Rats in the Walls

Modern Budget Discard Mono-Black

Asy1umRat

Land (22)

• 1x Dakmor Salvage
• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 15x Swamp
• 4x Swarmyard

Sorcery (6)

• 3x Alms of the Vein
• 2x Call to the Netherworld
• 1x Mutilate

Creature (16)

• 4x Asylum Visitor
• 4x Pack Rat
• 4x Scrapheap Scrounger
• 4x Typhoid Rats

Artifact (4)

• 4x Key to the City

Instant (12)

• 4x Dark Withering
• 4x Funeral Charm
• 4x Go for the Throat

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Maybeboard

Creature (3)

• 1x Rat Colony
• 1x Rotting Rats
• 1x Stronghold Rats

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Raven's Crime

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"It was the eldritch scurrying of those fiend-born rats, always questing for new horrors, and determined to lead me on even unto those grinning caverns of earth's centre"

Card Overview:

Threats:

• Pack Rat : The main threat and one of the most versatile tools of the deck, this rat is a self-replicating Madness engine that only gets more powerful the longer its on the field. Having 12 rat creatures in the deck means that by the time he hits the field he'll very rarely be coming in as a 1/1. Add in Swarmyard for free regenerate and you've got a potential monster.

• Asylum Visitor : 3/1 draw engine that can usually be cast at instant speed AND beat face when needed. While you won't usually want to swing in with the visitor if you have other threats, that doesn't mean it can't get the job done. 3 power is a significant threat coming off of turn 2, and being able to cast it at instant speed with Madness can also allow for surprise combat shenanigans.

• Typhoid Rats : A 1 drop deathtouch that boosts Pack Rat's P/T and makes opponents think twice before swinging, doubly so if you have a spare Swarmyard at the ready. An early threat that can still impact combat late-game. Not really a finisher, but can still be a serious concern depending on the situation.

• Stronghold Rats : Despite the 3 CMC and lackluster stats, this card is a powerhouse. Because of the rarity of Shadow as a mechanic, this card is nigh unblockable, hitting for 2 damage each turn. On top of the free damage, his global discard gives us a free madness trigger, also helping to set up Asylum Visitor to trigger to potentially trigger on an opponent's turn. Finally, he works to buff Pack Rat and can even survive burn thanks to Swarmyard.

Madness Cards:

• Call to the Netherworld : While this is certainly a great card for bringing back any of our creatures for free, more importantly it acts as card replacement, giving 2 discard triggers for the price of 1. Best example I can give is using Key to the City to discard this, making Asylum Visitor unblockable; get back a card:Typhoid Rat, either casting normally or discarding to Pack Rat. This card is fuel, albeit situational as we won't always have a creature for it to recur. Right now we're leaving it at 3 due to it's utility.

• Dark Withering : "Doom Blade for {B}" doesn't really cover how amazing this card actually is. In 99% of situations you will be casting this for its madness cost, and that usually means your getting extra value, be it another Pack Rat, an unblockable creature, or putting an extra card in your graveyard for Nemesis. Plus you can still cast it for the full cost if you reeeeally need to. Never disappointed to see this.

• Murderous Compulsion : This card really relies heavily on utilizing the instant speed discard outlets to be useful but can be multipurpose in hosing tap effects or stopping attackers. We're running 2 for now with more in the sideboard due to the utility. Even when cast at sorcery speed it can still be effective, albeit situational.

• Rotting Rats : Less of a madness card than just "creature flashback," not only is this in-tribe, but its downside is negated with our deck's theme. More often than not this will usually wind up being tossed to the yard, either to be brought back later for a big swing, or just to power another play when the other madness cards aren't quite ready to be used. Its a solid utility card and can be a nice surprise when doing a late game push.

• Alms of the Vein : While this doesn't impact the field, it does speed up the game significantly, both keeping the deck alive and wearing down at the opponent's life total. For a low madness cost, the plays very well with card:Keys to the City and Stronghold Rats.

Enablers:

• Raven's Crime : One drop targeted discard that can be cast repeatedly from the graveyard and isn't limited to just the opponent. This has proven invaluable for emergency situations when the main enablers haven't hit the field yet, plus it works just as well at thinning out the opponent's hand, as well. Use with Dakmor Salvage for a re-usable discard outlet every turn. Right now we're running 4, but because of the recursion it may go down to 3 in later builds.

• Pack Rat : This one is going to show up a lot here simply because its just so useful. A beatstick, a madness enabler, and a self-populating army, this card is never bad to see. To make it even better, the discard is instant speed so leaving mana open is always an option. Any use is also a 2-for-1 swing, usually killing a target or bringing back a threat while putting your own rat on the field. The only issue is how delicate it can be early on, so its always a good idea to have a Swarmyard or open mana ready to save or replace your rat if need be. Amazing card and gets better with other rats on the field.

• Key to the City : Instant speed madness enabler, free unblock-ability for threats, card draw for {2}. This is one of the single best cards in this deck and I absolutely love it. Initially I was only running 2, but after seeing how big of a swing there is when this drops it was an easy decision to go to 3. While its not something I necessarily want to see multiples of, I'm never sad when I do as it can be thrown to the yard or played for even more free madness enabling. At the moment, I don't see a need for 4, but it may not be a bad idea down the line.

• Geier Reach Sanitarium : A land that can loot for colorless is always welcome. And it hits everyone? Sign me up! Not only is this a great madness enabler, but it has the added bonus of being card draw with the right hand. You wanted to kill that threat with a Dark Withering, but also need to refill your hand? Well, have I got some good new for you. Right now there are 2 in the deck just for consistency reasons, but this may go back down to 1 as being legendary limits its usefulness, somewhat.

• Stronghold Rats : Unblockable damage every turn that comes with a free discard trigger that hits everyone at the table. While this can't get us to discard at instant speed it does give us a Liliana of the Veil +1 every combat phase.

Utility:

• Mutilate : On the topic of board wipes, I've gone through a few options and have settled on this for the time being (Damnation costs too much, even with the reprint). On the positive end, Languish will hit most threats sans-bombs, which is always nice when things aren't going our way. There are some issues, in that almost all of our creatures are hit by the effect, but Pack Rat can at least usually be buffed beyond the range of instant death. Right now I'm holding it at 1, possibly with another in the sideboard.

• Swarmyard : Its free regeneration for rats on a land. Ultimately, I've found that 90% of the time its only really used with Typhoid Rats as way to dissuade attackers while we build our board, but it can be a nice trick in reserve to keep our Pack Rat going a little longer until he's safely out of bolt range. Unfortunately it can't be used with a lot of the other creatures in the deck, so I'm leaving it at 3 for now, which seems to be a decent compromise.

• Dakmor Salvage : Mostly will be used to give repeatable uses to Raven's Crime, but is a decent discard option (try not to play this as a land if you can help it).

• Rogue's Passage : This has actually been a game breaker when card:Keys to the City aren't coming up or the opponent has artifact destruction. While it can be on the expensive side, its proven to be a great addition for pushing through that last attacker to end the game.

Date added	8 years
Last updated	1 year
Exclude colors	U
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	22 - 0 Rares 10 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.29
Tokens	Copy Clone
Folders	Mdn decks, Tribal, Budgets to build
Based on	Pack of Rats PresidentSquid MDN