Ever since Bloomburrow was first revealed, many MTG players have been keen to try out a Mouse Typal deck. This is a type that has seen scant support until now, with only a small family of Mice arriving in Wilds of Eldraine, and few before that. Those Mice were like heralds for the hordes in Bloomburrow.
Now that spoiler season is fully underway, we’re seeing some absolute bangers. The latest spoilers could even give Mouse Typal the juice it needs to seize a spot at the Standard top tables.
Heartfire Hero
First and foremouse among these is Heartfire Hero. Despite being an uncommon, this is probably the most exciting card in this entire batch. It’s a 1/1 for one with the Valiant ability. If you’re not up to date on your Bloomburrow mechanics, this is a new take on Heroic that offers a reward the first time you target a creature with a spell or ability each turn. In Heartfire Hero’s case, that reward is a +1/+1 counter.
If the text on the card stopped there, it would likely be enough to warrant this card’s inclusion in MTG Mouse Typal decks. A one drop that can scale up each turn is no joke, and there are plenty of powerful ways to trigger this in Standard right now. Monstrous Rage and Demonic Ruckus, to name a couple. Since Valiant works with abilities as well, you can also trigger it with Equipment, such as Dire Flail and Lavaspur Boots. It may even give Lost Jitte a shot at the limelight.
Heartfire Hero’s text doesn’t stop there, though. When it dies, it lets you deal damage equal to its power to your opponent’s face. This means that, in most cases, you’re getting a free Lightning Bolt worth of damage with your aggressive one drop. Provided it manages to dodge exile or bounce-based removal, that is.
Heartfire Hero is far and away the best one drop we’ve seen for the Mouse deck so far. Sorry, Flowerfoot Swordmaster. Beyond that, it’s also a terrifying new option for Mono-Red Aggro decks in the format. Those love playing combat tricks anyway, so a card like this slots right in no questions asked. As do a few of the Mice we’ll see today, actually.
Manifold Mouse
Manifold Mouse doesn’t scream ‘Aggro all-star’ at first glance. It’s just a 1/2 for two, after all. But dig into its abilities and you’ll quickly realize it’s tailor-made for the deck. At the beginning of combat on your turn, Manifold Mouse lets you grant any Mouse you control, itself included, either Double Strike or Trample. Both of these abilities are pretty scary in Aggro decks, but Double Strike in particular can lead to some very early, very cheesy wins when applied this liberally.
Thankfully, the Mouse restriction here probably prevents the card from slotting into every single Mono-Red Aggro deck. In a Mouse Typal deck, however, it will be an absolute MTG powerhouse. Applying either one of these abilities can be dangerous, and doing so will also trigger any Valiant abilities on your Mice, such as Heartfire Hero above. It’s also worth noting that this effect triggers at the start of combat, so you can use it the turn Manifold Mouse comes down.
All of that is excellent, and I haven’t even mentioned the fact that this card has Offspring yet. This lets you pay an extra two mana to create a 1/1 token version of Manifold Mouse when you cast it. With two Manifold Mice in play, you have double the triggers to play with, which allows you to apply both Double Strike and Trample to a single creature. A deadly combination, as any who have witnessed it will attest. Alternatively, you can spread the love and trigger two Valiant abilities instead. Either way, this is a slam-dunk inclusion in Mouse decks, and a very scary two drop in general.
Heartfire Challenger
The last of the absurd mono-red Mice we’ll be seeing today comes to us from Japanese MTG YouTuber Big Magic Live. As of yet, the card has yet to receive an official translation, so the name may not be exactly what’s written here. The abilities have been translated, however, and the card reads as follows:
Heartfire Challenger
1R
Creature – Mouse Warrior
Haste, Prowess
Valiant – Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability you control for the first time each turn, exile the top card of your library. You may play that card until end of turn.
2/2
Talk about a pushed two drop. A two mana 2/2 Haste, Prowess creature would almost definitely see play in Mono-Red Aggro as-is. Getting in early and getting big later are both things the deck wants to be doing, and this does them very well. As if this wasn’t enough already, the Valiant ability really pushes this one over the top.
