Burglar Rat: A Disruptive Force in Commander

Burglar Rat is a common creature from the original Ravnica block that excels at disrupting opponents' plans. Its key strengths are its low mana cost and ability to force opponents to discard cards when it enters the battlefield.

Key Benefits:

• Low CMC: Burglar Rat requires only 1 black mana to play, making it an easy addition to any black-heavy Commander deck.
• Discard Ability: When Burglar Rat enters, each opponent must discard a card, disrupting their plans and potentially setting back their progress.
• Affordable: With a price point of around $0.88 USD, Burglar Rat is an affordable addition to many decks.

Typical Uses:

• Early Game Disruption: Use Burglar Rat in the early game to force opponents to discard cards, making it harder for them to develop their strategies.
• Combo with Control Spells: Combine Burglar Rat with control spells like Counterspell or Abrupt Decay to maximize its disruptive potential.
• Value in Black-Heavy Decks: Take advantage of Burglar Rat's low mana cost and ability to force opponents to discard cards in black-heavy Commander decks.

Impact on Commander Decks:

• Increased Disruption: Burglar Rat adds an extra layer of disruption to Commander decks, making it harder for opponents to develop their strategies.
• Flexibility: Its affordability and low CMC make it a great addition to many different types of Commander decks.

Burglar Rat's Abilities

The Oracle Text on Burglar Rat states: "When this creature enters, each opponent discards a card." This is a triggered ability that triggers when the creature enters the battlefield. To understand its effects, let's break down how it interacts with other cards and game scenarios.

• Triggering: The ability triggers as soon as Burglar Rat enters the battlefield. This means that if you have multiple ways to put it onto the field (e.g., casting it from your hand or reanimating it), each instance will trigger its effect.
• Targeting: The ability targets both opponents, forcing each of them to discard a card from their hand. If an opponent has no cards in their hand, this is still resolved but doesn't require any discards as there are none to discard.

Interactions with Other Cards

Burglar Rat's ability can interact with various cards and strategies:

• Plague Engineer: This creature can create a swarm of smaller creatures. When one of these creatures enters, it triggers the effect on Burglar Rat, forcing opponents to discard.
• Maelstrom Pulse: A red sorcery that destroys all nonland permanents and discards their controller's hand. If you have Burglar Rat in play when this spell resolves, each opponent will still be forced to discard a card due to the trigger effect on Burglar Rat.

Edge Cases

Some situations might seem unclear but can often be resolved by understanding the underlying rules:

• Entering with Tutors: If you use an enchantment like Fauna Shaman or Mox Opal to tutor out Burglar Rat, it will enter the battlefield as if cast from your hand. This means its ability will trigger.
• Reanimation and Clone Effects: Cards that can reanimate creatures will still have them enter the battlefield, triggering their effects. The same is true for cards like Vines of Vastwood that create clones.

In Commander games, where players often build around a specific theme or commander with powerful effects, having Burglar Rat on the field can significantly impact gameplay. Its ability to force opponents to discard cards can be particularly valuable in combination with other removal spells or in decks focused on disrupting opponents' plans.

Burglar Rat is a staple in many Commander decks that thrive on disrupting opponents' plans. Its ability to make each opponent discard a card when it enters the battlefield creates an immediate impact, often forcing players to re-evaluate their strategy.

Common Archetypes

Burglar Rat fits well into several popular archetypes:

• Mill Aggro: Decks focused on generating card advantage through milling (discarding cards) can benefit greatly from Burglar Rat. Cards like Graveyard Trespass and Dark Confidant amplify the milling effect, while creatures like Golgari Findbroker provide additional disruption. • Control and Midrange: Decks aiming to control the board and disrupt opponents' plans often include Burglar Rat. It complements cards like Doom Blade and Swords to Plowshares, allowing players to maintain a strong hand while pressuring their opponents.

Role on the Battlefield

Burglar Rat's power and toughness (1/1) make it a fragile creature, but its ability more than compensates for this. When played early, Burglar Rat can disrupt opponents' plans before they establish a strong board presence. It's often used to:

• Disrupt opponents' plans: By forcing opponents to discard cards, players can prevent them from setting up powerful combos or generating card advantage. • Create an advantage: Burglar Rat can be played in combination with other creatures and removal spells to generate a significant advantage on the battlefield.

