Rat Colony is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
This creature gets +1/+0 for each other Rat you control. A deck can have any number of cards named Rat Colony.
Complete guide
Rat Colony is a relentless common that turns the strength of numbers into a terrifying offensive force. While a single Rat may seem small, these creatures are designed to swarm the board and scale their power based on their kin. Most importantly, it breaks one of the fundamental rules of deck construction, allowing you to build a literal army of rodents.
Unleashing the Swarm
Rat Colony has two distinct abilities. The first is a static ability that continuously checks how many other Rats you control on the battlefield, giving this creature +1/+0 for each one. The second is a deck-building rule-breaker: you can ignore the standard limit of four copies per deck. Whether you want to play five or fifty, Rat Colony permits it, provided the card is legal in the format you are playing.
Scaling Power Step-by-Step
When Rat Colony enters the battlefield, it immediately checks for other creatures with the Rat subtype under your control. This bonus is dynamic; if you play another Rat, every Rat Colony already on the field gets an immediate +1/+0 boost. Conversely, if a Rat you control leaves the battlefield, the bonus for all your Rat Colonies decreases instantly. Note that Rat Colony only counts 'other' Rats, so a lone Rat Colony remains a 2/1.
Deck Building and Legality
A common mistake is assuming Rat Colony allows you to play the card in any event. While it overrides the 'four-of' rule, it does not override format legality. You cannot use Rat Colony in a Standard deck if the card isn't currently in a Standard-legal set, nor can you add extra copies from your collection during a Limited event like a Draft or Prerelease unless you actually drafted them.
Strategy: When to Deploy
Because Rat Colony has low toughness, it is vulnerable to almost any blocker or damage-based removal. It is best used in aggressive shells where you can play multiple Rats per turn to keep the pressure high. Since its power scales so quickly, forcing your opponent to trade their high-value creatures for a two-mana Rat is often a winning exchange.
Interaction examples
If you control two copies of Rat Colony, each one sees one 'other' Rat. Therefore, both creatures receive +1/+0, making them both 3/1 creatures. If you play a third copy, all three will become 4/1 creatures.
Ornithopter of ParadiseSince Rat Colony requires black mana, Ornithopter of Paradise is an excellent utility piece. You can tap the Thopter for black mana to accelerate your swarm. However, because Ornithopter of Paradise is a Thopter and not a Rat, it does not contribute to Rat Colony's power bonus.
Blood ArtistRat Colonies are often blocked and destroyed due to their 1 toughness. With Blood Artist on the battlefield, every time a Rat Colony dies in combat, you drain 1 life from your opponent. This ensures that even when your swarm is thinned, your opponent's life total continues to drop.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Rat Colony
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
Rat Colony's last ability lets you ignore only the "four-of" rule. It doesn't let you ignore format legality. For example, during a Bloomburrow Limited event, you can't add Rat Colonies from your personal collection.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Popular combos
Real combos played by the community, sorted by popularity.
Syr Konrad, the Grim + Rat Colony + Secret Salvage + Surgical Extraction
- 1Cast Secret Salvage by paying
, exiling Rat Colony from your graveyard and causing you to search your library for all copies of Rat Colony in your library and put them into your hand. - 2Syr Konrad triggers, dealing 1 damage to each opponent.
- 3Move to your cleanup step, causing you to discard down to your maximum hand size, ensuring to discard as many copies of Rat Colony as possible.
- 4Syr Konrad triggers for each creature card discarded this way, dealing that much damage to each opponent.
- 5During the next player's turn, cast Surgical Extraction by paying
, exiling all copies of Rat Colony from your graveyard. - 6Syr Konrad triggers for each creature card exiled this way, dealing that much damage to each opponent.
Syr Konrad, the Grim + Rat Colony + Secret Salvage + Tormod's Crypt
- 1Cast Secret Salvage by paying , exiling Rat Colony from your graveyard and causing you to search your library for all copies of Rat Colony in your library and put them into your hand.
- 2Syr Konrad triggers, dealing 1 damage to each opponent.
- 3Move to your cleanup step, causing you to discard down to your maximum hand size, ensuring to discard as many copies of Rat Colony as possible.
- 4Syr Konrad triggers for each creature card discarded this way, dealing that much damage to each opponent.
- 5Activate Tormod's Crypt by tapping and sacrificing it, exiling your graveyard.
- 6Syr Konrad triggers for each creature card exiled this way, dealing that much damage to each opponent.
Syr Konrad, the Grim + Rat Colony + Secret Salvage + Tormod's Cryptkeeper
- 1Cast Secret Salvage by paying , exiling Rat Colony from your graveyard and causing you to search your library for all copies of Rat Colony in your library and put them into your hand.
- 2Syr Konrad triggers, dealing 1 damage to each opponent.
- 3Move to your cleanup step, causing you to discard down to your maximum hand size, ensuring to discard as many copies of Rat Colony as possible.
- 4Syr Konrad triggers for each creature card discarded this way, dealing that much damage to each opponent.
- 5Activate Tormod's Cryptkeeper by tapping and sacrificing it.
- 6When Tormod's Cryptkeeper dies, Syr Konrad triggers, dealing 1 damage to each opponent.
- 7Resolve the Tormod's Cryptkeeper ability, exiling your graveyard.
- 8Syr Konrad triggers for each creature card exiled this way, dealing that much damage to each opponent.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Rat Colony
No archived Top 8 deck with this card yet.