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Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm
Legendary Creature — Rat Warlock
Whenever Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm attacks or blocks, other Rats you control get +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of Rats you control.
At the beginning of your end step, you may mill four cards. If you do, return up to two Rat creature cards from your graveyard to your hand. (To mill a card, put the top card of your library into your graveyard.)
HeavenlyAxe on
1 month ago
Hey Indie,
First off I really like the lands you have assembled and the suggestions from SufferFromEDHD are all good.
You are definitely going to want an artifact ramp package.
Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, Arcane Signet, Fellwar Stone, Gilded Lotus, Thran Dynamo
Special Mention to Nyx Lotus, it could be good being in mono black. and Jeweled Lotus, pays for your commander for free on turn 1 even.
Sword of the Animist is not bad ramp at all and buffs yours rats
Commander's Plate might be cute.
Liliana of the Dark Realms, makes sure you always get a land drop and could make your swamps tap for four.
Chittering Witch if your playing with more opponents.
Crypt Ghast is sort of ramp, but doubles your swamps. Very good in mono black.
Dauthi Voidwalker is not on theme at all but is just sooo much value in a two cost card I have to recommend it.
God-Eternal Bontu is excellent draw power in the right situation.
Dont forget you can run any number of Relentless Rats
Gray Merchant of Asphodel will heal you up a lot and hurt your opponents
Krav, the Unredeemed is also great card draw.
Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, has card draw, removal, and proliferate all on one card
Deadly Rollick, potentially free removal
Defile, cheap good removal
Thrilling Encore saves you from a board wipe or lets you bring everything back after sacrificing it all to like God-Eternal Bontu
Phyrexian Arena some ok card draw.
Bojuka Bog if you are worried about graveyards
Mutilate, a good board wipe in mono black
Night's Whisper, Read the Bones, Sign in Blood, are a great draw package for mono black
Toxic Deluge a great board wipe for when things need resetting, and you could follow with Thrilling Encore and get it all back
Syphon Mind is great draw if your playing with more players
Victimize - is really really strong, get rid of one weak thing for two of your best things
Yawgmoth's Will - lets you treat your graveyard like your hand for a turn
Lord Skitter, Sewer King makes rats
Marrow-Gnawer - lets you make lots of rats
Infectious Inquiry - good draw and gives poison
Ogre Slumlord - makes rats when your creatures or your opponents creatures die.
Tangled Colony - if your opponent has to block it or it dies to like Blasphemous Act will make you rats
Vraska's Fall removal and poison counter
Drown in Ichor removal and poison
Bontu's Monument all your creatures cost less
Rat Colony can have any number and they buff themselves, and cost less mana than Relentless Rats
Typhoid Rats deathtouch rat opponents wont want to block
Crypt Rats can board wipe but can also win the game if you give it infect, doesnt work with your commander because toxic specifies combat damage but does work if you give it infect and deal damage with it's ability.
Ratcatcher tutors rats, and gives you card advantage
Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm - buffs your rats and lets you get rats back
Wave of Rats has blitz and reanimates itself
Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni rat that steals opponents stuff
Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion rat that steals opponents stuff
Adaptive Automaton is a rat and buffs rats
Okiba-Gang Shinobi rat makes opponents discard and has ninjutsu
Filth gives all your rats swampwalk pairs well with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Dark Ritual lets your get a head start or some extra mana a turn you need it
Tainted Strike instant speed infect, funny in multiplayer because you can use it on anyone's creatures.
Phyresis Outbreak gives poison and might kill opponents creatures
Feed the Swarm enchantment removal in black
Vat Emergence gets a creature back and proliferates
Spread the Sickness destroys a creatures and proliferates
Pact of the Serpent strong tribal card draw
Living Death swap graveyards with battlefields, great after sacrificing your whole board to draw cards
Skullclamp sack small rats for card draw
Thrumming Stone if you go the Relentless Rats or Rat Colony route
Coat of Arms your rats will be huge
Bolas's Citadel this card is dumb lol, lots of casting power and then you hit Gray Merchant of Asphodel and keep going lol
Icon of Ancestry kinda draw buffs rats...is ok
Contagion Engine proliferate twice each time you activate
Eldrazi Monument gives creatures flying indestructible and +1/+1
Grafted Exoskeleton gives a creature infect, great with Crypt Rats
Sword of Truth and Justice proliferate sword
Bad Moon buff all black creatures, opponents too
Phyresis gives infect again good with Crypt Rats
Greed card draw
Vraska, Betrayal's Sting proliferate planes walker
I know that's a lot but hopefully gave you some ideas to work with!
legendofa on
Mono Black Rats Deck (First Deck Ever)
3 months ago
I'll give some good general-use options for several budget levels.
