Loxi: I honestly wish the mayhem cost for this actually made it cheaper, but I can get how that would be a silly amount of stats
With so much power packed into a single card type, you need plenty of ways to interact with thempreferably by smashing them into pieces
It doesn't copy whether that permanent is tapped or untapped, whether it has any counters on it or Auras attached to it, or any noncopy effects that have changed its power, toughness, types, color, and so on
Great question
The incremental increase from 4 to 5 Rats is a leap of 16 to 25 damage on board
After looking at the top four cards on the deck, if any of them are Pirate characters then they can be added to the players hand , while the others are placed on the bottom of the deck