Who let the rats out? by MagickalPlatypus

Format: Commander

Commander: Karumonix, the Rat King

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 39

Deck overview

This deck executes an aggressive Rat tribal strategy combined with toxic, infect, and proliferate mechanics led by Karumonix, the Rat King. In the opening turns, it deploys low-cost Rat creatures before casting its commander on Turn 3 to grant toxic 1 to the entire swarm and dig five cards deep for additional Rats. The deck applies early poison counters across the table through evasive combat damage—facilitated by Piper of the Swarm, Filth, and unblockable lands—or via table-wide poison spells like Ichor Rats and Vraska's Fall. Once opponents are poisoned, the deck rapidly accumulates counters toward the lethal threshold of 10 using dedicated proliferate engines such as Contagion Engine, Staff of Compleation, and Vraska, Betrayal's Sting, or swarms the board with Marrow-Gnawer. An efficient mono-black removal suite handles opposing creature threats, while utility lands like Swarmyard protect key pieces as the deck closes the game around Turn 7.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Access Tunnel
  • 1 Anoint with Affliction
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Blightbelly Rat
  • 1 Burglar Rat
  • 1 Cabal Stronghold
  • 1 Caress of Phyrexia
  • 1 Changeling Outcast
  • 1 Contagion Clasp
  • 1 Contagion Engine
  • 1 Crypt Rats
  • 1 Defile
  • 1 Diabolic Intent
  • 1 Diabolic Tutor
  • 1 Drainpipe Vermin
  • 1 Drown in Ichor
  • 1 Elephant-Rat
  • 1 Filth
  • 1 Glistening Sphere
  • 1 Gnat Miser
  • 1 Go for the Throat
  • 1 Grafted Exoskeleton
  • 1 Grim Affliction
  • 1 Herald's Horn
  • 1 Ichor Rats
  • 1 Infectious Inquiry
  • 1 Infernal Grasp
  • 1 Karn's Bastion
  • 1 Karumonix, the Rat King
  • 1 Lightning Greaves
  • 1 Lord Skitter's Butcher
  • 1 Lord Skitter, Sewer King
  • 1 Marrow-Gnawer
  • 1 Mudflat Village
  • 1 Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion
  • 1 Necrogen Communion
  • 1 Necropotence
  • 1 Nezumi Cutthroat
  • 1 Nezumi Graverobber // Nighteyes the Desecrator
  • 1 Nezumi Shortfang // Stabwhisker the Odious
  • 1 Ogre Slumlord
  • 1 Pack Rat
  • 1 Phyresis
  • 1 Phyresis Outbreak
  • 1 Piper of the Swarm
  • 1 Prowler's Helm
  • 1 Rancid Rats
  • 1 Ravenous Rats
  • 1 Reliquary Tower
  • 1 Rogue's Passage
  • 1 Rotting Rats
  • 1 Secret Tunnel
  • 1 Septic Rats
  • 1 Sign in Blood
  • 1 Splinter's Technique
  • 1 Spread the Sickness
  • 1 Staff of Compleation
  • 1 Stronghold Rats
  • 29 Swamp
  • 1 Swarmyard
  • 1 Swarmyard Massacre
  • 1 Sword of Truth and Justice
  • 1 Tainted Strike
  • 1 Tangled Colony
  • 1 Typhoid Rats
  • 1 Unmarked Grave
  • 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
  • 1 Vat Emergence
  • 1 Vraska's Fall
  • 1 Vraska, Betrayal's Sting
  • 1 Whisper of the Dross
  • 1 Whispersilk Cloak