Archived from groups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy (
More info?)
Here ya go, I hope the comments are helpful. They are not from any formal
play-testing. I have built one extremely casual rat deck, right as
Champions was coming out, so it didn't have any of the good new rats in it
(and still runs plague rats, which I think are funny).
So these comments are based on only looking at your decklist.
I am, however, interested in making a rat deck, at least for casual play, so I
hope this thread can expand and improve upon this deck. I also hope it
doesn't go in the "20 Relentless Rats" direction
On 2004-12-21, Brent Williams <arcaner-nospam@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> // Creatures 15
> 2 Nezumi Bone Reader
> 2 Marrow Gnawer
> 1 Nezumi Shortfang
> 4 Nezumi Cutthroat
> 4 Chittering Rats
> 1 Nezumi Grave Robber
> 1 Ravenous Rats
I think here, as well as in other places, you have too many 1 and 2-ofs.
That's usually a bad idea. I'd drop the cutthroats, as I don't think they're
that good. Sure, they have fear, but better to up the number of
marrow-gnawers and let *all* your rats have fear. The Ronin are better than
the cutthroat, IMHO, although they're both vulnerable to the same types of
removal spells. I think more grave robbers and shortfangs, their synergy
appears to go well with this deck, as you can keep forcing the discard.
Getting the grave robber out first would be best, as it's incredibly easy to
flip him in the early game. Once he's flipped, all your directed discard and
removal spells help you, since you can take the creatures out of their
graveyard. I'd run 4 of them probably. You can put a second (or third, or
fourth) just as long as you don't continue to use their ability, they're
basically a cutthroat which can block. Especially when you get the
gnawer out.
I'd also go with more shortfangs. He's pretty powerful once flipped, and
again, with the ganwer out, he's probably doing 3+ 2 0r 3 damage per turn, all
by himself.
Also, I think in general you need more creatures.
> // Spells 18
> 1 Fill With Fright
> 1 Raise Dead
> 1 Consume Spirit
> 1 Swallowing Plague
> 2 Rend Flesh
> 4 Terror
> 2 Wrench Mind
> 1 Night's Whisper
> 2 Pulse of The Dross
> 3 Distress
The pulse is neat, but when you cast it, do your opponents ever really have
more cards than you so that you can return it to your hand? Run 4 distress.
I think the ability to target a specific card is really helpful in the early
game, as opposed to two random cards from Wrench Mind. Scry is nice, but a 4
mana Wrench Mind, and only one of them? Drop the plague and run more consume
spirits. The spirit can target either creatures or players, and since you're
running only black mana, there's no reason to run the plague, although it has
great flavor. I'd probably run four of these, and drop the terrors (or, at
least two of them) as they will be useless against the many artifacts and
black creatures you run across.
> // Artifacts 6
> 2 Darksteel Pendant
> 1 Sensei's Divining Top
I'd drop both of these for more creatures, although, if you're having
troubles, the top can smooth them out. Running more than one is better, so
you can do tricks with it, however, I don't think you have any way to shuffle
your library, which is yucky. Instead of these, I'd go for card drawing like
Night's Whisper or Ambition's Cost. If you're having trouble finding the
cards you need, you could add some tutors.
> 1 Sword of Light and Shadow
I'd drop the sword for the reanimator rat. With fear, you'll probably be
hitting them, but will you need the life & creature at that point? I suspect
the game will be won or lost by that point, although I could be wrong. Also,
if you give your rat protection from black, he loses abililities gained from
the other rats, like fear. I like the sword, but not sure how well it works
here. Fire and Ice might be better, which would protect your rat from removal
spells.
> // Sideboard
> TBD
Cranial Extraction, definitely. I know getting them is hard, but I've lost
games to a distress followed by a cranial which essentially wiped out my hand,
and took my kokushos to boot.
hope this helps, and look forward to seeing an updated decklist,
K
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