I have always loved rats, Pestilence Rats was one of my favortite cards for a long time. The Kamigawa block gave me a TON of great options for fun decks.
The only cards in here that may seem a little wierd are the Proteus Machine and Torpor Orb. I added the Proteus Machine simply because I needed something to block Chameleon Colossus and I wanted a Rat. There are only two rats that have ETB effects and niether is all that amazing. The Torpor Orb shuts down a lot of strategies without hurting my deck at all.
The deck is designed to be fun but still be able to win at a somewhat competitve table
9/5 -1 Lashwrithe +1 Patron of the Nezumi
10/3 -1 Patron of the Nezumi -1 Ravenous Rats +1 Skullclamp +1 Typhoid rats
2/3 -1 Pack's Disdain -1 Liliana Vess +1 Increasing Ambition +1 Sol Ring
2/13 -1 Hecatomb +1 Skull of Ramos
4/6 -1 Bog Rats -1 Nezumi Shortfang +1 Sol Grail +1 Worn Powerstone
7/13 -1 Proteus Machine +1 Murder
10/1 -1 Stronghold Rats +1 Pack Rat
10/30 -1 Coat of Arms, +1 Gate to Phyrexia
Have you considered Patron of the Nezumi? When I was looking at putting a marrow-gnawer deck together I was also considering Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker for the ability to get all those sacrificed rats back.
Patriarch's Bidding and Living Death are awesome and should be in there. Wasteland/strip mine/tectonic edge get rid of problem lands. Shred memory, dimir houseguard are great tutors. Something like syphon mind if you play multiplayer is card draw and discard in one and pretty solid.
Have you considered Patron of the Nezumi? When I was looking at putting a marrow-gnawer deck together I was also considering Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker for the ability to get all those sacrificed rats back.
Patron should probably be in the deck, I will get one in there. It means I don't have to wait a turn to kill everyone with the Infy rats. Shirei doesnt seem that good. I don't have all that many small rats in the deck and he can't bring back tokens.
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Patriarch's Bidding and Living Death are awesome and should be in there. Wasteland/strip mine/tectonic edge get rid of problem lands. Shred memory, dimir houseguard are great tutors. Something like syphon mind if you play multiplayer is card draw and discard in one and pretty solid.
I had both Bidding and Living death in the deck for a while, I hated using them because I rarely had the best stuff in my yard. I do have a strip mine in the deck and I had a wasteland, but sold it when it jumped to a stupid amount. I am not a huge fan of the Transmute cards. the only one I use consistently is Tolaria West.
OK, I took the Patron of the Nezumi back out. I don't really like the card for the deck. I also pulled the Ravenous Rats for a Typhoid Rats, Deathtouch seems infinitely better than forcing someone to discard a card. now there is only 1 rat with an ETB effect (Chittering Rats) making Torpor Orb even better...
Skullclamp should be in any deck that produces 1/1 tokens (and has a lot of 1/1 creatures in general).
When I put together a rat deck, I found that a lot of rats were underwhelming in mutliplayer and that I was best off if I chose a theme: discard. Then I went with Liliana's Caress and Megrim, and focused on rats (e.g. Stronghold Rats) and other cards (e.g. Anvil of Bogardan, Syphon Mind) that caused all opponents/players to discard, and other cards that punished players with few cards in hand (e.g. Painful Quandary). If you can get a Liliana of the Veil, she'd be perfect with that theme.
This was the second EDH deck I built, I know how hard it can loose to sweepers. I have Riptide Replicator in the deck to help get the swarm going again.
However, I cannot believe that I missed Skullclamp for this, looks like the Lashwrithe is coming out again.
1 Marrow-Gnawer
Creatures (25)
1 Adaptive Automaton
1 Ascendant Evincar
1 Chittering Rats
1 Crypt Rats
1 Dirty Wererat
1 Disease Carriers
1 Ghostly Changeling
1 Gnat Miser
1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
1 Kuro's Taken
1 Locust Miser
1 Moonglove Changeling
1 Nezumi Bone-Reader
1 Nezumi Graverobber
1 Nezumi Ronin
1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
1 Pack Rat
1 Pestilence Rats
1 Rabid Rats
1 Ratcatcher
1 Scrib Nibblers
1 Skullsnatcher
1 Swarm of Rats
1 Throat Slitter
1 Typhoid Rats
1 Beacon of Unrest
1 Beseech the Queen
1 Damnation
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Drain Life
1 Exsanguinate
1 Increasing Ambition
1 Plague Wind
1 Praetor's Grasp
1 Victimize
Instants (3)
1 Murder
1 Rend Flesh
1 Vampiric Tutor
Enchantments (5)
1 Animate Dead
1 Black Market
1 Gate to Phyrexia
1 Grave Pact
1 Phyrexian Arena
Planeswalkers (1)
1 Sorin Markov
Artifacts (19)
1 Akroma's Memorial
1 Caged Sun
1 Eldrazi Monument
1 Gauntlet of Power
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Pithing Needle
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Riptide Replicator
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Skull of Ramos
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Grail
1 Sol Ring
1 Thornbite Staff
1 Thousand-Year Elixir
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Torpor Orb
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Crypt of Agadeem
1 Everglades
1 Strip Mine
30 Swamp
1 Swarmyard
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
I have always loved rats, Pestilence Rats was one of my favortite cards for a long time. The Kamigawa block gave me a TON of great options for fun decks.
