Went 3-1 at FNM again. I’m pretty happy with the results in general and I really dig how this deck plays. I still think of it as a work in progress but it’s functioning pretty well along the way. Through every iteration of the deck so far I’ve found this much to be true, this crew can win against pretty much anything thrown against it but also has the potential to loose to pretty much any legitimate deck.
Round 1: (2-0) Vs. W/U Auras
It was a solid deck and a good pilot but killing off his creatures with Fatal Push & Dire Fleet Poisoner made all his fancy enchantment work go away. This played out the same both games.
Round 2: (2-0) Vs. R/B Pirates
My opponent had a slightly more straight forward aggro R/B Pirates list than I was running. They went on to go 3-1 for the night as well but this just wasn’t their game round.
Game one started out pretty close, with them on the offensive with some small fast pirates but my pirates got big and I wound up catching up on his numbers with the help of some tokens so that was game.
Game two, my opponentfelt they needed to keep a bad hand after mulligans. It was like goldfishing a win.
Round 3: (0-2) Vs. W/U Approach
Same player and deck I played a few weeks ago. This time results were a bit different. Round 1 wound up the same. I came out fast, he neutralized my guys and then proceeded to Approach his way to a win.
Game two I boarded in the right cards against approach and wound up with a two land hand which looked pretty good but I proceeded to draw nothing but lands… (in a game against a control deck) … this is not hyperbole... A Fumigate came and was my turn to get goldfished by a Gideon of the Trials. It was not the golden age of piracy.
Round 4:(2-0) Vs. R/G Aggro
In short, I won. My guys came out fast, got big and ran him over. While I think this deck has the tools to deal with me it wasn’t able to come up with them this night.
These games were both pretty short and straight forward.
The Admiral worked out better than I thought she would. Captian Lannery Storm and Fathom Fleet Capitan both work well with her helping get out more cheap Pirates on the fly and menace tokens help your pirates get through to do damage. Between Unclaimed Territory and Captian Lannery Storm that blue mana isn’t hard to come by though I’m pondering running a single island just in case of a situation where the good Capitan is unavailable and your opponent is making you trade your Unclaimed Territories for basic lands and you’re stuck with an Admiral Becket Brass (or two…) in your hand, three may be the wrong number for this card, I’ll likely bring back the Immortal Sun but it depends on how my play-testing night goes this week but it can be very handy with the other pirates in this deck.
Anyway, I’ll be working on my month one report on this deck soon.
After a month of evolution which is still continuing there’s a lot to be said about Pirates in general and R/B pirates in specific. Though technically I’ve got a single (currently two-of), blue manna cost at this point I still think of this deck as a R/B affair and while I’m not particularly committed to this ratio there probably won’t be much blue in this deck in the future but I’ll touch on that more in bit.
While constant changes to the deck makes these numbers a bit blurry since no week has been played with the same exact look. Out of four weeks, I have gone 10-6 in total rounds and 21-14 in individual games, reduced I’m at 5-3 (60%) rounds won vs. loss and just a little better 3-2 (about 67%) in individual games . None of these numbers are terribly amazing but three out of four weeks I’ve gone 3-1 and that’s at least pretty good.
Getting to the meat and potatoes, there are a lot of really great Pirates, support cards for Pirates and a lot of different ways to play pirates (and I’m thinking I’m not even seeing all of them at this point). I’m not even going to attempt to cover them all. I would say that at their core, Pirates in general are a pretty aggressive group with highly cost efficient creatures. If you want to play a straight forward aggro with Pirates I would probably suggest mono red. It’s been said before, there are enough good red pirates to go that route. But then again… the same can probably be said in general (that one can make pretty fierce mono blue or black) pirates as well. While Raid is super common trigger amongst pirate-y things suggesting, a level of aggression across the board. Pirates also come equipped with a wide range of really useful abilities at great value. Ok, so maybe that came off as a bit vague and hype-y but there’s a bit of a warning here too. There are so many (mostly cheap,) useful pirates that it creates a bit of a dilemma at first (especially at 3 colors), figuring out what to do with such a swiss-army tribe as pirates. Since we’re brewing standard we can only reasonably fit so many pirates into our decks.
I’m having a bit of a hard time identifying this build with an archtype (other than “tribal”) which isn’t a big deal but presents a bit of an issue here when describing the hows and whys of playing it.
