Mono-black Rat tribal led by Splinter of the Shadows. It builds a wide board of Rats and then attacks with the commander, whose attack or block trigger gives every other Rat +X/+X, where X is the number of Rats in play. Its end-step mill four, return two Rat cards to hand turns the graveyard into a steady supply of Rats, and many copies of Rat Colony let both the commander pump and ripple scale explosively. The mill also feeds death and graveyard payoffs that drain opponents. How it wins: It goes wide with Rats and swings with Splinter of the Shadows for a large team pump, backed by fear, toxic, deathtouch and undying, while drain effects from creatures dying or being milled finish off weakened opponents. Key roles: - Rat swarm generation: These cards keep adding bodies, often scaling with the number of Rats already in play, so X for the commander's pump keeps growing (Lord Skitter, Sewer King, Marrow-Gnawer, Rat King, Verminister). - Rat Colony multiples: Many copies of one card that grows with each other Rat. Ripple casts extra copies for free, and name-based recursion brings back every copy at once (Rat Colony, Thrumming Stone, Echoing Return). - Combat amplifiers: These make the pumped Rat team lethal or hard to block or kill, granting evasion, poison, deathtouch, undying when the commander taps to attack, and lifelink (Haunted One, Karumonix, the Rat King, Ogre Slumlord). - Mill and graveyard recursion: The commander's self-mill and the deck's other mill effects stock the graveyard, then tribal mass reanimation and repeatable recursion return Rats to hand or battlefield (Patriarch's Bidding, El Dorado Sarcophagus, Codex Shredder). - Aristocrat drain: Creatures dying and creature cards hitting the graveyard from the library or casting creature spells each cost opponents life, which rewards both the milling and the sacrifice outlets (Syr Konrad, the Grim, Dreadhound, Bontu's Monument). - Black devotion and card flow: Cost reducers, devotion mana and life-for-cards engines keep the swarm deploying quickly. A tribal one-sided wipe clears every non-Rat creature (Necropotence, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Kindred Dominance).

Splinter of the Shadows decklist

• Altar of the Brood
• Black Market Connections
• Bontu's Monument
• Castle Locthwain
• Codex Shredder
• Conqueror's Galleon
• Darksteel Plate
• Demonic Tutor
• Diabolic Tutor
• Dreadhound
• Echoing Return
• El Dorado Sarcophagus
• Ghost Quarter
• Haunted One
• Isolated Watchtower
• Jet Medallion
• Karumonix, the Rat King
• Kindred Dominance
• Lord Skitter, Sewer King
• Marrow-Gnawer
• Minas Morgul
• Myriad Landscape
• Necropotence
• Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• Ogre Slumlord
• Opal Palace
• Patriarch's Bidding
• Phyrexian Arena
• 40× Rat Colony
• Rat King, Verminister
• Reliquary Tower
• Shaft of Hands
• Sol Ring
• Splinter, Vengeful Sensei
• 22× Swamp
• Swarmyard
• Syr Konrad, the Grim
• Thrumming Stone
• War Room