While I tend to use the word “rats” as an interjection denoting my displeasure regarding a specific action or circumstance, the word is more generally known as the plural of “rat.” You know, those little four-legged rodents that like to infiltrate any building that has food in it. For the purposes of this article, however, “Rat” is going to refer to the arguably two-legged monster that fetches out Earth attribute monsters when it’s destroyed as a result of battle. There will also be squirrels. Oh yes, there will be squirrels. This week, I’m going to have a go at making a so-called “Ratbox” deck. Named for its signature recruiter monster (Giant Rat), Ratbox uses a variety of versatile Earth monsters to keep the opponent off guard until it can bring in the big beaters to finish things off. Also, squirrels.

Monsters: 23

3 Giant Rat

3 Nimble Momonga

3 Gigantes

3 Granmarg the Rock Monarch

2 Exiled Force

1 Sangan

1 Cat’s Ear Tribe

1 Black Stego

1 Injection Fairy Lily

1 Dream Clown

1 Amazoness Swords Woman

1 Treeborn Frog

1 D. D. Warrior

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

Spells: 11

1 Graceful Charity

1 Heavy Storm

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Confiscation

1 Book of Moon

1 Scapegoat

2 Brain Control

1 Last Will

1 Smashing Ground

1 Premature Burial

Traps: 6

1 Ring of Destruction

2 Sakuretsu Armor

1 Mirror Force

2 Spiritual Earth Art - Kurogane

The most noticeable aspect of this deck is undoubtedly the rogue’s gallery of monsters I’ve chosen to become the tools in my Ratbox. Among them are many classic cards from the old school, along with a couple of fan favorites and a couple of my personal favorites. One of them is D. D. Warrior, but if you don’t have access to one of those, it’s not a problem. D. D. Warrior is easily replaced by D. D. Warrior Lady. The exchange costs you some accessibility but adds some versatility. Most people like the Lady better anyway because it doesn’t arbitrarily remove flip effect monsters from play. The rest of the monsters may need a bit more explaining, however. Injection Fairy Lily is probably the best reason to consider a Giant Rat-based deck, given its incredible ability to rid the field of problematic monsters and deal a hefty chunk of damage for 2000 life points. Sure, it doesn’t usually win the game in one turn, but it can drop your opponent into a hole that only thought, cunning, and copious amounts of removal will escape. It’s also a lot more useful than Cyber-Stein in most stages of the game.

Cat’s Ear Tribe has long been known more for its cuteness than its utility, but if one can resist the urge to cuddle it long enough to read the effect, one will find it an effective tool in stymieing an opponent’s assault. When Cat’s Ear Tribe is in play during the opponent’s battle phase, one of three things will happen. Two of them are good for the Tribe player, while the other signifies that it really didn’t matter anyways. The bad outcome is if the opponent is holding a quick-play combat spell or Enemy Controller. In this case he or she had to use a spell, but you’ve lost your Cat’s Ear Tribe. (It’s especially unpleasant if the opponent is running Hydrogeddon.) The good outcomes involve either your opponent trading one of his or her other monsters with yours in order to continue an assault or else just giving up on the attack for this turn. Also, did I mention it was cuddly? I daresay it’s second only to Rescue Cat in terms of overall hug-ability.

Next up is Black Stego, another card you fetch with Giant Rat when you’d rather not deal with any more attacks this turn. Stego is a lot more defensive than Cat’s Ear Tribe. While Cat’s Ear will trade itself with an opponent’s monster, Black Stego will just block the attack for you and possibly deal a little damage. That’s assuming your opponent even bothers attacking without a Cyber Dragon or a pump at the ready. (Though if the remaining attacker is a Cyber Dragon, you would have just grabbed Cat’s Ear Tribe anyways, right?) Black Stego is best used in a situation where you’re looking to tribute for Granmarg the Rock Monarch next turn, whereas Cat’s Ear Tribe is preferable when you want to activate Spiritual Earth Art - Kurogane. If you need to get rid of an opponent’s monster and tribute for something next turn, might I refer you to Dream Clown for all your needs? Dream Clown is most suitable for ending a chain of recruiters, and it’s guaranteed to take one of your opponent’s monsters out next turn, provided that he or she doesn’t spend a removal card to take it off the field. Follow it up with either Kurogane or Granmarg. The primary risk involved in Dream Clown is that if your opponent destroys it before your turn, it becomes essentially useless. Never take this card with Giant Rat unless your opponent has no more potential attackers.

My last component in the Ratbox is Amazoness Swords Woman. While it’s technically possible to fetch Exiled Force with Giant Rat, you usually won’t want to for fear of losing it before you can use it. Amazoness Swords Woman is the card to use when facing the tech Stein or Lily. Injection Fairy Lily hates Amazoness Swords Woman with a passion that almost rivals the cuteness of Cat’s Ear Tribe. There’s only one right choice to make when it attacks your Lily: accept it and move on. Swords Woman is also a good choice against turtling opponents who hide behind a wall of multiple copies of Gravekeeper’s Spy, waiting to draw a Monarch. Those little 500 point pings add up in a hurry. Finally, if it gets to the late game and both players are topdecking, drawing the Swords Woman will practically clinch the duel. If you summon it and attack, your opponent probably won’t be able to attack back—or even play a monster—without losing to the effect of Swords Woman.

The general formula of the deck is simple. Build up your field with Giant Rat and Nimble Momonga while you clear the opponent’s field and beat up him or her a lot. Earth has a couple of very nifty effects that help out with this goal. By removing an Earth monster from your graveyard, you can special summon the walking Heavy Storm known as Gigantes. Not only does it make a nice addition to a quick swarm, it also dares the opponent to attack, knowing that all spells and traps will be destroyed if that Cyber Dragon hits home. Will your opponent attack and risk his or her set cards? Will he or she do it out of a desire to get rid of your set cards (usually not a bright idea)? Gigantes is something your opponent can’t ignore, and even if it is destroyed you can just bring it back with Kurogane or Premature Burial. Earth is at its best when it’s swarming the field and summoning huge monsters. It should come as no surprise that many Warriors have the Earth attribute, since their goals coincide nicely.

At first, the lack of Cyber Dragon in this deck may come as a surprise to many. After all, Cyber Dragon is the backbone of all aggressive decks, right? Well, not quite. In the end, most decks treat Cyber Dragon as nothing more than a 2100 ATK special summon-able Gemini Elf. I, however, am more than willing to trade in 200 ATK and switch around a special summon condition in order to attach a Heavy Storm to my Gemini Elf. I think that after gaining a little play experience with this deck, you’ll come to enjoy Gigantes. If nothing else, everyone else’s dependence on Cyber Dragon will make it all the easier for you to execute the effect of Gigantes. People have been playing Ratbox decks since October of 2005, but this is the first format since then where the deck needn’t worry about Chaos monsters or two copies of Nobleman of Crossout.  A distinct lack of these cards will lead to more search effects happening more often and that makes Ratbox players smile. Of course, if Banisher of the Radiance becomes as popular as it could be, all recruiter strategies could be in serious jeopardy. Still, it’s early in the format and anything is possible. By the time you see this, Shonen Jump Championship Austin will have already ended, and we should have a better idea of what the expected field looks like . . . or will we? Creativity seems to be at an all-time high these days, and that’s a trend I hope will continue indefinitely. Until next time, play hard, play fair, and, most importantly, have fun!

Jerome McHale

jcmchale@andrew.cmu.edu

NEXT WEEK: Life is filled with infinite choices. What I write about next week is one of them.