Rat King, Verminister
CommanderA low-cost mono-black Rat engine that turns your own permanents leaving play into a growing commander, extra Rats, and repeatable graveyard recursion.
Public decks: 1Bracket: 3
Card text
Legendary Creature — Rat Avatar
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.
, 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.
Building around this commander?
Use MTG Master to build or analyze a Commander deck around this card, check consistency, and find weak spots before your next game.
Overview
- Get Rat King down early, then make sure something you control leaves the battlefield each turn to trigger Disappear at end step.
- Use the steady Rat token output to build toward sacrificing three Rats, turning your board presence into a reanimation activation.
- Lean into creature attrition: trade off bodies, cash in expendable permanents, and keep rebuilding while Rat King grows with +1/+1 counters.
- The tap ability rewards decks with repeated creature names, letting one activation bring back a whole batch of the same creature from your graveyard.
- Games often end via combat after you grind the table down, either with a tall commander or a wide Rat board that keeps coming back.
Common lines
- Cast Rat King on turn two, then engineer a permanent leaving (a sacrifice, a chump-block, or cashing in a disposable piece) to start banking end-step Rats.
- Spend the early turns trading creatures and using spot removal to keep lanes clear while Rat King accumulates counters.
- Once you have three Rats, hold up the tap activation as a rebuild button after a wipe, or as a swing turn to reanimate a key creature package.
- If you’re playing repeated-name creatures (for example, Rat Colony or Pack Rat), a single activation can represent a huge jump in board presence.
Strengths
- Very fast commander deployment at {1}{B}, letting you start accruing value early.
- Natural grind game: token production plus a scaling commander supports long, interactive tables.
- Repeatable recursion from the command zone can punish removal-heavy pods by rebuilding efficiently.
- Mono-black interaction suite tends to keep problematic creatures in check (for example, Fatal Push).
- Strong synergy with sacrifice and death-heavy play patterns, since losing your own pieces can still advance your engine.
Weaknesses
- Graveyard hate can shut off the tap ability and force you into a fair combat plan.
- Board wipes can reset your Rat count, delaying activations and forcing you to reassemble fodder.
- The tap ability is timing-sensitive and vulnerable to instant-speed removal before you get value.
- Mono-black can struggle to answer certain noncreature permanents once they stick.
- If you can’t reliably make a permanent leave each turn, Disappear triggers can be inconsistent and the deck can sputter.
Rule zero notes
- Call out how recursion-focused the list is and whether you’re aiming for repeated mass returns of the same creature name.
- Mention if you’re running a meaningful hand-attack package (examples include Burglar Rat or Nezumi Informant), since that can change table dynamics.
- Be clear if your build is more combat-grindy versus trying to assemble deterministic loops with sacrifice and recursion.
- Disclose how removal-dense the deck is, since a heavy kill-spell plan can feel like a control deck at casual tables.
Matchups
Best into
- Creature-heavy midrange pods where removal and combat trades are common
- Slow, value-oriented tables where repeated rebuilding matters
- Single-threat strategies that can be checked by spot removal and attrition
Struggles against
- Decks packing frequent or repeated graveyard hate
- Fast combo tables that don’t care about combat pressure
- Exile-based removal and sweepers that deny graveyard setup
FAQ
What does Rat King, Verminister want you to do each turn?
It typically wants at least one of your permanents to leave the battlefield so you get an end-step Rat token and a +1/+1 counter.
How do you usually close games?
Most builds can win through combat by going wide with Rats and/or going tall with a steadily growing Rat King.
What’s the big payoff of sacrificing three Rats?
You get a powerful reanimation effect, and if you target a creature name you have multiple copies of, you can return all those copies at once.
Is this a Rat-tribal commander or a sacrifice/reanimator commander?
It can support either angle, but the commander specifically rewards you for having Rats available and for setting up graveyard recursion.
What are some example cards that fit the plan?
With so few public lists, treat these as examples only: Rat Colony and Pack Rat play well with the repeated-name reanimation line, while Phyrexian Arena and Arcane Signet support a slower, grindier game plan.