Start with your favorite 11 1 Drop pirates: Daring Buccaneer, Fanatical Firebrand, Rigging Runner, Deadeye Tracker (if only Siren Stormtamer were reasonably castable!). Something like this:
My list is here. This can goldfish as soon as turn 4. The Buccaneer's Bravado is really nice and reminds me of Temur Battlerage with the Captain Lannery Storm pumping himself with treasures. I think there should be more one drops, yet the black is just a splash. Kari-Zev can probably go down to 2 copies, along with Dire-Fleet Poisoner to add 2 more 1 drops. The Treasure Map is surprisingly effect to sink mana into mid-game to get that final victory push.
March of the Drowned is straight nuts in this deck, as is Claim/Fame. I run 16 1 drop pirates and 2 or 3 Bomat Couriers for a huge refill. Dire Fleet Daredevil is great in the side to steal and play their removal spell so you can save your burn for finishing the game off. Poisoner is an excellent surprise blocker, pump spell, and a blow out if they block a menace creature, it is just a very versatile card.
March of the Drowned is straight nuts in this deck, as is Claim/Fame. I run 16 1 drop pirates and 2 or 3 Bomat Couriers for a huge refill. Dire Fleet Daredevil is great in the side to steal and play their removal spell so you can save your burn for finishing the game off. Poisoner is an excellent surprise blocker, pump spell, and a blow out if they block a menace creature, it is just a very versatile card.
Thanks! I haven't gotten to play this in anger, but I hope to on Thursday. 16 one drop pirates and Couriers gives a lot of the game away, but I'm curious about what 2-drop you are using.
Poisoners, Dire Fleet Captain, and a couple of Fathom Fleet Captain as a mana sink and extra menace bodies. Trying to find some Kari Zevs too, its just a great aggressive drop. I want Ruin Raider for side in grindy matchups.
I tried Wanted Scoundrel for a while, as he can provide a turn 3 kill if you have a 2 power 1 drop on 1, Wanted on 2, then Buccaneers Bravado and a built to smash on turn 3. As its flavor text suggests, the reward isnt worth it lol.
I ran my version out on Thursday to a not particularly competitive four person round-robin tournament. I technically tied for first at 2-1 ... with two others.
I beat Vampires and Merfolk while losing to a cool Jund deck that mained 3 Sweltering Suns and sided in two Golden Demise and 2 Hour of Devastation. In the losing match, I over committed to the board in one loss and flooded out in the other.
At the last minute, I upped the land count from 20 to 21 and I regretted it as I flooded out a lot. Fiery Cannonade was great from the sideboard and Dire Fleet Neckbreaker was amazing. Neckbreaker seems very situational so I am reluctant to add another to the main, but they just ended games on the spot. Freebooter was fine. Unfortunately, nobody ever tried to block Kari Zev, so I never got to use Poisoner to combine First Strike and Deathtouch.
I am sure that some number of Hazoret is better and would help the flood problem. Ifnir Deadlands or Ramunap Ruins could help also. I'm thinking of Heartless Pillaging for the midrange matchup. The main creatures that I was worried about were Legion Loyalist and Merfolk Mistbinder, so Shock might be better than Lightning Strike.
A blue splash could help with the sweeper problem, but with Dire Fleet Captain, I fear getting fancy with the mana.
The vulnerability to sweepers seems like the biggest problem, but the deck is quite fun. I don't know that I'd recommend it for a PPTQ or a GP but it could make for an enjoyable FNM-level event.
If anybody else is running something similar, I'd love to see your feedback and see your decklists.
This deck seems to be a bit better than I thought. I went to a Monday Night Magic with about 14 people. I decided that I wanted to play this. I went 3-1, beating UW Approach, Merfolk and Jund Midrange before falling to Sultai Snek in the finals and coming in third (cashing!).
The list is a bit tweaked (here). I think it could stand to be tuned more and in the hands of a good pilot, maybe take down an FNM-level event.
I play a lot of 1 drops and that's why i have not included any tap land in my deck, i want to be able to play my one drop 100% of the times. neckbreacker is amazing!
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Huey, Dewey and Louie are always dressed in RUG. it is CLEARLY going to be the wedges block Pioneer: WURFaerie fires BRGDragons ModernBGElves WRBurn UR Fires Turns URGift Storm UG Twiddle Storm
I want to be able to play a one drop on turn one, so I thought making 1/6 of the deck one drops would be good.
Daring Buccaneer - One of the few reasons to play red pirates. A 2/2 on turn one is great.
Rigging Runner - I'd rather play this on turn 2 or 3 with the raid trigger, but I'd settle for a 1/1 first strike on t1. Works well with poisoner.
Fanatical Firebrand - I've enjoyed playing this card a lot so far. It makes for some great combat tricks. "Do you want to block my 2/2 with your 3/3?". Also pretty good as a chump blocker against trample/lifelink. I wouldn't mind more, but I like 10 1 drops and the previous 2 are much better.
2 Drops:
I really want to curve out or at least be able to play a 2 drop and 1 drop on turn 3, so I'm running 9 2 drops. I had 8, but am testing Daredevil currently.
Dire Fleet Poisoner - Every black pirate deck needs this. It was a tough decision whether this or gifted aetherborn was better, but flash is so huge. Being able to play on the opponent's end step after saving removal for anything troublesome is perfect. Also makes rigging runner and daredevil bigger threats. So good.
Fathom Fleet Captain - Every time I play this it has a huge target on its back. It either gets really dumb really quick or becomes "Discard 1 fatal push from target opponent's hand". Menace is nice.
