Rathreos, Relentless God of the Pack

Published February 3rd, 2020

Happy 2020, everyone! The Lunar New Year has passed, the Secret Lair has dropped, and it’s based on the year of the Rat. This can only mean one thing..deck tech! This is a really difficult decklist that takes a lot of balancing between lands and Rat creatures. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Commander (1)

Athreos, God of Passage

Creatures (66)

Relentless Rats x66

Lands (31)

Command Tower
Swamp x30

//Artifacts (2)

Sol Ring
Thrumming Stone

Synergies

Thrumming Stone + Relentless Rats: Ripple 4 to hit another Relentless Rat, incredible value.

Combos

Relentless Rats x Relentless Rats: These cards work so well together giving them +1/+1 for each other Relentless Rat on board. Be careful though, if you fight another Relentless Rat deck, then the rats on their board get the +1/+1 as well.

Rats

Relentless Rats: Sixty-Six Relentless Rats.

Summary

So this deck is pretty skill-intensive, knowing what opening hands to keep. Is the two land hand alright? How about the one land and Sol Ring hand? Will you get that other mana or would you prefer the risk of flooding. The addition of Sol Ring is pretty crazy, I know, but it can allow you to play a Relentless Rats on turn two. Alright, maybe I should do an actual decklist for Athreos now.

Rats, Rats, Rats

Athreos was selected as a value engine to recur Rats rather than the traditional Mono-Black variants. While cramming in Mono-Black staples there are a number of tribal staples and Rat tribal support cards as well. The discount and bonuses are meant to support the swarm of powerful Relentless Rats and recover after the expected board wipe.

Actual Summary

The more time goes by, the more tribal support cards come out. The reprint of the Relentless Rats gave players easier access to building the deck. They also made the lower costed version, Rat Colony, which trades off its toughness. There’s no substitute for the power and toughness in combat though. There are a lot of Commanders and support cards that could be used instead, but the point is if you haven’t seen how deadly a swarm of Relentless Rats is, I recommend you try it sometime. Happy year of the Rat.

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Article by Cascade.Cascade

The editor-in-chief and creator of Command Beacon. They started playing Magic during the Scars of Mirrodin block and hasn’t been able to stop since.