I am quite new to commander having only started within the last month or two and in that time I have gone with Rakdos, Lord of Riots and a Vish Kal deck. What I want to make now is a more 'fun' sort of deck that doesn't rely on combos or group hate. After reading a bit about someone else wanting to make a relentless rats deck in the forum I knew I found what I wanted.
Damia, Sage of Stone was chosen as the commander because he is pretty generically awesome. His ability to refill your hand is useful when you are dropping a ton of rats and land each turn and his colors allow for insane ramp, insane draw and of course the rats themselves.
The deck itself is still fairly fluid. I've play tested it the past couple days and found it to play fairly well in multiplayer. Most people see the rats as a write off deck and let you build. Then Time Stretch with a Bloodbond March and you've got yourself quite a lot of powerful rats ready to go nuts next turn, which you just bought yourself two of.
The deck can be weak against pillow fort effects in general. Things that limit you to one spell per turn are extremely potent and I'm trying to find better ways to deal with that situation other than just hoping to find beast within
The number of rats is another big question. I settled on 30 relentless based mostly on wanted to abuse sphinx of the chimes as much as possible (side note, he is very abusable) but am open to reasoning on uping or lowering as well as the addition of other rats.
Other cards to consider: Akroma's Memorial A whole host of good stuff but in particular the haste is so very abusable in a deck that wants it and lacks access to red. Eldrazi Monument Great in token decks but I'm reluctant when my main force is usually 5 or 6. Soul of the Harvest Good draw but I'm on the fence about just how much I could draw
Skyshroud claim has been pretty useful so far, but that has mainly been as a way to mana fix. Since he can get tropical island or breeding pool etc. It also let's me go from 4 mana to 6 with the next turn being 7 for Damia. Cabal Coffers is a rather tricky card to run outside of monoblack without primetime being in standard. Blackjack had a pretty good explanation on his ghost council deck but without Urborg and without a reliable way to fetch it Coffers becomes essentially a dead card. You need 4 swamps in play for it to generate any extra mana and with my lack of swamps it would leave me pretty vulnerable to hate on Urborg since I almost never have even 4 in play.
The Sphinx is as awesome as he seems. If you get him into play sometimes you can chew through your entire deck. He is definitely a keeper.
Damia, Sage of Stone was chosen as the commander because he is pretty generically awesome. His ability to refill your hand is useful when you are dropping a ton of rats and land each turn and his colors allow for insane ramp, insane draw and of course the rats themselves.
The deck itself is still fairly fluid. I've play tested it the past couple days and found it to play fairly well in multiplayer. Most people see the rats as a write off deck and let you build. Then Time Stretch with a Bloodbond March and you've got yourself quite a lot of powerful rats ready to go nuts next turn, which you just bought yourself two of.
The deck can be weak against pillow fort effects in general. Things that limit you to one spell per turn are extremely potent and I'm trying to find better ways to deal with that situation other than just hoping to find beast within
The number of rats is another big question. I settled on 30 relentless based mostly on wanted to abuse sphinx of the chimes as much as possible (side note, he is very abusable) but am open to reasoning on uping or lowering as well as the addition of other rats.
Thanks for any help.
1 Damia, Sage of Stone
4 Forest
2 Island
5 Swamp
1 Breeding Pool
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Watery Grave
1 Bayou
1 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
1 Windswept Heath
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Flooded Grove
1 Twilight Mire
1 Command Tower
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Deserted Temple
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Homeward Path
1 Alchemist's Refuge
1 Strip Mine
1 Wasteland
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Exploration
1 Cultivate
1 Harrow
1 Farseek
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Burgeoning
1 Crop Rotation
1 Sylvan Library
1 Necropotence
1 Rhystic Study
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Sphinx of the Chimes
30 Relentless Rats
1 Bloodbond March
1 Marrow-Gnawer
1 Pack Rat
1 Coat of Arms
1 Patriarch's Bidding
1 Aluren
1 Thrumming Stone
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Life from the Loam
1 Genesis Wave
1 Leyline of Anticipation
1 Time Stretch
1 Beast Within
Other cards to consider:
Akroma's Memorial A whole host of good stuff but in particular the haste is so very abusable in a deck that wants it and lacks access to red.
Eldrazi Monument Great in token decks but I'm reluctant when my main force is usually 5 or 6.
Soul of the Harvest Good draw but I'm on the fence about just how much I could draw
WUBRGUnexpected Results
WBRAggro Burn Flicker
EDH:
GOmnath, Locust of Mana (Retired)
BUSygg, River Cutthroat
RBosh, Iron Golem
I love the use of the Sphynx, that alone almost made me splash blue in for my deck.
WUBRGUnexpected Results
WBRAggro Burn Flicker
EDH:
GOmnath, Locust of Mana (Retired)
BUSygg, River Cutthroat
RBosh, Iron Golem
Cabal Coffers is a rather tricky card to run outside of monoblack without primetime being in standard. Blackjack had a pretty good explanation on his ghost council deck but without Urborg and without a reliable way to fetch it Coffers becomes essentially a dead card. You need 4 swamps in play for it to generate any extra mana and with my lack of swamps it would leave me pretty vulnerable to hate on Urborg since I almost never have even 4 in play.
The Sphinx is as awesome as he seems. If you get him into play sometimes you can chew through your entire deck. He is definitely a keeper.
As far as destroying things: Vraska the Unseen, Karn Liberated, Maelstrom Pulse, and Abrupt Decay are kind of what you're looking at for your colors. Attrition can be useful but I feel like you'd prolly want more recursion then.
What to cut.. prolly too much ramp? But if that's your play style then idk.
WUBRGUnexpected Results
WBRAggro Burn Flicker
EDH:
GOmnath, Locust of Mana (Retired)
BUSygg, River Cutthroat
RBosh, Iron Golem
Mono Red's Strengths and Mono White's Strengths