Rat decks are already great at establishing a wide board state, and Karumonix makes it even easier with its ETB effect
The group is formed during the Council of Elrond (familiar from quotable lines in Peter Jacksons movie like One does not simply walk into Mordor! and You have my bow. And my axe!) and includes hobbits Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin, men Aragorn and Boromir, the dwarf Gimli, elf Legolas, and wizard Gandalf the Grey
As for the sideboard, I'm not too impressed by Illness in the Ranks and might rather just pay full price and get Curse of Death's Hold.
If Humble Defector isn't on the battlefield as its ability resolves, but the target player is still a legal target, the ability will resolve
Odd considering the singleton nature of Commander, but Sakashima's already a standard clone on its own
Somehow the player had managed to get to round nine without a judge noticing it, but it resulted in a penalty on coverage