Have you considered adding Jet Medallion? It means you have a turn two play which helps reduce the cost of most of the cards in your deck.

I've had Jet Medallion previously.
It's not useful enough later on, I get a little surge in the beginning, then I've got more mana than I can use mid-game, then it's just pretty to look at later.
(Assuming a Harmonic Sliver hasn't come along and smashed it.)

It's not important enough to tutor or Mulligan for, so I've cut it.

Fair enough. The only other cards I can think of at the moment are Slate of Ancestry and Ob Nixilis Reignited. Both are good card advantage and Ob gives you removal built in as well.

when i first saw this i was like cmon a rat deck but then i playtested it and found that it is quite effective +1 for a great deck

Thanks DeathShark13, when I first made this deck is was really a gimmick deck. Once my opponent figured out what I was doing, it was easily stopped, so I don't blame you for your first impression.

It's grown a lot since then.

NoSoyYucateco, I gave it a good number of tries with the Fetchlands, and I'm leaving them out.

The thinning they provide is nice, but the mana disadvantage of coming into play tapped hurt a lot more in more situations than any games where Thrumming Stone secured me the victory.

It was certainly worth giving a try though.

Glad you gave it a shot. They can muss up the tempo of things a bit. If you're running Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth they are fine, because they can tap for black if you draw them later in the game. Since you aren't, I can see how they could be a bother.

I've replaced Magewright's Stone with Foul-Tongue Shriek. I was debating replacing Dictate of Erebos with it, or the Rings of Brighthearth... Still not sure which will get the cut.

But Foul-Tongue Shriek is going in somewhere, for that could turn the whole game around.

Unless it's a cost issue, keep the Rings. I would keep the Stone as well. Dictate of Erebos is a lot of mana for something that works unpredictably, and is a removal magnet.

Very interesting! Rat tribal is a deck that has always interested me.

Thrumming Stone?

Otherwise, +1!

joshtgiant, with 30 copies of Relentless Rats, Thrumming Stone can ripple-cast me 3 or 4 rats for the price of one, as it keeps repeating its effect!

(Potentially more, but the most I've seen in a row was 5, which was still a bad day for my opponent...)

It's really fun SyrJet!
The challenge now is finding enough copies of the rats in paper to build this!

Lmao my bad! I didn't see it already in there. It was a suggestion, but a suggestion no longer!

Ha! Sorry, joshtgiant, thought you were questioning why it would be in an EDH deck!

I like it. Maybe I may put together a rat deck one day...I do need a mono black EDH deck in my arsenal.

Ha, looks fun! Might build it someday!

its good to finally see another rat edh. been playing mine since 2012 and its some of the most fun (not for the people im playing against) ive had. just a couple of suggestions that will help push this deck over the edge.

ramp/buff

Eldrazi Monument :only thing that is kinda annoying is when they start board clearing like crazy. especially with your rat producing commander paying the price is nothing and turning your beauties indestructible is well worth

Coat of Arms this card was made for this deck...they get so big so quickly. youll quickly get to the point where you are one shot killing your opponents with one rat a piece

revive and lifegain

Liliana Vess shes so so unbelievably good in this deck, allowing you to search if need be but that full graveyard revival as well

Exsanguinate doesn't see as much play as it should but in edh youll be healing for more life than you know what to do with and it acts as a great finisher

damage/discard

Sorin Markov even in a worst case scenario game you can nuke an opponent down to 10 health from wherever theyre at and throw out a finisher of some kind for a quick turnaround

I also always throw in a combo like Bloodchief Ascension/Mindcrank or along those lines for when I inevitably get sidboarded against

rats

Ratcatcher will make sure you always have one in hand to start rippling and go ham

Hope these suggestions helped. Ive always loved playing rats If you want to check out the whole deck RATMASTA!

Lake of the Dead,

Tendrils of Agony,

Songs of the Damned,

Living Death,

Zulaport Cutthroat

You should add Scythe of the Wretched if us use it with Crypt Rats and it has death touch you can pay one mana to kill everything and then steal it all.

ZandrXI, I like the idea, but the chances of me getting all three parts (Crypt Rats + Ogre Slumlord + Scythe of the Wretched ) is so very slim, I'll likely have won or lost the game in other ways long before I see that combo.

I love this deck/ concept, to the point that I just plopped the money an ordered it, with a few minor changes. To that end, I have questions. Looks like you took out Jet Medallion, and why no Ratcatcher Coat of Arms or Eldrazi Monument? I was planning on taking out 2 Relentless Rats and two basic land and putting in all of the above basic cards...

Can I get your thoughts on these changes? A buddy is worried about the removal of even those 2 relentless rat cards...

carpenterrn, I have used or tested all of those cards, and took them out or replaced them for several reasons.

Jet Medallion is great fun and all, and useful, but I've found in EDH games the cost reduction just doesn't justify the cost of the card itself, or the space in the deck. It's only really good if it's in your opening hand, without cycling it's a dead card mid-game.

Ratcatcher is simply very expensive mana-wise for what he does, and I'm already running several tutors to find cards that I need, and other potent Relentless Rats diggers like the Thrumming Stone.

Coat of Arms always SOUNDS good, until you face an Eldrazi deck, or an Allies deck, or Slivers, or whatever. It simply backfires too much for me.

Eldrazi Monument was taken out in favor of Akroma's Memorial. Too often I found that I had a game where I couldn't get the token rats running fast enough to prevent the Monument from killing my Commander, or my precious Relentless Rats.

I would be VERY careful about removing any copies of Relentless Rats, since Thrumming Stone is a big game-winner in this deck. I'd also be careful removing Swamps, as they feed Corrupt and give Liliana of the Dark Realms something to fetch out and increase the chances of drawing more happy little Rats.

I originally had 40 Swamps and 40 Relentless Rats, and have been tailoring this down (and up) since then until arriving at this point.

By all means though, let me know how this plays out for you!

Thanks so much. I figured you had play-tested all of those options, I will let you know when my rats come!

This deck... just yes... all the rats...