Decks and Strategies

Burglar Rat is particularly effective in decks that focus on:

• Black-based strategies: Its color, power, and toughness make it a natural fit for black-based Commander decks. • Mill-focused strategies: Decks emphasizing card advantage through milling can benefit greatly from Burglar Rat's ability to force opponents to discard cards. • Aggro-Control hybrids: Combining aggressive elements with control and disruption, such as Boros Legion Loyalist and Doom Blade, creates a powerful combination that benefits significantly from Burglar Rat.

Burglar Rat's ability to force opponents to discard a card upon its entry is a powerful tool for disrupting opponents' plans. In combination with Doom Blade, Path to Exile, or other removal spells, Burglar Rat can create a strong early game by repeatedly forcing opponents to discard crucial cards.

In more complex decks, Burglar Rat pairs well with Phantasmal Graveyard. When paired with this card, Burglar Rat's ability becomes even more formidable. As the graveyard grows in size, it becomes increasingly difficult for opponents to maintain control of their life total and hand size. This synergy can lead to a significant advantage, particularly when combined with cards that generate value from large graveyards.

Another notable combination involves Sword of Body and Mind. When equipped with this sword, Burglar Rat's ability to force opponents to discard a card becomes an integral part of the overall strategy. With the sword's ability to drain life whenever an opponent discards a card, the combo creates a strong and aggressive board presence that can quickly overpower opponents.

Burglar Rat also has implications for more interactive formats like multiplayer games or 1v1 Commander matches. In these settings, its ability to force opponents to discard cards makes it an attractive option for controlling and disrupting opponents' plans.

When considering the inclusion of Burglar Rat in a deck, consider its interaction with other cards that benefit from opponent discarding. Cards like Grave Pact, Doom Blade, or Sword of Body and Mind become more potent when paired with Burglar Rat's ability to force opponents to discard their hand.

Common Mistakes with Burglar Rat

When playing with Burglar Rat, players often make mistakes related to timing and synergy. Here are some common issues:

• Misjudging the opponent's hand: Some players assume that their opponents will have a single weak card to discard, but this is not always the case. A more prepared opponent may have a powerful card in play, making it difficult for them to discard a useful card.
• Not considering the opponent's graveyard: When an opponent discards a card with Burglar Rat, they often send it straight to the graveyard. Players should consider how this affects their opponent's future turns and potential plays from cards like Graveyard Hound or Carrion Feeder.
• Overlooking the impact on the board: Burglar Rat's ability to force opponents to discard a card can have significant implications for the game state. Players should think about how this affects their own strategy, particularly if they have cards like Sylvan Caryatid or Llanowar Elves in play.
• Poor synergy with other creatures: While Burglar Rat is a decent creature on its own, it can struggle to work well with other creatures. For example, playing it alongside Falkenrath Gorger may not be the best combination, as the latter's ability to draw cards from the top of the deck doesn't benefit from Burglar Rat's discard effect.
• Timing issues with card advantage: Players often forget that the opponents will have to wait a turn before re-drawing the discarded card. This can lead to missed opportunities for card advantage, making it harder to win the game.

By being aware of these common mistakes, players can adjust their strategy and make more informed decisions when playing with Burglar Rat in Commander games.

Burglar Rat is a solid, albeit unassuming, addition to any Black-heavy Commander deck. Its ability to force opponents to discard a card when it enters the battlefield can be a nuisance for opponents running low on life and cards in hand, particularly against control decks reliant on cards like Counterspell or Thassa's Intervention.

In certain cases, Burglar Rat can also provide a moderate advantage by disrupting an opponent's plans, making it harder for them to recover from the early-game disadvantage. This is especially true when paired with other creatures that have similar effects, such as Serra Assassin.

However, its impact should not be overstated; Burglar Rat is primarily a situational threat rather than a game-changing force. Its 1/1 power and toughness also make it a relatively fragile creature, leaving it vulnerable to removal spells like Abrupt Decay.

Considering these factors, players may want to include Burglar Rat in Commander decks that focus on disrupting opponents' plans, such as:

• Token-generating strategies
• Swarm-based aggro decks
• Control decks reliant on card advantage

When evaluating whether to include Burglar Rat, consider the following:

• Its common rarity makes it relatively affordable (around 88 USD).
• Its ability is somewhat situational, but can be beneficial in specific matchups.
• Its fragile nature requires careful play to maximize its impact.