Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Rat King, Verminister
Rat King, Verminister
Legendary Creature — Rat Avatar · {1}{B} · Black commander
Disappear — At the beginning of your end step, if a permanent left the battlefield under your control this turn, create a 1/1 black Rat creature token and put a +1/+1 counter on Rat King.
{T}, Sacrifice three Rats: Return target creature card and all other cards with the same name as that card from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.
Build a Rat King, Verminister deck →
What Rat King, Verminister actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Triggered ability · end_stepAt the beginning of your end step, if a permanent left the battlefield under your control this turn, create a 1/1 black Rat creature token and put a +1/+1 counter on Rat King.
- Activated ability{T}, Sacrifice three Rats: Return target creature card and all other cards with the same name as that card from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.
- Keyword · disappeardisappear
What a Rat King, Verminister deck needs
Plays as aristocrats. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- expendable creatures and tokens to sacrifice (the commander is a sacrifice outlet)
- counter doublers and proliferate (it grows only itself with +1/+1 counters)
- self-mill, discard and recursion (the graveyard is a resource its text reads)
- token payoffs — anthems, sacrifice outlets and go-wide finishers (it makes tokens on repeat)
- haste and untap effects that reach the commander (a tap ability is unusable the turn it lands)
The Rat King, Verminister deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 8× Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
- 5× Untap the commander so the tap ability is an engine, not a one-shot
- 16× Creatures you are happy to sacrifice — a free sac outlet on the commander is worthless with nothing to feed it
- 12× Make creature tokens — a static anthem or a go-wide commander needs a board to be wide
- 6× Put your own cards into your graveyard as a resource
- 6× Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- 4× A team pump that actually pumps tokens
- 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
Best cards for Rat King, Verminister
Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.
Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
- Thousand-Year Elixir3 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- Lavaspur Boots1 mana
- Sting, the Glinting Dagger2 mana
- Haunted Cloak3 mana
- Sword of Vengeance3 mana
Untap the commander so the tap ability is an engine, not a one-shot
- Sting, the Glinting Dagger2 mana
- Umbral Mantle3 mana
- Genji Glove5 mana
- Honor-Worn Shaku3 mana
- Sword of the Paruns4 mana
- Deserted Temple0 mana
- Leyline Dowser2 mana
- Pip-Boy 30001 mana
Creatures you are happy to sacrifice — a free sac outlet on the commander is worthless with nothing to feed it
- Nurgle's Rot1 mana
- Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal // Temple of the Dead5 mana
- Phyrexian Triniform9 mana
- Exquisite Huntmaster4 mana
- Grixis Slavedriver6 mana
- Liliana, Heretical Healer // Liliana, Defiant Necromancer3 mana
- Hangarback Walker0 mana
- Enduring Tenacity4 mana
Make creature tokens — a static anthem or a go-wide commander needs a board to be wide
- Replicating Ring3 mana
- Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate0 mana
- Andúril, Flame of the West3 mana
- Field of the Dead0 mana
- Fountainport0 mana
- Grave Titan6 mana
- Phyrexian Triniform9 mana
- Spawnbed Protector7 mana
Put your own cards into your graveyard as a resource
- Takenuma, Abandoned Mire0 mana
- Stitcher's Supplier1 mana
- Ripples of Undeath2 mana
- Eden, Seat of the Sanctum0 mana
- Tomb Fortress0 mana
- Millikin2 mana
- Perpetual Timepiece2 mana
- Syr Konrad, the Grim5 mana
Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- Blightbelly Rat2 mana
- Scheming Aspirant2 mana
- Glistening Sphere3 mana
- Walking Ballista0 mana
- Forge of Heroes0 mana
- Hangarback Walker0 mana
- Stonecoil Serpent0 mana
- Opal Palace0 mana
A team pump that actually pumps tokens
- Heraldic Banner3 mana
- Chief of the Foundry3 mana
- Caged Sun6 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Heroes' Podium5 mana
- Endurance Bobblehead3 mana
- Skorpekh Lord3 mana
- The Immortal Sun6 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Defile1 mana
- Tragic Slip1 mana
- Infernal Grasp2 mana
- Fatal Push1 mana
- Bitter Triumph2 mana
- Black Sun's Twilight1 mana
- Cut Down1 mana
- Erebos's Intervention1 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Entomb1 mana
- Demonic Tutor2 mana
- Diabolic Intent2 mana
- Vampiric Tutor1 mana
- Imperial Seal1 mana
- Demonic Consultation1 mana
- Grim Tutor3 mana
- Tainted Pact2 mana
Combos with Rat King, Verminister
Known combos from Commander Spellbook that Rat King, Verminister is a piece of, and how many decks list them.
- Rat King, Verminister + Intruder Alarm + Belonging + Ashnod's Altar
- Rat King, Verminister + Intruder Alarm + Belonging + Viscera Seer
- Rat King, Verminister + Intruder Alarm + Belonging + Carrion Feeder
- Rat King, Verminister + Intruder Alarm + Belonging + Bloodflow Connoisseur
- Rat King, Verminister + Intruder Alarm + Belonging + Bartolomé Del Presidio
- Rat King, Verminister + Intruder Alarm + Belonging + Yahenni, Undying Partisan
Build this deck in the Arcane Forge →
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