Rats by joshlaurel52

Format: Commander

Commander: Karumonix, the Rat King

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 34

Deck overview

This mono-black deck runs a tribal aggro and toxic swarm strategy led by Karumonix, the Rat King. The early game focuses on deploying low-cost Rats and basic mana ramp. On turn 3, casting Karumonix immediately refills your hand by digging five cards deep for additional Rat cards while granting toxic 1 to the entire swarm. In the midgame, the deck applies pressure by attacking with evasive Rats using enablers like Cover of Darkness and Piper of the Swarm. Initial poison counters can also be applied directly with Ichor Rats and Vraska's Fall, then increased using proliferate cards like Contagion Clasp and Karn's Bastion. Backup win conditions include creating massive token swarms with Marrow-Gnawer, growing multiple Relentless Rats, or draining opponents with Gray Merchant of Asphodel. The deck features strong creature removal and rapid engine recovery, but it lacks stack interaction, enchantment removal, and protection against board wipes.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Access Tunnel
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Bad Moon
  • 1 Blightbelly Rat
  • 1 Bojuka Bog
  • 1 Bontu's Monument
  • 1 Caress of Phyrexia
  • 1 Changeling Outcast
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Contagion Clasp
  • 1 Cover of Darkness
  • 1 Daggerfang Duo
  • 1 Dark Ritual
  • 1 Doom Blade
  • 1 Door of Destinies
  • 1 Evolving Wilds
  • 1 Exsanguinate
  • 1 Gnat Miser
  • 1 Go for the Throat
  • 1 Grave Pact
  • 1 Gravepurge
  • 1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
  • 1 Hero's Downfall
  • 1 Ichor Rats
  • 1 Infectious Inquiry
  • 1 Intimidation
  • 1 Karn's Bastion
  • 1 Karumonix, the Rat King
  • 1 Locust Miser
  • 1 Lord Skitter's Butcher
  • 1 Marrow-Gnawer
  • 1 Mirkwood Bats
  • 1 Myriad Landscape
  • 1 Necrogen Communion
  • 1 Nezumi Bladeblesser
  • 1 Oversold Cemetery
  • 1 Patchwork Banner
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 1 Phyresis
  • 1 Piper of the Swarm
  • 1 Rancid Rats
  • 1 Ravenous Rats
  • 1 Read the Bones
  • 8 Relentless Rats
  • 1 Relic Putrescence
  • 1 Return from Extinction
  • 1 Revenge of the Rats
  • 1 Rogue's Passage
  • 1 Skullsnatcher
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Species Specialist
  • 1 Spread the Sickness
  • 1 Stronghold Rats
  • 27 Swamp
  • 1 Swarmyard
  • 1 Swiftfoot Boots
  • 1 Temple of the False God
  • 1 Typhoid Rats
  • 1 Undercity Dire Rat
  • 1 Unearth
  • 1 Valley Rotcaller
  • 1 Vat Emergence
  • 1 Village Rites
  • 1 Virulent Wound
  • 1 Vraska's Fall
  • 1 Wayfarer's Bauble
  • 1 Whisper of the Dross