Rodent Riot

Modern BR (Rakdos) Discard Tribal

JakeHarlow

Land (19)

• 4x Blackcleave Cliffs
• 4x Blood Crypt
• 2x Mountain
• 3x Mutavault
• 4x Swamp
• 2x Swarmyard

Creature (12)

• 4x Pack Rat
• 4x Ravenous Rats
• 4x Swarm of Rats

Instant (15)

• 2x Dangerous Wager
• 1x Extirpate
• 4x Lightning Bolt
• 4x Surgical Extraction
• 4x Terminate

Sorcery (14)

• 4x Inquisition of Kozilek
• 2x Night's Whisper
• 4x Raven's Crime
• 4x Thoughtseize

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Sideboard

Instant (9)

• 2x Combust
• 1x Extirpate
• 4x Go for the Throat
• 2x Rakdos Charm

Creature (4)

• 2x Hellhole Rats
• 2x Stronghold Rats

Sorcery (2)

• 2x Dreadbore

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Maybeboard

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Blightning
• 1x By Force
• 1x Shattering Spree
• 1x Sign in Blood
• 1x Slaughter Games
• 1x Smallpox

Instant (2)

• 1x Fatal Push
• 1x Ignorant Bliss

Creature (5)

• 1x Burglar Rat
• 1x Gobhobbler Rats
• 1x Rotting Rats
• 1x Sanity Gnawers
• 1x Typhoid Rats

Artifact (2)

• 1x Damping Sphere
• 1x The Rack

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Alpine Moon
• 1x Liliana's Caress
• 1x Shrieking Affliction

Land (6)

• 4x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Dakmor Salvage
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

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This is my modern Rat tribal deck. It focuses on early hand/library disruption with an endgame offense based on swarming with Rats.

Let's go through the cards.

Mainboard

The Rats

• Ravenous Rats: A pretty standard Rat. Cheap, splash-able, and forces a discard.

• Swarm of Rats: This Rat embodies the core principle of our offensive strategy. It has a frail toughness of 1, but it can swing big as long as we keep the enemy's board clear. Even if we can't, it will probably trade with any blocker that gets in its way. Obviously, we won't be swinging until we've reached a critical mass of Rats, or if the board is clear.

• Pack Rat: Arguably the strongest Rat ever printed, and the undisputed backbone of our offense. Unlike his cousin, Swarm of Rats, both his power and toughness are equal to the number of Rats we control. The best part is that he replicates himself. With one of these on the board, every one of our draws becomes a potential Pack Rat, albeit for 3 mana (but with flash). Our lands Mutavault and Swarmyard serve to pump and protect him, respectively (since opponents will almost certainly try to remove him before he can multiply). He is currently a Standard staple for mono-black, but he certainly has potential and relevance in Modern.

The Spells

• Thoughtseize: Versatile hand disruption staple that's available on Turn 1.

• Inquisition of Kozilek: Same as above, sans life loss. The 3 CMC limit on its targets isn't a great hindrance in competitive Modern, due to the speed of the format. It'll do plenty to trip up opponents.

• Raven's Crime: Forced discard that repeats. Retains relevance throughout the game. Excellent discard fodder for Pack Rat, as we can play it from the graveyard later.

• Surgical Extraction: An instant-speed hand, library, and graveyard disruptor. Combos with Thoughtseize, et al on Turn 1 to shut down cards essential to our opponents' strategies. Sorry, no more Birthing Pod, Snapcaster Mage, Liliana of the Veil, or Splinter Twin for you.

• Extirpate: A Surgical Extraction with split second. Great against control.

• Terminate: Arguably the best dedicated removal spell in our colors. Let us also remember than anything we remove also becomes a target for Surgical Extraction.

• Lightning Bolt: Fast removal, and can put us in range of lethal damage when we target opponents with it.

• Night's Whisper: Card advantage. Hurts us, but it's fast and easy to splash for. Helps us keep pace with the opposition, especially in matchups that see us expending a lot of removal after sideboarding.

• Dangerous Wager: We want a couple of draw engines that don't hurt us, since many of our cards can already bleed us pretty hard. This deck blows through its hands with reckless abandon. In light of this, Dangerous Wager is a great card for us. When our hand is empty, we simply draw 2 cards. Unfortunately, it does not perform as well when we have multiples of it in hand, but hopefully we can turn one into a Pack Rat. It works great when played on top of a Night's Whisper; 4 cards for 4 mana. Not bad, especially in our colors.

The Mana Base

• Swamp: Obviously I want some black mana with no strings attached. Black is my dominant color, so it consequently outnumbers my Mountain inventory.

• Mountain: A pair of these for red mana. Simple as that. My duals will supply my other needs for this color.

• Blood Crypt: A playset of the Rakdos shock land, because this is Modern, and we want to go fast.

• Blackcleave Cliffs: Scar lands aren't always great for every build. But since we only need 3 to 4 mana at most, it isn't so risky to run 4 of these. An early dual that comes in untapped without draining life is extremely desirable here.

• Swarmyard: A pair of these to guard our Rats. Given certain hands, the loss of a Pack Rat at the wrong time can cripple our offense. Regeneration certainly won't save them from every form of removal, but it is a pretty solid insurance policy against many burn and destroy spells. Plus, it turns our rodents into useful chump blockers if we are put on the defensive.

• Mutavault: Pumps our offensive Rats. Adds to our field of threats. Can block if needed. Plenty of reasons to have a trio of these.

