A Feast for Rats

Commander / EDH Casual Mono-Black Rats Sacrifice Tokens Tokens

Primrose

Instant (6)

• 1x Bake into a Pie
• 1x Baleful Mastery
• 1x Deadly Rollick
• 1x Defile
• 1x Foul-Tongue Shriek
• 1x Heartless Act

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Beacon of Unrest
• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Feed the Swarm
• 1x Foreboding Fruit
• 1x Kindred Dominance
• 1x Plague of Vermin
• 1x Toxic Deluge

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Black Market
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Oversold Cemetery
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Vampiric Rites

Artifact (15)

• 1x Altar of the Brood
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Bontu's Monument
• 1x Coat of Arms
• 1x Crawlspace
• 1x Door of Destinies
• 1x Heirloom Blade
• 1x Herald's Horn
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Patriar's Seal
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thousand-Year Elixir
• 1x Vanquisher's Banner
• 1x Whip of Erebos

Creature (31)

• 1x Ayara, First of Locthwain
• 1x Crypt Rats
• 1x Gnawing Vermin
• 1x Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
• 1x Karumonix, the Rat King
• 1x Nezumi Bone-Reader
• 1x Nezumi Graverobber  ^Flip
• 1x Nezumi Informant
• 1x Nezumi Prowler
• 1x Nezumi Shortfang  ^Flip
• 1x Ogre Slumlord
• 1x Okiba-Gang Shinobi
• 1x Pack Rat
• 1x Pestilence Rats
• 1x Piper of the Swarm
• 1x Rancid Rats
• 11x Rat Colony
• 1x Ratcatcher
• 1x Skullsnatcher
• 1x Throat Slitter
• 1x Typhoid Rats

Land (33)

• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x Cabal Stronghold
• 1x Castle Locthwain
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 1x Miren, the Moaning Well
• 1x Mortuary Mire
• 1x Path of Ancestry
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 19x Swamp
• 1x Swarmyard
• 1x Thespian's Stage
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Commander (1)

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Maybeboard

Instant (3)

• 1x Deadly Dispute
• 1x Feed the Serpent
• 1x Plumb the Forbidden

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Patriarch's Bidding

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Quag Sickness

Artifact (2)

• 1x Magewright's Stone
• 1x Vat of Rebirth

Creature (15)

• 1x Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm
• 1x Blightbelly Rat
• 1x Diseased Vermin
• 1x Ichor Rats
• 1x Infected Vermin
• 1x Lord Skitter's Butcher
• 1x Mukotai Ambusher
• 1x Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion
• 1x Old Flitterfang
• 1x Rotting Rats
• 1x Sinuous Vermin
• 1x Stronghold Rats
• 1x Tangled Colony
• 1x Twisted Sewer-Witch
• 1x Voracious Vermin

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Rat tribal based off a list I had found written in my old notebook (an older decklist I can't find any more (I LOST THE LIST, NO!!!)). Seemed like a perfect time to pick up a fancy Marrow-Gnawer and tweak it a little. With the goal of an overwhelming swarm nibbling away at your opponents, I think this deck really shows a potentially terrifying side of rats. Here's a bonus video on Rat history in MTG, created by the delightful Spice8Rack

Building the Swarm

Right out of the gate we have a key piece to this deck, Marrow-Gnawer. Whether he comes out early or late, our commander brings their best by creating an exponential boom in rats. On the other end of the scale we have Piper of the Swarm and Ogre Slumlord to trickle more in as needed and get a little value out of losing certain creatures. I kept Plague of Vermin in as a personal pick, something unique to throw at your opponents if things slow down (also turns Pestilence Rats into a surprising threat).

Draining and Gaining Resources

In order to offer a little more diversity, ways to whittle away at opponents' hands, life, and creatures will play a part in our strategy as well.

• Discard effects like the ones on Nezumi Shortfang   and Okiba-Gang Shinobi pick at hands and conveniently fuel our ability to reanimate things under our control with Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni, Beacon of Unrest, and Nezumi Graverobber  .

• Life gain/drain, while not hugely present, keeps us in the game and contributes to Plague of Vermin, Greed, and Bolas's Citadel. Having plenty of tokens means Ayara, First of Locthwain and Whip of Erebos are going to be the most consistent sources. Miren, the Moaning Well can be used to top up when you need it.

• Sacrificing our tokens to keep a tidy board, draw cards, and bonus ramp; Dictate of Erebos, Ayara, First of Locthwain, and Black Market respectively. We reap the benefits and our opponents lose numbers. It's a win-win.

Win-Cons?

With a potentially massive quantity of tokens hitting the board, Altar of the Brood and Ayara, First of Locthwain can mill out or drain players without even touching them. Cards like Bolas's Citadel, Exsanguinate, Crypt Rats, and Foul-Tongue Shriek can deal direct damage to end a player, or even close the gap in an emergency. With the addition of our new phyrexian friend Karumonix, the Rat King we can add poison counters to our win-cons, making our swarm just a little bit more terrifying.

I've been wanting to put this together for the longest time and while it's not optimized by any means, it's by far my favourite deck. Included in the maybeboard are alternative rats that could be swapped in.

Thank you for checking out this ongoing project of a deck, please feel free to make any suggestions!

Date added	3 years
Last updated	7 months
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	38 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 25 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.03
Tokens	Copy Clone, Food, Rat 1/1 B
Folders	Built, Dreams