Hellhole Rats
Creature — Rat
Haste
When this creature enters, target player discards a card. This creature deals damage to that player equal to that card's mana value.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BR
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Dissension
- Price
- $0.41
- EDHREC rank
- #21996
Hellhole Rats enters, drains each opponent for one, and forces the player with the most cards to discard — all stapled onto a 2/1 haste body that attacks the same turn. The cost is real: five mana for a 2/1 that trades with a 1/1 blocker is a losing proposition in most shells, but Totentanz, Swarm Piper turns the death into a Rat token, which reframes the deal entirely.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Totentanz, Swarm Piper
Totentanz, Swarm Piper converts every Hellhole Rats death — whether blocked, pinged, or sacrificed — into a free Rat token, so the body's fragility stops being a drawback and becomes the plan.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Hellhole Rats is a Commander card through and through — the drain-and-discard trigger hits each opponent simultaneously, which multiplies its value in a four-player pod in a way no 1v1 format can replicate. In Legacy and Vintage it's strictly unplayable; five mana for this effect doesn't compete with anything those formats are doing. Modern is legal but similarly uninterested — Thoughtseize and Fatal Push exist. Commander is the one context where the enters-the-battlefield trigger justifies the mana, particularly in Rakdos reanimator or sacrifice shells that can cheat the cost or weaponize the death.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.41 bulk tier
At $0.41, Hellhole Rats sits firmly in bulk territory and is unlikely to hold even that floor without a spike in Totentanz, Swarm Piper popularity. Pick it up in a draft chaff bin — there's no reason to pay market price.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Totentanz, Swarm Piper
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.