Nice deck! I really like the idea of playing a lot of Rat Colony in EDH because it's so unique, you know? Really awesome stuff.

I'm not sure, but maybe Locket of Yesterdays might be neat. Probably not a worldbeater, but it can get some value for your rats maybe.

And there are definitely some shenanigans that Maralen can get up to as a commander. Giving your cards flash with something like Vedalken Orrery Winding Canyons Emergence Zone to flash her in on an opponent's endstep and get the first tutor is amazing. Getting Opposition Agent with maralen is almost game over. She also can pair well with stacks and things. If your opponents can't cast things because you put down a well timed Winter Orb then they can't do much. I've seen games go down to Maralen's life loss killing people : )

And maybe some ways to get rats through for damage. I'm not really sure what would be the most effective, but even just swords and protection or equipments to give evasion. Not really sure on this, but there might be some good options out there. Marrow-Gnawer is great, but maybe more options?

Anyways, looks awesome! Hope it's a fun deck to play.

Niko9

Awesome suggestions and Maralen tech! Your comment really got my brain working and I made some updates. I'm making too many changes to list them all but I took most of your suggestions and also added some hand disruption in Oppression and Thoughtseize. I'm still looking for evasion possibilities but so far I found Cover of Darkness, pretty sweet! Thanks for your help!

Also added Filth + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth for evasion, Filth can be fetched with Entomb. Also added Mogis's Marauder.

Ahhh, Cover of Darkness! I remember you : ) That's a really good find and brings me back to that era of magic. Glad you are having fun and experimenting with the deck. This definitely feels like one of those, take cards I love and make them work as best as possible decks, and those are my favorite too.

And yep, Maralen stacks is so oppressive : ) The fact that they can't draw under Maralen combined with hand disruption and the fact that you totally control the pace is painful/wonderful. It's not just that you are Winter Orbing people, it's that you can grab it with Maralen and you always get to choose when to winter orb people. That plus the fact that she's always a Jeweled Lotus away makes it really precarious playing against Maralen. I know, I've played against her many times and it's a total mind game down to the last mana.

Oppression looks like a really sweet add. I've never seen that before but I can imagine it's just nuts.

Ha, I'm really liking this deck. I may actually borrow a few ideas for the future if that's cool with you. It's like power, but totally unique power : )

Go ahead! Not sure when I'll be able to actually play this but I'm looking forward to it. Also I was secretly hoping this deck could become a stax deck but I didn't know the potential until you shared your knowledge. Thanks again!

wow this deck is super cool! Mono-black, stax, AND Rat Colony??? inspiring me to either find a way to build this myself or get my money up to build this one

gonna keep my eye on your lists! thanks for building this cool deck!

clancy292

I'm glad you like the deck so much! Thanks for the kind words!

Holy crap! This deck is pretty cool. Im going to have to do a budget version of this, but... Its still going to be pricy with thrumming and couple dozen rat colony cards

The highest of fives to you. I will likely come back with some brew thoughts of my own

metalflame

highfive

I'm glad you found my deck! I personally intend on proxying the whole thing once I'm done tinkering, and then buying it after I win the lotto lol. Cheers!

I figured out the flavor of my version on this commander, inspired by your choice in Rat Colony, and will post it after its brewed. Mine will have 24-30 Shadowborn Apostle cards with a Thrumming Stone, and an allstar demon team dropping at once.

I love this deck. Playing your commander and tutoring for that Op Agent seems like it would be quite fun

No Ob Nixilis, Unshackled? ;)

An uncontested Maralen + Opposition Agent + Ob Nixilis is basically a winning lock. Good luck getting that sneaky win more than once though!

I've always found Maralen to be an interesting commander. It is hard to break parity with her. Have you considered swapping her for Sidisi, Undead Vizier potentially? Or have some flash to make it more to your benefit?

Buried Ruin - Recur thrumming stone

Profet93

Buried Ruin is a great suggestion, thank you. I'm not sure I'm ready for a commander switch out. For flash I have Vedalken Orrery, Emergence Zone and Winding Canyons, and tutors that can search for them. More flash would be good, not sure if I'm missing anything.

Opposition Agent - Make your negative into a positive

Scheming Symmetry/Wishclaw Talisman - Since you don't mind letting others tutor

Deliver Unto Evil - Recursion for thrumming