What's not to love about Relentless Rats? You could have relentless Rats as the only creature in a deck and amass an army of 20/20 rats.
infernox10
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(5 votes)
I love it when people first look at these guys and go:
"Hey, a mono black deck with just these guys would be legit!"
Then someone plays, I don't know,
Counterbore or Haunting Echoes.
Good job, buddy.
But certainly a fun card to put about two of so you can scare your opponent a little.
Belz_
★★★☆☆ (3.4/5.0)(6 votes)
Maybe they should skip the rats next time. It's fun and all, but there are too few options with this one.
Vinifera7
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(9 votes)
Stop printing the rats. Stupid, boring archetype. Completely useless in limited.
Sir_Kaeru
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
i still have yet to make an army full of thses guys
kilovortex
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(6 votes)
A fun card and all, but really a waste for a core set. There so many more deserving cards that should've been considered.
cybishop
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(6 votes)
Counterbore or Haunting Echoes would completely neuter a deck with only Swamps and these rats in it, sure. But then, so would any kind of color hoser, any kind of mass removal, any card-advantage engine at all...
So don't make a deck with 24 Swamps and 36 Relentless Rats. Instead, make a deck with 20 rats and 16 other cards. Sign in Blood so you can cast two Rats a turn, Mire's Toll or Tendrils of Corruption to take advantage of all those Swamps, blue to counterspell Counterbore or Haunting Echoes and draw even more rats.
MoeRapples
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(24 votes)
LOOK AT THIS CARD. IT BREAKS THE MOST BASIC RULE OF DECK CONSTRUCTION. WHAT A BADASS! YOU DON'T MESS WITH THEM. THEY'RE RELENTLESS.
Cheza
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(20 votes)
Should be common.
Mirvana
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(14 votes)
These guys were awesome when Thrumming Stone was legal, without it they dont have as much "umph" as they should.
GhostPiriah
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
the card sucks. if it could break the rules of edh it would be amazing. sadly this isnt allowed. it has some value in standard, however haunting echoes+ you lose
ChampionofSquee
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
lol this + coat of arms = +2/+2 for each other relentless rats card. i kinda wanna stack a deck with just these, but that's probably a bad idea
dragonking987
★★☆☆☆ (2.1/5.0)(11 votes)
stupidest card ever anyone who make a relentless rats deck need to grow a imagination.
Athinor
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
I want someone to make a Rats deck so I can cast Haunting Echoes on it!
fjdkslan
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
not exactly tournament material, but if you've never played a relentless rats deck with your friends you've never lived! they are so much fun!! all you need is 36 relentless rats and 24 swamps!
Chrome_Coyote
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I love this card, probably because I remember getting my butt kicked by guys with plague rat decks back in the day. Sure, there are cards out there what will totally pwn decks made up of 20+ of these, and making a relentless rats deck doesn't take much skill, but man this card is fun to play with. A cl@ssic.
bagilis
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
just for the fun, I'd make a deck with 4 dark rituals for the possibility of turn 1/2 drop and the rest being relentless rats.
Ladnarud
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
You need not only use the rats in a relentless rats deck!
If this had the supertype "basic" and somehow became a land while in your library, could terramorphic expanse search it up? I know this is a moot question, as neither condition is possible, but it does explain why Wizards did not give this the basic supertype, as that would allow domain 6, among other things (you would control five different basic lands, plus a sixth basic land called relentless rats).
So, you might win your first game. If you're lucky and your opponent is retarded. But with the plethora of ways to stop this deck dead in its tracks, people will just run something in their sideboard to f^ck you over.
Destruction3402
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(9 votes)
Watch out for our number one enemy! The relentless Scalpelexis!
justicarphaeton
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(8 votes)
The number 1 card that makes Magic players build bad decks ;p
whoiam
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Should be a common? Did you lose your mind? Commons are simple in a design. Relentless Rats are not because IT BREAKS THE MOST BASIC RULE OF DECK CONSTRUCTION!
firechao
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I reckon Thrumming Stone is necessary in a Relentless Rats deck - makes the idea slightly more daunting...
I really don't think this card meant to be serious. I keep a Relentless Rats deck around because it catches people off gaurd when I play it, and after I had a match of fun I switch out to my RDW or something. Certainly not a tounament deck though, but good for lols.
