Just want to say this is a really well put-together deck with a lot of thought put into it for just 3 months of playing EDH! My first few decks were disasters compared to this. I love the idea of using underplayed commanders/tribes so I'm seriously looking into building this for myself. Keep up the good work!

Rats seem small, so Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker may not work on all of them but will make board wipes easier to recover from.

This is the best rat deck I've seen yet, good job!

Thank you so much for your feedback! I'm glad I could make a deck that other people enjoyed.

I've played this deck a few times now and it is so much fun. With its current balance I always survive in games a really long time before I lose, or I win by a ridiculously huge margin. None of them have really been close games, but even losing with this deck is a lot of fun.

Simon, I like the effect on Shirei, but I really want to stick with strictly rats (give or take the few I have that aren't). I do, however, want to get more wipe prevention or recovery in there. Currently the cards that are pulling the most weight in that regard are Ogre Slumlord (some recovery, unless I am token heavy) and Tsabo's Decree (punishment for wipes). The recursion I have is still a little wonky, so I will be looking for more graveyard spells that give a similar benefit that Shirei would, without having to go with a non-rat creature.

Patriarch's Bidding seems like it would be a very welcome edition to the deck, and one solution to the lack of heavy recursion. Even playing with other tribal decks, it would be a lot of fun.

Considering dropping Liliana of the Dark Realms in favor of either Akroma's Memorial or Eldrazi Monument. I never get to use Liliana for more than her +1, or at best her +3, before she dies, and 4 CMC for removal just isn't worth it in monoblack.

Looking for any suggestions on how to tighten up and strengthen the deck some more. This has become my primary EDH deck right now, so I am going to start switching out things like the tutors for the better, more expensive versions. It'd be nice to cut the CMC down a little bit, but I may just have to increase the number of lands instead.

Working on making the deck stronger, and make it easier to pull of various parts of the deck. Also fixing the mana a bit.

Added:

Consume Spirit

Crypt of Agadeem

Gauntlet of Power

Rings of Brighthearth

Thousand-Year Elixir

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Worn Powerstone

Removed:

Bubbling Muck

Dark Ritual

Liliana of the Dark Realms

Patron of the Nezumi

Tsabo's Decree

Whip of Erebos

Whip of Erebos going back in until I can afford a Rings of Brighthearth. It's almost doubled in price recently.