Crypt Rats

Creature — Rat

{X}: Crypt Rats deals X damage to each creature and each player. Spend only black mana on X.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (44)

HeavenlyAxe on

1 month ago

indieinside, without play testing my immediate thoughts are, not enough ramp/draw...

I'd take out a few creatures, 37 is a lot for some more utility.

In the maybe board specifically...

Adaptive Automaton is good but again you have a lot of creature

Bloodline Pretender only buffs himself not worth imo

Crypt Rats - again if you can give this infect its a great wincon

The other rats are all ok and on theme but if anything can replace a relentless rat...

Lightning Greaves is a great call but i see you have already added it.

Necrogen Communion seems strong and worth an include

Death Denied seems to inefficient. your paying to return them to hand then still have to recast...just use Yawgmoth's Will

My valuation could easily be off since this is 1v1 focused and I am used to building with multiplayer in mind, but that's my thoughts.

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!

luizfpa on Skitter Budget Rats

3 months ago

The deck looks good for casual play, though you should consider removing most or all of the Rat Colonies. Since you do not have most of the high-sinergy cards, such as Thrumming Stone, maybe your deck would benefit from more of the utility rats and rats with deathtouch or other form of evasion. For exemple, if I were you, I'd include Tangled Colony as it turns Crypt Rats (already in your deck) into a really uneven boardwipe.

Also, it is important to remember that any shapeshifter with "changeling" is also a rat and there are some good black ones with deathtouch or unblockable.

If you want to up the discard angle, you may include Locust Miser and Nezumi Bone-Reader. This last one goes great together with cards such as Syr Konrad, the Grim. Keeping the oponent's hands in check is a good way to build your boardstate without disruption.

Finally, the deck could benefit of more anthem effects, such as Bad Moon or Coat of Arms, and enchantment removal, such as Debt to the Kami or Bone Shards. Unfortunatelly, black does not have reliable ways for dealing with artifacts.

K4nkato on death by 1000 papercuts

4 months ago

Some thoughts:

1) Troll of Khazad-dum should be in some of your land slots to fix your mana. He should be fetching Geothermal Bog

2) The deck doesn't have a timely win condition. I ran some test games with your list against Goblin Combo, Grixis Affinity and Mono Blue Faeries. If a creature deck plays out a creature every turn then your removal absolutely runs them over at first, but there comes a point around turn 7 or 8 where you simply run out of cards. There's no draw cards in this list. It can wipe every card drawing Ninja, Faerie and Myr that hits the table but those decks will draw an addition 2, 3, even 5 cards over the game. Faeries wins out by holding all their Ninjas until the middle game, casting Of One Mind for full price to pull ahead, then casting a single Ninja and attacking into an empty board. Goblins wins by doing nothing until they have the whole combo in their hand / graveyard then they just win on the spot. Affinity draws cards until they can play two/four Myr Retrievers in one turn and defend them with Metallic Rebuke.

Fang Dragon costing seven mana puts him too far into the future to cast as a timely threat. By the time this deck reaches seven lands your opponent will have a removal spell, counter spell or other answer waiting for him. Gurmag Angler is big but most top decks can answer him. Thorn of the Black Rose refills your hand if you can watch the throne, but attacking for 1 isn't a reasonable clock.

I think Ichor Drinker is a good choice for the deck. It gives you a reasonable early turn play & some recursion post-board wipe, but I wonder if something like Nested Shambler, Persistent Specimen or Putrid Goblin would be a stronger choice for a threat. They naturally replace themselves on their own.

3) You aren't running enough support for You Are Already Dead in my opinion. I'd love to brew a deck built around these removal spells but they need a lot of support going for them. Someone else has recommended Crypt Rats but if you're looking for an interesting card with a lot of potential, have you considered Cuombajj Witches? One damage to any target, then you immediately pick it off. Fits the deck, provides a win condition, etc.

Ookafont on Loam Life (PLEASE HELP)

8 months ago

So firstly. I like the graveyard land style, but I would recommend going more for a Landfall style deck. Usually that isn't B/G but there are some interesting opportunities. Firstly I would recommend Khalni Heart Expedition. very good for landfall. Also Adventuring Gear gives a lot of good heavy hitting power especially with multiple lands a turn. and its colorless which fits multicolor well. Also this is a bit more crazy but you have a lot of land searching with Terramorphic Expanse etc. so maybe a little bit of other colors? Red would be pretty good for Akoum Hellhound or Plated Geopede and Manamorphose. Also I'm not sure Crypt Rats is Ideal here without it being more of a black devotion deck. And I'm not fully sure what Generous Ent really does for you? maybe try Sporemound Also I think Reclaim the Wastes or even Explore over Yavimaya Elder simply out of mana value. I think the land graveyard game just doesn't have super strong support in pauper, but I am interested to see what you can do with it.

jonjonhholt on death by 1000 papercuts

8 months ago

Does Crypt Rats not die to the initial 1 damage trigger? And yeah i actually had a full playset of Blightning in the original paper list but over time it just felt like it got edged out by other options, mainly i felt like the damage it provides wasnt very relevant as we arent typically pressuring the opponents life total. Also lol honestly idk why Evolving Wilds is still in the list ig im lazy w landbases XD but yeah it might be good as one of the capenna search lands for a little extra hp buffer vs aggro or burn

Altoman on death by 1000 papercuts

8 months ago

What is fun with Eternal Thirst is when you spend the mana one at a time. "Death by 1000 paper cuts" And the Crypt Rats grows bigger and bigger :D Now that i wiped the board, I will attack you with my 8/8...lifelink.

If you want more flexibility in mana, I suggest replacing the Evolving Wilds with Bloodfell Caves

Finally, have you considered Blightning? It's just a good card in general.

jonjonhholt on death by 1000 papercuts

8 months ago

Thanks for the suggestion Altoman! I had initially passed on Crypt Rats as I have a lot of mountains in the deck but having played it in some other of my lists gdi i LOVE the card and i have to agree. I ALWAYS forget that you can give Crypt Rats lifelink... my goto enabler is Unexpected Fangs but Im 1000% gonna test some Crypt Rats + lifelink in this list >:) This is also actually so great b/c i really want a few copies of Blood Fountain in the list to help grind out games but i feel like i dont have enough creatures right now(certainly ones that will actually end up in the gy) but Crypt Rats is a great creature to bring back.