Overview:

This Pir & Toothy deck focuses on +1/+1 counter proliferation and card draw synergies. Pir amplifies counter placement, while Toothy scales with draw triggers and provides explosive card advantage when flickered or removed. The strategy revolves around creating massive creatures (primarily Toothy) and leveraging unblockable effects like Herald of Secret Streams for combat wins, with Simic Ascendancy as a backup alt-win condition. The deck uses flicker effects (Displace, Ghostly Flicker) to reset Toothy for repeated draw bursts and counter accumulation, supported by counter-doublers like Branching Evolution and Vorel of the Hull Clade.

Primer:

Core Strategy Execution:

1. Early Setup (Turns 1-4): Deploy ramp (Birds of Paradise, Farseek, Three Visits) and counter enablers (Hardened Scales, Ozolith, the Shattered Spire). Cast Pir first to amplify counters.
2. Midgame Engine (Turns 4-6): Drop Toothy and protect it with Swiftfoot Boots/Whispersilk Cloak. Use draw engines (Rhystic Study, Sylvan Library, Windfall) to grow Toothy. Flicker Toothy with Displace or Planar Incision to draw 10+ cards and reset its counters.
3. Win Conditions (Turns 6-8):
   • Combat: Deploy Herald of Secret Streams to swing with unblockable 20/20+ creatures.
   • Simic Ascendancy: Use Vorel of the Hull Clade or Solidarity of Heroes to rapidly hit 20 counters.
   • Toothy Burst: Sacrifice or flicker Toothy to draw 30+ cards, enabling Laboratory Maniac-style wins via Jace's Archivist/Windfall loops.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with early ramp (1-2 mana dorks/ramp spells).
• Prioritize counter enablers (Hardened Scales, Branching Evolution) or protection (Swiftfoot Boots).
• Avoid hands lacking blue sources for interaction or card draw.

Key Tips:

• Use Cyclonic Rift defensively to protect Toothy’s counters before a flicker.
• Simic Ascendancy triggers on any +1/+1 counter placement—pair with Bristly Bill, Spine Sower for instant wins.
• Ripples of Potential can phase out key permanents to dodge removal while proliferating.

Weaknesses:

Critical

• Graveyard hate (Rest in Peace, Leyline of the Void) disrupts Eternal Witness-like recursion and Toothy’s death trigger.
• Counter prevention (Solemnity, The Ozolith) nullifies the deck’s core strategy.
• Stax pieces (Cursed Totem, Torpor Orb) disable key activated abilities and flicker payoffs.

Moderate

• Board wipes reset counter progress; limited mass recursion outside Ripples of Potential.
• Instant-speed removal on Toothy before flicker resolves can deny card draw.

Minor

• Limited stack interaction beyond Counterspell/Cryptic Command.
• Relies on combat for primary wins, vulnerable to fog effects.

Most Important Cards:

• Toothy, Imaginary Friend (Primary engine and win condition)
• Branching Evolution (Doubles counter output)
• Herald of Secret Streams (Enables unblockable combat wins)
• Simic Ascendancy (Alt-win condition)
• Displace/Ghostly Flicker (Toothy reset and card draw)
• Rhystic Study (Draw engine for Toothy growth)
• Vorel of the Hull Clade (Counter doubling for Ascendancy/combat)
• Cyclonic Rift (Board reset/protection)
• Solidarity of Heroes (Instant-speed counter doubling)
• Kalonian Hydra (Exponential counter growth)

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 6/10
Threatens wins via combat or Ascendancy around turns 7-8 in ideal scenarios. Flicker loops and counter doublers accelerate but require setup.

Resilience: 5/10
Moderate protection (hexproof equipment, Mutational Advantage) but heavily commander-reliant and vulnerable to targeted hate.

Consistency: 7/10
Strong card draw (12+ engines) and redundancy in counter synergies, but limited tutors for key combo pieces.

Interaction: 5/10
Efficient counterspells and bounce, but reactive tools are sparse compared to proactive counter strategies.

Rating Justification:

This deck operates at a focused, synergy-driven power level with T7-8 win potential through combat or Simic Ascendancy, but lacks the speed and redundancy of top-tier combos. Its reliance on board presence and vulnerability to common stax pieces place it in the optimized casual tier.

Power level: 5.5 - 6.0