Rats by LaserLip

Format: Commander

Commander: Marrow-Gnawer

Bracket: 2

DeckCheck Threat Index: 22

Deck overview

This deck is a mono-black Rat tribal swarm strategy led by Marrow-Gnawer. The core game plan focuses on deploying low-cost Rats during the early turns to build board presence, followed by casting the commander to exponentially multiply the Rat count. Because Marrow-Gnawer grants fear to all Rats, token swarms easily bypass nonblack and non-artifact blockers to deliver lethal combat damage across opponents. The deck integrates aristocrat drain engines like Ayara, First of Locthwain, Mirkwood Bats, and Zulaport Cutthroat to convert creature deaths and token creation into direct life loss. Asymmetric board wipes such as Crippling Fear and Kindred Dominance clear opposing blockers while preserving your own board. The deck excels at rapidly expanding wide boards and applying heavy evasive pressure, but remains vulnerable to sweepers and lacks answers to non-creature permanents.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Adaptive Automaton
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm
  • 1 Ashnod's Altar
  • 1 Ayara, First of Locthwain
  • 1 Barkform Harvester
  • 1 Bontu's Monument
  • 1 Burglar Rat
  • 1 Chittering Witch
  • 1 Corrupted Conviction
  • 1 Crippling Fear
  • 1 Cut Down
  • 1 Deadly Dispute
  • 1 Decanter of Endless Water
  • 1 Door of Destinies
  • 1 Drainpipe Vermin
  • 1 Gix's Command
  • 1 Grave Pact
  • 1 Graveshifter
  • 1 Gruesome Realization
  • 1 Haunted One
  • 1 Herald's Horn
  • 1 Heraldic Banner
  • 1 Hero's Downfall
  • 1 Icon of Ancestry
  • 1 Karumonix, the Rat King
  • 1 Kindred Dominance
  • 1 Lord Skitter's Butcher
  • 1 Lord Skitter, Sewer King
  • 1 Marrow-Gnawer
  • 1 Mirkwood Bats
  • 1 Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion
  • 1 Nezumi Bone-Reader
  • 1 Nezumi Informant
  • 1 Ogre Slumlord
  • 1 Pack Rat
  • 1 Patchwork Banner
  • 1 Patriarch's Bidding
  • 1 Persistent Marshstalker
  • 1 Pestilence Rats
  • 1 Phyrexian Arena
  • 1 Piper of the Swarm
  • 1 Power Word Kill
  • 1 Rancid Rats
  • 1 Rat Colony
  • 1 Ratcatcher
  • 1 Reliquary Tower
  • 1 Rotting Rats
  • 1 Sign in Blood
  • 1 Skullclamp
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Species Specialist
  • 1 Stronghold Rats
  • 33 Swamp
  • 1 Swarm of Rats
  • 1 Swiftfoot Boots
  • 1 Tangled Colony
  • 1 Throat Slitter
  • 1 Twisted Sewer-Witch
  • 1 Typhoid Rats
  • 1 Valley Rotcaller
  • 1 Vampiric Rites
  • 1 Vanquisher's Banner
  • 1 Village Rites
  • 1 Voracious Vermin
  • 1 Wave of Rats
  • 1 Whip of Erebos
  • 1 Zulaport Cutthroat