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Ratica Apocalyptica

Commander / EDH Card Draw Matters Combo Discard Infinite Combo Kamigawa Lifegain Mono-Black Rats Sacrifice Tokens

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Creature (33)

Artifact (15)

Enchantment (7)

Sorcery (4)

Commander (1)

Commander: Marrow-Gnawer

Land (33)

Instant (5)

Planeswalker (2)

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Enchantment (1)

Artifact (1)

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Creature (28)

Sorcery (9)

Artifact (15)

Land (4)

Planeswalker (2)

Instant (11)

Enchantment (9)

We Shall Inherit

The Underempire

Marrow-Gnawer is my favorite card in MTG and the main reason I started playing back in the day when Champions of Kamigawa came out. Here I've finally incorporated him into a semi-competitive commander deck. The idea of this deck is to spam rat tokens with Marrow-Gnawer's ability and other cards combo off of this by sacrificing rat tokens, removing enemy creatures, increasing your life / decreasing the opponents, and drawing lots of cards.

The general strategy here is pretty straightforward. Try to play on curve and ensure at least 2 other rats are on the battlefield when Marrow-Gnawer comes out on turn 4 / 5. Then the rat doubling begins, and if left unchecked it can quickly snowball by turn 7 - 10.

Primary combos:

Marrow-Gnawer + Thornbite Staff = Infinite Rats. Old school: Plunge into Darkness to sacrifice the rat tokens for infinite life. New school: Ayara, First of Locthwain / Blood Artist / Bastion of Remembrance on the field = infinite life and damage to opponent. Playing The Meathook Massacre can also cause infinite damage to all opponents by killing off the infinite rats. I'm aware of the Tutors that could be included to search for Thornbite Staff, I'm just opting to not always go for the infinite combo as a win-con for this deck. Just an occasional win-con.

Lightning Greaves and Cloak and Dagger make Marrow-Gnawer not targetable and can be equipped immediately for free.

Lightning Greaves and Thousand-Year Elixir give Marrow-Gnawer haste for his activated ability.

Mirkwood Bats activates 1 life loss for every rat Marrow-Gnawer creates, potentially game ending as soon as it's played.

Karumonix, the Rat King can also be a wincon if the Rat Swarm outflanks the opponent due to Poison. With all Rats having Fear from Marrow-Gnawer, it can be surprisingly easy to rack up 10 Poison hits in a single swing.

High Power Rats could also just clobber the opponent from Marrow-Gnawer's Fear if they can't be blocked and there are tons of Rats on the field. Namely Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm, Persistent Marshstalker, Pestilence Rats, Swarm of Rats.

Coat of Arms and Banner of Kinship can also end the game if one is dropped while there already is a huge rat swarm on the field. If those Ratties are poised and ready to strike. Just watch out because the opponent can benefit from it to, so ideally it should just be used for the winning swing.

{Token Tech}

Marrow-Gnawer, Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal  , Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm, Ayara, First of Locthwain, Blood Artist, Mirkwood Bats, Ogre Slumlord, Old Flitterfang, Pack Rat, Pestilence Rats, Piper of the Swarm, Pitiless Plunderer, Priest of Forgotten Gods, Species Specialist, Attrition, Bastion of Remembrance, Black Market, Grave Pact, Coat of Arms, Eldrazi Monument, Tarrian's Journal  , Thornbite Staff, Thousand-Year Elixir, Tragic Slip, Liliana, Dreadhorde General, Chittering Witch, Karumonix, the Rat King, Lord Skitter's Butcher, Lord Skitter, Sewer King, Nezumi Bone-Reader, Persistent Marshstalker, Swarm of Rats, Voracious Vermin, Revenge of the Rats

{Draw}

Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal  , Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm, Ayara, First of Locthwain, Priest of Forgotten Gods, Ratcatcher, Species Specialist, Phyrexian Arena, Skullclamp, Vanquisher's Banner, Deadly Dispute, Reckoner's Bargain, Village Rites, Liliana, Dreadhorde General, Increasing Ambition <-- Only tutor card in deck War Roomfoil, Lord Skitter's Butcher