The heart of this deck is an aggro philosphy; the curve is pretty low to the ground for the most part, while the highest cmc card in here comes in pretty high at six, most of the cards can come out at two. While deck works under a fundamentally aggressive creature concept (use cheap, efficient creatures to smash your opponent’s life down to 0) there’s a number of rogue elements in this deck (that’s a joke… since pirates are rogueish… which really begs the question if there was a human pirate wizard why not a goblin pirate rogue… oh, the Breeches, card that should have been, I lament thee, in my heart of hearts you’ll always be a legendary goblin pirate rogue that works like legion loyalist but only affects pirates or something along those lines… I digress...) and it’s constructed with an eye a bit more towards responsiveness and some other stuff slightly less straight forward than just straight ahead face bashing. That said, there’s still a good bit of face-bashing to be had.
Without anymore preambling, here’s the card breakdown for my current build.
Creatures:
1 Mana
4 Daring Buccaneers might be a little vanilla but a 2/2 for 1 is pretty good value. This might be the worst creature in the deck but it’s the best thing to put down on turn one. There are tons of Pirates in this deck so revealing the next one you’re about to put out is not too hard to make happen.
4 Rigging Runners can pass for a round one drop down (especially if you’re pretty certain you’re going to get a Neckbreaker or you’ve got a Poisoner up your sleeve), a 1/1 first striker for 1 isn’t bad (it beats Bomat Currier and most creatures with */1) , but generally speaking you want it to come out with its raid trigger activated because a 2/2 first striker for 1 is great (once again, especially if you’re pretty certain you’re going to get a Neckbreaker or you’ve got a Poisoner up your sleeve... the good Admiral doesn’t hurt either).
2 Mana
4 Dire Fleet Captain , this card is an all star here for a pretty uncomplicated reason; all your creatures are pirates so it’s going to get +1/1 for every other body swinging with it. Most of the time, when you swing the DFC will be your biggest guy and he only costs 2 mana.
3 Dire Fleet Poisoner , a deathtouch grizzly bear with flash that if you flash in during an attack you can also use as a combat trick is hard to beat. If I could sneak in four of these I would, and I might at some point. Obviously, you get the most mileage off of this card if you flash (especially if someone tries to block one of your first strikers with a big body) it in but it’s not bad on its own.
3 Kitesail Freebooter , this card isn’t quite as aggressive as the rest of the deck but there are lots of great reasons to play it on turn two or whenever. A 1 /2 flier isn’t bad, especially if your opponent has no fliers but being able to see what they have in their hand and possibly keeping them from holding something that can be very useful against this deck.
3 Fathom Fleet Captain , this is another card I would run more of if I had the room. This card is pretty straight forward 2/1 menace will either eat up some of their removal or allow you to start pumping out pirates. If they decide to double block, that’s a great time to flash out a Poisoner if you’ve got one. This guy might not be the one who does the big hits but he and the crew he helps summon will help those big hits get through. It’s also great to have on the board later as a place to spend mana if you’re low on cards or holding back because you know your opponent has board-wipes.
3 Mana
3 Captain Lannery Storm, I’ve sometimes questioned if 3 is the right number for a legendary creature in this deck but in this case, I think it is. She’s a very useful lady. Obviously, haste is nice, there’s not a lot of haste in this deck. If she comes out on turn 3 you could feasibly (Daring Buccaneer, Dire Fleet Capitan, Captain Lannery Storm) be swinging for 8 and getting a treasure which can be applied well in a number of ways (only 3 land and a neckbreaker? Neckbreaker comes out next turn, you can maybe swing for 15. Got another land and a Vanquisher’s Banner? You’re swinging for 12 next turn and setting yourself up for a lot of card draw. Got a Rigging Runner? Pop it in post-combat and next turn you’re swinging for 11… the point is, treasure is handy). Sure, at 3 you’re likely to get more than one of her sometimes so if you do, just keep swinging with her as is reasonable because only one can be out at a time and if you have a second, she becomes a body you don’t need to bring back with March of the Drowned or a problem for your opponent. Her +1 for spending treasure can also be important at times.
2 Forerunner of the Coalition, this lady is a new addition so I’m not sure how she’s gonna work with the rest of my crew. She’s not an amazing body for attacking or blocking but she’s got a few features which help you leap from the bulk of your crew to some of your more fancy tricks. While there are reasons to tutor for most pirates in this deck. depending on what your hand looks like your best bet is either Capitan Lannery Storm, Dire Fleet Neckbreaker or Admiral Becket Brass. This is her primary reason for being here, (like Lannery) she’s a 3 drop that helps you bring out your guys that’ll make your little guys a bit bigger. Her point of damage for each pirate cast is undoubtedly useful on some level at any point but this gets super crazy with your artifacts in play.
