Mikey & Leo, Chaos & OrderMikey & Leo, Chaos & Order | Art by Jason Rainville

Welcome to Too-Specific Top 10, where if there isn’t a category to rank our pet card at the top of, we’ll just make one up! (Did you know that Snapping SailbackSnapping Sailback is the only Dinosaur with flash?)

Card draw? In my Selesnya? It's more likely than you think.

Mikey & Leo, Chaos & OrderMikey & Leo, Chaos & Order is a cheap commander that can draw you a card a turn, unless you can manage to put out multiple counters on creatures at instant speed on everyone else's turns.

Which doesn't sound too hard, right?

Right?

Top 10 Selesnya Flash Creatures That Care About +1/+1 Counters

Criteria: Creatures with flash within the Selesnya color identity that feature +1/+1 counters as some component of their card. 

As is tradition, all results are ordered by EDHREC score.

10. Wildborn PreserverWildborn Preserver

(10.8K Inclusions, 0.29% of 3.78M Decks)

Having a non-Human as a commander ensures that Wildborn PreserverWildborn Preserver will pretty much always have a target, and it being a flying blocker as well is sure to come in handy as we dare others to swing into our constantly open mana.

Where normally paying the X cost here feels a bit unwieldy and telegraphed, if we do this right, we should have tons of mana open on every player's turn, making it feel amazing to go into that last player's end step to suddenly make Mikey & Leo, Chaos & OrderMikey & Leo, Chaos & Order a 6/6.

And draw a card, of course.

9. Sentry BotSentry Bot

(12.2K Inclusions, 0.32% of 3.81M Decks)

Sentry BotSentry Bot is, and always has been, a trap. Sitting there with mana open, daring folks to swing into you makes it feel telegraphed, and then when you do finally get to play it out, it's only a 2/5 that's unlikely to kill anything impactful.

If you're constantly sitting with all your mana open, however, does that change things? The worst case is it coming down as a bad creature at end step, with the upside being a free block and your entire team getting bigger on your next combat. That's not amazing upside. But given that the entire plan with this deck is to sit back with our mana open, it seems like if there is a deck that wants this, it's this one.

8. Kutzil's FlankerKutzil's Flanker

(12.7K Inclusions, 0.33% of 3.81M Decks)

If you're the kind of person who loves feeling like you're ready for anything, then you're going to love Kutzil's FlankerKutzil's Flanker. A huge body in the aftermath of a board wipe; a little bit of top-deck manipulation and life gain in a pinch; or its most common use, an instant-speed way to clear an opponent's graveyard as they're trying to abuse it.

Flanker is less about what you want to choose, and more about the eventuality six months from now, where you'll have checked all three boxes at one point or another.

7. Rescue RetrieverRescue Retriever

(12.9K Inclusions, 0.34% of 3.81M Decks)

There are only 14 flash creatures in Selesnya total that care about +1/+1 counters, so make no mistake: We're a bit desperate here. With that said, there's only 13 Soldiers total that have flash, so with that in mind, I don't think we're that desperate that we're looking to include a five-mana 3/3 that probably won't ever do anything outside of be cast at instant speed.

6. Anafenza, Unyielding LineageAnafenza, Unyielding Lineage

(Helms 283 Decks, Rank #2,272; 12.8K Inclusions, 0.50% of 2.55M Decks)

That said, this particular Soldier affects all nontoken creatures, and as such will be a great addition. In fact, Anafenza, Unyielding LineageAnafenza, Unyielding Lineage seems like a great incentive to do one of my favorite things: enter combat aggressively.

Even better, with our emphasis on instant speed, Anafenza gives us an excuse to trade on unexpected blocks and still get a card or another creature out of it. All in all, probably one of the best cards in the deck.

5. Gatta and LuzzuGatta and Luzzu

(Helms 29 Decks, Rank #3,827; 18.6K Inclusions, 0.83% of 2.23M Decks)

As with Sentry BotSentry Bot, I've always been a bit of a critic with these "How cool would this be?" cards. Yes, it is amazing when you pull it off and block a 12/12 to then prevent the damage and make your own creature into a 13/13. More often, however, you're going to hold open three mana and be wondering if the 3/3 you managed to convince someone to attack you with was worth it.

That said, our whole game plan is to sit there with mana open, and we should also be drawing enough cards that this is just one of our options, rather than all of them. Combine that with Gatta and LuzzuGatta and Luzzu also working when we attack in casually. And while I'm still convinced that this card isn't good, I do think it's perfect for this deck.

4. Sweet-Gum RecluseSweet-Gum Recluse

(28.9K Inclusions, 0.76% of 3.78M Decks)

Speaking of cards that aren't good, I have a love-hate relationship with Sweet-Gum RecluseSweet-Gum Recluse. If there's an award for number of times just on the outside of the 99, I think this big old Spider would win it for me specifically.

That said, the beauty of low-powered builds like this one is that these are exactly the kinds of cards you can finally give a home. So, welcome home, Sweet-Gum Recluse. Can't wait for you to make some combats into a sticky situation!

