Rats
| Rats | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Info | |
| Cost |
 |
| Type(s) | Action |
| Kingdom card? | Yes |
| Set |
Dark Ages |
| Illustrator(s) | Ian Kirkpatrick |
| Card text | |
|
+1 Card +1 Action Gain a Rats. Trash a card from your hand other than a Rats (or reveal a hand of all Rats). When you trash this, +1 Card. | |
Rats is an Action card from Dark Ages. It is a cantrip that trashes any card and replaces it with another copy of Rats: thematically, the rats are multiplying and devouring all of your resources. This doesn't usually help you thin your deck, bur it does allow you to convert your junk cards into more attractive targets for trash-for-benefit abilities.
FAQ
Official FAQ
- Follow the instructions in order.
- First draw a card; then gain a Rats; then trash a card from your hand that is not a Rats card.
- If there are no Rats cards left, you do not gain one.
- If you have no cards in your hand other than Rats, reveal your hand and you do not trash a card.
- If Rats is trashed, you draw a card.
- This happens whether it is your turn or another player's, and regardless of which player has the card that trashed Rats.
- There are 20 copies of Rats, rather than the usual 10; the pile starts with all 20, regardless of the number of players.
Other Rules clarifications
Strategy
Rats is a situationally useful card that converts non-Rats junk (usually your starting cards) into Action cards. Unlike other trashers, Rats is not very useful for thinning to achieve deck control, since you gain a Rats every time you trash a card; instead, it is most useful when the Kingdom offers trash for benefit. Occasionally, Rats can be used for general Action card synergy, or for threatening a “Rats out”.
Trash for benefit is the most common use case for Rats. Because Rats replaces low-cost junk with higher-cost junk, it pairs well with trashers that care about the 
of the card trashed. Apprentice is a good example, as every Rats you trash with an Apprentice draws 5 cards (one more than Apprentice usually draws when trashing a card), increasing your hand size by 3 and cycling through your deck more quickly. When using Rats as food for your trash for benefit card, you should be careful to manage the number of Rats in your deck. Without any trashing of Rats, each Rats played means 2 in the next shuffle, so Rats can quickly overrun your deck if you don't keep their numbers down by trashing them. As long as you have junk, it is usually good to keep one Rats around so you can continue to gain more Rats for trashing fodder.
Rats also benefits you in some Kingdoms that reward decks for having many Action cards. Kingdoms with Ways are notable, especially Way of the Horse and Way of the Pig, as Rats can fill your deck with Action cards that will mostly be played using the Way. Similarly, cards such as Scrying Pool do not function well with Coppers and Estates in the deck, so if there is no other trasher available, they may do better if those junk cards are instead all junk in the form of Rats.
A “Rats out” or “Rats autopile” is when a player uses the self-gaining ability of Rats to empty its pile on their turn, typically to end the game via a pileout. In a typical setup, you have a 
lead that is safe from Rats-trashing (e.g. via tokens, Exiled Victory cards, your opponents’ Curses, or enough to buy a Victory card after the Rats out), no cards in your draw pile or discard, and two Rats in hand. Playing the first Rats gains a third Rats and trashes nothing (or a card that is no longer needed). Playing the second Rats draws the third and gains a fourth, and so on until you’ve gained all the Rats. This requires a lot of deck control and two other depleted piles. In practice it therefore happens infrequently, but it can be a useful way to end the game quickly if, for example, you have 2 Rats in deck that you’ve been using to feed an Upgrade.
Notable synergies
External strategy articles
Note: Article(s) below are by individual authors and may not represent the community's current views on cards, but may provide more in-depth information or give historical perspective. Caveat emptor.
Versions
English versions
| Digital | Text | Release | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
+1 Card +1 Action Gain a Rats. Trash a card from your hand other than a Rats (or reveal a hand of all Rats). When you trash this, +1 Card. |
Dark Ages | August 2012 |
|
 |
+1 Card +1 Action Gain a Rats. Trash a card from your hand other than a Rats (or reveal a hand of all Rats). When you trash this, +1 Card. |
Dark Ages (2017 printing) | September 2017 |
Other language versions
| Language | Name | Digital | Text | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Czech | Krysy |  |
+1 karta +1 akce Vezmi si Krysy. Zahoď na smetiště jinou kartu z ruky než Krysu (nebo ukaž karty v ruce, pokud v ní máš samé Krysy). Pokud tut kartu zahodíš na smetiště, +1 karta. |
||
| Dutch | Ratten | +1 Kaart +1 Actie Pak een Ratten. Vernietig een kaart uit je hand (geen ratten) of toon een hand vol Ratten. Als je deze kaart vernietigd: +1 Kaart |
(2013) | ||
| Finnish | Rotta (Note: singular) | ||||
| French | Rats | ||||
| German | Ratten |  |
 |
+1 Karte +1 Aktion Nimm eine Karte Ratten. Entsorge eine deiner Handkarten, außer Ratten (oder decke auf, dass du nur Ratten in der Hand hast). Wenn du diese Karte entsorgst: +1 Karte. |
(2019) |
| Japanese | ネズミ (pron. nezumi) |
+1 カードを引く +1 アクション ネズミ1枚を獲得する。ネズミ以外の手札1枚を廃棄する (ネズミのみの場合、手札を公開する)。 これを廃棄するとき、+1 カードを引く。 |
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| Korean | 쥐떼 (pron. jwitte) | ||||
| Polish | Szczury | Although Polish version is not released, this card is referred to in the Polish version of Empires rulebook | |||
| Russian | Крысы (pron. krysy) | ||||
| Spanish | Ratas |  |
+1 Carta +1 Acción Gana una carta de Ratas. Elimina una carta de tu mano que no sea una carta de Ratas (o bien revela tu mano mostrando que sólo tienes cartas de Ratas). Cuando elimines esta carta, +1 Carta. |
(2014) |
Trivia
Preview
Secret History
and was crazy. When I thought of making an action that gave you copies of itself, I brought it back as the action. Of course it can't trash copies of itself, because then it would be crazy again. There were a few versions of this that tried different ways to balance the card, and to address the issue of, what if I just buy one Rats when they're all but sold out, to get a good trasher with no penalty. Some versions had a penalty if you couldn't gain a Rats. In the end the key was making Rats a 20-card pile, and giving you a bonus for trashing it.Donald X.'s opinion
Rats is narrow, but there are other narrow cards. Poor House also wants a trasher, but also a village to go with it that Rats doesn't need. Counting House needs, you know, something.
I especially like Fortress with Rats, I think just because it doesn't get rid of the Rats. If you have say Upgrade / Rats, that's good times, but the Rats are just so not a problem there; if anything you are trying not to run out of Rats too fast. Fortress / Rats, man, you might be in trouble. What are you even thinking there. But it comes up, there will be Vineyard or Knights or Scrying Pool or something and you will think, Fortress / Rats, maybe I can pull that off. And just live with the Rats.