Its much like busting out a Squirrel deck or a Cat deck (have have both of these as well) against your buddies. Hell, one time me and a couple of my friends faced these decks off against eachother. For the curious, the Relentless Rats deck usually won because of Cover of Darkness, but the Squirrels managed to win once (token overrun!!!)! :3
If you don't have a deck or 2 you made for lols, I feel sorry for you.
would love to see a deck made entirely of these guys...
supershawn
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
you know, if you just want a bunch of cheap powerhouses in a regular black deck, relentless rats could probably pull it off. 10 of these + regular deck = not too ridiculous.
EDIT, ok I'm going to make a real rat deck, maybe 8 or ten of these. and then other rat related stuff.
this card obviously is a really strong card if you have multiple of them. but it puts the game in a really bad position where no one want to play.
DiasFlac420
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Two words: Akroma's memorial.
Or if a 36-rat deck is against you: Stormtide Leviathan.
Psuedonaut
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
YOU NAIVE FOOLS! YOU HAVE DONE A GREAT FOLLY TO ALL PEOPLE!
RELETLESS RATS IS THE GREATEST RED HERRING PIE CAKE EVER! When they're all gone, you throw out your REAL threat. After all, surveys show, statistics have proven, I just pulled this outta the air, 10 times out of 10, if you see a relentless rat, and you've got a relentless rat killer, the enemy will use it. AND BAM, THAT'S WHEN YOU DO SOMETHING AMAZING!
Step 1: Relentless Rat Step 2: ??? Step 3: Profit!
StealthShadow
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
"Yes, you're allowed to have a deck consisting of sixty Relentless Rats and nothing else." Haha I would love to shake the hand of the man with the 60 card Relentless Rats deck.
Superfrasse
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
One thing: Thrumming Stone... Makes epicness, for a long time. :D
MisterGobbles
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You know, having like 40 rats in your deck seems really awesome - until someone kills the first rat then uses Surgical Extraction.
MisterAction
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(8 votes)
This'll go great in my EDH deck!
Kryptnyt
★★☆☆☆ (2.4/5.0)(6 votes)
24 swamp 35 relentless rats 1 Goblin charbelcher "are you sure you want to haunting echoes all of my rats?"
these should really be common, IMO. That way, it is slightly easier to get more than 4 of these, so you can actually use the mechanic.
Joseph_Leito
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
NNnnnnnope. Nevermind. One in EDH.
I love the first rules thing.
JFM2796
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
I wish it was a 1/1 for with the same ability.
Macsen
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I think they made this uncommon as a gift to card shops everywhere. I know I spent like 40 bucks on them like a dumbass and now they're psasing out.... waaaaaa!
@Zorgrath - That would sort of work; the "real" rats would get the bonus, but the token rats wouldn't, since they'd share a name but not any abilities.
Soul Foundry on the other hand would work like a charm, since it creates a copy.
Ruopolo
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I have a question. Let's say a player has a deck consisting of all Relentless Rats and Swamps. An opponent plays something that says that creature abilities can't be played (I think there is an artifact or enchantment like this I don't remember). Will the deck with the rats be considered null and the player expelled from the tournament because of a violation in deck construction?
luca_barelli
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(9 votes)
The centerpiece of the cheesiest deck in existence.
Yes, that's right. Milling yourself has never been so fun. This runs about 5-6 turns, tops. Obvious room for editing for different situations. This mostly depends on drawing a surgical extraction by the second mulligan. Keep your cards until you can discard a RR, play SE, play any additional SE's on the first. Play Laboratory Maniac ASAP, using the Pacts to protect. Brainstorm when the Pact-loss triggers, win game.
One more thing. The Relentless Rats/Surgical Extraction combo can essentially allow you to have any number of cards in your deck. So any game winning combo of cards can be what you leave yourself with. The biggest threat to the deck is if your opponent counters your SE. That's pretty much game over. But it's still fun to play, regardless.
