Marrow-Gnawer EDH
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on May 10, 2016, 3:13 a.m. by MirranTitan
So one project that I have wanted to build for a while is Rat Tribal. As you know, the lynch pin of this tribe, is the infamous Relentless Rats. As you know, tribal usually plays more creatures, but the question is, how many relentless rats are too much in a deck like this, is 10 fine? Is 15 good? 20? Where do I cut myself off with that card? (Especially since RRs are 2$ a piece...)
MirranTitan says... #3
MagicalHacker that's a good point, but even 30 seems to be putting all of my rats... er eggs, in one basket. Where is room for Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni and her friend Throat Slitter?
May 10, 2016 11:20 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #4
30 Relents means you have approximately 30 other cards. It's kinda nice how the symmetry presents itself: half Relents, half other rats.
May 10, 2016 11:37 a.m.
20 is the minimum IMO. I don't run Thrumming Stone, because I'm not trying to win like that. I would agree you want at least 30 for the stone. I enjoy rats, but I also wanted other ways to win, so I've got plenty of mana ramp, combo pieces, and pumps in the deck. My list is super fun to play, albeit susceptible to boardwipes.
May 10, 2016 noon
Gorgosaurusrex says... #6
I've been playing a Marrow-Gnawer deck with Relentless Rats for years now. It's super fun to play and can get ridiculously explosive. I run 28 Relentless Rats. Here is the deck:
Rats of the Relentless Variety
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 3 | 539 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER
Let me know if you have any questions about card choices as I've never finished the deck description.
Have fun killing players with rats!
May 10, 2016 3:12 p.m.
MirranTitan says... #7
GoofyFoot I like that list. And yeah, Thrumming Stone is cool, but what stops me from playing something like Mortal Combat and winning in quirky yet fun fun ways like that?
Additionally, I have learned that most tribal decks are susceptible to board wipe due in part to the number of creatures that they play.
Living Death seems like a good way to get around that. as is Rise of the Dark Realms especially since mono Black has no problems getting 9 mana.
May 10, 2016 3:15 p.m.
I run a fairly competitive Marrow Gnawer rat tribal deck with 19 relentless rats. The goal of my deck is to have fun and winning variation, while able to hold my own in a competitive pod. This deck can be explosive and churn out almost 80% of relentless rats with thrumming stone. I also included cards to extract as much swamps out of my deck as possible to increase the relentless rats churning rate.
MagicalHacker says... #2
You want enough to chain them together with Thrumming Stone but not too many as to limit the effectiveness of Runed Halo or Nevermore. Basically, it's generally a good idea to not put all your eggs in one basket.
So I'm gonna say 30 is the magic number, because you never want the deck to be less than 1/4 Relentless Rats, so if you have three lands and 7 in your hand, you still have 23/89 chance of hitting one with Thrumming Stone. If you had even one less, and 22/89 < 1/4.
May 10, 2016 8:21 a.m.