Dire Fleet Daredevil - Currently testing. I don't want too many 2 drops, so I only have one in right now, but it's been pretty good, but it's dependant. Early game it's a first strike 2/1 which is good with poisoner, but not ideal. Later in the game it is a problem and can have the opponent reconsider playing sorceries/instants. Still testing.
3 Drops:
Like I said, I'd like to curve out, but I don't want to get flooded with 3+ cmc cards in my starting hand, so I am running 5 currently.
Captain Lannery Storm - I've been on the fence with lannery storm. I won't take her out because having access to that 4th mana to play a neckbreaker is crucial, but she takes a while to make a real threat. I loved the interaction with her and buccaneers bravado, but ended up cutting it because it was too situational.
Forerunner of the coalition - I prefer forerunner over lannery storm right now. My main targets with the tutor are: neckbreaker to close the game out soon, fathom fleet captain to create more of a board presence, and lannery storm for the extra mana. Poisoner if I need to deal with a hydra/tyrant. The second effect gets really nasty with fathom fleet captain too. I've closed some games out just by playing a handful of pirates.
4 drops:
Only running 3, but I have forerunner to tutor for it if needed.
Dire Fleet Neckbreaker - Ends games, period. It's highly susceptible to red removal, so I may end up putting some march of the drowned in the sideboard.
Spells:
I originally had 4 lightning strikes and 4 shocks, but I'd rather be playing more creatures putting pressure on the board. More testing needed.
Fatal push - no reason not to run 4. It's one of the best removal spells in all of magic.
Lightning Strike - Running 2 right now. I had 4, but replaced 2 with abrade in the mainboard due to the rise of mardu vehicles.
Abrade- Just neccesary with God Pharoah's gift and mardu vehicles right now.
Fell Flagship - I like it because it buffs the pirates. Making 3/2 menace tokens is insane. Can put pressure on the opponent to dump their hand early too.
Lands:
I'm only running 2 canyon sloughs because I really want to be able to play a one drop turn 1. Cycle is relevant late game too.
Dragonskull summit. Fixes mana. It's worth the chance of not playing a one drop turn 1 to be able to cast what i need whenever.
scavenger grounds - may come out since I sideboard silent gravestones. Obviously here to deal with scarab god and GPG.
Sideboard:
Gifted Aetherborn - Great against carnage tyrant & hydra. Great against aggro decks (mono red). Eats a removal, so essence extraction may be the better option, but am opting with aetherborn right now.
Silent Gravestone - Stops graveyard strategies (in standard). Stops scarab god, stops GPG. I've seen journey to eternity as well. But being able to hose 2 main cards of some tier 1 decks is reason enough to run some. 3 may be too many, still testing.
Vraska's contempt - Chandra, scarab god, hazoret. Has to be in the 75. In the side because the deck doesn't want to have long games.
Fiery Cannonade - In with the rise of vampires and merfolk. Also hits mono-red pretty hard. Great card since it doesn't hit any of my cards except aetherborn.
Doomfall - Utility. May take out a gravestone and add a second doomfall. Deals with troublesome cards. Usually comes in against control with duresses to hit torrential gearhulks, search for azcantas, etc.
Duress- Brought in against control mainly. UW Cycling too. Answers problems.
Opinions? I'd like to get this as competetive as possible. I also run UB Pirates which has been much more consistent so far.
EDIT:
There's a few cards I'm not running which are questionable. Here's my explanation:
Ruin Raider: I love the card and the idea of it. I was running 2-3... but I have a horrible habit of hitting 2 neckbreakers in a row with it.
Unclaimed territory: Doesn't work well with dragonskull summit. I'm on the fence with it.
Kari Zev: She's great, I love her... but the other 2 drops are better imo. If ragavan was a pirate she would be in here, but I don't want to gum up the 2 drop slot, and she just hasn't been better than the others. I'd prefer daredevil for the first strike.
Kitesail Freebooter: Same thing. It takes up space in the 2 drop slot, and this is more of an aggro deck than a midrange. I want to force pressure, and kitesail is more on the control side of things. At least compared to the other 2 drops.
Bomat Courior: Had bomat in here... the fact it isn't a pirate made me cut it.
I have a lower curve, so Ruin Raider would be worse for you than I. Your deck is more mid-range, so that might be correct, even though I love it in my deck.
I am on the fence about Fell Flagship, but I am running 1 as an experiment. I look forward to hearing how it works for you.
I do have concerns about your curve and your manabase.
I like holding Poisoner to flash in responsively. It looks to me like you will often have to play it turn 2 for lack of any other turn 2 play. I would want more 2 drops to allow flexibility in using Poisoner.
I count 9 untapped R sources turn 1 and 13 B sources total. As I understand it, for a 90% chance of hitting an R 1 drop, you would need 14 untapped R sources turn 1. For a 90% chance of a turn 2 Gifted Aetherborn, you would need about 20 B sources. For a 90% chance of casting Vraska's Contempt on turn 4, 18 sources. For consistency, I would tweak the Mana and maybe reconsider BB spells. Fortunately, no important pirates seem to need BB, but Unclaimed Territory on Pirates doesn't even help with Gifted Aetherborn.
Thank you for your comments.
I love the idea of ruin raider but i just don't have good luck with it so far.
As for fell flagship... I have liked it so far because the boost is a massive help with so many 2/2 pirates. It can get hard to fight it out... But I'm not sure if something else would be better. Perhaps 2 ruin raider?
I don't mind playing a poisoner on t2 (end phase of opponents turn usually). It makes them consider it all game and a 2/2 DT isn't bad at all. That's if it's my only t2 play too. Like daredevil, it gains value in the course of the game but isn't a bad t2.
I like your perspective on the manabase. But I don't know what I'd do with it. I thought about changing sloughs to mountains.. But I don't want to get bit on not having enough B sources. Especially if Im running aetherborn or essence extraction. Even lost legacy if needed.
Yeah, it's hard. I think you are playing more of a midrange game with 1 drops, so you are more likely to have to deal with things like The Scarab God. But I don't want to think about what it would take to cast Vraska's Contempt. You could deal with treasure-producing pirates, but they seem generally worse. It might be easier to splash U than go T1 R -> t4 BB. I chose to lower my curve and give up on BB spells,
Bienvenu! Per Standard Deck Creation Forum Rules, "If you want to post a new thread in this forum, please check and make sure there isn't already a thread on the same topic." Hence I am merging this with the existing Rakdos Aggro Pirates thread. - hoser2
Swapped out Varaska’s Contempt for a Mountian. Went 3-1 at my local fnm.
Brief rundown of rounds:
Round 1: Win
Round one saw me sweep against an ok w/b Vampire deck. I had everything going for me during this round. The player was (is) a very nice guy, a player of moderate skill who typically goes 1-2 or 2-2 (I’ve seen him go 3-1 once). His deck was solid enough to be competitive but probably not the most premium list. I was also helped here by very good draws (game two ended with three Dire Fleet Captains, two Rigging Runners and a Neck Breaker on deck).
Round 2: Win
Round two I found myself matched up with a w/u Approach deck.
Game one I came out swinging, did a bit of damage but then my deck got turned off by all kindsa control. Approach, Approach, I loose.
For game two I swapped out my Fatal Push’s and Lightning Strikes for 3 Wanted Scoundrels and a Vraska’s Contempt. Game two went pretty much how I wanted, I was able to dish out enough damage to win before I got locked down.
Game three, I went in with the same look and he swapped in some Regal Caracal’s. I came in, did a bit of damage but the lock started to come down with two Settle the Wreckage’s (I knew he had them so I never swung all in but still wound up getting four lands against the two of them), a Caracal came out and they had blockers. I was able to play an Immortal sun but was getting locked solidly in place, the Vanquisher’s Banner came out and a March of the Drowned turned my empty hand into a scary chain-reaction of “draw two cards, cast cheap pirate, draw a card, cast cheap pirate, draw a card..”.
Round 3: Loss
A good player with what I can best describe as a slightly unconventional but amazingly effective Sultai Midrange / Constrictor hybrid deck. I came out swinging game one and it looked good for me until he did a chunk’ o life gain and made my board look really sad next to his. Game two I side-boarded in some stuff that never saw the light of day, it was a fast forward version of game one.
Round 4: Win
Faced off against some pretty fierce R/G Dinosaurs. Pretty straight forward. Lost game one after a long, drawn out game (I was ahead, he got some life and was able to fill the board with big Dinos and eat up my dead Pirates). Won game two in four rounds with little resistance, curved out really nice with a turn one Daring Buccaneer, turn two Dire Fleet Capitan, turn three Dire Fleet Capitan and a Rigging Runner with +1/1, turn 4 Dire Fleet Neckbreaker (which didn’t need to attack but helped give +2/0's). Game three was much closer but Dire Fleet poisoner helped save the day from a Carnage Tyrant and I swept in for the win.
Round two I went up against a pretty solid G/W Cats deck. I would feel pretty bad about saying I went 3-1 again if this match up didn’t follow up my bye. The the player and his were both pretty solid, my pirates just did exactly what they were made to do.
Game one: I curved beautifully, (Daring Buccaneer, Dire Fleet Capitan, Captain Lannery Storm & Rigging Runner, (a minor setback, my captains die from blockers but come back post-combat via March of the drowned), Neck Breaker – win).
Game two: This game was a little more of a grind. Both of our decks were going off pretty good but the Magic gods were on my side and I was able to pull and cast both Vanquisher’s Banner and Immortal Sun. Either of these cards are pretty darn good to get out but if you’ve got both out things get real crazy, most of your pirates cast for 1 at this point, you’re drawing for 2 and 1 for each pirate you play and the “worst” Pirate that could even be cast at this comes out as a 4/4 vanilla. I’m pretty amazed I was able to pull this off two weeks in a row since they’re both one-offs in the deck but I did and it’s pretty sweet when it happens. The turn after I got these out I started with an empty hand but after my double draw, quickly started transforming the board state, as I did so he did his math and coincided before I swung.
Round three: Loss
Round three I went up against a pretty solid B/W Vampire deck. I have kinda mixed feelings about this loss. As a note, I’m transitioning from using dice to keep score to an electronic device. The guy seemed nice enough and I’ve seen him around a couple times but I don’t know him as well as many of the regulars.
Game one was really close (got him down to 1 life), several times throughout the game he would call out his life total and it wasn’t quite as low as I had it. None of these times were the very dramatically different and I attributed it to me missing one of his various methods of lifegain and / or not being used to my new Mojo. It really was a pretty solid (not the very best I’ve seen but pretty darn good) Vampire deck.
Game two wasn’t very close, I wound up getting flooded hard. I noticed a few times during this game that the guy had made some illegal / wrong plays (attacking with creatures that had summoning sickness, trying to play multiple copies of legendary creatures, giving himself multiple vampire tokens when attacking via M.F.-Dusk.) that he gladly corrected after I pointed them out. Regardless, I had a good chunk of mana in my opening hand and drew nothing but lands. It makes it hard to win when you don’t have anything to play.
I’m not really sure how to take this loss. Game one was close, game two was a bit of bad luck that’s bound to happen. The guy seemed nice enough and I don’t have any reason to say he was cheating but I would have certainly won game one if my life totals were accurate even just one of the few times they diverged and I wasn’t really off during any of my other rounds. I wouldn’t really question that at all if he didn’t screw up several times in game two (which I didn’t have a shot in due to all those lands). As of now I’m going with innocent until proven guilty but this is a guy who I’m going to be paying close attention to if I play him again.
Round four: Win
A pretty solid Esper Approach deck. Pretty straight forward wins. Game one, I just curved in for the win before he could do much.
Game two was a lot more grindy, Kitesail grabbed a Push but told me he also had two Settle the Wreckage which he would soon have enough mana to play so I had to hold back my attacks a bit. Eventually, he’d settle to Settle two creatures at a time while I built up my boardstate. Scarab God came out to play, and brought back a Rigging Runner to help his cause but I got him down to 2. He played approach but couldn’t compete with my board state and I swung in for lethal.
I made aggro RB pirates but put 3x Glorybringer for late game or finisher. And thinking to put Angrath, the Flame-Chained. What do you think about Glorybringer and Angrath?
I love them! Angrath in particular seems like he could take a blocker and induce a huge swing. Glorybringer can also take out a blocker and 4 hasty damage is no joke.
But there's a balance. How many lands do you need to have to support 5-drops? Can you get enough low drops to get in enough damage before Fumigate comes down? I wanted my Dire Fleet Captains to be big. So I needed a good number of 1 drops.
Maybe you want a transformational go-medium-sized sideboard. Show us a list and let us know how it does!
This Friday night went a bit different with my pirates. Whereas the last two weeks I went 3-1, this week I went 1-3. While I did tinker a little (replaced a mountain with a Canyon and a Daredevil with a Fathom Fleet Capitan) but this didn’t really factor in negatively at all.
Game 1: loss 1-2
Mono red aggro
This game could have went either way (and has). Played against my friend / Magic “teammate” (no, we’re not on an actual team but we’ve been playing with each other throughout most of Magic’s history, we playtest against each other once a week and go to events / fnm together). He won but it was close, both of the decks we were playing tend to go 50-50 against each other.
Game 2: loss 1-2
GW Cats
A rematch against the Cats I played last week. Even though I crushed it the week before I knew the Cats had it going on. Partially bad draws, I can blame a big part of my game 1 loss to keeping a hand I shouldn’t have (this was probably the only teachable moment I took away from the night) when I kept a one land hand (1 Daring Buccaneer, 2 Rigging Runner, 1 Kitesail Freebooter, 2 Dire Fleet Captains and a Canyon Slough… I was on the draw and the potential for that hand is obvious but I didn’t get that second land until it was too late). Game two, I won pretty straight forward and game 3 went down to the line but his life-gains turned it around for him.
Game 3: Loss 1-2
G/W Dinosaurs
Game one I got flooded. Game two my deck did what it was supposed to and I won. Game three was more of a game and his Kinjalli’s Sunwings disrupted my usage of post-combat Rigging Runners and Poisoners as flashed in blockers and he took the win.
Game 4: Won 2-0
Grixis Pirates
I won these games pretty handedly. My pirates came in fast and mean both games while his came out looking like he had no game plain at all. I attribute this just as much to good / bad draws as anything.
After this Friday's results I will be working on an extended report of my first month with Pirates.
Maybe it’s a little cutesy but I’m pondering putting in some unclaimed territories in my land-base, go slightly Grixis by slipping in a little Admiral Beckett Brass. My thought is here that so far it seems as if this deck can win against most decks but can also loose against any vaguely legit deck and my biggest problems have come from running hot and cold with my lands (at a pretty even rate… and just dealing with quantity… fixing isn’t an issue so much). Those things are pretty much true about any deck though. Currently, I feel like I’m doing slightly better against control decks, aggro decks are a mixed bag and I tend to do my worst against solid midrange. Besides being another thing that makes my guys bigger and that being a generally good thing, I think her ability would help a good deal with most midrange decks at the point where I still have more guys and they begin to bring out their big guns. I playtested this idea out a bit last night and it seemed to work better than I thought it would. I’m gonna give it a shot on Friday. Has anyone else experiment with Brass splashed in a (mostly) Rakdos build? Does it seem like a particularly good or bad idea to anyone?
I've played with the super fast aggro build with buffs and Buccaneer's Bravado, which can win turn four. Problem is that mono red is so consistent. I've considered a grixis build with the good admiral, as well as dreamcaller siren, warkite marauder, hostage taker(possibly side), and finally siren stormtamer is a great one drop. Also lookout's dispersal is a good utility card. Problem is we lose speed with blue, but we gain some things as well. Anyways, I haven't seen a build I like yet with all three colors.
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"I hope to have such a death—lying in triumph upon the broken bodies of those who slew me."
—Radha, Keldon warlord
I've played with the super fast aggro build with buffs and Buccaneer's Bravado, which can win turn four. Problem is that mono red is so consistent. I've considered a grixis build with the good admiral, as well as dreamcaller siren, warkite marauder, hostage taker(possibly side), and finally siren stormtamer is a great one drop. Also lookout's dispersal is a good utility card. Problem is we lose speed with blue, but we gain some things as well. Anyways, I haven't seen a build I like yet with all three colors.
Hello, i'n new in std, i made a post ask to help cause i dont find nothing exatcly about it, but after see your post, i a breach to show it...
In tryng a grixis build with the blue cards you cited (The counters helps a lot, Dreamcaller helps a lot)
4 Fanatical Firebrand
3 Rigging Runner
4 Dire Fleet Captain
4 Fathom Fleet Captain
4 Dire Fleet Poisoner
2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4 Ruin Raider
2 March of the Drowned
4 Lightning strike
4 other spells
Land
4 Unclaimed Territory
4 Dragonskull Summit
8 Mountain
5 Swamp
Is this nuts? Normally I just jank around with midrange, but ... Nevelo, where are you?
I know, only 9 B sources for spells. Maybe the spells need to all be R.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
4 Captain Lannery Storm
3 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4 Rigging Runner
4 Dire Fleet Captain
4 Kitesail Freebooter
4 Daring Buccaneer
3 Dire Fleet Poisoner
4 Ruin Raider
4 Treasure Map
Instants (4)
4 Buccaneer's Bravado
Lands (22)
4 Dragonskull Summit
6 Mountain
4 Swamp
4 Canyon Slough
4 Unclaimed Territory
2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4 Kitesail Freebooter
3 Rigging Runner
4 Fanatical Firebrand
4 Fathom Fleet Captain
4 Dire Fleet Captain
4 Daring Buccaneer
4 Dire Fleet Poisoner
4 Ruin Raider
1 Dire Fleet Neckbreaker
4 Canyon Slough
4 Dragonskull Summit
3 Unclaimed Territory
3 Swamp
6 Mountain
Artifact
1 Fell Flagship
Instant
3 Lightning Strike
Sorcery
2 March of the Drowned
2 Deadeye Tracker
1 Harsh Mentor
1 Rampaging Ferocidon
2 Vance's Blasting Cannons
1 Mountain
3 Fiery Cannonade
3 Dispossess
2 March of the Drowned
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
How is he not in your lists? Just curious.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Needs moar Delver.
In other news, mtggoldfish does a budget take here: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/budget-magic-53-26-tix-rb-pirates-standard .
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
I tried Wanted Scoundrel for a while, as he can provide a turn 3 kill if you have a 2 power 1 drop on 1, Wanted on 2, then Buccaneers Bravado and a built to smash on turn 3. As its flavor text suggests, the reward isnt worth it lol.
Needs moar Delver.
I beat Vampires and Merfolk while losing to a cool Jund deck that mained 3 Sweltering Suns and sided in two Golden Demise and 2 Hour of Devastation. In the losing match, I over committed to the board in one loss and flooded out in the other.
At the last minute, I upped the land count from 20 to 21 and I regretted it as I flooded out a lot. Fiery Cannonade was great from the sideboard and Dire Fleet Neckbreaker was amazing. Neckbreaker seems very situational so I am reluctant to add another to the main, but they just ended games on the spot. Freebooter was fine. Unfortunately, nobody ever tried to block Kari Zev, so I never got to use Poisoner to combine First Strike and Deathtouch.
I am sure that some number of Hazoret is better and would help the flood problem. Ifnir Deadlands or Ramunap Ruins could help also. I'm thinking of Heartless Pillaging for the midrange matchup. The main creatures that I was worried about were Legion Loyalist and Merfolk Mistbinder, so Shock might be better than Lightning Strike.
A blue splash could help with the sweeper problem, but with Dire Fleet Captain, I fear getting fancy with the mana.
The vulnerability to sweepers seems like the biggest problem, but the deck is quite fun. I don't know that I'd recommend it for a PPTQ or a GP but it could make for an enjoyable FNM-level event.
If anybody else is running something similar, I'd love to see your feedback and see your decklists.
Here's what I'll be packing for next time:
2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4 Kitesail Freebooter
4 Rigging Runner
3 Fanatical Firebrand
4 Fathom Fleet Captain
4 Dire Fleet Captain
4 Daring Buccaneer
4 Dire Fleet Poisoner
4 Ruin Raider
1 Dire Fleet Neckbreaker
1 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Canyon Slough
4 Dragonskull Summit
3 Unclaimed Territory
4 Swamp
5 Mountain
Artifact
1 Fell Flagship
Instant
1 Lightning Strike
1 Shock
Sorcery
2 March of the Drowned
1 Deadeye Tracker
2 Dire Fleet Daredevil
1 Raiders' Wake
1 Fatal Push
1 Abrade
1 Chandra's Defeat
3 Fiery Cannonade
1 Dispossess
2 Heartless Pillage
2 Duress
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
The list is a bit tweaked (here). I think it could stand to be tuned more and in the hands of a good pilot, maybe take down an FNM-level event.
I definitely want to cut a March of the Drowned and add a removal. The Heartless Pillage/Raiders Wake plan worked against Approach, but I still have doubts.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
// 31 Creature
4 Daring Buccaneer
4 Dire Fleet Captain
4 Dire Fleet Neckbreaker
2 Fanatical Firebrand
3 Fathom Fleet Captain
4 Grasping Scoundrel
2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
2 Rigging Runner
2 Ruin Raider
4 Dire Fleet Poisoner
4 Lightning Strike
3 Fatal Push
// 22 Land
9 Mountain
9 Swamp
4 Unclaimed Territory
I play a lot of 1 drops and that's why i have not included any tap land in my deck, i want to be able to play my one drop 100% of the times. neckbreacker is amazing!
Pioneer: WURFaerie fires BRGDragons
ModernBGElves WRBurn UR Fires Turns URGift Storm UG Twiddle Storm
4 Daring Buccaneer
4 Rigging Runner
2 Fanatical Firebrand
4 Dire Fleet Poisoner
4 Fathom Fleet Captain
1 Dire Fleet Daredevil
2 Captain lannery Storm
3 Forerunner of the coalition
3 Dire Fleet Neckbreaker
4 Fatal Push
2 Lightning Strike
2 Abrade
2 Fell Flagship
Lands:
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Canyon Slough
1 Scavenger grounds
1 Ifnir Deadlands
9 Mountain
6 Swamp
2 Fiery Cannonade
2 Vraska's Contempt
3 Silent Gravestone
3 Duress
1 Doomfall
4 Gifted Aetherborn
Creatures:
1 Drops:
I want to be able to play a one drop on turn one, so I thought making 1/6 of the deck one drops would be good.
Daring Buccaneer - One of the few reasons to play red pirates. A 2/2 on turn one is great.
Rigging Runner - I'd rather play this on turn 2 or 3 with the raid trigger, but I'd settle for a 1/1 first strike on t1. Works well with poisoner.
Fanatical Firebrand - I've enjoyed playing this card a lot so far. It makes for some great combat tricks. "Do you want to block my 2/2 with your 3/3?". Also pretty good as a chump blocker against trample/lifelink. I wouldn't mind more, but I like 10 1 drops and the previous 2 are much better.
2 Drops:
I really want to curve out or at least be able to play a 2 drop and 1 drop on turn 3, so I'm running 9 2 drops. I had 8, but am testing Daredevil currently.
Dire Fleet Poisoner - Every black pirate deck needs this. It was a tough decision whether this or gifted aetherborn was better, but flash is so huge. Being able to play on the opponent's end step after saving removal for anything troublesome is perfect. Also makes rigging runner and daredevil bigger threats. So good.
Fathom Fleet Captain - Every time I play this it has a huge target on its back. It either gets really dumb really quick or becomes "Discard 1 fatal push from target opponent's hand". Menace is nice.
Dire Fleet Daredevil - Currently testing. I don't want too many 2 drops, so I only have one in right now, but it's been pretty good, but it's dependant. Early game it's a first strike 2/1 which is good with poisoner, but not ideal. Later in the game it is a problem and can have the opponent reconsider playing sorceries/instants. Still testing.
3 Drops:
Like I said, I'd like to curve out, but I don't want to get flooded with 3+ cmc cards in my starting hand, so I am running 5 currently.
Captain Lannery Storm - I've been on the fence with lannery storm. I won't take her out because having access to that 4th mana to play a neckbreaker is crucial, but she takes a while to make a real threat. I loved the interaction with her and buccaneers bravado, but ended up cutting it because it was too situational.
Forerunner of the coalition - I prefer forerunner over lannery storm right now. My main targets with the tutor are: neckbreaker to close the game out soon, fathom fleet captain to create more of a board presence, and lannery storm for the extra mana. Poisoner if I need to deal with a hydra/tyrant. The second effect gets really nasty with fathom fleet captain too. I've closed some games out just by playing a handful of pirates.
4 drops:
Only running 3, but I have forerunner to tutor for it if needed.
Dire Fleet Neckbreaker - Ends games, period. It's highly susceptible to red removal, so I may end up putting some march of the drowned in the sideboard.
Spells:
I originally had 4 lightning strikes and 4 shocks, but I'd rather be playing more creatures putting pressure on the board. More testing needed.
Fatal push - no reason not to run 4. It's one of the best removal spells in all of magic.
Lightning Strike - Running 2 right now. I had 4, but replaced 2 with abrade in the mainboard due to the rise of mardu vehicles.
Abrade- Just neccesary with God Pharoah's gift and mardu vehicles right now.
Fell Flagship - I like it because it buffs the pirates. Making 3/2 menace tokens is insane. Can put pressure on the opponent to dump their hand early too.
Lands:
I'm only running 2 canyon sloughs because I really want to be able to play a one drop turn 1. Cycle is relevant late game too.
Dragonskull summit. Fixes mana. It's worth the chance of not playing a one drop turn 1 to be able to cast what i need whenever.
scavenger grounds - may come out since I sideboard silent gravestones. Obviously here to deal with scarab god and GPG.
Sideboard:
Gifted Aetherborn - Great against carnage tyrant & hydra. Great against aggro decks (mono red). Eats a removal, so essence extraction may be the better option, but am opting with aetherborn right now.
Silent Gravestone - Stops graveyard strategies (in standard). Stops scarab god, stops GPG. I've seen journey to eternity as well. But being able to hose 2 main cards of some tier 1 decks is reason enough to run some. 3 may be too many, still testing.
Vraska's contempt - Chandra, scarab god, hazoret. Has to be in the 75. In the side because the deck doesn't want to have long games.
Fiery Cannonade - In with the rise of vampires and merfolk. Also hits mono-red pretty hard. Great card since it doesn't hit any of my cards except aetherborn.
Doomfall - Utility. May take out a gravestone and add a second doomfall. Deals with troublesome cards. Usually comes in against control with duresses to hit torrential gearhulks, search for azcantas, etc.
Duress- Brought in against control mainly. UW Cycling too. Answers problems.
Opinions? I'd like to get this as competetive as possible. I also run UB Pirates which has been much more consistent so far.
EDIT:
There's a few cards I'm not running which are questionable. Here's my explanation:
Ruin Raider: I love the card and the idea of it. I was running 2-3... but I have a horrible habit of hitting 2 neckbreakers in a row with it.
Unclaimed territory: Doesn't work well with dragonskull summit. I'm on the fence with it.
Kari Zev: She's great, I love her... but the other 2 drops are better imo. If ragavan was a pirate she would be in here, but I don't want to gum up the 2 drop slot, and she just hasn't been better than the others. I'd prefer daredevil for the first strike.
Kitesail Freebooter: Same thing. It takes up space in the 2 drop slot, and this is more of an aggro deck than a midrange. I want to force pressure, and kitesail is more on the control side of things. At least compared to the other 2 drops.
Bomat Courior: Had bomat in here... the fact it isn't a pirate made me cut it.
I have a lower curve, so Ruin Raider would be worse for you than I. Your deck is more mid-range, so that might be correct, even though I love it in my deck.
I am on the fence about Fell Flagship, but I am running 1 as an experiment. I look forward to hearing how it works for you.
I do have concerns about your curve and your manabase.
I like holding Poisoner to flash in responsively. It looks to me like you will often have to play it turn 2 for lack of any other turn 2 play. I would want more 2 drops to allow flexibility in using Poisoner.
I count 9 untapped R sources turn 1 and 13 B sources total. As I understand it, for a 90% chance of hitting an R 1 drop, you would need 14 untapped R sources turn 1. For a 90% chance of a turn 2 Gifted Aetherborn, you would need about 20 B sources. For a 90% chance of casting Vraska's Contempt on turn 4, 18 sources. For consistency, I would tweak the Mana and maybe reconsider BB spells. Fortunately, no important pirates seem to need BB, but Unclaimed Territory on Pirates doesn't even help with Gifted Aetherborn.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
I love the idea of ruin raider but i just don't have good luck with it so far.
As for fell flagship... I have liked it so far because the boost is a massive help with so many 2/2 pirates. It can get hard to fight it out... But I'm not sure if something else would be better. Perhaps 2 ruin raider?
I don't mind playing a poisoner on t2 (end phase of opponents turn usually). It makes them consider it all game and a 2/2 DT isn't bad at all. That's if it's my only t2 play too. Like daredevil, it gains value in the course of the game but isn't a bad t2.
I like your perspective on the manabase. But I don't know what I'd do with it. I thought about changing sloughs to mountains.. But I don't want to get bit on not having enough B sources. Especially if Im running aetherborn or essence extraction. Even lost legacy if needed.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
4 Rigging Runner
4 Dire Fleet Captain
3 Dire Fleet Daredevil
3 Dire Fleet Poisoner
2 Fathom Fleet Captain
3 Kitesail Freebooter
3 Captain Lannery Storm
3 Dire Fleet Neckbreaker
3 Canyon Slough
4 Dragonskull Summit
7 Mountain
7 Swamp
1 Vanquisher's Banner
1 The Immortal Sun
2 Fatal Push
2 Lightning Strike
1 Vraska's Contempt
3 March of the Drowned
An early draft, any feedback is appreciated.
Bienvenu! Per Standard Deck Creation Forum Rules, "If you want to post a new thread in this forum, please check and make sure there isn't already a thread on the same topic." Hence I am merging this with the existing Rakdos Aggro Pirates thread. - hoser2
Modern: Goblins,Storm
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Simic Merfolk
I look forward to hearing how it works, particularly Lannery Storm.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Brief rundown of rounds:
Round 1: Win
Round one saw me sweep against an ok w/b Vampire deck. I had everything going for me during this round. The player was (is) a very nice guy, a player of moderate skill who typically goes 1-2 or 2-2 (I’ve seen him go 3-1 once). His deck was solid enough to be competitive but probably not the most premium list. I was also helped here by very good draws (game two ended with three Dire Fleet Captains, two Rigging Runners and a Neck Breaker on deck).
Round 2: Win
Round two I found myself matched up with a w/u Approach deck.
Game one I came out swinging, did a bit of damage but then my deck got turned off by all kindsa control. Approach, Approach, I loose.
For game two I swapped out my Fatal Push’s and Lightning Strikes for 3 Wanted Scoundrels and a Vraska’s Contempt. Game two went pretty much how I wanted, I was able to dish out enough damage to win before I got locked down.
Game three, I went in with the same look and he swapped in some Regal Caracal’s. I came in, did a bit of damage but the lock started to come down with two Settle the Wreckage’s (I knew he had them so I never swung all in but still wound up getting four lands against the two of them), a Caracal came out and they had blockers. I was able to play an Immortal sun but was getting locked solidly in place, the Vanquisher’s Banner came out and a March of the Drowned turned my empty hand into a scary chain-reaction of “draw two cards, cast cheap pirate, draw a card, cast cheap pirate, draw a card..”.
Round 3: Loss
A good player with what I can best describe as a slightly unconventional but amazingly effective Sultai Midrange / Constrictor hybrid deck. I came out swinging game one and it looked good for me until he did a chunk’ o life gain and made my board look really sad next to his. Game two I side-boarded in some stuff that never saw the light of day, it was a fast forward version of game one.
Round 4: Win
Faced off against some pretty fierce R/G Dinosaurs. Pretty straight forward. Lost game one after a long, drawn out game (I was ahead, he got some life and was able to fill the board with big Dinos and eat up my dead Pirates). Won game two in four rounds with little resistance, curved out really nice with a turn one Daring Buccaneer, turn two Dire Fleet Capitan, turn three Dire Fleet Capitan and a Rigging Runner with +1/1, turn 4 Dire Fleet Neckbreaker (which didn’t need to attack but helped give +2/0's). Game three was much closer but Dire Fleet poisoner helped save the day from a Carnage Tyrant and I swept in for the win.
Modern: Goblins,Storm
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Simic Merfolk
Round one: (win-ish) Bye.
It’s hard to loose when you just win.
Round two: Win
Round two I went up against a pretty solid G/W Cats deck. I would feel pretty bad about saying I went 3-1 again if this match up didn’t follow up my bye. The the player and his were both pretty solid, my pirates just did exactly what they were made to do.
Game one: I curved beautifully, (Daring Buccaneer, Dire Fleet Capitan, Captain Lannery Storm & Rigging Runner, (a minor setback, my captains die from blockers but come back post-combat via March of the drowned), Neck Breaker – win).
