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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day
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Image from Wizards.com |
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Relentless Rats
Fifth Dawn uncommon
Reviewed May 17, 2004
Constructed: 2.3
Casual: 4.1
Limited: 2.1
Ratings are
based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ...
average.
5 is the highest rating
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Chris
Gerhardt
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game store owner in CA,
ShuffleAndCut |
So Wizards is
breaking the rules! Relentless Rats is the
first creature that allows a player to have more
than four of them in a deck. Very, very
interesting! So now Rat fans will have a fun
deck to play. While I don't see it being the big
cheese in tournament constructed, I do predict
that it will find fans in the casual market. Go
dig your
Plague Rats decks outta the closet, boys, and
replace them with this rodent. I tell ya,
Spike is having a party now with all the combo and
challenge cards that Fifth Dawn is putting forth.
In limited, it would
almost be good if it were a common, but its
uncommoness makes it almost unplayable in draft
and sealed deck. Darn...
Constructed:
2
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 1.5
Current Price:
Relentless
Rats -
Beta - TBA
See
Also:
Plague Rats -
Unlimited - $0.50
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Judge
Bill
*Level 2
MTG Judge
*game store employee
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Relentless Rats
Harkening back to
the early days of Magic, we get our first card
that specifically allows you to have more than 4
of it in a deck (other than basic land). I see
some players briefly trying it out in
competitive constructed, but finding they are
too slow to get going before you die.
They'll be played A
LOT in casual. Get ready for an avalanche of Rat
decks.
In limited, you
don't ever usually have more than one, so a 2/2
for 3 is pretty useless.
Constructed: 1.5
Casual: 5
Limited: 1
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Ray
"Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*DCI Tournament Organizer
*Game Store Owner (Gamer's Edge) |
Relentless Rats
There are things that I think Magic should and
should not do. I understand Magic is all about
breaking its own rules, but I’d prefer it bend
them more than break them. If it does break a
rule, I prefer it be a “game rule” not what I
would call a “tournament rule.” A game rule is
something that breaks a fundamental rule of how
the game is played, like “a land only taps for 1
mana” and then Academy breaks that rule. A
tournament rule deals with how you interact with
other people at an event. An example of tournament
rule breakers would be the “wish” spells, Serum
Powder, and now this card. The problem with the
card is that it changes a rule that probably
should not be changed, at least on a card. I’m
sure its going to be fun, and I can see it being a
hit in casual play, but it’s the kind of trend I
don’t like to see in Magic card creation.
Constructed: 2
Casual: 4
Limited: 2
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Jonathan
Pechon
2 Grand
Prix Top 8's
Multiple Pro Tour
appearances |
Relentless Rats
Buh. The Plague Rats are back, they’re better,
and….they’re irrelevant? Pretty sure, folks…don’t
rush off to gather up your swamps and related
cards. Frankly, if they were X/1, they’d probably
be better because of Skullclamp. As it is,
they’re just irritating. Even if ‘clamp gets
banned, they still won’t be good because of the
amount of mass removal available.
Everyone loves the Rat deck at the casual tables.
Next!
I
think this could actually be amusing in draft,
depending on how many other playable black
creatures there are. One of these in your deck is
marginally playable; three or four of them is
pretty nutty. When you’re at the prerelease
drafting, you might try to corner these at the
5D/5D/5D drafts and see how big you can get them.
Constructed: 2.0
Casual: 4.0
Limited: 3.5
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DeQuan
Watson
* game store owner (The Game Closet - Waco,TX)
* pro tour player
* Scrye writer since 2002 |
Relentless Rats
I expect to sale a lot of these as singles. No
real reason though. I wouldn't expect them to
be really powerful. I would expect to see a rat
deck or two at local tournaments though. Some
players really like rat decks. This just gives
them more fuel for the fire.
Unfortunately, this rat doesn't offer much in
the limited environment unless for some reason
you are able to draft four of them.
Constructed: 2
Casual: 4
Limited: 2
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Jeff Zandi
5 Time Pro Tour
Veteran
Level 2 Judge |
Relentless Rats
This 2/2 rat for three mana adds to the long and
distinguished line of rat
creatures in the game of Magic. Like some rat
cards, like Plague Rats,
Relentless Rats is better in large numbers.
Relentless Rats gains +1/+1 for
each creature in play named Relentless Rats.
Still, even if both players had
four copies of this card in their deck, how many
Relentless Rats could you
realistically have in play at one time? Well, stop
the presses, because
Wizards of the Coast is changing all the rules for
this card. Relentless
Rats has the additional "ability" that allows you
to have any number of
cards named "Relentless Rats" in your deck. This
card has been intentionally
designed to let you break one of the relatively
few rules in Magic that have
not been previously broken, the rule limiting the
number of copies of a
non-basic land card in a deck to four copies. In
limited play, this unusual
ability has no effect whatsoever, since in limited
you are allowed to play
any number of any card (it is extremely rare,
however, for anyone to be able
to draft four or more of a highly playable card.
This is also not possible
in Sealed Deck play). In constructed, this card
could cause some trouble.
The idea would be to play a deck featuring a large
number of Relentless Rats
along with some cards to combo with it, like
Desparate Research, to allow
you to take advantage of the
any-number-in-your-deck rule on this card. Even
though I don't like WOTC stooping to this point to
make a card interesting,
I believe there is some opportunity for Relentless
Rats to make some
contructed decks very powerful.
CONSTRUCTED: 3.5
CASUAL: 4.0
LIMITED: 2.5
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Andy
Van Zandt |
Relentless Rats
Wow, I actually played a plague rat deck a long
time ago- I still have a bare-bones one put
together in my room somewhere (some rits, rats,
and swamps). This guy may see his share of
play, and he's interesting as an uncommon since
you'd need a fair amount of them for a deck-
but also as an uncommon, it makes him a bit
shaky as a pick in draft.
constructed 2.5
casual 4
limited 2
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Jason
Chapman |
When I first heard the rumor about Relentless Rats
I was excited; not because I thought it would be a
great card but because I thought it would be a
heck of a lot of fun. Now having seen the card I
have some concerns. Okay, only two concerns.
First, a card that allows for unlimited copies
should have been a common. Making this card a
common means that people who just want to play
around with them for fun are going to be shelling
out at least 50 cents more for each copy. I just
don't think that is fair. My second concern is
that the Rats cost 3 mana which means they are a
bit slow to get started. Having stated those
concerns, the card is solid. Because the card text
doesn't include "other" the Rats are at worst a
3/3 for 3 which is certainly strong. The fact that
multiple rats can be in play makes them actually
very strong. I wouldn't be surprised to see decks
using artificial acceleration taking advantage of
Rat swarms - they are very solid and also look
like a whole heap of fun. I hope WotC is willing
to produce more "no limit" cards in the future.
Constructed - Because they get so big I wouldn't
be suprised to see a rat deck in the future
provided adequate acceleration can be found - 3.0
Limited - 3/3 for 3 but two colored mana - 2.5
Casual - Rats are fun and a horde of huge rats
screams casual to me, I can't wait - 3.5
PEZ - You can only pack 5, which is good but
just not worth it -2.5
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