The old ways by user7598776

Format: Commander

Commander: Karumonix, the Rat King

Bracket: 3

Deck overview

Karumonix, the Rat King leads a mono-black rat swarm that wins by stacking poison counters on all opponents. The commander's enters trigger digs for Rats, while Lord Skitter, Marrow-Gnawer, and Piper of the Swarm create a wide, evasive board. A strong reanimation package (Buried Alive, Animate Dead, Living Death) and drain engines (Gray Merchant, Kokusho, Ayara) give a non-combat plan. There is no hidden commander; the deck is deliberately built around the Karumonix axis. Even if Karumonix is answered, the deck can pivot to token aggro and aristocrats, though the poison clock becomes much slower.

Decklist (99 cards)

  • 1 Animate Dead
  • 1 Anoint with Affliction
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Attrition
  • 1 Ayara, First of Locthwain
  • 1 Blood for Bones
  • 1 Bojuka Bog
  • 1 Bontu's Monument
  • 1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
  • 1 Buried Alive
  • 1 Cabal Coffers
  • 1 Chthonian Nightmare
  • 1 Coat of Arms
  • 1 Corpse Dance
  • 1 Crypt Rats
  • 1 Damnation
  • 1 Dance of the Dead
  • 1 Dark Ritual
  • 1 Deadly Dispute
  • 1 Defile
  • 1 Demonic Tutor
  • 1 Exsanguinate
  • 1 Feed the Swarm
  • 1 Gate to Phyrexia
  • 1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
  • 1 Grave Pact
  • 1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
  • 1 Hero's Downfall
  • 1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
  • 1 Jet Medallion
  • 1 Karumonix, the Rat King
  • 1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
  • 1 Languish
  • 1 Lethal Scheme
  • 1 Living Death
  • 1 Lord Skitter, Sewer King
  • 1 Marrow-Gnawer
  • 1 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
  • 1 Mirkwood Bats
  • 1 Necromancy
  • 1 Necropotence
  • 1 Night's Whisper
  • 1 Pack Rat
  • 1 Phyrexian Tower
  • 1 Piper of the Swarm
  • 1 Plunge into Darkness
  • 1 Read the Bones
  • 1 Reanimate
  • 1 Reassembling Skeleton
  • 1 Shallow Grave
  • 1 Sign in Blood
  • 1 Skullclamp
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 31 Swamp
  • 1 Tainted Strike
  • 1 Tortured Existence
  • 1 Twisted Sewer-Witch
  • 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
  • 1 Vampiric Tutor
  • 1 Village Rites
  • 1 Virulent Wound
  • 1 Volrath's Stronghold
  • 1 Vraska's Fall
  • 1 Whisper of the Dross
  • 1 Witch's Cottage
  • 1 Withering Torment
  • 1 Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
  • 1 Yawgmoth's Will
  • 1 Yawgmoth, Thran Physician