R.O.U.S. (Rodents of Unusual Size)

Commander / EDH Aggro Casual Mono-Black Multiplayer Rats

NorinTheWise

Artifact (17)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Bontu's Monument
• 1x Coat of Arms
• 1x Heirloom Blade
• 1x Herald's Horn
• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Springleaf Drum
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Sword of the Animist
• 1x Thornbite Staff
• 1x Thrumming Stone
• 1x Vanquisher's Banner
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble

Instant (2)

• 1x Defile
• 1x Wretched Confluence

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Greed
• 1x Phyrexian Arena

Creature (35)

• 1x Ayara, First of Locthwain
• 1x Crashing Drawbridge
• 1x Disciple of Bolas
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
• 1x Ogre Slumlord
• 1x Pack Rat
• 1x Piper of the Swarm
• 24x Rat Colony
• 1x Ratcatcher
• 1x Species Specialist
• 1x Throat Slitter

Sorcery (8)

• 1x Ancient Craving
• 1x Beseech the Queen
• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Feed the Swarm
• 1x Grim Tutor
• 1x Mutilate
• 1x Patriarch's Bidding
• 1x Secret Salvage

Commander (1)

Land (35)

• 1x Blast Zone
• 1x Bonders' Enclave
• 1x Cabal Stronghold
• 1x Castle Locthwain
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Path of Ancestry
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 25x Swamp
• 1x Swarmyard
• 1x War Room
• 1x Witch's Cottage

Maybeboard

Land (3)

• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

Instant (1)

• 1x Sudden Spoiling

Creature (1)

• 1x Blood Artist

Artifact (1)

• 1x Thousand-Year Elixir

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Recent Additions/Changes:

Switched out Arch of Orazca for War Room

Switched out Oubliette for Feed the Swarm

Switched out Mausoleum Secrets for Grim Tutor

Introduction

This deck's strategy is very straight forward, win by swinging with Rats! The strategy is mainly supported by card draw. Due to the threat Marrow-Gnawer and Rat Colonies pose there will be plenty of removal and board wipes. Keeping your hand full of Rats even in the late game is this decks strong suit.

Main Objective

This decks main objective is to power up the Rat Colonies quickly and swing for the win. Resolving Marrow-Gnawer after filling the board with Rat Colonies is the primary win condition. However, cards like Coat of Arms, Thornbite Staff and Thrumming Stone are the powerhouses of this deck. Resolving any one of these and keeping it even for a single turn cycle could end the game.

Secondary Objective

This decks secondary objective is purely a support objective, card draw. Instead of putting extra resources into removal or protection from removal, the deck focuses on filling/refilling your hand. Due to the large amount of card draw in this deck, refilling your hand and resolving another entire rat army again is a cinch. Here is a list of some of the decks standout card draw engines:

Phyrexian Arena

Secret Salvage

Vanquisher's Banner

Skullclamp

Species Specialist

Grim Haruspex

Disciple of Bolas

Greed

Support

This deck is supported by consistent ramp and some disruption. The ramp is very straight forward; mana rocks and some colorless land ramp with Myriad Landscape, Wayfarer's Bauble, and Sword of the Animist.

Disruption: Decree of Pain is a board wipe that doesn't just even the playing field, but puts you far ahead of the rest. Piper of the Swarm and Throat Slitter are fun and flavorful ways to remove problematic creatures from opponents boards. Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni and Nezumi Graverobber are similarly flavorful cards that allow you to grab large threats from other players graveyards.

Brewing Process

I was purposeful about building the deck in a way that Marrow-Gnawer is not always needed to acquire victory, but I do understand how powerful of a commander he is for this deck. I have included cards like Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots in order to protect him and take advantage of his powerful abilities.

Also, I do understand how many powerful game ending combos could be inserted into this deck, it just wasn't the direction I wanted to take. However, I did relent and include Thornbite Staff into this deck list. My main goal is to use it to power up my rats and swing for an easy victory early in the game, but I can't say I would be disappointed in resolving a card like Ayara, First of Locthwain before Thornbite Staff is activated.

Feel free to check out the other decks in my mono-colored deck series.

• Norin's ETB Extravaganza
• Reki-Tikki-Tavi
• I'm either crazy Aura genius!
• Sakashimi, the Shrimposter

Top Ranked	Achieved #2 position overall 1 week ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Mono-Black 4 weeks ago
Date added	2 months
Last updated	16 hours
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	1 - 0 Mythic Rares 28 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 31 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.88
Tokens	Copy Clone, 2/2 Morph, 1/1 Rat
Folders	Här, Decks, Commander, Rat EDH, Rat Deck