First of all, I am aware that Ensnaring Bridge is the ideal way to go. But there is no way I am spending money on one single card that can get me a full, fun deck instead. It's also too oppressive for my playgroup.
My Primer is like 16 years old it's going to be outdated in many respects >.<. But to answer your question, yes, both of those cards are stellar. Yes, cut the crappy Drainpipe Vermin and Ravenous Rats.
Thanks for the advice, you are the real mvp in the 60 card constructed multiplayer. My playgroup isn't very big, 3 player games are common so cards like Earsplitting Rats aren't that good.
His deck has been thru a few different versions, one being lotsa Relentless Rats w Thrumming Stone, but this version whilst not all that fast, is fairly consistent.
Yeah, Ratcatcher is the nuts in Rat Tribal. Same goes for Swarmyard (if you can afford it these days).
I was going to mention Ogre Slumlord, too, but Prid3 beat me to it.
I have had a lot of fun with my Training Grounds rat deck. There are several rats with great activated abilities, especially Pack Rat and Graverobber. Crypt Rats are also good for dealing damage outside of combat. I also included the admittedly off-flavor Dimir Guildmage for draw and discard.
Instead of Ensnaring Bridge, consider Noetic Scales. A fraction of the price and perhaps actually better in this deck.
Noetic Scales looks great, but would require me to drop Relentless Rats and Avatar of Woe, which in turn means that I am all in on actually having it and would have to restructure further because of that. Not that this would be bad, but actually wanting to play with these two cards is what sparked the whole deck idea.
But thanks for letting me know about it, it will go straight into my Doran toughness Deck as a 1- or 2-of.
Well, it's a 1-drop and a rat, mostly. It should probably card draw instead, I know, but I already overstepped my projected hobby budget.
And about the temples: I am scared of not being able to cast [[Waste Not]] when I got it on my opening hand. If I'll ever come around to spending money on Urborg that'll change.
Drainpipe Vermin is just such a crappy Magic card. Think about it, even in the games where you curve turn 1 Vermin turn 2 Pack Rat and proceed to do nothing but make more Pack Rats how frequently will that turn 1 Vermin cause you to win a game that you would have otherwise lost? Now think about the other 97% of games where you don't have that draw and you find yourself drawing a worthless 1/1 for 1. I would never put that card in a deck, it's strictly worse than a basic land even.
Here's the prototype of the deck:
4x Drainpipe Vermin
2x Nezumi Graverobber
4x Pack Rat
1x Crypt Rats
4x Ravenous Rats
4x Rotting Rats
4x Typhoid Rats
4x Smallpox
4x Syphon Mind
4x Waste Not
1x Massacre
22x Swamp
I'm not super happy about Ravenous Rats and Drainpipe Vermin. Should I give up the rather weak synergy and play something else instead? Stinkweed Imp maybe?
I am thinking about adding Geier Reach Sanitarium and Tasigur's Cruelty. Those cards aren't even mentioned in the primer, are they any good?
My Primer is like 16 years old it's going to be outdated in many respects >.<. But to answer your question, yes, both of those cards are stellar. Yes, cut the crappy Drainpipe Vermin and Ravenous Rats.
I personally run 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium since it's Legendary and worthless early on and 2x Tasigur's Cruelty since it's heinous both early-on and in multiples. The other "special" lands that I tend to run are 1x Mikokoro, Center of the Sea and 4x Bojuka Bog but you may be interested in Howltooth Hollow as well. Both Dakmor Salvage and Drownyard Temple can be great in these kinds of Smallpox decks so I'll commonly run those as well. Obviously if you can afford them then Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Volrath's Stronghold are stellar but aren't required by any means.
For that last ~6 slots consider adding Necrogen Mists, Liliana's Specter, Phyrexian Arena, Underworld Connections, Dark Prophecy, Earsplitting Rats, Geth's Grimoire, Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Ogre Slumlord can also be a boatload of fun, especially in builds that have numerous Massacres and Smallpoxes. Otherwise you'll probably want some more lands so maybe bump that up to 24 total first and then use the last 4 slots on whatever.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
His deck is blue/black. He runs a large amount of card draw, think Trade Secrets, Syphon Mind, Phyrexian Arena, so he can ditch a whole lot of cards to Pack Rat. He runs Ratcatcher I think.
He also runs Filth, Wonder, Rogue's Passage & Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to connect with Pack Rat(s), and a number of equipment like Loxodon Warhammer.
He runs a number of sac/discard effects like Smallpox so he can drop Vengeful Pharaoh's in the bin.
His deck has been thru a few different versions, one being lotsa Relentless Rats w Thrumming Stone, but this version whilst not all that fast, is fairly consistent.
I was going to mention Ogre Slumlord, too, but Prid3 beat me to it.
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Noetic Scales looks great, but would require me to drop Relentless Rats and Avatar of Woe, which in turn means that I am all in on actually having it and would have to restructure further because of that. Not that this would be bad, but actually wanting to play with these two cards is what sparked the whole deck idea.
But thanks for letting me know about it, it will go straight into my Doran toughness Deck as a 1- or 2-of.
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4x Rotting Rats
4x Syphon Mind
4x Smallpox
2x Tasigur's Cruelty
2x Dark Deal
1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
2x Drainpipe Vermin
----
4x Waste Not
3x Avatar of Woe
4x Pack Rat
2x Nezumi Graverobber
1x Ogre Slumlord
2x Drownyard Temple
----
2x Massacre
4x Typhoid Rats
19x Swamp
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
And about the temples: I am scared of not being able to cast [[Waste Not]] when I got it on my opening hand. If I'll ever come around to spending money on Urborg that'll change.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold