At a glance
- Format: Standard
- Colors: White / Green (WG)
- Archetype: Selesnya Cats go-wide aggro
- Power tier: mid-high
- Standard: ✅ Legal
Strategy
This is a tightly-built Selesnya Cats aggro deck that wants to flood the board early and snowball with anthem and counter effects. The one-drop curve is excellent: Savannah Lions as a pure beater and Helpful Hunter as a 1/1 that replaces itself keep the gas flowing while you pressure life totals. Wary Thespian surveils on the way in and out, smoothing draws, and Prideful Parent plus Felidar Savior give you bodies-plus-counters value. The deck is overwhelmingly green-light on creature count, which turns on the two key synergy engines: Good-Fortune Unicorn (a +1/+1 counter every time another creature enters — absurd with a low curve dropping multiple bodies a turn) and Claws Out, which with Affinity for Cats routinely costs {W} or {G} for a +2/+2 team pump that ends games out of nowhere.
The payoff top-end is where the deck gets its teeth. Arahbo, the First Fang is a Cat lord that also spits out tokens, Regal Caracal anthems the whole team and grants lifelink (huge in mirror/aggro races), and Delney, Streetwise Lookout both doubles your small-creature ETB triggers (Unicorn, Felidar Savior, Helpful Hunter all go nuts) and makes your sub-3-power army nearly unblockable. Ajani, Caller of the Pride is a one-of haymaker — its −3 (flying + double strike) turns any pumped Cat into a 12+ damage swing and the ultimate just wins. Removal is lean but functional: Banishing Light and the affordable Felling Blow (counter + fight) clear blockers and problem permanents.
The deck wins by curving out, going wide, and converting the board into lethal with an anthem (Arahbo/Caracal), a pump spell (Claws Out), or evasion (Delney/Ajani). On ladder this is a genuinely strong proactive aggro deck — fast clock, resilient to spot removal because of the counter accumulation, and with a real reach package. It lands mid-high rather than higher because the removal/interaction suite is thin (only 2 Banishing Light, 2 Felling Blow) and it can get run over by faster combo or stumble against repeatable sweepers and lifegain control; the singleton legends (Delney, Ajani, Caracal) also mean the most powerful draws aren’t consistent. Tightening the rare/mythic engine — e.g. pulling owned heavy-hitters like Ouroboroid or a second copy of a key lord, or adding Swords to Plowshares (via Emeritus of Truce) for cheap interaction — would push it toward high tier without spending wildcards.
Cards
Decklist
Paste straight into MTG Arena (or Moxfield/Archidekt):
Deck
4 Savannah Lions
4 Helpful Hunter
3 Prideful Parent
4 Wary Thespian
4 Good-Fortune Unicorn
2 Arahbo, the First Fang
4 Claws Out
3 Felidar Savior
1 Regal Caracal
2 Banishing Light
2 Felling Blow
1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
1 Delney, Streetwise Lookout
4 Temple Garden
3 Hushwood Verge
11 Plains
5 Forest
1 Skyknight Squire
1 Emeritus of Truce
Sideboard
A 15-card sideboard for best-of-three (Traditional) play — swap these in game 2/3 against the matchups below.
Selesnya Cats is the beatdown in most matchups; you side in targeted interaction while keeping your proactive go-wide plan. Web Up is the workhorse — a Banishing Light clone that exiles Screaming Nemesis, enchantment engines, and planeswalkers alike.
vs Mono-Red / Gruul / Boros Aggro: +2 Elspeth’s Smite, +2 Razor Rings, +2 Keep Out, +1 Scavenging Ooze / -3 Claws Out, -2 Felling Blow, -2 Arahbo, the First Fang. Elspeth’s Smite and Stasis Snare EXILE Screaming Nemesis so it can’t punish you; Razor Rings and Scav Ooze buy life to win the race. Add +1 Stasis Snare if they lean on Nemesis/Slickshot.
vs Dimir Midrange: +3 Web Up, +1 Elspeth, Storm Slayer, +1 Valorous Stance / -3 Claws Out, -2 Felling Blow. Web Up exiles Enduring Curiosity and Kaito; Elspeth grinds card advantage over their spot removal; Valorous Stance protects a key threat or kills a fat blocker.
vs Golgari Midrange: +3 Web Up, +1 Valorous Stance, +1 Elspeth, Storm Slayer / -3 Claws Out, -2 Felling Blow. Web Up exiles Unholy Annex and Glissa Sunslayer; Valorous Stance also kills Glissa (toughness 4); Elspeth goes over the top of their grind.
vs Azorius Oculus: +1 Scavenging Ooze, +1 Rooftop Percher, +1 Glorious Decay, +1 Stasis Snare / -2 Felling Blow, -2 Claws Out. Scav Ooze and Percher gut the graveyard while adding to your board; Glorious Decay exiles a key card and cantrips.
vs Zur Domain / Mono-White engines: +3 Web Up, +2 Keep Out / -3 Claws Out, -2 Felling Blow. Exile their enchantment payoffs and race under them.
vs Jeskai Convoke / Mono-White Tokens: +2 Razor Rings, +2 Keep Out, +1 Elspeth, Storm Slayer / -2 Felling Blow, -3 Claws Out. Pick off their go-wide tokens and out-grind with Elspeth; you’re the faster, more resilient board.
Full deck with sideboard (paste into Arena for Bo3):
Deck
4 Savannah Lions
4 Helpful Hunter
3 Prideful Parent
4 Wary Thespian
4 Good-Fortune Unicorn
2 Arahbo, the First Fang
4 Claws Out
3 Felidar Savior
1 Regal Caracal
2 Banishing Light
2 Felling Blow
1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
1 Delney, Streetwise Lookout
4 Temple Garden
3 Hushwood Verge
11 Plains
5 Forest
1 Skyknight Squire
1 Emeritus of Truce
Sideboard
3 Web Up
2 Elspeth's Smite
2 Razor Rings
2 Keep Out
1 Valorous Stance
1 Glorious Decay
1 Stasis Snare
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Rooftop Percher
1 Elspeth, Storm Slayer
Card images & data via Scryfall.