4 Mana
2 Dire Fleet Neckbreaker, this guy is a force of nature, generally speaking you don’t even have to attack with him. That he gives +2/0 to all of your attacking creatures is pretty great but this is doubly true for all of your first strikers. While it can be a pretty nasty attacker too it’s probably best not to use him as such unless you are pretty sure that there is no way your opponent can kill him (blockers, combat tricks, Settle The Wreckage) when you do so because his bonus to all other attackers will do you a lot more good in the long run. As is also the case with Brass, the reason there’s only two of these guys in the deck is trying to keep the curve low but with two Forerunners they’re both effectively four ofs if you want them to be, which take up half the number of slots.
2 Admiral Beckett Brass, Brass was a bit of an experiment that went well. By the time you can cast her, chances are you’ll have come across an unclaimed territory or Capitan Lannery Storm, so that blue mana should be no problem. Generally speaking, the Neckbreaker will help you win faster but in some situations you may find yourself better served stealing their stuff or making your other bodies a little tougher.
Instants
1 Mana
2 Fatal Push, it’s pretty good at killing things. There’s only 2, if you get one use it wisely.
2 Mana
2 Lightning Strike, is decent at killing things and a swell way to dish out a final blow to an opponent. Once again, there’s only 2, use them wisely.
Sorcery
3 March of the Drowned , this card has the potential to be a real back breaker in this deck. Clearly, it’s always good to be able to bring back guys from the dead but all of these creatures can come back from the dead at a rate of 2 creatures for 1 mana with this card. That’s a better value than many, if not most removal out there. Most of your pirates are pretty cheap so it’s not unreasonable to have them back on the battlefield pretty soon after getting them out of your graveyard.
I have these two gems together on this list for a reason. They weren’t in my earliest drafts and when I show off my deck these two cards cause the most head scratching. While earlier versions seemed to work pretty well, there seemed to come a point pretty early (in test games) where, if I didn’t win by my Pirates would be getting outclassed (they might be really efficient one and two drops but most of my creatures are still one and two drops). Obviously, they’re a bit heavy on the casting cost. While I love what it looks like when they can get out there I’m not feeling brave enough to put more than one of either one in more than once (not only because you don’t want to get stuck with two cards like this early game but because there’s not much room in the deck but still, getting these two out together feels good enough to make me want to run them both as two-ofs) but I do tend to think of them as a two of rather than two one ofs.
The idea is this, the deck is pretty efficient. There’s very little haste but it’s pretty easy to fill up the board and your “worst” Pirate is a 2/2. Unfortunately, by the time you could play a card with 5-6 cmc you’ll probably find yourself with a mostly (if not entirely) empty hand and that your creatures are starting to get outclassed by midrange decks or getting the clampdown put on you by control. Both of these cards help out by making your guys a bit bigger and helping out with card advantage and they both do so in slightly different ways which in combination (which, admittedly involves a great deal of luck but I’ve had it happen more than a few times) makes this deck into a machine that’s probably going to win you the game provided you can live long enough to reap the benefits. In both cases, +1/1 is useful to all but exceptionally useful to all your first strikers.
The Immortal Sun is situationally very useful against all walkers which factors differently game to game but it’s never a bad thing for you.
If you get both of these cards out your “worst” Pirate is 4/4 (and if you have a neck breaker too your worst is a 6/4, add a Brass and you’re at 7/5…. which costs 1 mana and gives you a draw). Your creature curve becomes even lower, and you can cast most of your deck for 1 manna. You draw twice on your draw step and once per pirate you drop down (and most of the deck is pirates). If you have a Forerunner of the Coalition on board, each pirate entering the battlefield does a point of damage to your opponent. Even without trample (though early versions of this deck utilized Crash Through (and Fell Flagship) , I sacrificed the slots to more creatures, which it needed but they were both situationally very useful and may be good sideboard options). These cards work great here because they help the deck do what it does (being cheap and efficient) better (cheaper and more efficient) with more draws and so more chances to play cards that are super cheap and crazy efficient but they’re only both one ofs. They’re not something useful to have in an opening hand but in an ideal world, by the time you can cast either one you’ll have drawn one of the two and either one can help you get to the other a bit faster (but you probably won’t need it).
….
That was more than I thought it would be… This report will come in installments. That’s part I…. Next I’ll delve into my sideboard.
Thanks, there's more coming too (want to touch on my manna base, sideboard and some random bits) but while I have a lot of love for Glory Bringer I wouldn't use him in this build. It's a very good card but he's a 5 drop and most of my curve is way below that, and he's not a Pirate so he's not gonna help Dire Fleet Captain get bigger, the Pirate lords won't help him get bigger and the Vanquisher's Banner won't affect him, also Unclaimed Territory won't help you get a red for him (though you probably wouldn't be lacking red mana). I could see him being incredibly pretty nasty with some pirates if you're playing around with blue a bit more than I am and using Arcane Adaptation.
Started off with a mono red list but the pull towards rakdos was just too much. My mana curve doesn't top 2, and I had great fun with the low-to-the-ground mono red version, so I'm only running 21 lands
That is seriously low to the ground! I would be concerned about casting noncreature spells with only 9 sources. I know it messes with your curve, but I would work some Ruin Raider in place of a few March of the Drowned. The life loss seems lower for you than almost anybody.
Went 2-2 this week at FNM but it was a 2-2 much closer to a 4-0 than a 0-4 but at the end of the day still a 2-2.
Round 1: (2-0) Win Vs. Rakdos Pirates
Both games went pretty much the same, we both came out cannons a’ blazing. His guys were a little faster to come out but my guys weren’t far behind and they got much bigger much quicker.
Round 2: (1-2)Loss Vs. G/W Dinosaurs
Game 1 was close but he came out ahead. Game 2 was close but I came out ahead. Game 3 I only got the two lands I started with and while I had a good start they didn’t have any kinda mana problems and they powered through my slow stream of pirates.
Round 3: (1-2) Loss Vs. Grixis Pirates
My opponent in round 3 had a pretty interesting Grixis pirate deck. While I don’t have the list, it was a toolbox deck based around Forerunner of the Coalition. Of the three games, my victory was pretty well decided while both of theirs were squeaked out (but earned none the less). Game 3 was incredibly close (I was a fatal push away from a killing attack, but he managed to squeak by with one life and top decked what he needed to kill me). I take the loss for what it was but it could have went either way, at the end of the day I’d take my pirates over his but for folks looking to go more grixis Toolbox Pirates could be the way to go. Still, while he wasn’t running arcane adaptation, that could be a thing that allows you to toolbox any creatures you can cast as pirates and possibly take this idea to a next level of nasty (then again, maybe not).
Miserable
Round 4: (2-0) Win Vs. Merfolk
It seemed like a solid Merfolk build in theory. Hexproof stuff, stuff that can’t be blocked, counters and the normal the G/U staples. His creatures wound up dieing as blockers before they could get big enough or numerous enough to pose any kind of threat to me at any point.
While I can’t speak for every shop, this week showed me a few things.
First of all, there were a lot more people pirates than there was when I started. I wouldn’t be shocked to see some flavor of pirates on the meta list sooner rather than later.
Secondly, at least on local level, the meta is as good in most ways as it reasonably can be. There currently are a lot of creative, competitive deck builds going, none of which dominate every match up but many of them have the potential to win any, if not most, match ups depending on how the games go.
There are things this deck does worse against some decks than others ( solid midrange, lots of white stuff, and any typical thing that generally mauls folks like Scarab God) but given a good line of play the pirates are one of the many deck types that consistently have a good chance to win against anything (in standard, right now).
All in all looks good. SPD can be a good card with pirates. Two other cards that I loved with my Pirates but found their way out of my deck at this point are Crash Through and Buccaneer's Bravado. Sure, it sucks that Crash Through is a sorcery but it's also 1 and gives you a card draw and trample can win you the game a lot of times with cards like the Dire Fleet's Captains & Neckbreakers (and first strikers+Neckbreakers) at the very least it can force them to use blockers which can sometimes put you in a great position to use Poisoner. Buccaneer's Bravadocan be outright sick if you throw it on a Dire Fleet Captain at the right time (even at the "worst" time it turns the Cap into a 3/3 double strike which is pretty mean but with a couple crew-mates swinging in with it and possibly a neck breaker this guy can get huge, if you already cast a crash through it can be pretty mean way to rip through a bunch of blockers like a school's worth of teachers would rip up a free doughnut buffet... I work at a school, some times we'll set theses up at work... if you can't imagine it... I assure you, they're gonna tear through a lot of (metaphorical for your cards, literally for the teachers) doughnuts). While these spells work well, I'm not currently running them because my deck tends to run better with more creatures than spells.
One creature I might suggest slipping in (and I'm kinda a late convert to this one as well) is Forerunner of the Coalition it seems kinda slow and weak (and in some ways it is)but it works well with other pirates for a few reasons: It's a pirate so while it may only be a 2/2 if you've got to swing with her Neckbreaker will help her out and she'll help out the Dire Fleet Captain, admittedly there are a lot of other great pirates so this isn't the strongest point but it's something... It'll help you curve into your lords by either tutoring for them or for Captain Lannery Storm which can help give you the manna that you need to cast a neck breaker (or whatever). Finally, that point of damage per pirate can really matter; you've got a ton of cheap pirates and it works particularly well with Fathom Fleet Captain.