$20+ Thornbite Staff, Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm
$10-$20 Contamination, Liliana of the Veil
$1-$10 Capital Punishment, Ratcatcher
Less than $1 Feed the Swarm, Fraying Omnipotence, Hex
legendofa on
Mono Black Rats Deck (First Deck Ever)
3 months ago
Welcome to the club, Lardex!
If you're on Cockatrice and budget isn't a concern, Thornbite Staff allows you to create an infinite number of Rat tokens with Marrow-Gnawer. Ratcatcher and Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm are more good utility and aggro options. (If you're pulling this together in paper and budget is a concern, then it's safe to skip these suggestions.)
I'm not sure Spine of Ish Sah and Scour from Existence are pulling their weight here. Sure, they can get rid of anything, but is a huge investment to get rid of a single permanent, and you're in a color that has a lot of removal options for just about about everything.
Above all, have fun!
Quicksilver2785 on
Marrow-Gnawer Goes Wide
5 months ago
I know you are going more budget with this but figured I could suggest a few Rats or cards that help a chosen creature type: Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm, Lord Skitter, Sewer King, Ratcatcher, Karumonix, the Rat King, Twisted Sewer-Witch, Skemfar Shadowsage, Kindred Dominance, Haunting Voyage, Crippling Fear, Aphetto Dredging.
griffstick on
infinite rats
11 months ago
Put in that card Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm of you can get you hands on one.
legendofa on
infinite rats
11 months ago
Pulling from my own Rat tribal deck (Modern-ish casual, not EDH):
Karumonix, the Rat King gives you an out against lifegain-heavy decks. I don't recommend going deeper than that with poison (i.e. don't add Ichor Rats or Septic Rats), but Karumonix adds a layer to your attacks and keeps rats coming.
I haven't gotten Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm yet, but I want to. It looks amazing. If your budget can handle it, I'm recommending it just in theoretical grounds.
I personally am not impressed with Swarm of Rats (Rat Colony is pretty much all-around better) and Pestilence Rats, but they might work better in EDH, where you always have access to a fear-granting effect. How have they worked for you?
Ratcatcher is a free tutor for a rat every turn. Highly recommended.
Memoricide is a little odd, since it can only hit one card that isn't in play. Is this a meta choice? Do you have a specific target for it that you know you'll see?
Unless you see a bunch of Voltron, Battlecruiser, or other decks with one big creature, I would diversify the removal a little bit. You have a lot of single-target creature removal. I'm a big fan of discard, so I'm recommending based on what I like at this point. Cabal Therapist, Mind Slash, and Sadistic Hypnotist turn your rats into hand removal. Feed the Swarm offers enchantment removal with a very evocative name for this deck. Try some of these in place of Cast Down or Ultimate Price or something. Also, Despise isn't great if you're just fishing. If you want a T1 discard effect, Thoughtseize is best, Inquisition of Kozilek and Blackmail are solid, and Dread Fugue is pretty good.
Following up on that, I see a good set of mass removal and graveyard recursion, and Marrow-Gnawer lets you rebuild quickly. This part looks solid.
HeyImVegan on
[Marrow-Gnawer] The Fast and the Furriest!
1 year ago
Ice_Note Thank you for your comment!
Pestilence Rats is a concideration and i think i have it actually laying around somewhere. Door of Destinies only works with Rat Colony and doesnt affect the rat tokens from the Commander. Vanquisher's Banner is nice for the card draw but also wont work with tokens (since they r not casted), the +1+1 is not worth the 5 Mana i think. Coat of Arms on the other hand is pretty good and is a finisher (if there is no other tribal player at the table).
I just added Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm as a "Craterhoof" for rats. Has a similar effect to Coat but on a Creature with 4 mana and has a little more flavor for the deck. Also adds a recursion effect for rats. But it may be the card to exchange for Coat.