R.O.U.S. (Rodents of Unusual Size)

Commander / EDH Aggro Casual Mono-Black Multiplayer Primer Rats

NorinTheWise

Artifact (16)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Bontu's Monument
• 1x Coat of Arms
• 1x Heirloom Blade
• 1x Herald's Horn
• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Springleaf Drum
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Sword of the Animist
• 1x Thornbite Staff
• 1x Thrumming Stone
• 1x Vanquisher's Banner

Instant (2)

• 1x Defile
• 1x Stinging Study

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Phyrexian Arena

Land (35)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Bonders' Enclave
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Cabal Stronghold
• 1x Castle Locthwain
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 23x Swamp
• 1x Swarmyard
• 1x Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x War Room
• 1x Witch's Cottage

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Echoing Return
• 1x Feed the Swarm
• 1x Grim Tutor
• 1x Mutilate
• 1x Pact of the Serpent
• 1x Patriarch's Bidding
• 1x Secret Salvage

Commander (1)

Creature (36)

• 1x Ayara, First of Locthwain
• 1x Crashing Drawbridge
• 1x Disciple of Bolas
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion
• 1x Ogre Slumlord
• 1x Pack Rat
• 1x Piper of the Swarm
• 25x Rat Colony
• 1x Ratcatcher
• 1x Species Specialist
• 1x Throat Slitter

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Maybeboard

Instant (3)

• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Sudden Spoiling
• 1x Wretched Confluence

Artifact (1)

• 1x Thousand-Year Elixir

Creature (2)

• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Chittering Witch

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Bubbling Muck

Land (1)

• 1x Path of Ancestry

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Recent Additions/Changes:

2/24/22: Switched out Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni for Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion

2/23/22: Switched out Swamp for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

2/23/22: Switched out Myriad Landscape for Ancient Tomb

11/16/21: Playtesting Echoing Return in place of Wretched Confluence

11/15/21: Switched out Greed for Stinging Study

11/15/21: Switched out Blast Zone for Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

9/30/21: Switched out Path of Ancestry for Cabal Coffers

4/15/21: Switched out Beseech the Queen for Demonic Tutor

1/28/21: Switched out Ancient Craving for Pact of the Serpent

11/20/20: Switched out Arch of Orazca for War Room

9/25/20: Switched out Oubliette for Feed the Swarm

7/3/20: Switched out Mausoleum Secrets for Grim Tutor

Introduction

This deck's strategy is very straight forward, win by swinging with Rats! The strategy is mainly supported by card draw. Due to the threat Marrow-Gnawer and Rat Colonies pose there will be plenty of removal and board wipes. Keeping your hand full of Rats even in the late game is this decks strong suit.

Main Objective

This decks main objective is to power up the Rat Colonies quickly and swing for the win. Resolving Marrow-Gnawer after filling the board with Rat Colonies is the primary win condition. However, cards like Coat of Arms, Thornbite Staff and Thrumming Stone are the powerhouses of this deck. Resolving any one of these and keeping it even for a single turn cycle could end the game.

Secondary Objective

This decks secondary objective is purely a support objective, card draw. Instead of putting extra resources into removal or protection from removal, the deck focuses on filling/refilling your hand. Due to the large amount of card draw in this deck, refilling your hand and resolving another entire rat army again is a cinch. Here is a list of some of the decks standout card draw engines:

Phyrexian Arena

Secret Salvage

Vanquisher's Banner

Skullclamp

Species Specialist

Grim Haruspex

Disciple of Bolas

Greed

Support

This deck is supported by consistent ramp and some disruption. The ramp is very straight forward; mana rocks and some colorless land ramp with Myriad Landscape, Wayfarer's Bauble, and Sword of the Animist.

Disruption: Decree of Pain is a board wipe that doesn't just even the playing field, but puts you far ahead of the rest. Piper of the Swarm and Throat Slitter are fun and flavorful ways to remove problematic creatures from opponents boards. Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni is a flavorful card that allows you to grab large threats from other players graveyards.

Brewing Process

I was purposeful about building the deck in a way that Marrow-Gnawer is not always needed to acquire victory, but I do understand how powerful of a commander he is for this deck. I have included cards like Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots in order to protect him and take advantage of his powerful abilities.

Also, I do understand how many powerful game ending combos could be inserted into this deck, it just wasn't the direction I wanted to take. However, I did relent and include Thornbite Staff into this deck list. My main goal is to use it to power up my rats and swing for an easy victory early in the game, but I can't say I would be disappointed in resolving a card like Ayara, First of Locthwain before Thornbite Staff is activated.

Feel free to check out the other decks in my mono-colored deck series.

• Norin's ETB Extravaganza
• Reki-Tikki-Tavi
• I'm either crazy Aura genius!
• Sakashimi, the Shrimposter

Top Ranked	Achieved #2 position overall 3 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Mono-Black 3 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Primer 3 years ago
Date added	4 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 29 - 0 Rares 12 - 0 Uncommons 31 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.72
Tokens	Copy Clone, Morph 2/2 C, Rat 1/1 B
Folders	Här, Decks, Commander, Rat EDH, Rat Deck, TRY, rat, Fun EDH Ideas, Inspirational, Cool Commanders