I actually more or less agree with Forerunner. The two things that makes it really fit for me is manna cost. Sure, 2/2 for 3 can make you feel kinda like you're wasting your time and that one point of damage payoff per pirate can seem trite when for that amount of manna you could do something like bust out a Dire Fleet Captain AND a Rigging Runner...
But even with treasure Neckbreaker (which will be Forerunner's target most of the time) can't really come out in either of our decks until turn 4 (maybe turn 3 if you pull something like a turn 2 fatal push to an opponents Wanted Scoundrels or something along those lines but that's not something we can accomplish on our own) it doesn't matter too much that we have to wait a turn to get to cast it because we wouldn't be able to any way. If, in the case that you have a Neckbreaker to come out but not enough manna to cast it, Captain Lannery could be a good way to go. Yeah... it's kinda round about and this is the slower of the two options but it's kinda a you take what you can get situation there and you can still get Neckbreaker out (albeit on turn 5). In an ideal world, our opponents will crumble at the sight of a Neckbreaker but they're also gonna have some tools at their disposal and the game can go on. Those extra points of damage can really help too, when playing against a deck like Approach you may find your pirates kinda in stasis, unable to cause any damage with our attacks (Or maybe you're at a point where your opponent is low on life but you've got to reserve your creatures for blocking), but we can still power our way through such situations with the help of cheap pirates (and especially Fathom Fleet Captain). It also helps counter some of the effects of an opponent's potential Authority of the Consuls.
While all these things are pretty great, it still comes back to a 2/2 for 3 just isn't a very good deal. In most situations, it's ideal to be able to play a Neckbreaker on turn 4 and this can help make the dream real. Sure, it can sometimes feel like an extra step but it only costs 3 and is way more flexible (but not nearly as good) as Neckbreaker (I'd much rather have one of each than two Neckbreakers in my opening hand). This is why I run 2 (and 3 Neckbreakers), it gives you a really good chance to curve into a T4 Neckbreaker.
First is Grasping Scoundrel. I know he's pretty bad, but he DOES attack for 2 each turn. I see that most of you are running Fanatical Firebrand as the 3rd 1-drop of choice, so I'll try that next time I take the deck out.
Next is Ruin Raider. Years of playing Confidant made this card an immediate consideration, and I've loved it every time I've cast it. The average mana cost of this deck is 1.166, so you rarely lose much life off this, and it helps gas back up (this deck runs out of cards QUICKLY). He plays nicely with the crappy 1 drops, and Dire Fleet Poisoner, because your opponent can never be exactly sure what your attack means. Why is he attacking with 2 2/2s into my actual good creatures? Is he going to Deathtouch them, or is he just activating Raid for Pirate Confidant? Sometimes you have both, and they're just going to have a bad exchange.
Last is 1 Neckbraker, 2 Flagship. Resolved Neckbreaker with 2 or more creatures on board is extremely strong... but it costs 4 which is a lot for this deck. It can also open you up to serious blowouts if they have removal. Flagships are cheaper, and provide half the benefit up front while also providing a hedge against control decks with the discard effect. Abrade kills everything in the deck anyways, so being an Artifact isn't really a downside.
- - -
This deck is very much a budget, "rotation proof" deck, but it does actually play well. It's definitely not tier 1, but it has real game. In the 6 sanctioned round, I've gone 1/0 against Mono Red, 1/1 against Grixis, and 1/0 against Sultai and 1/0 against 4 color Cycling (0/1 against RG Monsters).
As mentioned above, I will swap Fanatical Firebrand for Grasping Scoundrel next time, and I would like fit 2 Kari Zev and 2 Buccaneer's Bravado in (probably over 2 Push, 2 Fathom Fleet Captain). Kari Zev's 3 Toughness is appealing, and she makes for a great Dire Fleet Poisoner target. Bravado sets up for nice burst damage, which the deck could really use.
Hello!
I have two questions:
1. Does Vance's Blasting Cannons have any chances in BR Pirates?
2. [offtop] I haven't found any UBRon this forum. I could offer to estimate a variant. If you'll find it as good as your BR variant I'll make a new topic.
I will throw out some thoughts on a smorgasbord of issues here.
Grasping Scoundrel seems good. It even punches harder than Firebrand. It isn't as versatile, so I am not sure which is better.
Ruin Raider is better in lower curve decks obviously, but I found him to be very good in my build.
Neckbreaker has been fabulous in limited numbers, whereas Flagship has been iffier for me. Running 4 Neckbreaker has left me flooded at times and I don't like flipping it up with Ruin Raider, so I think 2-3 is optimal for my build.
