Ayara, Rat Empress of Locthwain

Commander / EDH Mono-Black

Equin0x

Creature (37)

• 1x Adaptive Automaton
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Ghoulcaller Gisa
• 1x Gnat Miser
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Locust Miser
• 1x Marrow-Gnawer
• 1x Metallic Mimic
• 1x Ogre Slumlord
• 1x Pack Rat
• 1x Pestilence Rats
• 1x Piper of the Swarm
• 21x Rat Colony
• 1x Ratcatcher
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Land (32)

• 1x Mortuary Mire
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 27x Swamp
• 1x Swarmyard
• 1x Witch's Cottage

Artifact (11)

• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Bontu's Monument
• 1x Coat of Arms
• 1x Cursed Rack
• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Panharmonicon
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thornbite Staff
• 1x Thrumming Stone

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Forever Young
• 1x Gruesome Fate
• 1x Kindred Dominance
• 1x Plague of Vermin
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Secret Salvage

Instant (5)

• 1x Cabal Ritual
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Murder
• 1x Thrilling Encore
• 1x Tragic Slip

Commander (1)

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Carnival of Souls
• 1x Cover of Darkness
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Sanguine Bond

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So after my first deck I had been thinking for awhile of what I wanted to do next. I had been pondering between mono red and mono black and ever since seeing both Torbrann and Ayara I had really been wanting to go with either route, as both Eldraine Aristocrats have such cool effects. Suffice to say, with the new Year of the Rat Secret Lair coming out this cemented my desire to build a mono black deck. The premise behind this deck is power and punishment. I play stuff you get punished for it. I sacrifice a rat or you kill one? Punished! The dead and living rats are a weaponized army that is made a lot more interesting thanks to Ayara.

Burn Synergies:

Ayara + Plague of Vermin will DO A LOT of damage, will KO any opponent with less life than you and you will generate a lot of free tokens

Thrumming Stone + Rat Colony + Ayara + Gruesome Fate

Infinite Combos:

Thornbite Staff + Marrow-Gnawer

Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond + life loss

General Synergy:

Ayara + Carnival of Souls + creature etb = 1 free black mana

Locust Miser + Gnat Miser + Cursed Rack = No Hand

Dark Ritual + Swamp = t1 commander

Secret Salvage + Rat Colony in GY will put as many Rat Colonies as you want into your hand

Skullclamp helps ramp draw when need-be, and works nice with Blood Artist + Dictate of Erebos/Viscera Seer/Grave Pact

Mana Acceleration:

Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Sol Ring, Bontu's Monument, Jet Medallion, Carnival of Souls

Sac Outlets:

Viscera Seer, Skullclamp (technically), Phyrexian Altar, Ayara, First of Locthwain, Ghoul Caller Gisa, Marrow-Gnawer

Sac Benefits:

Blood Artist, Dictate of Erebos, Grave Pact, Marrow-Gnawer, Ghoul Caller Gisa, Pitiless Plundered, Ogre Slumlord,

...the list goes on, this is just to name some of the fun alternative ways of damage, card advantage, and mana gain for the deck, or you can also just brute force your way through with the tribal aspect of the rat deck with Thrumming Stone, Ratcatcher, Swarmyard, Coat of Arms, etc.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	3 years
Exclude colors	WURG
Splash colors	B
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 0 Mythic Rares 28 - 0 Rares 10 - 0 Uncommons 32 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.94
Tokens	Copy Clone, Rat 1/1 B, Zombie 2/2 B