Sideboard

• Hellhole Rats: This hardy Rat is at the high end of our curve, and is certainly a late-game play for us. With haste and a 2/2 body, he's a relevant combatant. However, his triggered ability is his true strength. By using Thoughtseize and other discard spells carefully, it is possible to craft our opponent's hand so that only high-CMC cards are available for discard when this Rat hits the board. He can also force opponents who are low on life to discard lands, thereby disrupting their tempo. Great against ramp-focused decks that pack high-CMC bombs.

• Stronghold Rats: This rarely-seen rodent is almost unblockable, thanks to his shadow keyword ability. He is more of a mid-game play, and is extremely effective when we are in topdeck mode (and with our low average CMC, we should be by the time we can play him). Great for maintaining discard pressure against slower control decks.

• Go for the Throat: Extra removal for creature-heavy aggro decks. Not so great against Affinity, but it'll hit most everything else.

• Dreadbore: Extra removal, and a quick answer to planeswalkers that we, for whatever reason, didn't excise from our opponent's hand.

• Combust: An answer for Zoo creatures like Loxodon Smiter and Knight of the Reliquary. Also works well against late-game control threats like Restoration Angel, Celestial Colonnade, and Baneslayer Angel. Splinter Twin decks will also find their Deceiver Exarch targeted. A good swap-out for Lightning Bolt in such matchups.

• Extirpate: An extra copy to provide us with more graveyard hate against dredge decks and other opponents who make liberal use of the graveyard.

• Rakdos Charm: Primarily graveyard hate, but it has other applications in the modern meta. Besides its obvious role against decks that use the graveyard (dredge, Living End, etc.), this instant is useful against Affinity and Splinter Twin decks. Allows for quick artifact removal in the case of the former, while in the case of the latter, it makes opponents pay big time when they get off a Splinter Twin or Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker combo.

Maybeboard

• Blightning: For fast decks like ours, this is usually more efficient than Rakdos's Return. As a combination burn and hand disruptor, it neatly unites both sides of our strategy. I like the spell, but I'm concerned that for 3 mana in Modern, I should be looking for more long-term value. This is why it's currently been cut for Stronghold Rats.

• Gobhobbler Rats: These little guys might actually make the cut. It's a Rat. It's Rakdos colors. When I run out of cards (which is often), it's a 3/2 for 2 mana with a very cost-effective Regenerate option. I hate to say it, but Ravenous Rats might lose their spot to a playset of these. Or maybe I could go 50:50 between the two. I think the pressure from this card could be considerable throughout the game, especially if I'm playing at the breakneck tempo to which I'm accustomed.

• Ignorant Bliss: Should read "protection from Thoughtseize." In fact, "protection from discard." Possible insurance policy for the mirror match? Also, combos beautifully with Dangerous Wager and other Wheel of Fate effects.

• Rotting Rats: A re-usable rodent that forces a table-wide discard. Drawback is that I must also discard. It's pretty fast and great for keeping the table in topdeck mode. Stronghold Rats is a close approximation (slower, evasive, no reanimation). The two would probably have a home together in a Rat-themed madness deck.

• Sanity Gnawers: These adorable critters have the delightful ability to force an opponent to discard a card at random. Talk about disruptive! I love Rakdos-colored Rats as well. Unfortunately, I don't really think his 1/1 body is worth the 3 mana to cast him. If he'd been a 2-drop, there would have been a playset on my mainboard long ago. Community consensus is that Wizards made a mistake in over-costing him, and I agree. If he'd been a BR casting cost, it would have been totally reasonable and balanced. Ah well.

• Shrieking Affliction: It would give the deck more of a bleed/burn feel. I want to focus on the rodent swarm strategy. It's still a viable card, though, especially when one considers the breakneck speed with which this deck demolishes opponents' hands.

• Sign in Blood: I've been told that I should ditch my 2x Dangerous Wager and 2x Night's Whisper for 4 of these. Now, there are advantages to this. Sign in Blood is strictly better than Night's Whisper in a mono-black mana base. The option to aim it across the table to bleed out an opponent is tempting. The reasons I presently decline to board it are: 1) I don't want all 4 of my draw engines to eat my life, and 2) it isn't splash-able. My mana base is small and somewhat diverse, making that double black cost a little daunting.

• Slaughter Games: A high-curve card for us, and as such I'd only consider up to 2 for the sideboard. Sometimes, we won't be able to discard our opponent's key tools. If we can't get such cards into the graveyard but need them gone from the game, this is an answer. The best part is that control decks have very few answers for it. Combos nicely with spells like Surgical Extraction and Extripate. Once you've seen their library, you know what to get rid of.

• Typhoid Rats: He almost made the cut. In fact, I have a playset in reserve just in case I change my mind. This little runt can greatly hamper any ground-based offense opponents bring to bear. Furthermore, he can provide us with a cheap way to add a Rat to the board. Still, while he can kill stuff, he's not immediately helping us put our opponent's hand into the graveyard. Thus, in the current build, he lost his spot to Raven's Crime.

Top Ranked	Achieved #71 position overall 9 years ago
Date added	10 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	26 - 3 Rares 12 - 12 Uncommons 16 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	1.49
Tokens	Copy Clone
Folders	cool builds, constructed budget, Decks to try, interesting decks, Retired Modern Decks, bones, Fun decks, Decks to check