Reading the rules text for the latest MTG Bloomburrow spoiler, I was first interested, then intrigued, then, finally, horrified. Vren the Relentless is a Rat Rogue that can create an enormous army of humongous rats that will chew opponents to pieces. If you can’t remove him from the battlefield, an enemy Commander deck led by this guy is certainly going to seem pretty relentless.
This new MTG commander is obviously a reference to the popular rat card Relentless Rats, and the tokens it creates are essentially a version of them, getting an extra power and toughness for each other rat creature on the battlefield. Vren creates a number of these dangerous tokens on each end step equal to the amount of opponents’ creatures put into exile. And he helps them on their way by forcing all enemy critters that die to go to exile rather than the graveyard.
This seems very powerful. When paired with edict effects that can force each player to sacrifice a creature, Vren is going to create an unstoppable board very quickly, and that’s ignoring all the death triggers that will occur as players attack and block each other’s creatures.
It may just be the hated MTG Ward ability, but I’m immediately reminded of Voja, Jaws of the Conclave, a recent, absurdly powerful commander that has as many haters as fans. Ratty doesn’t have the built-in card draw that Voja does, but it’s similarly difficult to remove and just as speedy at building up a gigantic force. Like a Voja, Jodah, or MTG Sliver deck, your best bet against Vren is going to be a board wipe.
It’s possible I’m slightly overvaluing the power level of this card. While it’s undoubtedly very strong – perhaps an early contender for the most powerful new commander in Bloomburrow, even – the lack of built-in card draw means it’s not completely disgusting.
It’s also notable that the effect only applies when creatures on the battlefield are exiled – it’s no use exiling creature cards from hands or graveyards, which means my first instinct of pairing this guy with various iterations of the MTG planeswalker Ashiok won’t work.
I love being the underdog in EDH, playing around with silly stuff like Salamanders, so I’m honestly a little disappointed this card is as strong as it is. For anyone wanting a good dimir rat commander though, this more than meets the mark!
For more articles on Magic: The Gathering, check out our guide to the best Commander precon decks and our MTG release schedule.
Source: Wargamer
