Rat theme deck for Pauper! The concept for this deck was made after the release of
Graf Rats
and
Midnight Scavengers
in Eldrich Moon, then made better after the release of
Sinuous Vermin
in Conspiracy 2. There is already a hand full of great playable rats in the Pauper format; will their powers combined equal an amazing deck? It may be a strictly worse version of Mono Black Control IMO, but it's uniquely interesting, and a ton of fun to play!
This deck plays out much like a Tempo/Midrange deck:
Ravenous Rats
, Rotting Rats, and
Chittering Rats
gnaw away at the opponent's hand, while Typhod Rats can act as a great way to stop your opponent from swinging in with anything too big and costly, including those pesky hexproof creatures, like in Bogles.
The closers for this deck come in two forms: the rather durdly way, in which you meld
Graf Rats
with
Midnight Scavengers
to get the awesome Gurmag Angler beating
Chittering Host
: a 5/6 Haste Menace is pretty sweet, which could be a great closer if you're wide enough, giving all your other rodents a +1/+0 power buff.
Sinuous Vermin
acts as a great curve topper, and another potential 5/5 with Menace on the battlefield. Then, another
Swarm of Rats
for another late game bonus.
I am playing around with different types of removal in this deck. Victim of Night seems like a solid choice, Tragic Slip is good value when trading cheap rats with your opponents larger creatures. And of course
Chainer's Edict
or Geth's Verdict are optimal choices here as well.
Font of Return
keeps your hand stocked up with those expendable rats, which will mostly likely find their home in the graveyard more often than not.
Unearth
is just awesome tempo in this deck! Finally, Sign in Blood is welcome.
20 lands seem like a decent balance I think, I tend to err on the side of slightly more lands than less. The Sideboard has some decent all around answers to other decks, like Exhume for more removal heavy decks like Teachings/Snow-Go, Crypt Incursion for Burn, Echoing Decay and Crypt Rats can take care of go-wide strategies.
Thanks for reading, let me know what you think, any suggestions are welcome!
