"Midweek Magic 2017 # 19 - Daga Daga Daga"

"Midweek Magic 2017  # 19 - Daga Daga Daga"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

One of my pet decks is my mono black Relentless Rats deck that have undergone a lot of versions over the years. In it's original form it was the only deck that beat out my Uncle Dick. When I was playing EDH heavily , I acquired a Balthor the Defiled and it became my assault deck of choice. When Tiny leaders was a thing it was one of my Tiny Leaders deck with a Varolz at the helm because I was too lazy to find a more decent Black Commander for it hahaha.

It was stuck in Tiny Leaders mode for awhile until I decided that it should go back to it's original form and maybe wreck a little havoc in our weekly EDH decks. The deck took several changes in the first week that it came out. Mostly the addition of Gray Merchant of Asphodel who took advantage of the numerous rats in play and the accompanying Black Mana symbols that littered the battlefield. The huge upswing in life and siphoning of life from each opponent was enough.

The deck also has a single copy of Exsanguinate which gains massive mana when all of the rats are in play and a Shrine of Nykthos is activated. I was able to win one game like this and the Rats established themselves as a dominant force.

I mean the rats can kill you on the mid game with sheer force alone but even when they cannot attack they are still deadly because of Gary and Exsanguinate.

Even if the board has been wiped there is the singleton Balthor that can save the day by bringing all of those rats in your graveyard back. 

As an assault deck The Relentless Rats are awesome and offers support by consistently pressuring the Archenemy player to deal with it as soon as possible while my teammates plan the big boss' demise.

Yup. I will always play Rats.