Chittering Rats
Creature — Rat
When this creature enters, target opponent puts a card from their hand on top of their library.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Salvat 2005
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #17523
Chittering Rats enters, makes an opponent put a card from their hand on top of their library, and leaves you with a 2/2 body — all for two mana and a black. That's a discard-adjacent effect that scales in multiplayer because you choose the target, and Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm turns every recurrence of it into a free Rat anthem trigger.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm
Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm buffs every black Rat that enters, so each time you bounce and recast Chittering Rats — or reanimate it — you get both a stat pump and a fresh top-of-library lock on whatever opponent is closest to winning.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Chittering Rats is a role-player rather than a staple: the topdeck disruption is real but diluted across three opponents, so it earns its slot mainly in Rat tribal shells or any strategy that can recur enters-the-battlefield triggers repeatedly. Pauper is where it has historically done the most work — looping it with Ghostly Flicker or Ephemerate alongside Archaeomancer created a soft lock that was genuinely oppressive at common rarity. Legacy and Vintage have access to it, but the effect is too slow and replaceable to compete at those power levels. Modern has faster, more permanent hand disruption, so Chittering Rats doesn't see serious play there either.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data isn't available for Chittering Rats at the moment, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for current market values. As a common with multiple printings, it has historically been a bulk pick-up — expect to pay next to nothing if you need a copy.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.