[work in progress]
INTRODUCTION
This deck is born by my love for the wonderful tribe of the rats. I already have a tribal legacy and modern deck made of this sweet vermins, so why not build a pauper?
Unfortunately it turned out: there are no rats viable for a real tribal deck: the only one would be Pestilence Rats, which is decent at most.
But I hadn't give up, and here we are: a rakdos discard deck with a lot of rats!
At the beginning I tried to build a real tribal deck, but it was just fun, not really competitive. I discovered, nevertheless, that some rats are actually pretty strong. Everybody know the spiteful Chittering Rats due to the MBC deck. Typhoid Rats are a good 1 mana drop, and Okiba-Gang Shinobi can be a real pain in the ass. But the all-star of this deck is him: Gobhobbler Rats. A rat light in mana cost, but heavy in the beating part. So I changed the deck, but not him.
In general, I use the best part of the rakdos colors: direct damage, creature hate cards, discard. If I can control not just the field, but even the hand, well nobody will stop my rats.
CARD ANALYSIS
mana drops:
Typhoid Rats: 1/1, deathtouch. Why not? They can just stay there, scaring all the opponent's creatures, or slowly biting their life out, maybe swapping it with Okiba-Gang Shinobi, as they will be hardly blocked.
Lightning Bolt: I refuse to explain this one.
Raven's Crime: just one, is a good way to use my land in late game. Still testing, btw.
Sylvok Lifestaff: this is great. Is really cheap but add beating power and help me when my delicate rats die. And is the only way I have to gain life.
Undying Evil: good answer to many hate cards of the opponent. It save one of our creature, and make it return more powerful. Another good option would be Unearth. They work pretty good in this deck cause I have 8 rats with come-into-play effects. And is great to save an already hard to kill Gobhobbler Rats.
Ravenous Rats: it's one of the come-into-play effect that I was talking about. Not particularly strong, but if you are not too unlucky, he can make a 1x1 for his own. Than it became a good target for the Sylvok Lifestaff.
Gobhobbler Rats: these ones are your favourite beater. Keep it for when the opponent has used many of his removals. Than he will have trouble vs a regenerating 3/2. He is one of the 2 creatures you have with hellbent, so do not fear to empty your hand: if the deck did its work, the opponent too would not have many cards in hand.
Chainer's Edict/or Diabolic Edict: it can't target, but kill big creatures, hexproof creatures, protected creatures, regenerating creatures... Really good. The first one has flashback, the second is an instant. Just pick one.
Terminate: And this one target. And kill. Simple as that. It is simply the best removal in pauper.
Blightning: this card is strong vs every deck (ok, not vs madness....). Great 3rd turn drop, and help me a lot depleting oppo's hand. A good alternative is Wrench Mind, which is consistently weaker vs Tron and, of course, affinity. And the world is full of Tron and Affinity.
Chittering Rats: great rat. It make basically skip a draw to the opponent, and is a nice 2/2, which mean it can bring with him an oppo's creature. In the graveyard. Good target for Undying Evil, too. Some times, on third turn, I prefer to cast him first, before Blightning.
Okiba-Gang Shinobi: ok, they are pretty expensive, but can be a nasty surprise. If they just perform an attack, their job is done. Than you will see, the opponent will do his worst to kill them: great for us! Our valuable creatures are Gathan Raiders and Gobhobbler Rats, not the shinobis. Usually is easy to attack with a typhoid rat and ninjutsu them, but it would be the best to retake in hand a Ravenous Rats or a Chittering Rats.
Gathan Raiders: Great recent addiction. They will help cleaning our hand when the time comes (not before!), or can discard a card during our draw phase to reach hellbent and activate gobhobbler, responding to an oppo's removal. If you use Undying Evil on them while they are morphed, they will come back turned up and with a +1/+1. They are a creature who can take down a too-big-frog... Speaking of what?
IT. Gurmag Angler. Just one, as we are not a MBC. But a 5/5 is always strong, especially if it enter the battlefield with just one mana, discarding our now useless cards in the graveyard. (but do not remove Chainer's Edict!)
SIDEBOARD
Crypt Rats: well everybody know them. They are one of the few wrath in pauper. Even a couple in mainboard can be good.
Skullsnatcher: I love this little rats. He is basically a graveyard hater, but bite decently and can make you reuse the come-into-play rats.
Smash to Smithereens: one of the best way the red colour have to deal with artifacts.
PS some notable rats:
Thriving Rats: from kaladesh, they are not bad at all. But there are no other cards that give us energy and are worth it. So, for now, they have to stand aside.
Sinuous Vermin: this actually seem pretty strong. A decent body and the chance to become a vicious threat in late game. But unfortunately they are not legal in pauper! For now....
Here I will put some thought about the match I did with this deck. I think I will limit this to the match I did in real, as is allow me to analyse it more carefully.
He is definitely more aggro than us, but doesn't have a lot of creatures. Our 11 removal main deck can be really handy. Gobhobbler can be the all star, as he have no way to deal with a regenerating creature. Keep attention to his mana: a pentacolor can do literally whatever he wants, from a
Dispel to a
Tragic Slip and of course some bolts. He has a lot of removal too, so keep your
Undying Evil for your best creatures, aka gobhobbler and gathan, or if you can for a
Chittering Rats.
The game is not so bad actually. He need a lot of card in hand to perform his combo effectively, and you have almost as many removal as his creatures. Make him discards as much as you can, do not bother to lose a creatures for one of his, consider that quick sand is the best answer to
Kiln Fiend (he can not protect it from the land, but keep an eye open for
Mutagenic Growth), if possible keep your terminate for the golem, and use the lightning bolt for the kiln. Do not wait to kill these creatures on his turn: kill them as soon as they enter the battlefield. He has many response to a removal, so make use of the time when he doesn't have so much mana.
