Diseased Vermin might make for an alternate rat if you must have a rat, especially if you can give it evasion somehow, and it works with lifelink
Legend says that some was given out to Wizards employees
(You didnt think wed get all the way through without a bad pun, did you?) Basic lands are a fundamental building block of both Commander and the larger sphere of Magic
That doesnt mean I think it would be tournament viable. This deck could have 95% turn one goldfish percentage, and I still probably wouldnt take it to a tournament. For that reason alone, Meandeck Tendrils is fascinating for all sorts of theoretical reasons. The primary reason its unviable is because you have to compress all of the numerous decisions of a typical Vintage game into the space of one turn and do that in a reasonable amount of time. Unless your name is Deep Blue or Gary Kasparov, I dont think you can play this deck at tournament either, but youre welcome to try
For example, creature tokens and The Monarch tokens are cards you cant play in the deck but provide clarity and help keep board states legible
There are plenty of amazing cards that entered Magic: The Gatherings Standard format with the release of Foundations, with tons of them being reprints of cards from Magics extensive history