Kari Zev is great and even survives Golden Demise, unlike everything else in the deck. I used to have fantasies about the opponent double-blocking and then blowing them out with Poisoner, but that is rare. They would have to have 2 blockers and care about the 1 damage. If they have a 3 toughness guy, they usually just block Ragavan. If they are playing around Poisoner, no way.
Cannons seemed good to me when it was spoiled. Exiling lands over four is a benefit in these decks, but I have flipped up multiple lands and hated it. It is no Outpost Siege. I much prefer Ruin Raider and maybe even Blood Fast.
There is a Grixis Pirates thread, but it is framed as "help me with my deck." There is not too much traffic that this couldn't become a generic Pirate thread. What do people want?
Hello!
I have two questions:
1. Does Vance's Blasting Cannons have any chances in BR Pirates?
2. [offtop] I haven't found any UBRon this forum. I could offer to estimate a variant. If you'll find it as good as your BR variant I'll make a new topic.
FNM didn’t go too well this week @ 1-3. While I’m not upset over this (the way I see it is I’ve got a sweet job and an awesome girlfriend, doing bad at a game isn’t sad) in any kinda emotional way, but
Going into this week I was feeling fairly confident; I wasn’t expecting a 4-0 but 3-1 seemed likely and 2-2 seemed like the worst case scenario going in. The Pirates performed pretty well for me so far and I felt like this build had kinda stripped away all the goofy stuff for a more balls-to-the-wall aggressive approach. The funny thing here is, at the start I would say things like “no, it’s totally not an aggro deck” because guys like Kitesail Freebooter, Direfleet Daredevil just didn’t feel very aggro too me. Still, I’m hard pressed to say what it was if it wasn’t aggro so I kinda gave in a bit and opted in cards that were more aggressive than what I had been doing, messed with things a bit to give me a more aggro curve. In a world of goldfish, things were looking a great deal more efficient for me to take my opponent from 20 to 0 quicker, in theory. That’s not how it played out. Once more my losses were close, but still not in my favor. While changes I had made over the past several weeks had given the deck a “better” (but is it better if it doesn’t win as much?) curve which I hit more consistently and could theoretically do more damage quicker it had sacrificed a level of responsiveness that set it apart in order to get there.
Due to circumstances entirely unconnected to MTG I’ll be missing FNM for the next week, possibly two… and this week I may or may not have a playtest night either. I’ll be conducting a massive overhaul on these buccaneers. More to come...
As for if this should be a specifically Rakdos or general Pirates thread, it doesn’t matter to me too much (I sometimes splash in Brass so I guess I’m kinda Grixis sometimes…) I mostly stick to Rakdos because while there are good blue / blue-combo pirates , the R & B ones seem the most to the point to me and it’s more efficient not to get too fancy with color stuff… But I totally am willing if something pops out.
I played in our Thursday weekly Standard tournament today, with the modified list I posted above. Finally made 3/0!
Fanatical and Kari Zev were very strong, and I did not miss the 2 Fatal Pushes that I took to the board. I beat Merfolks twice 2/0, and Sultai Hadana in the finals 2/1. Planning to take this deck to many more standard tourneys.
Kitesail is good for the control decks, but not a good enough attack for the main deck if you're going hyper aggressive, which I am.
Cannonade mops up Merfolk/Vampires/Tokens.
Magma Spray and Fatal Push look similar, but perform very different depending on the deck. If you're against Constrictor, Spray won't get it done, so you need Push. If you're against stuff that they want to get back from the yard, then Spray is better.
Daredevil, like Kitesail, isn't quite reliable enough for the maindeck, but can do wonders when it works. I intend to side out Fathom Fleet Captains for Daredevils against decks with burn. You're never gonna stick Fathom Fleet, and Daredevil lets you rebuy their spells which are cheap enough to cast.
March seems reasonable in grindy matches, so I'm gonna give it a try.
Wound up missing FNM this week again due to a broken gas line at home. Got some Drowned Catacombs and I'm tinkering with a slightly more grixis look, I'll post an updated list after playtesting this week. I think it could work but it's a fine line to walk. Blue brings a lot of options but I don't want to radically transform the nature of the deck. That said, I'm tinkering with Siren Stormtamer and Warkite Marauder (and 1 Brass in there) (have playsets of both, right now I've got in 4 & 3 respectively but I'm not sure how it'll turn out). While there are a lot of great blue pirates I'm sticking with these two because they seem to fit in well with the theme of the deck and help deal with problems that I didn't have too much of a solution for( Siren Stormtamer helping out with a bit of spell protection and Warkite helping naturalize big nasty blockers (Hazoret, Rekindling Phoenix, etc...) they also help make Brass's ability more triggerable and as fliers can sometimes go in for hits when otherwise you couldn't. Goldfishing has given me slightly worse results in a vacuum but I'm not sure it'll translate the same way during a game given the nature of what the cards do. Anyway, I'll be sure to have more soon.
