Savannah Lions would work so well with that commander. Makes for a nice early threat hitting for 5. Equipements love an early holder as well. Nice simple deck with a lovely presentation to boot, nice work!

Rivenor - Thanks! And that's not a bad tip. I'm going to make a few tweaks in the next day or two as I've figured it's worth working even more on the "go tall" strategy and streamlining it for that should be quite easy and help strengthen the deck.

Having looked at my inventory I don't have a Savannah Lions but I do have some possibly appropriate 1-drops that would be pretty powerful.

Glittering Lynx would be an indestructible 4/4 unless the opponent pays 2, which they're unlikely to do early game.

Loam Lion is permanently 2/3 (so 5/6 with Arahbo) if I have a Forest.

Steppe Lynx would be a 5/6 every time a land came down.

Hi, I love the cat tribe deck. A question why have you not put Pride Sovereign and Metallic Mimic? Ok, mimic just mimics a cat and give them counters, but Pride Sovereign is a nice token generator of 1/1 (with Arhbo 4/4) lifelink kittens and itself can be also quite big. .

A few nice kitty cat to consider into the sky: Skyhunter Skirmisher and Leonin Skyhunter. The former is a dangerous kitty with any toy or the blessing of Arahbo. It will fly in and take a big chunk of life of any opponent without flyers. It is better, then Leonin Den-Guard or Skyhunter Cub. Leonin Skyhunter is more resilient and also flies in the air. And any cat in the air is dangerous. Some more examples, if you want to go in that direction (also in the budget) Skyhunter Prowler and Skyhunter Patrol. Both are weaker than Skyhunter Skirmisher or Leonin Skyhunter but I think they are better than Skyhunter Cub or Leonin Den-Guard

medozzz - Thanks very much for the decent comments, I appreciate your thoughts. You've given me some solid advice there and I'll be taking a solid look at the base of cats, especially the ones you mentioned as I made an "advanced purchase" of random cat singles before C17 dropped so I've got a lot of the ones you mentioned already.

To add one thing, the Pride Sovereign ended up getting dropped when I started to steer completely away from tokens (wide strat) and went for a tall strat. That being said, he's about the best token generator for going tall, because he gets all the +1/+1 for the other cats on the board, so I will seriously consider him again.

Metallic Mimic I run in my standard cat tribal deck, and he works well, but only if you get him out early. He's amazing in token decks, but I wasn't so sure about him in this one.

Nice deck :)

A few suggestions:

Beast Within and Song of the Dryads are my fave removal in green since they can take care of any permanent.

Fleecemane Lion works amazing in my version of the deck. Hexproof and Indestructible is incredibly tough to get rid of. He's 7/7 hexproof and indestructible with Arahbo's trigger.

Chameleon Colossus will count as a cat and can make himself huge!

I would put back in Loxodon Warhammer. You have Behemoth Sledge and the Warhammer is effectively the same thing.

Duelist's Heritage is a very cheap way to give a creature double strike each turn. (can also give opponents' creatures double strike if they are attacking each other)

I would add a bit more draw to make sure your hand always has gas: Hunter's Insight, Hunter's Prowess, Mask of Memory, and Harmonize are all great.

MegaMatt13 - Thanks for the helpful comments. I'll definitely take another look at a few of those cards, particularly Fleecemane Lion.

Any thoughts on what to cut if I start adding some of these cards though? That's much harder than finding good cards to go in :)

I hear ya...cuts are always the toughest. Personally I would cut back on some of the higher casting cost cards to speed up the deck. Caged Sun, Argentum Armor, the Kaldra equipment...they all could be replaced with cheaper stuff. (eg. I would replace Caged Sun with a cheaper ramp spell like a simple Farseek or Nature's Lore which can tutor for Scattered Groves and Canopy Vista).

Also, 37-38 lands is great in most decks but your mana curve is low enough to handle cutting back to about 35. That would give you a couple extra slots.

Forgot to link to my deck...it may provide some suggestions :)

Arahbo's Killer Kittens

MegaMatt13 - Thanks again, I hear ya regarding cuts!

