"I'm the big-time crime boss. I'm the one that stinks. I'm the scavenger chief, I live where you don't want me. I'm the intruder. I killed the usurper, I take you to safekeeping. I killed half your continent one time. I know when your ships are sinking. I can break your traps across my knee and eat the cheese in your face and make you blind with my piss. I'm the one with the hardest teeth in the world, I'm the whiskered boy. I'm the Duce of the sewers, I run the underground. I'm the king. I'm King Rat."
A rat tribal deck build around Karumonix, the Rat King. I've found a few ways you can play with these rats. With this version however the main focus lies on toxic/infect. Karumonix, the Rat King is a pretty cool legendary rat who gives other rats toxic 1. Slightly different from the infect I'm used to, but still pretty powerful once you make a swarm of little rats to overwhelm your opponents.
The goal is simple: infect your opponents with toxic, poisoning them until they die. There are a bunch of cards that either provide toxic or infect, and a few ways of proliferating already existing poison on your opponents to speed up their demise.
These rats do have a few tricks up their sleeves. Besides their nuclear powerplant of a rat king who radiates toxin all over the place, the swarm has found some other ways to deal with their enemies besides their boss. During their many plunders they have collected some powerful equipments, not meant to be used in the wrong hands. Equipments like Quietus Spike and Scytheclaw bring heat to the table as you now need to worry about not getting hit, for they become lethal with Wound Reflection hanging around.
Luckily Karumonix, the Rat King is a humble king when it suits him. During his many victories he has gained a number of powerful followers who provide aid to his army on the battlefield.
Ayara, First of Locthwain, Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat gain life for you and drain life from your opponents from creatures either entering the battlefield or dying. Kinda the same thing as the places the king has conquered, like Bastion of Remembrance or Bontu's Monument.
Chittering Witch and Piper of the Swarm take care of the little foundlings who wish to join the rat king's crusade. However, sometimes Piper of the Swarm brings home other folk which certainly are not rats.
Now saving the guests of honor for last. Ratcatcher and Ogre Slumlord are lovely fellas who know how to tread us like royalty. Ogre Slumlord knows how to bring in more of our kind and prepares us before going into combat. Ratcatcher always knows where to find us whenever we're needed and he got such a great smell. sniff, SNIFFF. Ahhhh, fragrance a la Kashkaval cheese.
Big chunky rats
I decided not to use Rat Colony and Relentless Rats in this version. Mostly because I want to keep it slightly budget friendly. Getting 15 to 30 of either of these 2 can become quite expensive, but don't let my choice stop you from making your own adjustments. If you do plan on running Rat Colony and/or Relentless Rats I would recommend adding Thrumming Stone, Echoing Return, Secret Salvage, Haunting Voyage, Patriarch's Bidding, and Bolas's Citadel. I've added these cards to the sideboard just in case. I may want to use them at some point since I do like the idea of machunk rats swarming the board.
Milling
Another feature I like is milling. It is not the main focus of this deck, but just like Rat Colony and Relentless Rats, I've added the cards into the sideboard for this mill strategy. And I do like the idea of these rats infesting other people's decks, slowly milling them over time. But do keep an eye on them, for infestations can become quite troublesome if not dealt with them quickly. Altar of the Brood may start off slowly with milling opponents, but once you get your token generators, or some of the infinite combos further down the description, Your opponents won't know what hit them.
Mindcrank will become scary once your swarm of rats made their way onto the battlefield, especially when they get fear from Marrow-Gnawer. Cards like Rat Colony and Relentless Rats also work really well with Mindcrank as they swing big and take out a chunck of your opponent's library. Keening Stone is a nice addition as it removes a bunch of cards from your opponent's library, and may even be lethal combined with the other mill cards. Trepanation Blade is a nice little extra. Whispersteel Dagger allows you to cast creature cards from your opponent's graveyard. It kinda gives me the vibe of rats digging through trash and finding some leftovers they can still eat. Bonehoard is a nice flavorful card which beefs up your equipped creature equal to the number of creatures in all graveyards. Even the bones of the creatures devoured by the swarm can still be useful.
"All decent folk find the common rat repulsive. Harbinger of disease, it scavenges on our waste-heaps and frightens our children. How immeasurably worse then is the foul Skaven - standing on its hindlegs in foul parody of a human. Rats as tall as man, and blessed with the most vile intellect and cunning. They are the dark side of our souls, come to destroy us for our sins."
The combos in this deck:
Ashnod's Altar + Chittering Witch + Nim Deathmantle
= Infinite creature tokens. Infinite colorless mana. Infinite ETB. Infinite LTB. Infinite death triggers. Infinite sacrifice triggers.
Ashnod's Altar + Nim Deathmantle + Ogre Slumlord
= Infinite ETB. Infinite LTB. Infinite death triggers. Infinite sacrifice triggers.
Ashnod's Altar + Marrow-Gnawer + Sword of the Paruns
= Infinite colorless mana. Infinite creature tokens. Infinite ETB. Infinite LTB. Infinite death triggers. Infinite sacrifice triggers.
Any of these combos above work with Bastion of Remembrance, Ayara, First of Locthwain, Blood Artist, and Zulaport Cutthroat to gain infinite life and drain all opponents for infinite life.
Quietus Spike + Wound Reflection
= Target opponent loses the game. Near-infinite lifeloss for target opponent.
Scytheclaw + Wound Reflection
= Target opponent loses the game. Near-infinite lifeloss for target opponent.
Quietus Spike + Warlock Class
= Target opponent loses the game. Near-infinite lifeloss for target opponent.
Scytheclaw + Warlock Class
= Target opponent loses the game. Near-infinite lifeloss for target opponent.
"Your doom is coming, man-things."