The only cards in here that may seem a little wierd are the Proteus Machine and Torpor Orb. I added the Proteus Machine simply because I needed something to block Chameleon Colossus and I wanted a Rat. There are only two rats that have ETB effects and niether is all that amazing. The Torpor Orb shuts down a lot of strategies without hurting my deck at all.
The deck is designed to be fun but still be able to win at a somewhat competitve table
10/3 -1 Patron of the Nezumi -1 Ravenous Rats +1 Skullclamp +1 Typhoid rats
2/3 -1 Pack's Disdain -1 Liliana Vess +1 Increasing Ambition +1 Sol Ring
2/13 -1 Hecatomb +1 Skull of Ramos
4/6 -1 Bog Rats -1 Nezumi Shortfang +1 Sol Grail +1 Worn Powerstone
7/13 -1 Proteus Machine +1 Murder
10/1 -1 Stronghold Rats +1 Pack Rat
10/30 -1 Coat of Arms, +1 Gate to Phyrexia
Talrand, Sky Summoner
Darien and his Loyal Army
Marrow-Gnawer tribal rats
Elesh Norn / Sharuum / Damia - Retired
BRWC Mardu Shops - Tymna and Akiri Artifacts BRWC
Patron should probably be in the deck, I will get one in there. It means I don't have to wait a turn to kill everyone with the Infy rats. Shirei doesnt seem that good. I don't have all that many small rats in the deck and he can't bring back tokens.
I had both Bidding and Living death in the deck for a while, I hated using them because I rarely had the best stuff in my yard. I do have a strip mine in the deck and I had a wasteland, but sold it when it jumped to a stupid amount. I am not a huge fan of the Transmute cards. the only one I use consistently is Tolaria West.
Talrand, Sky Summoner
Darien and his Loyal Army
Marrow-Gnawer tribal rats
Elesh Norn / Sharuum / Damia - Retired
Banner by Nakamura, Thanks!
EDH Math
EDH Decks:
Ghost Council: The Magic Mafia of Orzhova
BB Drana: Down with the Sickness
Rasputin: Reality is Broken
Vish Kal Bleeder: Bloody Kisses
Teysa, Orzhov Dominatrix
Stonebrow: Breaking Things
BWR Kaalia Punisher: Heaven's on Fire
Grimgrin: Dead Reckoning
Talrand, Sky Summoner
Darien and his Loyal Army
Marrow-Gnawer tribal rats
Elesh Norn / Sharuum / Damia - Retired
When I put together a rat deck, I found that a lot of rats were underwhelming in mutliplayer and that I was best off if I chose a theme: discard. Then I went with Liliana's Caress and Megrim, and focused on rats (e.g. Stronghold Rats) and other cards (e.g. Anvil of Bogardan, Syphon Mind) that caused all opponents/players to discard, and other cards that punished players with few cards in hand (e.g. Painful Quandary). If you can get a Liliana of the Veil, she'd be perfect with that theme.
In general though, you should be aware that a rats deck is very susceptible to sweepers like Massacre Wurm, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Whipflare, etc.
See my rats deck ideas here (tried both the Relentless Rats and Discard Rats versions).
G Pumped Elvish Warriors G
GW Infectious Slivers WG
WU Milling Allies UW
Legacy:
UB Hex-Depths BU (combo-control)
G NO/Aggro Elves G
Commander:
WUBRG Sliver Army GRBUW (multiplayer)
WUG Rafiq the Exalted GUW (1-on-1 voltron)
GU Edric's Circus UG (multiplayer tokens)
B Relentless Rats B (multiplayer combo)
UB Sygg, the Punisher (in progress)BU
UBR Nicol Bolas, Elder Dragon Highlander RBU (in progress)
However, I cannot believe that I missed Skullclamp for this, looks like the Lashwrithe is coming out again.
Talrand, Sky Summoner
Darien and his Loyal Army
Marrow-Gnawer tribal rats
Elesh Norn / Sharuum / Damia - Retired
WUB Sharuum the Hegemon, the Destroyer of Darksteel
BGW Teneb, the Harvester, my Pimped Out Reanimator
GUB The Mimeoplasm Ooze-Mill
GWU Rafiq the Exalted