As mentioned I'm taking my deck into my play test night with a little Grixis experimentation. In doing this I realize that it opens up a load of great options and there's a temptation to try to cram them in but my goal isn't to radically transform the deck, rather to add some pieces which I think can add (in many, if not most match ups) solutions to possibly very likely problems. These cards are, Siren Stormtamer and Warkite Marauder. Also, if the slightly more grixis build works well it could allow me a lot more sideboard options. I'm interested in seeing the results.
Before getting all hopeful, I'll start with my concerns... On the negative side I see this making the deck a little slower in two ways. Firstly, the land base is kinda funky. Uncharted Territories are a bit of a boon and a bane, it's great because my deck is mostly creatures and as such functions as a three color land which comes out untapped but they don't help too much with spells or Siren Stormtamer's ability, they also don't help with my checklands. Secondly, while they rarely come out, my Immortal Sun / Vanquisher's Banner both add a bit of card advantage and umph, this is also true about Sword Point Diplomacy. Besides those points, the Stormtamer & Marauder are in a lot of ways less aggro-efficient than many other options. Finally, and this is a bit of a shaky point but Stormtamer's ability is only as useful as my ability to keep a blue source untapped and philosophically, in theory I don't tend to have a lot of lands hanging around untapped by the end of my turn (but to be fair, if I can keep something around for a Push I could probably do so for a Stormtamer even with fewer blue sources).
That said, there are a few reasons why it may work well too, in no particular order here's how I can see these changes being advantageous. The two blue cards both have flying which can be very useful, in this current build I've got 9 flyers and 3 menace-y guys who make more menace-y guys. That's a good bit of evasion which can help a great deal especially if they're backed by a lord. As I've said before, most of the time Neckbreaker is your best option for a lord if you're tutoring one up but sometimes Brass will do you much better and more pirates that'll get through will help you steal things (while a lot has been said about her limitations, her ability is nothing to sneeze at). Essentially my criteria for choosing lords is as such, if the Neckbreaker will let your guys swing for lethal (which will likely be most times but with enough exceptions to justify Brass main board) you should probably choose the Neckbreaker; if not, you should probably choose Brass.
As for the cards themselves... Stormtamer (besides being a flyer) can protect you and your creatures from a lot of nasty effects for the cost of a blue manna while Warkite Marauder's can at the very least neutralize a blocker but is a very good excuse to sideboard in Magma Spray against decks with really nasty creatures as a swing with a Marauder followed by a Spray will exile anything without hexproof no matter how vicious it would otherwise be.
Anyhow, I'll see how it goes tonight and post more sometime soon. Here's what my maindeck is looking like right now, my sideboard is a bit up in the air as this build is pretty experimental.
Took 1st out of 8 today with the same list as last week, Pirates serving me well!
Round 1 vs. Lifelink Vampires w/ Crested Sunmare
Too slow, Sunmare kills me in game 1. But then I'm too fast, and a Poisoner on Kari Zev takes a few tokens of his on what he wanted to be a trade. Game 3 is much the same.
Round 2 vs. U/W Approach
I'm too fast, and I see only 1 Settle in 2 games, which I played around and won. Pirate Confidant did serious work here.
Round 3 vs. U/B Control
Scarab God and Blue Gearhulk are amazing cards, but when you get rushed down before you can cast them, they don't work so well. March of the Drowned for 2 Pirates was very key to victory here.
Fathom Fleet is great when you have time, but Kari Zev is a faster kill (and her First Strike makes for more Savage Poisoner plays).
Bravado is often worth 4 damage when you put it on an unblocked 2/2, sometimes it's worth 7 damage on a Dire Captain. In a pinch, it can save a guy from burn or mess up combat. Often sideboard it out, especially if I use it in a game.
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Round 1: (2-0) Vs. W/U Auras
It was a solid deck and a good pilot but killing off his creatures with Fatal Push & Dire Fleet Poisoner made all his fancy enchantment work go away. This played out the same both games.
Round 2: (2-0) Vs. R/B Pirates
My opponent had a slightly more straight forward aggro R/B Pirates list than I was running. They went on to go 3-1 for the night as well but this just wasn’t their game round.
Game one started out pretty close, with them on the offensive with some small fast pirates but my pirates got big and I wound up catching up on his numbers with the help of some tokens so that was game.