@Ruopolo: Simple answer: No. Unless you get accused of cheating, nothing can happen at a tournament that makes your deck illegal if it was legal when you signed up. And especially, no card can make another deck illegal. Even if you were to cast Sudden Spoiling on a player who controlled 7 Relentless Rats, he would still be allowed to have another 15 in his or her deck. Relentless Rats's second ability is always active, no matter what zone it is in. You could say that its ability is more of a rules reminder text than an actual ability, sorta like; "Relentless Rats is the exception to the four-card-limit rule".
By the way, the moment you cast one of these with a Thrumming Stone of the battlefield, you've pretty much won the game unless your opponent has a board sweeper in his/her hand. And this is the only card (with the exception of basic lands) that you're allowed to have multiple copies of in an EDH/Commander deck.
Salient
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(3 votes)
No more Relentless Rats in 2012 and possibly no more forever, which probably means we'll never see cheaper prices on this guy. Relentless Rates!
KnexWiz
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
hmmmm, when you think about it, you should still be able to play this in standar because any deck can have as many of them as they want. also wouldn't it be funny if they restricted this in EDH
Simon.G
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
two words: surgical extraction ;)
nope.avi
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A deck can have any number of relentless rats. So... that means it never 'rotates' out right.
Alsebra
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@helluin/Zorgrath - It wouldn't work that way...since the cards posted only copy the creature type (which is 'Rat', not 'Relenteless Rats'), you'd be firing out Rat tokens (in name and type). Since these worry about the name of the creature, you're SOL.
Marrow-Gnawer EDH. Ha ha ha. Hahahahaha. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
24 Rats 18 other spells 22 swamps.
Continue
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
"Yes, you're allowed to have a deck consisting of sixty Relentless Rats and nothing else." That might be the best ruling in the history of the game. 5/5 for that alone.
MithosFall
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Should be a Basic Creature.
DarthParallax
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I wonder how many Rats I could get for my Jace, The Mind Sculptor....if only it was foill :/
Coolclaytony
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
"A deck can have any number of cards named Relentless Rats"
I was under the impression you could already do that.
fourismith
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Does this work for EDH too? If so, cool :D
Lifegainwithbite
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Wizards should reprint it with a cost of 0. It would be more expensive than Black Lotus within a day.
@Coolclaytony - Yep, you can do that, because the card says so. Otherwise, in the EDH format, you can only have 1 copy of any card sharing an English name, and in other formats, the limit is 4. This is excluding basic land cards.
EdgarPoeAllen
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Basically you're screwed against Nevermore.
SirLibraryEater
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Imagine, a b/g mana ramp draw deck with a buttload of this. Get one out by the second turn, then 2 the next turn, then 3 the next... Eventually, you'll run out of room on the table you're playing on.
Definitely a card you need to be expecting if you're playing against it. But this card is pretty damn Timmy, and has a -lot- of Timmy-like counters to it. Regardless, It's still super neat.
Mode
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I still don't think it would kill limited if they made this a common.
seahen
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Zorgrath The legality of the deck is checked only when it enters the tournament. There were probably some rated Constructed events already in progress, in one time zone or another, when Memory Jar was banned.
alkoreion
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You can always put in Sutured Ghoul if there is Counterbore. Which is win when Relentless Rats is exiled
Comments (101)
"Hey, a mono black deck with just these guys would be legit!"
Then someone plays, I don't know,
Counterbore or Haunting Echoes.
Good job, buddy.
But certainly a fun card to put about two of so you can scare your opponent a little.
So don't make a deck with 24 Swamps and 36 Relentless Rats. Instead, make a deck with 20 rats and 16 other cards. Sign in Blood so you can cast two Rats a turn, Mire's Toll or Tendrils of Corruption to take advantage of all those Swamps, blue to counterspell Counterbore or Haunting Echoes and draw even more rats.
IT BREAKS THE MOST BASIC RULE OF DECK CONSTRUCTION.
WHAT A BADASS! YOU DON'T MESS WITH THEM. THEY'RE RELENTLESS.
Throw in some Splinter Twins or some Followed Footsteps, or maybe some Rite of Replications if you're desperate. That'll prevent MEAN CARDS like haunting echoes from completely devastating you. >:(
Mimic Vat, Coat of Arms, Door of Destinies, Rite of Replication, Followed Footsteps, Alpha Status, Cryptic Gateway, Shared Animosity, Mirrorweave, ____, Bloodbond March, Clarion Ultimatum, Retraced Image, Twinning Gla ss (stupid censorship), Thrumming Stone...
