Of all the pet decks that make up the rich tapestry of casual Magic, Rat Typal is one of the most beloved. In addition to the plentiful, and solid, support the archetype has received over the years, Rat Typal also pioneered the “a deck can have any number of” idea. As a result, it’s rare for much time to go by before Wizards throws the archetype some fresh bones.
With the upcoming TMNT set, however, Rat Typal is getting a veritable prime steak. Among the regrettably-leaked rares in this new MTG expansion lurks Rat King, Verminister, one of the best cards the deck has seen in its entire history. Not only is this a great card if you’re playing Rats fairly, but it also opens up a plethora of busted combo lines out of the command zone.
Rat King, Verminister MTG
Rat King, Verminister has been precision-engineered to lead Rat Typal decks in MTG Commander. That second ability initially sounds like a poor fit for the format, until you remember that Relentless Rats and Rat Colony exist. With these in mind, it suddenly becomes an incredible tool for resilience.
You can sacrifice three generic Rat tokens, which the deck can generate in all manner of ways, to bring back a bunch of the “real” Rats your deck is built around. Rat Typal decks are particularly susceptible to board wipes, so this is a great way to rebuild. Having access to an effect like this, which addresses one of the major weaknesses of Rat Typal, out of the command zone is huge for the deck.
Verminister’s ability can be a pretty powerful finisher, too. Depending on how many Rats you’ve lost, this can easily produce a game-winning board, and at instant speed, no less. Just attacking and blocking with your Rats over time will make this a viable win condition, but you can also dabble in self-mill if you want to speed up the process.
While its potential in Rat Typal is obvious, what’s really interesting about Rat King, Verminister is how generically powerful it is in black decks. It makes Rat tokens itself, via a trivial condition you can easily trigger with Fetchlands and the like, and it also is a Rat. This means it’s very possible to access that second ability with no other Rat support, at which point it becomes unconditional instant-speed reanimation on a stick.
Combos In The Catacombs
Potent as it looks when played fair, Rat King, Verminister’s true talent lies in the realm of the combo. When paired with Thornbite Staff, it’s capable of assembling all manner of infinite loops.
Perhaps the easiest way to do this is with Relentless Rats or Rat Colony. If you have three copies of one in play and one in your graveyard, you can sacrifice those in play to bring back all four. The sacrifice will untap Verminister thanks to Thornbite Staff, then you can use a sacrifice outlet like Altar of Dementia to put a Rat back in the ‘yard again. You can repeat this as many times as you want, to power a Blood Artist win due to the infinite dies triggers, or obtain infinite mill or infinite mana, with Altar of Dementia or Phyrexian Altar, respectively.
You can also perform this combo with a few different Rat token generators. Chittering Witch gives you three Rats, which are enough to bring it back once sacrificed, providing another easy loop. If you’re feeling fancier, you can give three Rats Wicked Role Auras with Twisted Sewer-Witch, then sacrifice them with Warehouse Tabby out to leave three tokens behind, reanimating the Witch and replacing the Roles. Since Twisted Sewer-Witch makes a Rat of its own on entry, this line gets you infinite Rats, and burns your opponents out with infinite death triggers from Wicked Roles.
You can do all of this without leaving Mono-Black, too, meaning you can run Rat King, Verminister in the command zone to maximize consistency. Thanks to its ample potential in both fair and unfair decks, I expect this legend to make a serious impact when TMNT drops in March.
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