Marrow-GnawerMarrow-Gnawer | Art by Néstor Ossandón Leal

Ninjas, Mutants, and Turtles may have been the focuses of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (TMNT) set, and rightfully so, but there were a number of other creature types that got a boost from the set, as I noted in my set review.

One sneaky little group of critters saw both heroic and villainous support from the main TMNT set and its supporting products. These guys may be little, but they can even infect people, which is how the Bubonic Plague spread!

And spread our numbers will, with this Marrow-GnawerMarrow-Gnawer Rat Typal Commander Deck Tech!

Rat History

Support for Rats as a creature type goes all the way back to Pestilence RatsPestilence Rats in Ice Age, which was one of the first cards to care about creature types and provide a payoff for building around them. Several members of the type have seen competitive play, with Crypt RatsCrypt Rats being one of the few board wipes available in Pauper and Pack RatPack Rats dominating Return to Ravnica limited while providing a cornerstone of Standard in that era.

Rats were one of the first decks I played against when I started playing kitchen table Magic way back during Champions of Kamigawa. For those who read that sentence without crippling back pain, it was a terrible time to learn how to play, with many complicated rules that have since become antiquated. There was enough support in old-border cards that they didn’t even need the Rats of Kamigawa.

But Kamigawa changed the creature type, introducing humanoid Rats that were also Ninjas or Samurai. Rats were already a creature type that specialized in small creatures, meaning that they were doomed to die. Ninjutsu gave them another way to leave the battlefield, and Marrow-GnawerMarrow-Gnawer gave our squeaky hordes evasion, while also splitting them into more and more bodies.

But how do we build around little guys that are doomed to die? And how do the TMNT Rats fit into the existing paradigm?

What Does Marrow-GnawerMarrow-Gnawer Do?

One could make the argument that Marrow-GnawerMarrow-Gnawer is to Rats what Krenko, Mob BossKrenko, Mob Boss, who was featured in one of the first articles in this series, is to Goblins. Both are signature commanders in their types, and both tap to make waves of tokens. Both Krenko and Marrow-Gnawer double the amount of Rats or Goblins we control, although Marrow-Gnawer requires a sacrifice to do so.

It does give our Rats fear, however, and our opponents are wise to fear them.

It is worth noting that, like the article about Cid, Timeless ArtificerCid, Timeless Artificer, this article could have featured Relentless RatsRelentless Rats or Rat ColonyRat Colony, both of which we can have any amount of, but that would feel less like a Rat deck and more like a single-card strategy. Still, they do get pretty big, and they can be really fun to build around. Maybe in a future article, I’ll look into more of those cards.

For now, however, we’re going to build around making wave after wave of Rats, using both the sacrificing and the token creation of Marrow-GnawerMarrow-Gnawer to overwhelm our opponents.

But what do we do with a bunch of little creatures? And how do we turn those creatures into wins?

Key Cards for Marrow-GnawerMarrow-Gnawer

Rats may be a bunch of little guys, but the word “bunch” is pulling a lot of weight, and Marrow-GnawerMarrow-Gnawer helps them punch above that weight. Some make extra bodies, while others have evasion and still others provide incidental disruption. All of these help to offset the fact that their stats and mana value are both low.

You get what you pay for, as they say.

Tangled ColonyTangled Colony and Piper of the SwarmPiper of the Swarm are both cheap creatures that can make multiple tokens if the right conditions are met. Tangled ColonyTangled Colony makes tokens when it dies in combat, but it can’t block, so it has to get blocked to do it. Still, politics are absolutely a thing in Commander. Piper of the SwarmPiper of the Swarm gives our Rats menace and can tap to either make a Rat or steal a creature, sneaking in removal.

While deathtouch isn’t removal, per se, it does dissuade attacks by non-evasive creatures. It does double duty in that it also acts as evasion, helping us sneak or ninjutsu creatures into play and getting really nasty with menace and any amount of pump. Both Typhoid RatsTyphoid Rats and Rancid RatsRancid Rats act as rattlesnakes (creatures that dissuade attacks), or, should I say, Ambush ViperAmbush Vipers!

Throat SlitterThroat Slitter is one of the ninjutsu cards that benefits from our little guys sneaking past opposing defenses. It gives us a TerrorTerror on a stick, which is certainly better than what happened to the Rat on a stick Shrek made.

Speaking of removal on a body, Nezumi GraverobberNezumi Graverobber is a black staple that combines graveyard interaction with theft, a bit like Piper of the SwarmPiper of the Swarm’s last ability.

But what are we doing with all of these small bodies?

With the constant sacrificing of our commander and incidental self-mill of some of our Rats, we’re going to wind up with a lot of bodies in our grave. Luckily, black has a lot of ways to capitalize off of this.

Bloodline BiddingBloodline Bidding returns all of our Rats and has convoke, so we can use our living Rats to help cast it. Oversold CemeteryOversold Cemetery is a cheap engine card that gives us a free Raise DeadRaise Dead every turn if we have four or more creatures in our grave, which shouldn’t be too hard to do.

Speaking of card advantage engines (repeatable effects that give access to cards), SkullclampSkullclamp is a way for us to repeatedly draw cards by effectively sacrificing the RatRat tokens our commander makes, or any other small creatures we happen to have lying around.

Village RitesVillage Rites and related effects give the same card draw push, but in a one-time package.

Feed the SwarmFeed the Swarm is not just generically solid black removal, it’s also removal with a thematic name. Something about the mental image of a bunch of little hungry critters devouring a Mystic RemoraMystic Remora makes it slightly more palatable that the color pie is being bent.

Sudden SpoilingSudden Spoiling, on the other hand, is close to a FogFog, and a way to bring large creatures down to our diminutive size. It’s also a bit of a color pie break, but it’s from Time Spiral block, so that can be forgiven.

While the Big Apple entering tapped would be a problem, and its mana fixing is unnecessary, it does make us a Rat for each opponent we have, which also provides us a bit of a mana sink when we’ve emptied our hand of small critters. Mudflat VillageMudflat Village gives us a one-time Raise DeadRaise Dead in our mana base for minimal cost.

With our bodies in the yard, we can certainly use this.

How Does This Marrow-GnawerMarrow-Gnawer Commander Deck Win?

I wrote an article on Chronicle of VictoryChronicle of Victory when it came out, and the card has impressed me when I’ve seen it played. Drawing us deeper when we top-deck our cheap Rats late and giving our creatures layers of evasion in addition to our commander’s fear can make life difficult for our opponents.

Karumonix, the Rat KingKarumonix, the Rat King is one of several Rat Kings now (making the “the” in its name a bit silly), and it gives us the alternate win-con of infect, which is important because Marrow-GnawerMarrow-Gnawer isn’t likely to commander damage an opponent playing Lifegain.

In short, we’re looking to win by swarming the board with small bodies, giving them evasion, and attacking. Since we are combat-focused, we have ways to continually present a board, grant ways to get around blockers, recover the card advantage lost with small creatures, and remove road blocks.

Marrow-Gnawer Commander Deck List

Conclusion

Rats have been around for a long time, but have received only sporadic support, even in the sets where they’ve been featured. They do provide a home for much of black’s staples and can stretch them in interesting ways.

But how would you build Rats? And how does this compare to Rat ColonyRat Colony or Relentless RatsRelentless Rats decks?