Image courtesy of Scryfall.com
Deck-building insights with a Rat Noble ruler
If you’re chasing a streamlined approach to modeling deck outcomes in Black-centered lists, look no further than Lord Skitter, Sewer King. This rare from Wilds of Eldraine arrives with a calculated thriftiness: a 3/3 body for three mana and a pair of abilities that flourish in the trenches of a Rat-focused strategy 🧙♂️🧵. The card’s design invites you to think in terms of incremental value—a Rat enters, a card exits, and a combat phase births a tiny legion—so you can forecast board states with a bit of math and a lot of cunning 🔥. The flavor of the Sewer King isn’t just lore; it’s a blueprint for tempo, attrition, and late-game inevitability ⚔️💎.
Card profile at a glance
- Mana cost: {2}{B}
- Type: Legendary Creature — Rat Noble
- Power/Toughness: 3/3
- Set: Wilds of Eldraine (woe)
- Rarity: Rare
- Abilities:
- Whenever another Rat you control enters, exile up to one target card from an opponent's graveyard.
- At the beginning of combat on your turn, create a 1/1 black Rat creature token with "This token can't block."
- Color identity: Black (B)
- Legalities: Standard, Historic, Modern, Commander, and more
“A crown for the sewer, a throne of wheel-and-meat. If you hear skittering, count the Rat count.” 🐀
From a strategic perspective, Lord Skitter shines in two axes: graveyard disruption and token proliferation. The first ability triggers whenever another Rat enters, letting you exile cards from an opponent’s graveyard. In practical terms, this can deny recurrent threats, strip away key recurrences in a graveyard-based archetype, and skew long games in your favor as you chip away at opponents’ resources 🔪⚰️. The second ability—combat-start token generation—provides reliable board presence, presses for damage, and feeds a swarm you can leverage for sacrifice or rattling pressure in the late game 🎲⚔️.
Modeling deck outcomes: what Skitter predicts in practice
When you model deck outcomes with this card, you’re not chasing a one-shot blowout; you’re orchestrating a probabilistic tempo plan. On turn three, Skitter costs a modest three mana for a sturdy 3/3 body, but its real equity comes from the triggers and tokens that follow. If you field two to four Rats by turn four, every additional Rat entering your battlefield potentially exiles a card from an opponent’s graveyard, compounding with each new recruit. That means you can estimate a score of exiled cards per turn, and pair that with your token tempo to forecast a board state two to three turns ahead 🧭💎.
In a Rat-heavy shell, Skitter creates a feedback loop: more Rats mean more exile triggers, which can blunt graveyard-reliant strategies and erase important combos from opponent plans. The token generation ensures you don’t stall after the exiles; you simply flood the board with nimble, unblockable pressure if needed by sacrificing a few Rats to fuel other effects in your deck. It’s a nice microcosm of how to model outcomes: what does your board look like after six draws, six different enters, and a handful of exiled cards? The answer is often “a growing, hard-to-block menace with targetable graveyard disruption” ⚡🧙♂️.
Archetypes and practical deck-building tips
Pair Skitter with other Rat creatures to maximize the enter-the-battlefield triggers. Cards that generate Rats or benefit from Rat aggression—like token producers or sacrifice outlets—help you turn Skitter’s enters into consistent value over multiple turns 🐀🪄. Use the exile ability to pressure opponents relying on recursion. Balancing graveyard hate with your own card advantage is key; you don’t want to overcommit to removal while losing your own threats. The 1/1 Rat tokens provide a steady stream of bodies that you can sacrifice to power other effects or to push through damage. They also enable late-game inevitability as your board grows dense with little blockers or nuisance threats 🎭🎲. Since Skitter is a B-cost three-drop, you’ll want solid mana ramp or flexible black draw to keep the flow steady. Consider adding acceleration and looting effects to sustain the rhythm of Rats entering and cards being exiled. In slower metas, Skitter’s graveyard exile pressure bites harder, while in fast formats, the token generation keeps your clock ticking even if you don’t land a perfect exile on turn four.
Flavor, art, and what makes this card sing
Jesper Ejsing’s illustration gives the set a tactile, almost alleyway-charmed vibe—quietly menacing, with a ruler who commands an empire of scrappers and sly corners. The name “Sewer King” reads as both a joke and a whisper of power, turning a simple Rat into a monarch of the undercity. It’s the kind of design that invites you to lean into flavor while keeping your gameplay crisp and effective 🖼️🎨. And let’s be honest: there’s a little humor in seeing a tiny 3/3 menace spawn a parade of tiny generals that can’t block, all under the watchful eye of the Sewer King ⚔️💎.
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