Plague of Rats

Commander / EDH Demons Mono-Black Theme/Gimmick Tribal Weenie

Kogarashi

Creature (31)

• 1x Artisan of Kozilek
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Crypt Rats
• 1x Demonlord of Ashmouth
• 1x Diseased Vermin
• 1x Eater of Hope
• 1x Filth
• 1x Gnat Miser
• 1x Ichor Rats
• 1x Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
• 1x Krav, the Unredeemed
• 1x Kuro's Taken
• 1x Locust Miser
• 1x Nezumi Bone-Reader
• 1x Nezumi Graverobber  ^Flip
• 1x Nezumi Shortfang  ^Flip
• 1x Ogre Slumlord
• 1x Okiba-Gang Shinobi
• 1x Pack Rat
• 1x Patron of the Nezumi
• 1x Pestilence Rats
• 2x Rat Colony
• 1x Ratcatcher
• 1x Scrib Nibblers
• 1x Septic Rats
• 1x Skullsnatcher
• 1x Stronghold Rats
• 1x Swarm of Rats
• 1x Throat Slitter
• 1x Typhoid Rats

Artifact (10)

• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Door of Destinies
• 1x Illusionist's Bracers
• 1x Junkyo Bell
• 1x Magewright's Stone
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Tamiyo's Journal
• 1x Temple Bell
• 1x Thornbite Staff

Land (39)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Cabal Stronghold
• 1x Opal Palace
• 32x Swamp
• 1x Swarmyard
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

Instant (5)

• 1x Gravepurge
• 1x Murder
• 1x Sudden Spoiling
• 1x Tendrils of Corruption
• 1x Tragic Slip

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Liliana of the Dark Realms
• 1x Liliana Vess

Commander (1)

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Conspiracy
• 1x Contaminated Ground
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Enslave
• 1x Night Dealings
• 1x Shadows of the Past

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x In Garruk's Wake
• 1x Lab Rats
• 1x Mutilate
• 1x Yawgmoth's Vile Offering

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Maybeboard

Artifact (1)

• 1x Thousand-Year Elixir

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I designed this deck around Marrow-Gnawer's ability, similar to the Krenko deck I built previously but mono-black this time. The main goal of this deck was to make something functional in Commander, keeping the rat tribal theme intact while still enabling the deck to win on more than just overwhelming numbers (since rats are so easy to get rid of in Commander and so difficult for mono-black to boost).

The main theme is, obviously Rats. Lots of them. The majority of the creatures in this deck are rats, and what isn't a rat either works with rats (Ogre Slumlord, Ratcatcher, Patron of the Nezumi), or is related to demons. That's right, demons. In order to give the rats something bigger to build up to, I've included a selection of demons as the big bomb creatures. Many of the demons involve sacrifice in some way, given how Marrow-Gnawer's ability works, keeping up a theme.

Also Filth is in there, for the swampwalk (enabled by Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Contaminated Ground). Thanks to sac outlets on some of the demons, getting Filth into the graveyard is not very difficult.

Meanwhile, Diseased Vermin + Night Dealings gets me a tutoring option thematic to the nezumi, Conspiracy ensures that everything counts as a rat in a pinch, and Dictate of Erebos bypasses pesky problems like protection and indestructible if enough of my creatures die, such as when one-sided board sweeps hit.

In order to ramp into more and better spells as the game continues, the deck utilizes Crypt Ghast, Liliana of the Dark Realms (if her ultimate can fire off), and Caged Sun to increase the amount of black mana produced by its lands, Cabal Coffers to produce a lot of black mana on its own, and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to make every land that isn't already a swamp a swamp.

The real fun part of the deck is messing around with Marrow-Gnawer + Thornbite Staff , for a potentially infinite combo, made even better with Illusionist's Bracers to get twice the effect for each activation.

Finally, to deal with problems of card advantage and running a weenie deck, Temple Bell is the group hug card draw while Tamiyo's Journal creates Clues that can be used for card draw or tutoring, and Caged Sun and Door of Destinies beef up my creatures without boosting others.

Date added	6 years
Last updated	6 years
Key combos	Marrow-Gnawer + Thornbite Staff Diseased Vermin + Night Dealings
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	4 - 0 Mythic Rares 28 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 16 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.67
Tokens	Clue, Copy Clone, Emblem Liliana of the Dark Realms, Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Rat 1/1 B
Folders	Commander/EDH Decks