I see some threads discussing some specifics of how/when to use Rats:
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=12452http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=10437http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=5090So I figured I'd try to generalize the concepts from them into 1 place.
Disclaimer: I like writing my opinions to see how they're wrong, i.e. get feedback from other people. So please correct me if I'm wrong
Rat Infestation!In my experience, Rats is one of the easiest cards for inexperienced players to screw up. It does not actually get rid of junk if you consider more Rats to be more junk. Furthermore, it reduces your hand-size by 1. I've often seen new players (including myself, multiple times) buy a Rats thinking "Oh cool, I can trash my bad cards", only to get infested with Rats, eventually buying coppers to try to get some payload back, and concluding "Well, Rats is is terrible." But obviously that can't be what DX had in mind when he created it.
Trash-For-BenefitI would bet paper money that DX intended that Rats be used hand-in-hand with trash-for-benefitters. If there is any other major use of Rats, I'd like to hear about it. Things like Upgrade, Salvager, etc. come to mind, as well some Dark Ages cards (but to a lesser extent) such as Death Cart and Graverobber. Upgrading free Rats for $5 cards is fun, but the problem is, you have to buy and play the Rats in the first place.
For example, I buy a Rats on T1, play it on T3 to trash an Estate and gain a second Rats, then on T5 Upgrade the Rats (assuming I bought an Upgrade at some point) for that juicy Witch, while my deck still contains 1 Rats. But the thing is, I could have just as easily bought a Silver on T1 and T3, and afforded the Witch on T5 with normal money.
So, When to Get Rats?All of these should be true:
- You will need an engine. I highly doubt Rats would ever be good in a non-engine scenario. I'm not saying you need to have all other engine components lined up before you buy your first Rats; I'm saying you should at least have a plan to set up an engine eventually.
- You will need targets for your Rats. These could be your starting 10 cards. If you need more targets, you will want to be picking up more cheap cards. If you play x Rats per turn, you will need to ensure you will have at least x targets for them to hit.
- Assuming you have trash-for-benefitting in the plan, you will ideally want 1 T4Ber for every Rats you have. That is, if you have x Salvagers that you want to play per turn, and you want Rats as their targets, you will want to start your hand with at least x Rats in your deck. For example, say I have 1 Upgrade and 1 Salvager. I will want 2 Rats, play those 2 Rats on my junk targets (for a total of 4 Rats), then play the Upgrade and Salvager on those 2 new Rats. I will also need to acquire 2 new cheap targets for the Rats if I don't already have them.
Of course, there are always some exceptions (Fairgrounds, Horn of Plenty, Vineyards, etc.). But as a rule of thumb, I would want to be able to ensure those 3 things before I go the Rats route.
EDIT: the 1 non-engine scenario in which Rats can be very useful is in a 3-pile slog. Rats can trash Curses, while the ensuing 'infestation' does not actually make your deck all that much worse. If there is any sort of even modest trash-for-benefitting support, and T4Bing a Rats can spike an occasional Duchy or whatever, then that can be the difference between winning and losing.
Also, consider these other "uses" of Rats:
Combo: Rats-WatchtowerSay your hand consists of Something-Something-Something-Rats-Watchtower. You play Rats to gain another Rats, trash it with Watchtower, draw the extra card, then trash a card with the Rats. So you don't actually gain another Rats, and you draw an extra card out of it. You could repeat this process if you have another Rats. This can be kind of cool.
(You can actually top-deck the new Rats with WT, instead of trashing it, then play it, repeating until potentially your entire deck is gone.)
Black Market DeckIt's unlikely, and certainly will never be the backbone of your strategy, but it's cool if you can get the Rats from the Black Market deck because you will never have to gain more Rats.
VineyardsIf the Rats route is the correct one for your deck (i.e. if the above mentioned scenarios collide), then they will work as a Vineyards-enabler. If not, and you have no other synergies with your Rats (i.e. they're junk), then at the very least you could theoretically turn your starting 10 cards into 10 Rats (for a total of 11 Rats), which would bump your Vineyards by 3VP each. But in this case, the Rats are basically worse than Ruins. So use caution.
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... Comments, questions, concerns???
Any other neat tricks that you can do with Rats?
EDIT: yes, see below
PS: Any reason why there are 20 instead of 10?
EDIT: I guess so multiple players can have a bunch of Rats.
PPS: I think it's weird that I have 1 "Rats", not 1 "Rat". It's not like I have 1 "Squires", 1 "Beggars", etc.
EDIT: 1 "Goons", 1 "Horse Traders" or 1 "Smugglers", etc.
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The below are other synergies/tricks with Rats. Some of them are more "fringe-case" than others, but I believe they are all worth a mention.
Other Notable 2-Card CombosRats - Market Square. At least as good as straight BM by itself; better with support (e.g. Smithy).
credit: sudgy
Rats - Trader. Rats/Trader is generally better than just Trader.
credit: jomini
Rats - Apprentice. Can be very powerful. Rats can trash Coppers (which Apprentice doesn't like trashing), and Apprentice the Rats. Of course, you'll want additional payload.
credit: Chris is me
Cards That Care About ActionsAny card that cares about whether or not another card is an action will be affected by Rats -- Scrying Pool, Death Cart, Ironmonger, Library, etc. Even if the Rats are junk, these cards can consider them less junky than non-action junk (of course, if the Rats are not junk, then that's even better).
credit: ehunt & Chris is me
Endgame DesperationSay there's 1 Province left, you're down by 5vp, and your hand consists of Gold-Silver-Silver-Rats-Province. You might as well play the Rats, given that if you have to chuck a Silver and end up with $5, that's no worse than having the $7, while it gives you a chance to draw that Gold or Cultist which would win you the game. Of course, we're ignoring how that Rats could have just been a Silver.
credit: DG