Thanks to the new Ixalan Planeswalker rule, we can now have Liliana of the Veil and Liliana, the Last Hope on the battlefield at the same time! This is a HUGE upgrade for monoblack decks, but in order to fully take advantage of this, we need a deck which can really benefit from Liliana, the Last Hope's -2 ability. Most monoblack decks in Modern are control or attrition builds with very few creatures, but there is one deck that I've been piloting for a while which capitalizes on the new rule change perfectly:
Rats.
Rat tribal has a lot going for it. First of all, Pack Rat is an insanely strong card which can win games all by itself if left unchecked, especially against control. The prospect of running Pack Rat in its most synergistic environment is what drew me to play this deck in the first place.
Secondly, monoblack decks have always been able to run utility lands better than any other color combination thanks to Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, so we are able to run 4 copies each of Mutavault and Swarmyard. Swarmyard alone gives us the edge against creature decks, as we can infinitely regenerate most of our creatures for minimal cost. Mutavault is one of the most powerful manlands in the game, and it also pairs well with the deck's tribal theme.
Thirdly, low-to-the-ground black creature decks can take advantage of two of the most powerful cards ever printed in Dark Confidant and Aether Vial. Both of these cards synergize beautifully with Pack Rat. Dark Confidant simply gives you more ammunition for Pack Rat, while Aether Vial allows you to flash in Pack Rat on turn 3 and immediately use its ability, establishing a threatening board position.
Aether Vial and Pack Rat's ability, along with the abilities from our lands, allow this deck to operate at instant speed, making this deck both maximally evasive to removal and counterspells as well as unpredictable to meet in combat.
Fourthly, we are able to top out our curve with both Lilianas, as mentioned in the introduction. I believe that this is what will really tip the deck over the edge and make it a true threat in Modern. Liliana of the Veil has always been a force to be reckoned with in Modern, but now Liliana, the Last Hope can be played alongside it, decimating small creature decks and forcing the opponent to deal with two planeswalkers ticking up at once. For a creature deck whose curve tops out at 3 mana to have an endgame this strong is unheard of in Modern.
These are the main strengths of the deck; now let's flesh out the rest of the deck. To complete our tribal rat theme, we have Rotting Rats and Nezumi Shortfang. Both of these cards can be Vialed in on 2. Rotting Rats synergizes nicely with Gravecrawler and Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, and in the absence of these cards can be used to discard spare Urborgs, Aether Vials, and copies of itself. Nezumi Shortfang, once it transforms into Stabwhiskers the Odious, is another nice win condition.
To finish out the deck we have a nice discard package of 4 copies each of Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek. With 16 one-drops, our deck has one of the strongest first turns in the format.
To summarize, here is why you should play the deck:
This deck is able to use many of the most powerful black cards in Modern to their most effective potential. We also have excellent matchups
- vs. Control: Pack Rat eats them alive.
- vs. Combo: Targeted discard and Liliana of the Veil eats them alive.
- vs. Creature decks: Liliana, the Last Hope eats them alive thanks to Ixalan rules.
Of course, we are not without our bad matchups. Burn and Dredge and other graveyard-based decks sadly eat us alive game 1. That's why we have 4 copies of Collective Brutality (for the red mages) and Leyline of the Void (for the other black mages) in the sideboard. Fatal Push is simply too efficient in the creature deck mirror to not bring in, so we have 4 of them as well, while the other 3 cards round things out.
You know you've always wanted to play a competitive deck filled with Pack Rats and Swarmyards. Give it a shot.
For more reading about this type of deck, please check out Travis Woo's article on Aether Vial and Pack Rat which really inspired this list!
