I've always been interested in building a Marrow-Gnawer deck because I love the idea of rat tribal. However, two concerns have made me reluctant to do so. First, I worry that with such a high frequency of Relentless Rats the deck will play the same way every game, leading to a stale deck over time. Second, I've always wondered what the power level was like. Your thoughts?
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EDH WURRuhan of the Fomori[Primer] | WGR Marath, Will of the Wild | WUG Derevi, Empyrial Tactician | WUB Sharuum, the Hegemon | WBGR Tymna the Weaver / Tana, the Bloodsower | BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots | BUG Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
Might as well reserve this in case I ever want to make it a primer.
Also, what does this mean?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
EDH WURRuhan of the Fomori[Primer] | WGR Marath, Will of the Wild | WUG Derevi, Empyrial Tactician | WUB Sharuum, the Hegemon | WBGR Tymna the Weaver / Tana, the Bloodsower | BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots | BUG Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
@Green Squiggly - thanks for the tips, I like some of those a lot!
@Cool Seedling - the deck is very powerful. With a little ramp we can usually get a Thrum ng stone down by turn four! If you are playing with Vancouver mulligans it's probably less consistent though (I'm used to partial paris). the deck is vulnerable to disruption. Actually, it's more resistant than you might think. If you are in a field with a lot of unhindered sweepers and a lot of counter-magic, you will have a very hard time. On the other hand, if there are other combo and ramp decks (paying less attention to you and eating some of that counter-magic), you should do okay.
If you are in a meta full of tier one competitive decks, you will also lag behind. This archetype is not maximally competitive, but it should be viable in most groups I would think.
The deck isn't really the best for variety. You have a few different tricks you can do, and I certainly find it fun. I'd say if you are looking for a deck to play all the time, this is a bad choice. But if you have multiple decks and/or you don't play EDH very often, mono B Relentless Rats are fine. It also helps if you like aggro!
The reserved spaces are if I ever want to edit the first post, vastly expanding it with detailed discussion on strategy, card children, etc. You'll notice some of these primers keep these spots for an appendix (change log, or whatever). There are no primers for a rat deck, and I think I'd like to write on, but probably that will take a while and I'll just create a new thread rather than dig up this one.
My Relentless Rats list:
1x Marrow-Gnawer
Relentless Rats (34)
34x Relentless Rats
Other Creatures (7):
1x Crypt Rats
1x Gnat Miser
1x Ink-Eyes, Servant Of Oni
1x Locust Miser
1x Nezumi Graverobber
1x Ogre Slumlord
1x Swarm Of Rats
Spells (13):
1x Brainspoil
1x Darkness
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Diabolic Intent
1x Diabolic Tutor
1x Grave Pact
1x Insidious Dreams
1x Living Death
1x Patriarch's Bidding
1x Plague Wind
1x Rite Of Consumption
1x Twilights Call
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Altar Of Dementia
1x Coat Of Arms
1x Extraplanar Lens
1x Feldon's Cane
1x Sol Ring
1x Thornbite Staff
1x Thrumming Stone
Basic Lands (24):
24x Snow-covered Swamp
Other Lands (14):
1x Buried Ruin
1x Cavern Of Souls
1x Ebon Stronghold
1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
1x Mikokoro, Center Of The Sea
1x Myriad landscape
1x Mystifying Maze
1x Rogue's Passage
1x Scrying Sheets
1x Strip Mine
1x Swarmyard
1x Thespian's Stage
1x Urborg, Tomb Of Yawgmoth
1x Vesuva
https://fieldmarshalshandbook.wordpress.com/
RUGLegacy Lands.dec
RUGBLegacy Lands.dec
RGLegacy Lands.dec
WUBRG EDH Lands.dec
UBR EDH Artificer Prodigy
B EDH Relentless Rats
https://fieldmarshalshandbook.wordpress.com/
RUGLegacy Lands.dec
RUGBLegacy Lands.dec
RGLegacy Lands.dec
WUBRG EDH Lands.dec
UBR EDH Artificer Prodigy
B EDH Relentless Rats
https://fieldmarshalshandbook.wordpress.com/
RUGLegacy Lands.dec
RUGBLegacy Lands.dec
RGLegacy Lands.dec
WUBRG EDH Lands.dec
UBR EDH Artificer Prodigy
B EDH Relentless Rats
WUR Ruhan of the Fomori [Primer] | WGR Marath, Will of the Wild | WUG Derevi, Empyrial Tactician | WUB Sharuum, the Hegemon | WBGR Tymna the Weaver / Tana, the Bloodsower | BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots | BUG Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
Also, what does this mean?
WUR Ruhan of the Fomori [Primer] | WGR Marath, Will of the Wild | WUG Derevi, Empyrial Tactician | WUB Sharuum, the Hegemon | WBGR Tymna the Weaver / Tana, the Bloodsower | BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots | BUG Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
@Cool Seedling - the deck is very powerful. With a little ramp we can usually get a Thrum ng stone down by turn four! If you are playing with Vancouver mulligans it's probably less consistent though (I'm used to partial paris). the deck is vulnerable to disruption. Actually, it's more resistant than you might think. If you are in a field with a lot of unhindered sweepers and a lot of counter-magic, you will have a very hard time. On the other hand, if there are other combo and ramp decks (paying less attention to you and eating some of that counter-magic), you should do okay.
If you are in a meta full of tier one competitive decks, you will also lag behind. This archetype is not maximally competitive, but it should be viable in most groups I would think.
The deck isn't really the best for variety. You have a few different tricks you can do, and I certainly find it fun. I'd say if you are looking for a deck to play all the time, this is a bad choice. But if you have multiple decks and/or you don't play EDH very often, mono B Relentless Rats are fine. It also helps if you like aggro!
The reserved spaces are if I ever want to edit the first post, vastly expanding it with detailed discussion on strategy, card children, etc. You'll notice some of these primers keep these spots for an appendix (change log, or whatever). There are no primers for a rat deck, and I think I'd like to write on, but probably that will take a while and I'll just create a new thread rather than dig up this one.
https://fieldmarshalshandbook.wordpress.com/
RUGLegacy Lands.dec
RUGBLegacy Lands.dec
RGLegacy Lands.dec
WUBRG EDH Lands.dec
UBR EDH Artificer Prodigy
B EDH Relentless Rats