I welcome my Phyrexian Rat Overlords
This primer will now be archived.
A core strategy of this deck is to:
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Set up various rats on CMC to eventually hulk out the Pack Rat
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Lay down Grave Pact as soon as possible. This is the primary control/defence as we intend to be sacrificing a lot of creatures for our own dastardly deeds. This enchantment will usually be enough of a deterrent from anyone being overly aggressive you, but it does make you quite the target.
Despite the rat's numbers, one of the deck's biggest weaknesses is to flying creatures. I've tried to mitigate this by including a couple copies of Eldrazi Monument, which has yielded surprisingly good results. The +1/+1 buff is great for the little guys, and with flying and indestructible, they're basically rat-roaches. It acts as tight creature control in combination with Grave Pact.
I keep taking Priest of Forgotten Gods out, but then finding myself slotting one back in -- and all you need is one to reign in some control on the field. So onto this Cleric's tap ability: sacrificing two creatures to cause other players to also sac a creature, lose 2 life, and most importantly, add and getting a card draw?! Losing two creatures can be a bit of a heavy cost, but that is black magic value packed onto a card.
Piper of the Swarm was an automatic include into this deck when it came out (although also not a rat creature itself shakes fist ). Giving rats menace and creating rat tokens? That's what we want! Its second ability is nothing to look down on either. Sacrificing three rats to gain control of any other creature on the battlefield helps to trigger off Grave Pact, and there are many tasty things to steal.
Village Rites to get that card draw going, and Dark Prophecy for extra synergy. I've wavered on swapping in spells like Night's Whisper or Read the Bones, but the CMC curve for them are already filled. I've also thought about adding tutors like Infernal Tutor or Grim Tutor, but I dislike playing the game so linearly in multiplayer. I find raw card draw tends to be the better option in this deck to have spells ready in hand to play or discard.
And finally, one of my favourite black spells in any combat interaction: Sudden Spoiling. This spell has saved my rat-bacon so many times, turning the tides in combat by beguilingly letting opponents attack me and then flipping this little stunner out. Alternatively, attack your opponent and watch as they block, then play this spell to steamroll their creatures. Great to also dampen any creature abilities or triggered abilities.