You’ll want to be casting combat tricks with this card out to trigger Prowess anyway. Should you do this Heartfire Challenger’s Valiant ability basically draws you a card a lot of the time here. Keeping a flow of cards going is incredibly important for aggressive decks, and this does so without sacrificing anything in terms of tempo.
It honestly boggles the mind how well this fits into current Standard Mono-Red decks. If you were worried about the deck losing too many cards post-rotation, you can put those fears to rest.
Of course, this MTG card will also be an auto-include in any Mouse Typal decks that crop up in Standard, too. Mabel might be the face of Bloomburrow’s Mice lore-wise, but I could see Heartfire Challenger being their representative gameplay-wise before long.
Mabel’s Mettle
Speaking of Mabel, we also got to see one of her namesake cards today. Mabel’s Mettle is like two mediocre combat tricks in one. It gives one creature +2/+2 and another +1/+1. Like a split Giant Growth for one more mana. That doesn’t sound very appealing on the surface, but the card was clearly designed with the Valiant mechanic in mind.
Where other combat tricks are better for activating one Valiant trigger, Mabel’s Mettle can get two at once. If you have a Flowerfoot Swordmaster and its Offspring out, this can hit both to give all your Mice +2/+0, in addition to the buffs from the spell itself. Lines like this mean the card could be useful in a go-wide version of the Mouse strategy, rather than the go-tall version the red Mice seem to encourage.
Whether such a deck will be viable or not remains to be seen. At the moment, a straight mono-red version of Mice is looking like the better bet. Ditch the white mana and stick to a streamlined beatdown strategy. Those who want to play Mabel, Heir to Cragflame and Cheeky House-Mouse will want to consider this, however. Two Valiant triggers can be game-changing, and a two mana instant is hardly going to break the bank, even in aggressive lists.
Brambleguard Captain
The last two cards for today look very much like they belong in the Limited Lounge, but it’s worth giving them a once-over anyway. Overlooked uncommons are, ironically enough, not uncommon during spoiler season, after all.
Brambleguard Captain is a 2/3 Mouse Soldier for four mana, which will likely prompt most to put it aside immediately. Mice, however, you build it, is looking like an Aggro deck so far. Aggro decks simply can’t afford to play creatures as slow as this. Unless their abilities are truly spectacular, that is.
Unfortunately, Brambleguard Captain’s aren’t. This isn’t a Sunspine Lynx situation, where the card has enough power to maybe land a spot despite its cost. At the start of combat on your turn, Brambleguard Captain gives one of your creatures +X/+0, where X is its own power. That’s it. It’s a free combat trick, and an easy way to trigger Valiant each turn, but for the most part, granting +2/+0 once per turn is not worth a four mana investment.
Granted, you can buff Brambleguard Captain’s power with another card, then pass that boost on to a fellow creature at the start of combat. Unless the Captain is able to attack as well, though, this is probably a waste of resources. Concerningly, this will only be happening on turn five and beyond, which is a stage of the game Mouse Typal decks won’t be seeing if they’re playing well. It’s a fine signpost uncommon for Limited, but that’s where the party ends for Brambleguard Captain, I’m afraid.
Valley Rally
Valley Rally likely shares the same fate, though I think it has a slightly better chance at seeing real play than the Captain does. For three mana, this is an instant that gives your whole board +2/+0 for a turn. Not bad if you’re running that go-wide Mouse deck I mentioned earlier, but not great either. The card also has the new Gift mechanic, however. If you let your opponent create a Food token when you cast this spell, you can also give a creature you control First Strike this turn as well.
This is a double-edged sword. First Strike can let you avoid trading with a blocker, and trigger a Valiant effect to boot. On the other hand, giving your opponent a means of gaining life in an aggressive deck is a bad idea in general. Unless the extra trigger is really worth it, most of the time you probably won’t want to Gift a Food with this. At which point it becomes just another mediocre red Overrun effect.
Like Brambleguard Captain, I think this one costs just a bit too much mana for serious Standard consideration. It also requires a decent board presence to have any kind of effect, which puts it firmly in the win-more camp. Unless you’re running Mouse Typal on a budget, this one will serve you better in the bulk box than on the battlefield.
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