Rats, Rats, We are the rats... by user9490199

Format: Commander

Commander: Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm

Bracket: 2

Deck overview

This mono-black Rats deck, helmed by Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm, is a classic token-swarm strategy with a heavy graveyard-value subtheme. The plan is to flood the board with cheap Rat tokens and Rat synergy pieces, then turn the swarm lethal through Ashcoat's attack/block pump, tribal anthems like Coat of Arms and Door of Destinies, and mass-reanimation spells like Patriarch's Bidding and Revenge of the Rats. Ashcoat doubles as a slow card-advantage engine, milling four cards every end step and returning up to two Rat cards to hand. Secondary paths include a big-mana Crypt Rats finish powered by Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Cabal Coffers, and Crypt Ghast, plus a light poison subtheme via Karumonix, the Rat King and Blightbelly Rat. The deck is a mid-speed, combat-focused value deck that wins through inevitability rather than fast combo.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm
  • 1 Blightbelly Rat
  • 1 Bojuka Bog
  • 1 Bontu's Monument
  • 1 Burglar Rat
  • 1 Buried Alive
  • 1 Cabal Coffers
  • 1 Cavern of Souls
  • 1 Chittering Rats
  • 1 Coat of Arms
  • 1 Corrupted Conviction
  • 1 Crypt Ghast
  • 1 Crypt Rats
  • 1 Deadly Dispute
  • 1 Defile
  • 1 Door of Destinies
  • 1 Eldrazi Monument
  • 1 Entomb
  • 1 Feed the Swarm
  • 1 Gnat Miser
  • 1 Gnawing Vermin
  • 1 Go for the Throat
  • 1 Gutter Skulk
  • 1 Haunted One
  • 1 Herald's Horn
  • 1 Infernal Grasp
  • 1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
  • 1 Innocuous Rat
  • 1 Karumonix, the Rat King
  • 1 Locust Miser
  • 1 Lord Skitter's Butcher
  • 1 Lord Skitter, Sewer King
  • 1 Marrow-Gnawer
  • 1 Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion
  • 1 Nezumi Bladeblesser
  • 1 Ogre Slumlord
  • 1 Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver
  • 1 Overkill
  • 1 Oversold Cemetery
  • 1 Pack Rat
  • 1 Pact of the Serpent
  • 1 Patriarch's Bidding
  • 1 Piper of the Swarm
  • 1 Plague of Vermin
  • 1 Rancid Rats
  • 1 Rat Colony
  • 1 Rat King, Pale Piper
  • 1 Rat King, Verminister
  • 1 Revenge of the Rats
  • 1 Rise of the Dark Realms
  • 1 Sign in Blood
  • 1 Skullclamp
  • 1 Snuff Out
  • 1 Sudden Spoiling
  • 31 Swamp
  • 1 Swarmyard
  • 1 Tangled Colony
  • 1 Three Tree City
  • 1 Toxic Deluge
  • 1 Tragic Slip
  • 1 Twisted Sewer-Witch
  • 1 Typhoid Rats
  • 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
  • 1 Valley Rotcaller
  • 1 Vampiric Rites
  • 1 Vanquisher's Banner
  • 1 Village Rites
  • 1 Voracious Vermin
  • 1 War Room
  • 1 Withering Torment