Relentless Rats and Commander

[Mu5hr00mMaN]

Does the EDH rule override Relentless Rats' ability, or can I have 30 or so Relentless Rat' in my EDH deck as well?

[particle]

tough question since the format is not controlled by wizards of the coast. on mtgcommander.net it says this:
With the exception of basic lands, no two cards in the deck may have the same english name.
not the best sign. however, edh is a casual format and ive seen lots of {shadowborn apostle} and {relentless rats} decks. i would say if your going to enter any kind of tournament, consult the judge and see what they have to say. otherwise have fun and enjoy.

[Remillo]

The General consensus is that you can use any number, since the text on the card allows you to.  It just points back to the first Golden Rule of Magic:

101.1. Whenever a card's text directly contradicts these rules, the card takes precedence. The card overrides only the rule that applies to that specific situation. The only exception is that a player can concede the game at any time (see rule 104.3a).

[Mu5hr00mMaN]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.

[Remillo]

You can do it, but you will be shunned for doing so.

Don't see why.  One of the silliest (and most entertaining) decks in the format is the one where you run 60-70 Relentless Rats, Swamps and a {Thrumming Stone}.  Also, {Karador, Ghost Chieftan} with a {Shadowborn Apostle} package is a cool deck.

[particle]

You will get shunned because the other people make expensive singleton decks that take a lot of work, and you just have a deck full of rats.  Generally, EDH players don't like that.

thats not true taysby. no one ever said, "my deck is full of expensive cards, your deck has all 1 dollar commons. thats not fair!!" people playing edh are general friendly casual players that will only dislike you and your deck if you play infect or mass land destruction.

[Remillo]

play infect or mass land destruction.

And even then, a lot of people wont care.  I'd probably give you props for spending $50 on {Relentless Rats}, something I don't think I could bring myself to do.

[Gorzo]

For the record, it IS in the rules that you can use relentless rats or Shadowborn apostles in EDH.

What is printed on the card takes precedent over the format's restrictions. These cards don't say "you can have any number instead of four," they say "you can have any number," period.

The only difference between EDH and other formats (relevant to this rule) is that the max of four cards of the same name is reduced to one. However, regardless of what that number may be, "you may have any number" printed on a card overrides that maximum.

[griffin131]

From the edh people i've been around, the wouldn't like it too much if you made a relentless rats edh.  They'd still let you play, but not like you too much.  There isn't any variety.

And i didn't mean it like that, just the fact that they spend a lot of time making the best deck then you show up with 60 rats and 40 swamps.

Good Relentless Rats decks take quite a bit more thought than that. I only run 45 rats myself - more isn't worth it. I pretty much never whiff on a Ripple and I have more stuff in the deck to survive board wipes.

[Mu5hr00mMaN]

I'm not running an ungodly amount of rats. I still want more variety in the deck so I'm only running 23. It's more Tribal Rats for me than anything.

[MuggyWuggy]

Nah so many other great rats!