Product Details
The rats come from the sewers and feast on the corpses of our opponent's creatures. Or, they would, if they were anywhere to be found. With Vren at the helm, our deck removes them from existance, but our rats stay hungry. Always. So. Hungry.
What makes Vren Special
Vren does two things -- makes our opponents creatures get exiled when they die and makes rats.
Exiling is surprisingly good. Almost all decks will have some form of recursion, even if they aren't a dedicated reanimator or self mill deck. Keeping the biggest threats gone for good is huge for staving off huge plays for our opponents.
The second half of Vren makes a rat for each creature our opponents lose to exile. The first ability feeds this, so when Vren is out, meerly destroying a creature is enough to get a Vren trigger. Each rat can be a huge threat on its own, as they scale with themselves and all of our supporting cast of rats that we run as well. This lets us do two great things at once-- build a threatening board state while keeping our opponents off balance.
Gameplan
Getting an extra rat from a kill spell is an awesome upside. What's even better is getting three. Using edicts to delete a creature from all of our opponents allows us to really quickly rack up the Vren triggers and present game ending threats very quickly.
Due to the sheer power of the edicts that we run, we want our opponents to have a few creatures. Every player with zero just slows us down. Don't be overzealous with removal, especially if Vren isn't out.
Saving Vren in the command zone until a little later is a great idea. He doesn't do anything until we start killing opponent's creatures, so waiting until you can cast him and another spell is ideal, although not required. His rats also get stronger over time as we build up our own board, further encouraging patience.
Through slow, methodical gameplay, and waiting for the opportune times to strike, Vren and the rat army is more than poised to take over games.
Commander
Vren, the Relentless
Creatures
Karumonix, the Rat King
Azure Beastbinder
Tangled Colony
Piper of the Swarm
Ogre Slumlord
Chittering Witch
Persistent Marshstalker
Merciless Executioner
Crypt Rats
Lord Skitter's Butcher
Gravelighter
Shoreline Looter
Tidecaller Mentor
Plaguecrafter
Morbid Opportunist
Mindwhisker
Burglar Rat
Typhoid Rats
Accursed Marauder
Daggerfang Duo
Thought Shucker
Fleshbag Marauder
Demon's Disciple
Voracious Vermin
Thornplate Intimidator
Nightwhorl Hermit
Mind Drill Assailant
Lightshell Duo
Sorcery/Instants
Szat's Will
Crippling Fear
Curse of the Swine
Feed the Cycle
Infernal Grasp
Liliana's Triumph
Consumed by Greed
Reality Shift
Murder
Fell
Revenge of the Rats
Rat Out
Shore Up
Tragic Slip
Village Rites
Doom Blade
Disdainful Stroke
Vraska's Fall
Nocturnal Hunger
Negate
Diresight
Worthy Cost
Psychic Whorl
Feed the Swarm
Distant Melody
Enchantments
Gossip's Talent
Artifacts
Bident of Thassa
Mind Stone
Dimir Signet
Sol Ring
Commander's Sphere
Wayfarer's Bauble
Arcane Signet
Lands
Choked Estuary
Sunken Hollow
Darkwater Catacombs
Mudflat Village
Lilypad Village
Tainted Isle
Dimir Aqueduct
Dismal Backwater
Evolving Wilds
Path of Ancestry
Command Tower
17x Swamps
10x Islands