3. Selfless SquireSelfless Squire

(54.9K Inclusions, 1.44% of 3.81M Decks)

I think if you sandwiched Gatta and LuzzuGatta and Luzzu and Selfless SquireSelfless Squire together, you'd have a card I actually liked. Instead, here I am giving the same speech for the third card.

Selfless Squire is bad, but this is exactly the kind of deck that wants it anyhow.

2. Phelia, Exuberant ShepherdPhelia, Exuberant Shepherd

(Helms 3,977 Decks, Rank #595; 74.4K Inclusions, 2.02% of 3.68M Decks)

Oh hey, an honest-to-goodness good card! Phelia, Exuberant ShepherdPhelia, Exuberant Shepherd is not only good, it's pushed to the max in both mechanics and art. I mean, how are you not gonna love this little corgi? Well, I'll tell you how: It'll be when your opponent plops down this little guy, and then proceeds to blink some nonsense "Okay, I draw thirty cards now" creature 12 times in a game.

That said, if she's your Dog? Obviously, she can do no wrong. And if she's blinking that Kutzil's FlankerKutzil's Flanker over and over again, then obviously they're a very good girl. Who's a good girl? Phelia's a good girl!

1. Liberator, Urza's BattlethopterLiberator, Urza's Battlethopter

(Helms 2,653 Decks, Rank #813; 101K Inclusions, 1.24% of 8.17M Decks)

Are we going to be colorless heavy in our flash speed build of Mikey & Leo? Almost certainly not. Do we care, given that it's likely that Liberator, Urza's BattlethopterLiberator, Urza's Battlethopter will have us draw half a dozen cards in conjunction with our commander? Absolutely not.

Honorable Mentions

Before we get to the rest of our ongoing list, there is an entire category of cards I left out that Mikey & LeoMikey & Leo still cares about: flash creatures that hand out other versions of counters.

Now, there aren't many of these (the rest of the list consists of Otherworldly EscortOtherworldly Escort and Swooping ProtectorSwooping Protector), which is why I didn't go over them in our main list when we wanted to craft a deck around the +1/+1 counter strategy. That said, all three of these cards are amazing pieces of protection that will also each draw you cards with Mikey & Leo. In other words? They're worth it, despite not making our list today.

Speaking of not making the list, what got left off that still ended up in the deck? Well, to be honest, almost all of them.

Now, none of these bottom-of-the-barrel scrapers amazes me. Snapping SailbackSnapping Sailback is easily the best of the bunch at a 4/4 for five that might draw some cards. That said? Yeah, what we've put together here is a Bracket 1 "Oops, All Flash!" deck, so we're going to grab all three of these running.

Yes, yes, I know I said we didn't want to play a five-mana 3/3 that does nothing when talking about Rescue RetrieverRescue Retriever, but with our commander out, Adaptive ShimmererAdaptive Shimmerer does do something when we cast it: It draws a card.

Now, I get a lot of questions about Brackets in general, but none more so than Bracket 1. Here's how I would sum it up:

• Bracket 1: Militant theme. If it isn't 100% in the theme, it isn't in the deck.
• Bracket 2: Big on theme. The theme of the deck is the main reason for the cards in the deck, but there might be some exceptions.
• Bracket 3: Good cards that fit in the theme, and just... good cards. The deck has a theme, and most cards fit in it, but there are also some cards thrown in just to keep up with the Joneses.
• Bracket 4: The last bastion of theme. The deck is powerful, above all, but rather than just playing the 100% best cards and combos, it chooses to have a theme that fits with its commander or what its trying to do.
• Bracket 5: No theme whatsoever. The deck is trying to win, period, and no exceptions are made.

So when folks ask me, as a fan of Bracket 1, how I can build decks that are that bad, the answer is simple: I make zero exceptions. If the deck is about flash, it's 100% about flash. There are zero cards in it that can't be cast at instant speed, and everything is leaning into the fact that I want to play cards at instant speed.

Mikey & Leo, Chaos & Order Commander Deck List

Now, is this deck pushing the boundary toward Bracket 2, given how many cards it's probably drawing and how much it can interact? Yeah, probably. But at the end of the day, it's held to its theme 100%, and won't be blowing other battlecruiser decks out of the water. And that's what counts.

Nuts and Bolts

There always seems to be a bit of interest in how these lists are made (this seems like a good time to stress once again that they are based on EDHREC score, NOT my personal opinion…), and people are often surprised that I’m not using any special data or .json from EDHREC, but rather just muddling my way through with some Scryfall knowledge! For your enjoyment/research, here is this week’s Scryfall search.

What Do You Think?

There is a certain caricature of Bracket 1 players that I don't entirely sit well with, but at the same time, definitely came up in testing for this deck. As such:

And finally, what is your favorite flash creature? Does it hand out +1/+1 counters?

Let us know in the comments, and we'll see you at the table that seems to be getting a little bit bigger every time you look away from it.