That'll show you Meddling Mage, Haunting Echoes, etc. fans...
Also teferi's moat will shut the deck down entirely. As will counterbore. Oh, so will meddling mage. And null chamber. Or leyline of singularity. runed halo renders you immune to the ever-growing rat horde while you smack your silly opponent in the face with some fliers. Oh, and voidstone gargoyle will shut you down too.
So, you might win your first game. If you're lucky and your opponent is retarded. But with the plethora of ways to stop this deck dead in its tracks, people will just run something in their sideboard to f^ck you over.
The relentless Scalpelexis!
Relentless Rats are not because IT BREAKS THE MOST BASIC RULE OF DECK CONSTRUCTION!
I really don't think this card meant to be serious. I keep a Relentless Rats deck around because it catches people off gaurd when I play it, and after I had a match of fun I switch out to my RDW or something. Certainly not a tounament deck though, but good for lols.
Its much like busting out a Squirrel deck or a Cat deck (have have both of these as well) against your buddies. Hell, one time me and a couple of my friends faced these decks off against eachother. For the curious, the Relentless Rats deck usually won because of Cover of Darkness, but the Squirrels managed to win once (token overrun!!!)! :3
If you don't have a deck or 2 you made for lols, I feel sorry for you.
10 of these + regular deck = not too ridiculous.
EDIT, ok I'm going to make a real rat deck, maybe 8 or ten of these.
and then other rat related stuff.
Or if a 36-rat deck is against you: Stormtide Leviathan.
RELETLESS RATS IS THE GREATEST RED HERRING PIE CAKE EVER!
When they're all gone, you throw out your REAL threat. After all, surveys show, statistics have proven, I just pulled this outta the air, 10 times out of 10, if you see a relentless rat, and you've got a relentless rat killer, the enemy will use it. AND BAM, THAT'S WHEN YOU DO SOMETHING AMAZING!
Step 1: Relentless Rat
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Profit!
35 relentless rats
1 Goblin charbelcher
"are you sure you want to haunting echoes all of my rats?"
I love the first rules thing.
great card, but too easy to nullify. that being said, coat of arms works wonders with these (Run 4!!).
@Zorgrath - That would sort of work; the "real" rats would get the bonus, but the token rats wouldn't, since they'd share a name but not any abilities.
Soul Foundry on the other hand would work like a charm, since it creates a copy.
Not as funny as {G}/{B}. though. Bloodbond March along with a couple other enablers...
47 Relentless Rats
1 Laboratory Maniac
Spells
4 Surgical Extraction
1 Sol Ring
2 Pact of Negation
2 Brainstorm
Lands
3 Islands
Yes, that's right. Milling yourself has never been so fun. This runs about 5-6 turns, tops. Obvious room for editing for different situations. This mostly depends on drawing a surgical extraction by the second mulligan. Keep your cards until you can discard a RR, play SE, play any additional SE's on the first. Play Laboratory Maniac ASAP, using the Pacts to protect. Brainstorm when the Pact-loss triggers, win game.
One more thing. The Relentless Rats/Surgical Extraction combo can essentially allow you to have any number of cards in your deck. So any game winning combo of cards can be what you leave yourself with. The biggest threat to the deck is if your opponent counters your SE. That's pretty much game over. But it's still fun to play, regardless.
Even if you were to cast Sudden Spoiling on a player who controlled 7 Relentless Rats, he would still be allowed to have another 15 in his or her deck. Relentless Rats's second ability is always active, no matter what zone it is in. You could say that its ability is more of a rules reminder text than an actual ability, sorta like; "Relentless Rats is the exception to the four-card-limit rule".
By the way, the moment you cast one of these with a Thrumming Stone of the battlefield, you've pretty much won the game unless your opponent has a board sweeper in his/her hand. And this is the only card (with the exception of basic lands) that you're allowed to have multiple copies of in an EDH/Commander deck.
Ha ha ha.
Hahahahaha.
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
I was under the impression you could already do that.
GF
Eventually, you'll run out of room on the table you're playing on.
Cast one rat, cast them all.
Which is win when Relentless Rats is exiled
Sorry rats. D: