Attach Thornbite Staff to Marrow-Gnawer and as long as you have another rat in play you could create an army.
MasterOfEtherium
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(10 votes)
Oh Captain My Captain
RedHawk32
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(3 votes)
I love the King of Rats here. I have a Black and White deck devoted to building up as big an army of rats as possible. Lab Rats, Plague Rats, Pestilence Rats... and a Peach Garden Oath for when things pick up.
This card is pretty ridiculous. Definitely one of the few gems of the Kamigawa block (by gems I mean broken as hell). The best part about this dude is the fact that you don't even need to sacrifice a non-token rat, so you can keep sacrificing the tokens over and over.
DarkbladeWraith
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(7 votes)
I've lost count of the number of times I've taken this card and Thousand-Year Elixir and turned it into something horrible (for my opponent!) 10,000 rat tokens is enough to put a crimp in anyone's day. A friend of mine does the same, but always tries to have Door of Destinies out first - when there's suddenly there's 500 rats, all of which are 501/501, baring down at you, things get messy.
Well priced, good ability, definitely deserving of both the Rare and Legendary status'.
AXER
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Use him with other Rats to give them Fear and when they are unblocked, use Ninjitsu (better if they are Rat Ninjas and not just Human Ninjas so they also have fear)!!
Rats forever. I wish I had enough rats and this dude to make a rat deck worthwhile.
izzet_guild_mage
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
RATS! My pet tribe :) But just so you know, "...phobia", you just named like four of the five cards that refer to rats as a type...the only one I can think that you missed is Pestilence Rats...wait, I correct myself: Swarmyard is key to any rat deck.
BlackAlbino
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
doubling season
powerdude
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.7/5.0)(3 votes)
my edh is this as a general, then 30 some lands, some artefacts such as door of destinies and coat of arms, then 57 relentless rats!
Boday1
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.8/5.0)(2 votes)
EDH, This as general, 55 relentless rats, 44 swamp.
32 Relentless rats
31 Other good black/colorless spells
36 Mana sources
also: this + 2 other rats + Intruder alarm + comes into play or leaves play effect.
have fun with that.
AZRaptor
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(7 votes)
I'm not sure why there are all these recommendations for an EDH deck with 40+ Relentless Rats when the card rulings specifically state they are still limited to one per deck in EDH.
12/1/2004 This card's text does not override other format-imposed restrictions on the number of cards. For example, in a Highlander format, you would still only be allowed one Relentless Rat.
ROBRAM89
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
2 x (n-1), where n is your number of rats. This does this every turn. Every. Turn.
supershawn
★☆☆☆☆ (1.6/5.0)(4 votes)
relentless rats aside this card = rat deck edh general
reapersaurus
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(3 votes)
OK, what Magic designer kept throwing these broken cards out there?! Who thought it would be a good idea to make an ability that if unstopped, singlehandedly overwhelms the game within a couple turns?!
Whoever they are should STOP DESIGNING CARDS. That's not what Magic is about.
NocteMundi
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I dont think there's any other Legendary creature better suited to Command a Rat Tribal EDH deck.
dark_hero
★★☆☆☆ (2.7/5.0)(3 votes)
I believe it should of at least said "Sacrifice a nontoken rat:"
Ledgo
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is a great, must have for any rat deck. Combine this with a Coat of Arms, and within a few turns you can pretty much destroy any player that doesn't control black or artifact ways of blocking you. The only downfall is you can fuel the other person if they too use a weenie deck. On the other hand, you are literally throwing rats out every turn, things can nasty.
Bulhakas
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@reapersaurus
Do you mean annihilator? Infect? Proliferate?
tekken-dog
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
this card is my no.1 in my rat/ninja deck Mr.Marrow and essence warden should never be apart.
P.S.Day of the dragons P.P.S.konda's banner P.P.P.S.luminescent rain
hay uh DarkbladeWraith Door of Destinies will not work cuz your not playing the rat tokens they just come in to play
axiobeta
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Champions was such a cool set, and this guy his scary. His name is still hard to say though. 4.5/5
drunyon
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Personally, I love how the flavor text references how he really was the first rat lord in Magic's history :)
Commander for a rat tribal deck! Load your deck with any nice rat you can get your hands on + Relentless Rats. :o
yousquiddinme
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Infinite Rats with Intruder Alarm and at least 2 other rats.
As if Intruder Alarm didn't have ENOUGH combos.
Reishyn
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Pfft! Krenko? Krenko who?
HeraldOfRazia
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Pretty much the undisputed king of the rats. He's a little expensive but when he hits the board you should have plenty of rats available to use his abilities with. I remember buying a playset of this guy for my Rat deck when he was $1.50 a card. Now it's up to $15 a card, just craziness.
RookBH
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Pair this with Ogre Slumlord. Sac a rat from Marrow-Gnawer's ability. Now my question. Would you get the rat token from the slumlord first, and then Marrow-Gnawer's gives you the tokens? Or would you get the tokens from Marrow-Gnawer first, and then get the token from the slumlord?
psychichobo
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
RookBH: You sac a rat as part of the cost, then the ability checks how many rats are on the field. Slumlord's ability will trigger as you pay the cost, so you'd pay, get Slumlord's rat, then Marrow-Gnawer would check to see how many rats turn up. Just make sure it's a nontoken rat being sacc'ed.
Xelias0
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(2 votes)
@atemu1234 : Really ? In that case, I must provide. Introducing - Dual Deck: Rats VS Cats !
2 Loxodon Warhammer 2 Umezawa's Jitte 1 Sword of Light and Darkness 1 Sword of Feast and Famine 1 Argentum Armor 3 Lightning Greaves
1 Quest for the Holy Relic 2 Ajani, Caller of the Pride 3 White Sun's Zenith
4 Ancient Den 18 Plains
I figured "rats" would focus on disruption through discard, swarming tactics and ninja combat tricks, while "cats" is more of an equipment-centric, midrange strategy. Thoughts ?
Deadling
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I run at the least, two of these in my rat deck. My friends didn't want to play me after my rats gained this guy. @Xelias0 Replace those stronghold rats, with Nezumi Cutthroat's. You'll get a better return for your mana, and they don't make YOU discard a card. Rotting Rats, also suck. But if you're going to run the rat ninjas, fear helps you in this dept better than cards making "all" players, including yourself, to discard. Also, discard really only goes so far in any real game. I do like the theme of your decks though. And it would seem to me that you obviously favor the cats...
Totema
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Just remember, if you don't have any other rats to sacrifice, you can always sacrifice Marrow-Gnawer to put... Wait, I just realized this is an incredibly stupid idea.
Comments (40)
Well priced, good ability, definitely deserving of both the Rare and Legendary status'.
But just so you know, "...phobia", you just named like four of the five cards that refer to rats as a type...the only one I can think that you missed is Pestilence Rats...wait, I correct myself: Swarmyard is key to any rat deck.
You need a little more thought if you want an EDH Relentless Rats deck. at least throw damnation, thrumming stone, patriarch's bidding, necropotence, and answers for enemy cards in there.
32 Relentless rats
31 Other good black/colorless spells
36 Mana sources
also: this + 2 other rats + Intruder alarm + comes into play or leaves play effect.
have fun with that.
12/1/2004 This card's text does not override other format-imposed restrictions on the number of cards. For example, in a Highlander format, you would still only be allowed one Relentless Rat.
Who thought it would be a good idea to make an ability that if unstopped, singlehandedly overwhelms the game within a couple turns?!
Whoever they are should STOP DESIGNING CARDS. That's not what Magic is about.
Do you mean annihilator? Infect? Proliferate?
P.S.Day of the dragons
P.P.S.konda's banner
P.P.P.S.luminescent rain
hay uh DarkbladeWraith Door of Destinies will not work cuz your not playing the rat tokens they just come in to play
59 Relentless Rats
40 Swamps
As if Intruder Alarm didn't have ENOUGH combos.
Just make sure it's a nontoken rat being sacc'ed.
RATS
2 Marrow-Gnawer
4 Pack Rat
3 Rotting Rats
3 Ravenous Rats
2 Throat Slitter
3 Typhoïd Rats
4 Stronghold Rats
1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
2 Nezumi Shortfang
2 Sadistic Hypnotist
1 Nyxathid
4 Liliana's Caress
2 Liliana of the Veil
3 Hymn to Tourach
2 Thoughtseize
4 Swarmyard
18 Swamp
VS
CATS
3 Kemba, Kha Regent
4 Leonin Shikari
2 Raksha Golden Cub
3 Skyhunter Skirmisher
4 Sunspear Shikari
2 Taj-Nar Swordsmith
3 Puresteel Paladin
1 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Loxodon Warhammer
2 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Light and Darkness
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Argentum Armor
3 Lightning Greaves
1 Quest for the Holy Relic
2 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
3 White Sun's Zenith
4 Ancient Den
18 Plains
I figured "rats" would focus on disruption through discard, swarming tactics and ninja combat tricks, while "cats" is more of an equipment-centric, midrange strategy. Thoughts ?
@Xelias0
Replace those stronghold rats, with Nezumi Cutthroat's. You'll get a better return for your mana, and they don't make YOU discard a card. Rotting Rats, also suck. But if you're going to run the rat ninjas, fear helps you in this dept better than cards making "all" players, including yourself, to discard. Also, discard really only goes so far in any real game. I do like the theme of your decks though. And it would seem to me that you obviously favor the cats...