MTG rats run wild in Throne of Eldraine with Piper of the Swarm

Rat tribal themes find a helping hand within the Throne of Eldraine set with Piper of the Swarm. 

The newest MTG set, Throne of Eldraine (ELD), will feature themes of folklore and fairy tales. Black creatures have been the dominating color in today’s spoilers, with Piper of the Swarm being the most recent reveal prior to today’s livestream announcements.

Rats in MTG once dominated with Rat Colony, but with rotation, this Dominaria card is out of Standard. Piper of the Swarm, though, has the potential to breathe life back into the rat tribal theme. 

As a one/three, Piper of the Swarm withstands attacks from cards like Shock while being able to defend early on the match. Piper also creates rat tokens for the cost of two mana, which might play a major role in ELD cards that have yet to be spoiled. 

Stacking rats has its advantages with Piper of the Swarm. Paying four mana and sacrificing three rats will destroy a target creature. Combining removal with token stacking is worth the two mana cost attached to Piper and will fit nicely into Mono-Black decks running a rat tribal theme. 

Piper of the Storm is worth the hype due to it giving all rat creatures and tokens menace. Burglar Rat, however, is the only rat surviving rotation, so the ELD set will need to have additional rats joining the fray for Piper of the Storm to truly dominate. 

The Throne of Eldraine set releases on Oct. 4 via tabletop and Sept. 27 via MTG Arena and MTGO. The pre-release event for the MTG set will take place from Sept. 27 to 29.