I think I like the idea of replacing Caged Sun with something else rampy. I liked the anthem effect but the fact it also buffs your opponents lands (in this case, anyone running white really) it might be a bit double-edged. I'll perhaps throw in some of the standard green ramp, like Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, or Harvest Season.

I was originally worried about the mana curve. I'm used to playing very fast decks where the curve peaks at 2 and with this one averaging over 3 I thought I needed more. I think more playtesting is required to be sure!

sagramore

Just a head's up but Caged Sun does not affect opponents so it is safe to use.

Rivenor - You're completely correct now I read it again. My friend has been cheating! :) It's still expensive though, so the swap for Cultivate is still probably valid. Plus, other than an instant counter, Cultivate shouldn't get removed/wiped.

I've made another 7 or 8 swaps to beef the deck up a bit. It' still sitting at a TCGPlayer paper price of ~$300 so not ridiculous but the changes should shift the tier of the deck up a tiny bit and make it hit a little harder a little faster.

Any constructive cricisms gratefully received!

Like the upgrades :)

One cat that has been working great for me is Pride of Lions. 5 mana for a 4/4 is usually blah but Arahbo pumps him into a 7/7 who can get damage through no matter what. He can deal a crazy amount of damage with any equipment or Arahbo's second ability.

MegaMatt13 - Thanks for the tip! I'll take a look at them for sure.

EDIT: Turns out I have one in a box but I'm not sure what I would cut (in the 4 to 6 drop range) that would make the change an improvement.... A lot of the cards at that cost level seem "necessary".

Hmm...how is Alms Collector performing for you? I eventually cut him. He is more of a control oriented card in an aggro deck.

Not played with the Alms Collector enough yet to be sure, but I will earmark it as a possible. My meta has a lot of card draw so it was more to stop them drawing lots than to get me the extra draw!

Upvote for the kitty meme.

I Like a lot Lost Leonin, you literally kill someone in 2turn with the +3/+3

Trepanation Blade, Whispersilk Cloak are definitely good for a deck like this.

Non-Cat considerations: Linvala, Keeper of Silence, Dosan the Falling Leaf

Celestial Mantle is also a lifegain card that could help to stay alive when added to a creature with first-strike/unblockable, it isn't even funny if it is on a double-strike creature.

Great deck man! It's funny cause I've built this deck almost literally card for card in anticipation for C17. We both made some flavor choices here and there, but ultimately it's the same!! Thanks for re-affirming my deck for me, but all the credit here goes to you. :) (Your great standard budget cat deck brought me here.)

Sorry for the double post, but I'll add that Bloodforged Battle-Axe works beautifully. I got it on my turn 1 hand and pretty much ended the game turn 6 with 6 - 9 copies of it on the field. It gets out of control if your opponent doesn't stop it as soon as it comes out, and becomes a powerful toy the longer it stays on the field. I've only been able to play it twice, but the opponent scooped soon after it was out both times because of the copy creation. You can use Mirage Mirror to further copy the card, too, and create extra chaos. To be honest, I felt quite evil using it, but dang did it pay off. You might want to consider these two cards as well: Stoneforge Mystic, and Adaptive Automaton. I actually added these to mine just for the usefulness, but that's just me.

Thanks Arkheid, superhuman21, and Pickacantaloupe for all your helpful comments.

As a general rule I am still trying to stick as hard as possible to the kitty theme rather than swap out cats for better equipment deck creatures. Things like Stoneforge Mystic, Puresteel Paladin, Sun Titan, etc. are obviously briliant cards for this deck but once I start putting them in in place of cats I feel like I'm not running a cat tribal deck any more and I might as well just replace Arahbo with Sram :)

However the Bloodforged Battle-Axe is definitely on my radar, as is Open the Armory as I totally forgot it exists. From my very limited playtesting as well I can see that Hexproof is a major boon here for keeping that voltron kitty alive so Whispersilk Cloak is being seriously considered as well (as is Mask of Avacyn as a cheaper alternative).

Regarding the Lost Leonin - this is also on my radar, and I have one sitting next to me. I'm just not sure if I want to go through the Infect route or not.... If I did put it in I would also consider Grafted Exoskeleton too and it may end up being what is used with the tutors every game. I imagine it draws quite a lot of hate though....