{Life Gain / Loss}

Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal  , Ayara, First of Locthwain, Blood Artist, Crypt Ghastfoil, Mirkwood Bats, Old Flitterfang, Priest of Forgotten Gods, Bastion of Remembrance, Virtue of Persistence, Bontu's Monument, Reckoner's Bargain, Nezumi Prowler, Painful Quandary, The Meathook Massacre

{Ramp}

Crypt Ghastfoil, Black Market, Bontu's Monument, Liliana of the Dark Realms, Cabal Coffers, Cabal Stronghold

{Power}

Marrow-Gnawer, Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm, Swarm of Rats, Pestilence Rats, Persistent Marshstalker, Akroma's Memorial, Coat of Arms, Door of Destinies, Eldrazi Monument, Toxic Deluge <--- Only board wipe in deck

{Removal}

Attrition, Grave Pact, Virtue of Persistence, Nevinyrral's Disk, Oblivion Stone, Defile, Tragic Slip, Liliana of the Dark Realms, Liliana, Dreadhorde General, Toxic Deluge, Piper of the Swarm, Priest of Forgotten Gods, Throat Slitter, Chittering Witch, Crypt Rats, Nezumi Prowler, The Meathook Massacre, Crippling Fear, Swarmyard Massacre

{Recursion}

Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni, Virtue of Persistence, Ghost Lantern, Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm, The Tomb of Aclazotz  , Revenge of the Rats

{Discard}

Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal  , Chittering Rats, Nezumi Shortfang  , Nezumi Bone-Reader, Ravenous Rats, Painful Quandary

{Flying}

Eldrazi Monument, Akroma's Memorial, Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal  , Old Flitterfang, Mirkwood Bats

{Creature Steal}

Piper of the Swarm, Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni, Virtue of Persistence

The sideboard for the deck is intended for use with Hexapod's Ban List in their casual high-power multiplayer games. Sol Ring and Grave Pact are banned and to be replaced by the sideboard cards.

Edit 8/18/24 - After playtesting a few times, I feel the following changes enhance the decks overall survivability and power while losing only situational boons. Add: Tarrian's Journal  , Old Flitterfang, Priest of Forgotten Gods, Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal  , Crypt Ghastfoil, Liliana of the Dark Realms, Ghost Lantern, Consuming Corruption, Vanquisher's Banner, Cloak and Dagger, Mirkwood Bats, Door of Destinies

Remove: Oversold Cemetery, Patriarch's Bidding, Twilight's Call, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Temple of the False God, Altar's Reap, God-Eternal Bontu, Consuming Vapors, Rend Flesh, Whispersilk Cloak, Skullclamp, Hero's Downfall

Suggestions

Updates Add

Dec. 18, 2024
Edit

Swapped Black Market for Jet Medallion

Reason being: After further playesting, I've noticed additional Ramp would be highly beneficial to getting the 5 drop Commander out as fast as possible, along with sac fodder for him. So having a 2 cost mana rock is far more valuable to that end than a 5 cost sac rock.

Crow_Umbra made some good suggestions for additional Ramp: Warren Soultrader and Phyrexian Tower. I'm cutting Akroma's Memorial for Warren since it's not necessarily a win-con for the deck and is the highest mana cost. Eldrazi Monument also gives flying to all Rats but is easier to remove. I'll play around with it and see if I still want Akroma's or not, just have a feeling it's the least relevant card that I can cut.

Foundations Update — Nov. 9, 2024
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Oct. 22, 2024
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Sept. 11, 2024
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Revision 32 See all

(1 week ago)

Top Ranked
Date added 2 years
Last updated 1 week
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)

9 - 1 Mythic Rares

32 - 1 Rares

21 - 0 Uncommons

12 - 0 Commons
Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.15
Tokens Bat 1/1 B, Copy Clone, Emblem Liliana of the Dark Realms, Food, Human Soldier 1/1 W, Mercenary 1/1 R, On an Adventure, Rat 1/1 B, Rat 1/1 B w/ Can't Block, Squirrel 1/1 G, Treasure, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders Commander/EDH, Copies, favorites, zIdeas, Upvoted, rat pack, Other Peoples decks to use for ideas, 1, Yes
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