Sometimes Wizards prints cards that look amazing but don't really do anything. For instance, Worldspine Wurm is a huge beast that seems to be nigh-unbeatable, until you spend four games trying to cast it and then, after finally succeeding, have it used against you via Traitorous Instinct. Yes, that actually happened during a Pro Tour.Wizards also prints cards that seem innocuous but are more powerful than even seasoned players would imagine. So, how powerful is this mangy-looking rat?
Let's just say that a deck of 38 swamps and two pack rats would win almost any limited event without much difficulty, or at least win its first two matches.
Why? Once you land a pack rat, every other card in your deck effectively becomes: 2R, instant: Place a Rat token into play. Its power and toughness are equal to the number of rats you control. After five turns, the pack rat deck has five 5/5 rats. After six turns, the pack rat deck has six 6/6 rats. And a deck with 2 pack rats can effectively mulligan to a hand containing a rat and at least one swamp around 80% of the time, guaranteeing a turn 2 rat.
So, in review if you see this card across the table, you have the following outs:
1. Supreme Verdict.
2. Detention Sphere.
3. A timely kill spell, before your opponent creates the second rat.
4. Overloaded Mizzium Mortars.
5. A victory in the air with small fliers such as Sunspire Griffin.I think you could do far worse.
6. Jumping out the game store's back window (not recommended).
Because options 1-4 are quite common in constructed play, this card has not found a constructed home. However, as a splash in a Selesnya tokens deck, it's possible this little rodent might burrow into Standard.
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