Marrow-Gnawer

Legendary Creature — Rat Rogue

Rat creatures have fear.

{T}, Sacrifice a Rat: Create X 1/1 black Rat creature tokens, where X is the number of Rats you control.

Combos

• Marrow-Gnawer + Thornbite Staff
• Ayara, First of Locthwain + Marrow-Gnawer + Plague of Vermin
• Marrow-Gnawer + Plague of Vermin

Tokens

• Rat 1/1 B

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
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (50)

Craeter on tiny multifarious bounties of red elves [Primer]

3 months ago

He's like a {R} Marrow-Gnawer, very cool. I approve of the token spam

Craeter on Sneaky Sewer-Rat Spies

6 months ago

Lord_Olga Hey I appreciate you taking the time to really analyze this deck and offer some good suggestions! You've definitely got me thinking about some optimizations. Truth be told, I haven't had a chance to playtest this one yet, so I'm sure there is some room for improvement. I took your suggestions into consideration and made some tweaks to the deck.

Firstly, I did add two more lands to bring it up to 22, I agree with you 20 is too low for the curve but I'm having a hard time cutting to get up to 24. I also removed a lot of the more high cost cards to get the mana curve down further. I like to live dangerously, so I tend to slot as few lands as possible that still makes decks work. But I went ahead and added x4 Drowned Catacomb, I think you're onto something there. I'm skipping Polluted Delta for now to avoid the life loss since this deck only has a few cards with Lifelink.

I tend to build thematic decks, hence the Rogue's Passage, I did cut one but I'm going to keep one for the theme, even if it's not as good as the unblockable suggestions. I'm leaning against adding them, but I am adding Cover of Darkness, which serves the same function (except against black and artifact creatures), but against other {B} creatures then Throat Slitter will be relatively useless anyways. Cover of Darkness also benefits every creature since they are all Rats, and provides redundancy if Marrow-Gnawer is not out. It even has an interaction with Nashi, Searcher in the Dark if milled.

To address your 2nd point about speed, I cut some of the Drowned in the Loch and added two Force Spike to add some early game counters since this deck wants to make it to the mid game to really get going. And since I'm opting to keep it purely Rat themed and not add your 1 drop suggestions, this is the compromise to add some early game options.

I'm sure your suggestions would technically be better for a more truly competitive modern deck, I'm just opting to keep it more casual and thematic. But I appreciate your suggestions, I typically build for EDH and I want all of the things, so it's tough getting a 60 card deck streamlined with as many options as possible.

irish_trunks on The Philosophy of Soc-RAT-es

7 months ago

Classic Marrow-Gnawer combo! I love it, I just already have a deck with him as the commander so wanted to go a slightly different route with this one and leave him out of it. S'why I left out other rat staples like Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni and Ogre Slumlord.

Craeter on The Philosophy of Soc-RAT-es

7 months ago

<3 fellow ratman, yes-yes.

I've got a super old Legacy Dimir rat deck I've been meaning to update, I'm going to take some inspiration from yours here to do that. Marrow-Gnawer + Intruder Alarm = OG infinite rat combo, and black has the best tutor cards

seshiro_of_the_orochi on Hazel Supreme Leader of the Villains of Redwall

8 months ago

For a while, my Chatterfang list was a squirrel/rat mash-up. Now, I have a separate Chatti and just build Wick, the Whorled Mind as a rat deck.

No matter how you play it, having Marrow-Gnawer without Thornbite Staff in sight feels wrong. Maybe give it a shot?

HeavenlyAxe on

1 year 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!

legendofa on Mono Black Rats Deck (First Deck Ever)

1 year ago

Welcome to the club, Lardex!

If you're on Cockatrice and budget isn't a concern, Thornbite Staff allows you to create an infinite number of Rat tokens with Marrow-Gnawer. Ratcatcher and Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm are more good utility and aggro options. (If you're pulling this together in paper and budget is a concern, then it's safe to skip these suggestions.)

I'm not sure Spine of Ish Sah and Scour from Existence are pulling their weight here. Sure, they can get rid of anything, but {7} is a huge investment to get rid of a single permanent, and you're in a color that has a lot of removal options for just about about everything.

Above all, have fun!

legendofa on Infinite rats

1 year ago

The important lines here are “Whenever a creature dies, untap [equipped] creature.” from Thornbite Staff, using the updated wording, and "{T}, Sacrifice a Rat: Create X 1/1 black Rat creature tokens, where X is the number of Rats you control." from Marrow-Gnawer. You also need at least two other Rats to get infinite creatures. Let's say you have Marrow-Gnawer and exactly two other Rats.

1. With Staff equipped to M-G, tap M-G and sacrifice one of your other Rats to activate Marrow-Gnawer's ability. You now control two Rats.

2. Since a creature died, Staff's granted ability triggers and resolves, and M-G untaps.

3. M-G's ability from 1 resolves, and you create two Rat tokens. You have effectively tapped M-G and sacrificed a Rat to untap M-G and create two Rats, with the net result being that you created a Rat token for no cost.

4. If you go through this cycle again, you'll create three Rats, then four, then five, and so on, continually tapping M-G and sacrificing rats to untap M-G and create more rats.

Gidgetimer You create tokens equal to the number of Rats you control, not the power of the sacrificed Rat.