Hello everyone! I have an exciting brew for you this week for some more modern action. Modern is my favorite format currently because you have access to so many fun and powerful cards that it’s hard not to brew. I overheard a couple friends talking about this deck at work and as soon as I heard Pack Rat I was hooked. Credit for the list, short of a few personal tweaks, goes to my friend Mike. Big shout out to him!
The list I will be playing this week has been appropriately named Moon Rats. It is a Pack Rat / Blood Moon deck with some other spicy cards joining the ranks. The idea behind the deck was to be pretty aggressive pushing (quite literally with fatal push) through damage with creatures like Pack Rat and Goblin Rabblemaster.
Let’s take a looks at the list and then hop into the games!
Creatures
4 Dark Confidant
4 Pack Rat
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Simian Spirit Guide
Spells
4 Fatal Push
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
4 Blood Moon
1 Kolaghan’s Command
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
Land
4 Blackcleve Cliffs
2 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Lavaclaw Reaches
1 Marsh Flats
1 Mountain
6 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
Sideboard
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Shattering Spree
3 Collective Brutality
1 Dreadbore
2 Anger of the Gods
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Kolaghan’s Command
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
After playing the deck I have one thing and only one thing to say… Where is Terminate!? I have never missed a single card more in my life.
But seriously, let’s talk a little about what I think this deck did right and wrong. First, I think the initial idea of the deck was to be aggressive but in reality the creatures that it is utilizing are similar to the threats in a traditional Jund deck so it plays more to a midrange strategy. Part of this is my fault; two of the changes I made to the original list were removing a one of Falkenrath Aristocrat and two Kolaghan’s Command in favor of a fourth Fatal Push and two Liliana of the Veil. I still think these changes are correct but I think the deck needs to lean even further towards that strategy.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Grim Lavamancer and Lightning bolt cut from the list for some better removal and a couple more Planeswalkers. This would go a long way to controlling the game before closing it out with a Pack Rat or Rabblemaster. Both of those untraditional modern creatures were true MVPs. Lightning Bolt is at a point in modern where it just doesn’t kill enough threats in the format. Even Fatal Push falls short from time to time. If these spells are not getting the job done, Grim Lavamancer certainly doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on. Poor little guy.
Simian Spirit guide is another card that I think is worth trying more of. Some of my best games with the deck were due to cheating out a turn one Dark Confidant or a turn two Blood Moon.
Overall, I loved the deck and can’t wait to fix it up and run it through more leagues! Come hang out on stream with me at twitch.tv/dcmdame or leave a comment hear if you have any suggestions! As always, thanks for checking out the article and remember it’s you, the fans, which make it all worth it!