Game two: This game was a little more of a grind. Both of our decks were going off pretty good but the Magic gods were on my side and I was able to pull and cast both Vanquisher’s Banner and Immortal Sun. Either of these cards are pretty darn good to get out but if you’ve got both out things get real crazy, most of your pirates cast for 1 at this point, you’re drawing for 2 and 1 for each pirate you play and the “worst” Pirate that could even be cast at this comes out as a 4/4 vanilla. I’m pretty amazed I was able to pull this off two weeks in a row since they’re both one-offs in the deck but I did and it’s pretty sweet when it happens. The turn after I got these out I started with an empty hand but after my double draw, quickly started transforming the board state, as I did so he did his math and coincided before I swung.
Round three: Loss
Round three I went up against a pretty solid B/W Vampire deck. I have kinda mixed feelings about this loss. As a note, I’m transitioning from using dice to keep score to an electronic device. The guy seemed nice enough and I’ve seen him around a couple times but I don’t know him as well as many of the regulars.
Game one was really close (got him down to 1 life), several times throughout the game he would call out his life total and it wasn’t quite as low as I had it. None of these times were the very dramatically different and I attributed it to me missing one of his various methods of lifegain and / or not being used to my new Mojo. It really was a pretty solid (not the very best I’ve seen but pretty darn good) Vampire deck.
Game two wasn’t very close, I wound up getting flooded hard. I noticed a few times during this game that the guy had made some illegal / wrong plays (attacking with creatures that had summoning sickness, trying to play multiple copies of legendary creatures, giving himself multiple vampire tokens when attacking via M.F.-Dusk.) that he gladly corrected after I pointed them out. Regardless, I had a good chunk of mana in my opening hand and drew nothing but lands. It makes it hard to win when you don’t have anything to play.
I’m not really sure how to take this loss. Game one was close, game two was a bit of bad luck that’s bound to happen. The guy seemed nice enough and I don’t have any reason to say he was cheating but I would have certainly won game one if my life totals were accurate even just one of the few times they diverged and I wasn’t really off during any of my other rounds. I wouldn’t really question that at all if he didn’t screw up several times in game two (which I didn’t have a shot in due to all those lands). As of now I’m going with innocent until proven guilty but this is a guy who I’m going to be paying close attention to if I play him again.
Round four: Win
A pretty solid Esper Approach deck. Pretty straight forward wins. Game one, I just curved in for the win before he could do much.
Game two was a lot more grindy, Kitesail grabbed a Push but told me he also had two Settle the Wreckage which he would soon have enough mana to play so I had to hold back my attacks a bit. Eventually, he’d settle to Settle two creatures at a time while I built up my boardstate. Scarab God came out to play, and brought back a Rigging Runner to help his cause but I got him down to 2. He played approach but couldn’t compete with my board state and I swung in for lethal.
Modern: Goblins,Storm
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Simic Merfolk
But there's a balance. How many lands do you need to have to support 5-drops? Can you get enough low drops to get in enough damage before Fumigate comes down? I wanted my Dire Fleet Captains to be big. So I needed a good number of 1 drops.
Maybe you want a transformational go-medium-sized sideboard. Show us a list and let us know how it does!
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Game 1: loss 1-2
Mono red aggro
This game could have went either way (and has). Played against my friend / Magic “teammate” (no, we’re not on an actual team but we’ve been playing with each other throughout most of Magic’s history, we playtest against each other once a week and go to events / fnm together). He won but it was close, both of the decks we were playing tend to go 50-50 against each other.
Game 2: loss 1-2
GW Cats
A rematch against the Cats I played last week. Even though I crushed it the week before I knew the Cats had it going on. Partially bad draws, I can blame a big part of my game 1 loss to keeping a hand I shouldn’t have (this was probably the only teachable moment I took away from the night) when I kept a one land hand (1 Daring Buccaneer, 2 Rigging Runner, 1 Kitesail Freebooter, 2 Dire Fleet Captains and a Canyon Slough… I was on the draw and the potential for that hand is obvious but I didn’t get that second land until it was too late). Game two, I won pretty straight forward and game 3 went down to the line but his life-gains turned it around for him.
Game 3: Loss 1-2
G/W Dinosaurs
Game one I got flooded. Game two my deck did what it was supposed to and I won. Game three was more of a game and his Kinjalli’s Sunwings disrupted my usage of post-combat Rigging Runners and Poisoners as flashed in blockers and he took the win.
Game 4: Won 2-0
Grixis Pirates
I won these games pretty handedly. My pirates came in fast and mean both games while his came out looking like he had no game plain at all. I attribute this just as much to good / bad draws as anything.
After this Friday's results I will be working on an extended report of my first month with Pirates.
Modern: Goblins,Storm
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Simic Merfolk
Modern: Goblins,Storm
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Simic Merfolk
—Radha, Keldon warlord
Hello, i'n new in std, i made a post ask to help cause i dont find nothing exatcly about it, but after see your post, i a breach to show it...
In tryng a grixis build with the blue cards you cited (The counters helps a lot, Dreamcaller helps a lot)
my list
1x Admiral Beckett Brass
4x Daring Buccaneer
3x Dire Fleet Neckbreaker
3x Dreamcaller Siren
3x Fathom Fleet Captain
4x Kitesail Freebooter
4x Siren Stormtamer
4x Warkite Marauder
4x Dragonskull Summit
4x Drowned Catacomb
1x Fetid Pools
4x Island
1x Mountain
4x Spirebluff Canal
2x Swamp
3x Unclaimed Territory
4x Lightning Strike
4x Lookout's Dispersal
Enchantment (3)
3x One With the Wind
Feedback are welcome