulaport Cutthroat and other death payoffs.
The same applies to Skullclamp. It is already in the precon and is one of its best cards. Equipping it to a 1/1 Squirrel turns an expendable creature into two cards, exactly the kind of exchange a token deck can exploit repeatedly.
The Golgari Mana Base Does Not Need an Expensive Rebuild
Squirreled Away is only two colors, and Hazel herself can convert tokens into any combination of colors once she is on the battlefield. That means mana fixing is considerably easier here than in most multicolor precons.
The stock list already includes Command Tower, Exotic Orchard, Llanowar Wastes, Twilight Mire, Woodland Cemetery, Necroblossom Snarl, Tainted Wood and Viridescent Bog. Swarmyard is particularly valuable because it can regenerate a Squirrel while still occupying a land slot, so it should remain despite producing only colorless mana.
The first lands I would improve are simply the slower budget sources. Jungle Hollow, Golgari Rot Farm, Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds all function, but replacing a few of them with lands that enter untapped makes it easier to establish token generators before Hazel arrives.
Oran-Rief, the Vastwood is a tapped land I would be slower to remove. Putting +1/+1 counters on green creatures that entered during the turn can strengthen an entire batch of Squirrel tokens, giving the land genuine synergy rather than merely fixing mana poorly.
The ramp package is already solid as well. Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Golgari Signet and Talisman of Resilience provide conventional acceleration, while Hazel herself can turn a large token battlefield into an enormous mana source. There is little reason to overload the deck with additional mana rocks when the commander already rewards you for doing what the deck wants.
For a broader rebuild, our Mana Base Upgrade Guide covers inexpensive Golgari fixing options. Here, however, upgrading a few of the slowest lands is enough.
How the Upgraded Squirreled Away Deck Wins
The best opening turns are about producing a few tokens and establishing one engine rather than trying to create the largest possible battlefield immediately. Once Hazel of the Rootbloom arrives, those tokens can become mana, allowing you to deploy cards that would normally require another full turn of development.
From there, Hazel’s end step steadily expands the most useful token you control. If that token is a Squirrel, you receive two copies instead of one. Chatterfang, Squirrel General and cards such as Parallel Lives can make that growth substantially faster, while Camellia, the Seedmiser or the stock Squirrel lords make the resulting army more difficult to block.
You do not have to win exclusively through combat. A large token battlefield means Mirkwood Bats, Nadier’s Nightblade, Zulaport Cutthroat and similar effects can punish opponents for the same tokens being created, sacrificed or destroyed. This is particularly useful after a board wipe: an opponent may successfully remove your Squirrels and still lose a significant amount of life for doing so.
That combination is what makes Hazel dangerous. The tokens are simultaneously creatures, mana sources and potential sacrifice resources. The deck can build toward Beastmaster Ascension and attack with an enormous swarm, or it can convert the same creatures into cards, mana and life-loss triggers when combat stops being practical.
PreconForge Verdict
Squirreled Away is already one of those precons where many obvious upgrades are sitting in the original box. Chatterfang, Squirrel General, Chitterspitter, Deep Forest Hermit, Squirrel Sovereign, Second Harvest, Beastmaster Ascension, Skullclamp, Academy Manufactor, Nadier’s Nightblade and Poison-Tip Archer are all already part of the stock list.
That means the best upgrades can be selective. Camellia, the Seedmiser gives the Squirrel army evasion and another token engine, Peregrin Took makes every token-producing effect more productive, and Mirkwood Bats provides a powerful noncombat finish. Parallel Lives is the premium option when you simply want the token numbers to grow much faster.
Most importantly, remember that Hazel can tap any tokens for mana, not just Squirrels. That means Food, Treasure and other tokens are still valuable even in a focused tribal build. Squirrels receive the special treatment at the end step, but the entire token ecosystem is what makes the deck function.
Build enough tokens to turn Hazel into a major mana engine, preserve the excellent Squirrel core already in the box and add a few ways to profit whether those tokens attack or die. Once that happens, Squirreled Away stops relying on quantity alone: every new Squirrel makes the rest of the deck more productive.
