Overview:

Marrow-Gnawer Rat Tribal focuses on swarming with low-cost Rats like Rat Colony, leveraging lords like Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm for exponential growth, and draining opponents via Zulaport Cutthroat and Mirkwood Bats. The deck uses cost reducers (Urza’s Incubator, Herald’s Horn) and token generators (Ogre Slumlord, Lord Skitter) to flood the board, finishing with Akroma’s Memorial-boosted attacks or Exsanguinate. While lacking infinite combos, it has strong synergy and redundancy for its tribal theme.

Primer:

Core Strategy:
Deploy cheap Rats (Rat Colony, Burglar Rat) early, amplified by cost reducers. Use Marrow-Gnawer to sacrifice Rats for explosive token generation, fueling aristocrats payoffs (Mirkwood Bats, Zulaport Cutthroat) and board-wide buffs (Vanquisher’s Banner). Key phases:

1. Setup (Turns 1–4): Ramp with Sol Ring, Cabal Coffers, and fix draws via Skullclamp.
2. Engine Activation (Turns 5–7): Cast Marrow-Gnawer, generate tokens, and drain with Dictate of Erebos/Bolas’s Citadel.
3. Finishers (Turns 8+): Overwhelm with Akroma’s Memorial evasion or Exsanguinate for lethal.

Mulligan Priorities:

• 3 lands (prioritize Swarmyard, Cabal Coffers).
• 1–2 cost reducers (Jet Medallion, Herald’s Horn).
• Early Rats or protection (Swiftfoot Boots). Avoid hands without ramp or tribal synergy.

Key Tips:

• Sacrifice Rats pre-wipe to maximize Marrow-Gnawer’s token generation.
• Skullclamp tokens post-sacrifice for card advantage.
• Use Bojuka Bog disruptively against graveyard decks.

Avoid Traps:

• Overextending into board wipes without recursion.
• Holding Marrow-Gnawer without protection in removal-heavy metas.

Weaknesses:

• Critical: Relies heavily on Marrow-Gnawer; 3+ removals cripples the deck.
• Moderate: Vulnerable to board wipes (limited recovery beyond Whip of Erebos).
• Minor: Limited enchantment removal (only Feed the Swarm).

Most Important Cards:

• Cabal Coffers
• Bolas’s Citadel
• Skullclamp
• Exsanguinate
• Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm
• Vanquisher’s Banner
• Urza’s Incubator
• Dictate of Erebos
• Zulaport Cutthroat
• Mirkwood Bats

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 6/10

• Can threaten lethal via combat/drain by T7–8 with optimal draws.

Resilience: 5/10

• Recursion (Reanimate, Whip of Erebos) and protection (Swiftfoot Boots) mitigate single removals, but folds to repeated interaction.

Consistency: 7/10

• 10+ Rat generators, 3 cost reducers, and tutors (Demonic Tutor, Herald’s Horn) ensure tribal synergy.

Interaction: 5/10

• Targeted removal (Toxic Deluge, Deadly Rollick) and stax (Void Mirror), but lacks counterspells.

Rating Justification:

The deck operates at 5.0–5.5 (Optimized Casual/Strong Precon). It’s faster and more synergistic than precons (T8–10 wins) but lacks the speed/resilience of high-power decks. Key strengths (tribal redundancy, drain synergies) align with the 5.0–5.5 rubric, while mana efficiency and moderate interaction place it above casual builds.

Power level: 5.0–5.5