4+Plague Rats?

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Ishans Shade

Guest
I have been thinking. Dangerous? I think so. Since it's not like I'm any where near possible tourny site, and I don't plan on attending one. What do you guys think about a deck with more than the max. number of Plague Rats? Think of it, what single rule made this card go from a ***** to just a measly *? If you don't know I have two things to tell you: One GET OFF THIS PAGE!!! Because you have no idea what Magic is or how it works. Two it was the Four per deck rule.

So tell me guys (and gals if any are members) what you think. For those who haven't understood my Question here it is in plain English: How do you feel on making a deck centered on five or more Plague Rats.
 
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andrew

Guest
plaguerats are cool! its aight if you use more than 4 if you play somebody who doesnt care, because if you can make a fast rat deck,id kick some a**.

"Magic,Money,and Mayhem....the three best things in life"
 
Ferret

Ferret

Moderator
Staff member
Ah, Plague Rats....I remember my early days of Magic where I saw my first one and I thought "What if I had a deck made up of just Swamps and Plague Rats?" and I set out to get as many of them as possible. Little did I know they were common as dirt...but, I digress. My quest lead me to local gaming store where I found a friend getting his tail kicked in by a R/G Burn deck (quite easy to do back before Fork was restricted) and I asked him if he had any 'Rats he wanted to trade. At the time they were the only Rats in print - Bog Rats wouldn't be reprinted for a couple of years and this was before Ice Age gave us Pestilence Rats. He gave me about 12 of them and I bought him a couple of boosters of Fallen Empires. Personaly, I think I got the better end of the deal. He then told me "Dave, you are aware that you can only have four of a non-land card in your deck, aren't you?" and my heart sank. At the time I only had, at best, three of any card...

...so, I grew sad. In recent years, the Rat Count has grown to where I can build a pretty decent Rat Deck and I have been able to settle for only four Plague Rats in the deck. With a Coat of Arms or two out, each one of them becomes a Plague Rat on their own...so, no, let's just stick w/ the basic rule of four and put the rest in the shoe box where they belong...

-ferret

"...variety is NOT the spice of life! Salt is. If you don't have salt, you'll die."
 
Ed Sullivan

Ed Sullivan

CPA Founder, Web Guy
Staff member
Actually, my friend has a rat deck. It worked quite well within in the 4 card limit.

I can't remember much about it, but I can give some card names, and the numbers are probably off.

2 Bad Moons
3 Dark Rituals
2 Unholy Strengths
2 Coat of Arms
3 Fevered Convulsions (they are RATS, remember)
23 Swamps
Which would leave about 25 rats.


-mike
Working on perfecting my High Tide deck... Except it kills with a Trailblazed Anthroplasm
 
D

Dune Echo

Guest
I vote to follow the 4 per deck rule on the basis that not a whole lot of people have that many Plague Rats and second, aren't we always complaining how tournaments are ruled by certain overpowered cards? So, casual play shouldn't be either, right? Besides, it's gets boring to just see the same creature over and over again. Add some variety. Bad Moon and Coat of Arms work great (even if you don't have any CoA) and Ravenous Rats are great as control. Pestilence Rats are good in any rat deck. Hell, make a rat deck, Ihsan's Shade. Make it thematic yet powerful. If you really need to, break the rule and go to five. But don't overdo it because that's boring and no one likes that, right?
 
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Ishans Shade

Guest
Dune, I have always planed on making it have more than just plague rats, but I just wanted to see how people will react to the question. I have plenty of rats in my extras, and planed on using them, it's just that ol' Plaguey used to be king of the rats. Now he's not worth feeding to a cat.

The rat go marching one by one. Horah! Horah...
 
T

theorgg

Guest
YUM, RAATS!

tell you the truth, I've been trying to get fourty of those rabid bastards for a while.
the place I play knows my crazy decks and if played sparingly, I may be able to play it in a few chaos games.


-theorgg
I'm bigger than I think, I think.
 
A

andrew

Guest
Now i hate to break my cosistincey of making completly idiotic statements but the fact that you respond to a plauge rat question with a long statement on wether or not it`s correct to use that many plauge rats or a whole new rat deck (that I think is pretty cool deck dont get me wrong) Shade was just asking wether or not it was right. right?

"Magic,Money,and Mayhem....the three best things in life"
 
B

Baron Sengir

Guest
I hear what you're saying here brother, but I don't think the rules need to be changed. That would bring up decks with 45 Lightning Bolts and 15 Mountains again (shudder).

On the other hand ...

Make that deck. If I have enough commons laying around at home that you can build a deck of 40 plague rats, go to it. I'll play against you. I think it would be a fun variant. Imagine a tourney where your deck could consist of nothing but 1 type of creature. Llanowar Sentinel, Anyone? Not only would the Plague Rats be cool but Aurochs, the aforementioned Sentinels, Keldon Warlords ... Even Benalish Anklebiters would be a fun deck to play.

This idea bears looking into. Ihsan, your mission is to see if I have 40 plague rats in all my commons. If so, build that deck. I'm sure I have 40 Llanowar Sentinels. It would be interesting to see which deck wins more often.

I remain
The Baron
"As the Elvish soldier looked down the gaping maw of a 25/25 rat, he knew he should have joined the navy ..."
 
I

Ishans Shade

Guest
Not 40 plague rats, but 16. I have already made a blast the rules to Satan's domain deck with the only spells are 2 lab rats from stronghold.


Join the Navy? Are kiding? The rats are bigger on the boats.
 
I

Ishans Shade

Guest
Actually I was asking what people think. I still plan on making a rat deck, but if more people say follow then only four Plague rats will show up, bend five or six, and blow away and you'll see fifteen or more. However Dakkon a little extention on your answer would be most appreciated.

[Edited by Ishans Shade (10-25-1999 at 01:45 PM).]
 
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Ishans Shade

Guest
I just wanted to say that on Holloween I plan on making a rat deck, and that I will you the results of this vote to help me decide on whether to have 4 or more plague rats. I plan on calling it Pided Piper's Hell. So far the count is NO's:2 YES's:1.

I might still make 4+ plague rats because I have no Coat of Arms.

And the rats march on, and on, and on...

[Edited by Ishans Shade (10-26-1999 at 07:14 AM).]
 
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Ishans Shade

Guest
Thanks to everyone who posted replies.
The final rat count is, drumroll please,: Yes-5, No-3

Who ya gonna call? The Pided Piper just quit
 
S

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Hope it's not too late to vote! :)

I would say that Plague Rats were an unfortunate casualty to the evolving state of Magic, where in the beginning it WAS okay to have any number of cards in a deck until degeneracy reared its ugly head.

SO although a Plague Rat deck in itself would probably not be bad, the 4 of a card rule should not be bent just for it.

And of course now there are more rats and Coat of Arms although it's not quite the same.
 
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Ihsans Shade

Guest
Unfortunatly you are Spidey. I made the deck, got my but kick between my shoulders to many times, and scaped it.
 
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