rat on by DarqSoulz

Format: Commander

Commander: Rat King, Verminister

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 40

Deck overview

This mono-black deck leverages Rat King, Verminister to lead a hyper-redundant swarm strategy built around 20 copies of Relentless Rats. The core game plan accelerates mana through mono-black rituals and scalable devotion lands like Cabal Coffers and Three Tree City, deploying an early wave of Rats to establish board presence. On Turns 4–5, the deck transitions into a decisive win attempt by either deploying Thrumming Stone to ripple through the library and flood the board with twenty massive Relentless Rats, or by assembling the infinite token loop of Marrow-Gnawer and Thornbite Staff. Aristocrat drain pieces like Ayara, First of Locthwain and Zulaport Cutthroat turn mass token generation or board attrition into direct table-wide damage, while Grave Pact and Swarmyard Massacre control opposing creature boards. Mass recursion spells like Echoing Return and the commander's ability ensure rapid recovery against sweepers, allowing the swarm to overwhelm the table consistently by Turn 6.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm
  • 1 Ayara, First of Locthwain
  • 1 Bojuka Bog
  • 1 Buried Ruin
  • 1 Cabal Coffers
  • 1 Cabal Stronghold
  • 1 Chronicle of Victory
  • 1 Consuming Corruption
  • 1 Culling the Weak
  • 1 Dark Ritual
  • 1 Dash Hopes
  • 1 Deadly Rollick
  • 1 Demonic Tutor
  • 1 Diabolic Intent
  • 1 Door of Destinies
  • 1 Echoing Return
  • 1 Emeritus of Woe // Demonic Tutor
  • 1 Exsanguinate
  • 1 Feed the Swarm
  • 1 Funeral Room // Awakening Hall
  • 1 Grave Pact
  • 1 Gruesome Fate
  • 1 Imp's Mischief
  • 1 Infernal Tutor
  • 1 Jet Medallion
  • 1 Karumonix, the Rat King
  • 1 Lethal Scheme
  • 1 Lord Skitter, Sewer King
  • 1 Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire
  • 1 Marrow-Gnawer
  • 1 Mudflat Village
  • 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
  • 1 Ogre Slumlord
  • 1 Pack Rat
  • 1 Patchwork Banner
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 1 Piper of the Swarm
  • 1 Plague of Vermin
  • 1 Priest of Forgotten Gods
  • 1 Rat King, Verminister
  • 20 Relentless Rats
  • 1 Revenge of the Rats
  • 1 Secret Salvage
  • 1 Skullclamp
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 22 Swamp
  • 1 Swarmyard
  • 1 Swarmyard Massacre
  • 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
  • 1 The Meathook Massacre
  • 1 Thornbite Staff
  • 1 Thought Vessel
  • 1 Three Tree City
  • 1 Thrumming Stone
  • 1 Undercity Scrounger
  • 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
  • 1 Valley Rotcaller
  • 1 Village Rites
  • 1 Withering Torment
  • 1 Zulaport Cutthroat