RATS! by user3538373

Format: Commander

Commander: Karumonix, the Rat King

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 36

Deck overview

This mono-black deck is an aggressive typal strategy led by Karumonix, the Rat King. The game plan revolves around rapidly developing low-cost Rats on early turns, casting Karumonix on Turn 3 to grant the entire board toxic 1, and refilling the hand from the top of the library. It scales its pressure into the mid-game through impactful swarm multipliers like Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm, token engines such as Lord Skitter, Sewer King, and evasive enablers like Piper of the Swarm. Because every Rat applies poison counters, opponents face a fast clock requiring only ten combat connections rather than forty life. The deck maintains tempo with an efficient, low-curve removal package capable of dealing with key threats and problematic enchantments. While vulnerable to sweepers due to limited defensive protection, the high creature density and commander-based card velocity allow it to rebuild quickly.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Anoint with Affliction
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Archetype of Finality
  • 1 Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm
  • 1 Baleful Mastery
  • 1 Blightbelly Rat
  • 1 Bojuka Bog
  • 1 Burglar Rat
  • 1 Castle Locthwain
  • 1 Charcoal Diamond
  • 1 Chittering Skitterling
  • 1 Chittering Witch
  • 1 Crypt Rats
  • 1 Deadly Dispute
  • 1 Defile
  • 1 Doom Whisperer
  • 1 Drown in Ichor
  • 1 Eldrazi Monument
  • 1 Engine Rat
  • 1 Feed the Swarm
  • 1 Fellwar Stone
  • 1 Go for the Throat
  • 1 Herald's Horn
  • 1 Ichor Rats
  • 1 Infernal Grasp
  • 1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
  • 1 Innocuous Rat
  • 1 Karumonix, the Rat King
  • 1 Lord Skitter's Butcher
  • 1 Lord Skitter, Sewer King
  • 1 Mazemind Tome
  • 1 Mind Stone
  • 1 Mudflat Village
  • 1 Mukotai Ambusher
  • 1 Nezumi Prowler
  • 1 Ogre Slumlord
  • 1 Oversold Cemetery
  • 1 Pack Rat
  • 1 Palace Siege
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 1 Piper of the Swarm
  • 1 Rat King, Pale Piper
  • 1 Rat King, Verminister
  • 1 Ratcatcher
  • 1 Ravenous Rats
  • 1 Read the Bones
  • 6 Relentless Rats
  • 1 Revenge of the Rats
  • 1 Secluded Courtyard
  • 1 Septic Rats
  • 1 Shoot the Sheriff
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Species Specialist
  • 31 Swamp
  • 1 Swarm of Rats
  • 1 Sword of the Animist
  • 1 Tangled Colony
  • 1 Throat Slitter
  • 1 Typhoid Rats
  • 1 Voracious Vermin
  • 1 Vraska's Fall
  • 1 Wave of Rats
  • 1 Whisper of the Dross
  • 1 Witch's Cottage
  • 1 Withering Torment