Getting licked, Sport? Wait 'till they see my deck.
A difficult deck to play, but it does alright. Pick off your opponent's life and focus on discarding early on. By the 5th or 6th turn they should have a bad field position via Throat Slitter and discarding. With skill and a little luck you'll manage to slow them down enough before a big combo pops out.
I'd like to write a lengthy strategy, but how the deck is played depends on the opponent's deck and current standing. Recognizing priority and poker-facing your opponent are integral. I'll just list some standard strategies. As a general rule, play most of your cards during your second main phase.
-Drainpipe Vermin
+
Throat Slitter
- opponents are unlikely to block Drainpipe Vermin as the damage is low and they don't want to discard, making Ninjutsu very effective. Drainpipe Vermin provide early defense as well as a cheap way of getting your opponent to discard.
-Throat Slitter
+
Typhoid Rats
- same as above, most opponents would rather take the damage than lose a good creature. Typhoid Rats also provide defense.
-Ravenous Rats
+
Throat Slitter
- Ravenous Rats force an opponent to discard when they come out. If you can get an attack to go through, Ninjutsu will kill off one of the opponent's creatures - and allow you to discard another card when Ravenous Rats comes out again.
-Pack Rat goes with everything in the deck for obvious reasons. By mid- or late-game you can discard extraneous Swamp cards, Hymn to Tourach cards, Ravenous Rats, and duplicates to further boost your standing.
-Nezumi Shortfang gives you a way to repeatedly discard cards (at instant speed!), then they get a boost and cause guaranteed damage when the opponent is stun-locked. Slower than the combos, but good to have when you're getting mana flooded.
-Cover of Darkness
+
Throat Slitter
- keeps the opponent from having creatures on the field.
-Marrow-Gnawer works with everything else, particularly Pack Rat and the infamous Skullclamp. Sac your early cards for buttloads of tokens. If a Pack Rat is out, you've got an 8/8 or two by turn 6. If it isn't, abuse Skullclamp to draw cards until you can get what you want. Or just keep pumping out tokens; your call.
-Ratcatcher if you're into the late game and can't seem to draw rats for the life of you, this guy is your backup plan. There's only one because he's not integral to the deck's strategy, so use the tutors if you need him.
-Doom Blade makes its standard appearance. This is a black deck, after all.
-Hero's Downfall in case they manage to get a planeswalker out before you control the field. If you don't have it, Demonic Tutor it into your hand.
-Hymn to Tourach to keep your opponent's hand low. If you're cheap or want more options use Duress and Distress.
-Cover of Darkness makes everything nigh unblockable.
-Coat of Arms for an army of 6/6s by turn 5. If you're not pulling any Pack Rat cards, Demonic Tutor it out to win early. Tutor as needed.
-I'm not even going to cover Skullclamp. If you're smart enough to work a browser you can figure out how it would be played here.
Sideboard:
Sub in an Okiba-Gang Shinobi or two for a creature of your choice if you know the opponent has alternate means of drawing cards. It's generally too expensive to play, but it can be useful in that situation. Drop Doom Blade for Tragic Slip or some other cheap kill spell and switch in Immortal Servitude and Grave Pact for your Cover of Darkness cards. Distress and Duress are always worth consideration over Hymn to Tourach. If your opponent is playing a late-game oriented deck, consider dropping a Nezumi Shortfang for your other Ratcatcher.
The issue of money:
This deck was designed to be moderately priced. Sword of Feast and Famine, Cabal Coffers, and Swarmyard would be a nice addition to the deck if you're a rich brat. Unfortunately many of us are broke, including myself (I already had the Demonic Tutors). Here's some cheaper options to cut costs, listed from least- to most-compromising to deck quality:
-Drop Nezumi Shortfang for Nezumi Bone-Reader. You'll speed up discarding but slow damage dealing. Six bucks in the bank.
-Drop Hero's Downfall for another Doom Blade or cheap kill spell. Sure, you can't kill planeswalkers as easily, but your opponent will likely have a window of only a few turns where he can play it and protect it. Seven greenbacks.
-Drop the Hymn to Tourach cards for Mind Rot or some other discard spell. This will save you a couple of dollars.
-Drop a Marrow-Gnawer and put the Ratcatcher from your sideboard in. While Marrow-Gnawer is much better than Ratcatcher, it's also more expensive. Boom, ten dollars saved.
-Drop Demonic Tutor for Diabolic Tutor or switch in other cards I recommended. This should save the greatest amount, $40. A word of warning, however: there's a reason why Demonic Tutors are so expensive. This will weaken the integrity of the deck noticeably.
Questions I'm anticipating:
"Where's Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni?"
Ink-Eyes is a good card, but he's unnecessary in this deck and raises the mana curve. You can win without him.
"But he's really good."
Ok? So are a lot of cards I didn't put in here.
"Well screw you I want him."
Fine, put him in. Just remember what I said when you get him in your opening hand.
"Where is Cavern of Souls/Swarmyard/Aether Vial/Thoughtseize/Damnation/someotherstupidlyexpensivecardthatbarelyhelpsthisdeck?"
I don't like making decks that cost over $100 because I'm a poor casual player and I feel like I'm paying to win. If you've got the money and want to make your own modifications, more power to you.
"No rat deck is complete without spamming Relentless Rats."
I specifically didn't put that into this deck because it's expensive, it's overdone, and quite frankly it's a lazy design. I'd like to make an EDH deck with those, but this ain't EDH.
That's all I've got for the moment. Any input you've got would be lovely.
"If you just learn a single trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks." -Atticus Finch