Game two, my opponentfelt they needed to keep a bad hand after mulligans. It was like goldfishing a win.
Round 3: (0-2) Vs. W/U Approach
Same player and deck I played a few weeks ago. This time results were a bit different. Round 1 wound up the same. I came out fast, he neutralized my guys and then proceeded to Approach his way to a win.
Game two I boarded in the right cards against approach and wound up with a two land hand which looked pretty good but I proceeded to draw nothing but lands… (in a game against a control deck) … this is not hyperbole... A Fumigate came and was my turn to get goldfished by a Gideon of the Trials. It was not the golden age of piracy.
Round 4:(2-0) Vs. R/G Aggro
In short, I won. My guys came out fast, got big and ran him over. While I think this deck has the tools to deal with me it wasn’t able to come up with them this night.
These games were both pretty short and straight forward.
The Admiral worked out better than I thought she would. Captian Lannery Storm and Fathom Fleet Capitan both work well with her helping get out more cheap Pirates on the fly and menace tokens help your pirates get through to do damage. Between Unclaimed Territory and Captian Lannery Storm that blue mana isn’t hard to come by though I’m pondering running a single island just in case of a situation where the good Capitan is unavailable and your opponent is making you trade your Unclaimed Territories for basic lands and you’re stuck with an Admiral Becket Brass (or two…) in your hand, three may be the wrong number for this card, I’ll likely bring back the Immortal Sun but it depends on how my play-testing night goes this week but it can be very handy with the other pirates in this deck.
Anyway, I’ll be working on my month one report on this deck soon.
Modern: Goblins,Storm
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Simic Merfolk
While constant changes to the deck makes these numbers a bit blurry since no week has been played with the same exact look. Out of four weeks, I have gone 10-6 in total rounds and 21-14 in individual games, reduced I’m at 5-3 (60%) rounds won vs. loss and just a little better 3-2 (about 67%) in individual games . None of these numbers are terribly amazing but three out of four weeks I’ve gone 3-1 and that’s at least pretty good.
Getting to the meat and potatoes, there are a lot of really great Pirates, support cards for Pirates and a lot of different ways to play pirates (and I’m thinking I’m not even seeing all of them at this point). I’m not even going to attempt to cover them all. I would say that at their core, Pirates in general are a pretty aggressive group with highly cost efficient creatures. If you want to play a straight forward aggro with Pirates I would probably suggest mono red. It’s been said before, there are enough good red pirates to go that route. But then again… the same can probably be said in general (that one can make pretty fierce mono blue or black) pirates as well. While Raid is super common trigger amongst pirate-y things suggesting, a level of aggression across the board. Pirates also come equipped with a wide range of really useful abilities at great value. Ok, so maybe that came off as a bit vague and hype-y but there’s a bit of a warning here too. There are so many (mostly cheap,) useful pirates that it creates a bit of a dilemma at first (especially at 3 colors), figuring out what to do with such a swiss-army tribe as pirates. Since we’re brewing standard we can only reasonably fit so many pirates into our decks.
I’m having a bit of a hard time identifying this build with an archtype (other than “tribal”) which isn’t a big deal but presents a bit of an issue here when describing the hows and whys of playing it.
The heart of this deck is an aggro philosphy; the curve is pretty low to the ground for the most part, while the highest cmc card in here comes in pretty high at six, most of the cards can come out at two. While deck works under a fundamentally aggressive creature concept (use cheap, efficient creatures to smash your opponent’s life down to 0) there’s a number of rogue elements in this deck (that’s a joke… since pirates are rogueish… which really begs the question if there was a human pirate wizard why not a goblin pirate rogue… oh, the Breeches, card that should have been, I lament thee, in my heart of hearts you’ll always be a legendary goblin pirate rogue that works like legion loyalist but only affects pirates or something along those lines… I digress...) and it’s constructed with an eye a bit more towards responsiveness and some other stuff slightly less straight forward than just straight ahead face bashing. That said, there’s still a good bit of face-bashing to be had.
Without anymore preambling, here’s the card breakdown for my current build.
Creatures:
1 Mana
4 Daring Buccaneers might be a little vanilla but a 2/2 for 1 is pretty good value. This might be the worst creature in the deck but it’s the best thing to put down on turn one. There are tons of Pirates in this deck so revealing the next one you’re about to put out is not too hard to make happen.
4 Rigging Runners can pass for a round one drop down (especially if you’re pretty certain you’re going to get a Neckbreaker or you’ve got a Poisoner up your sleeve), a 1/1 first striker for 1 isn’t bad (it beats Bomat Currier and most creatures with */1) , but generally speaking you want it to come out with its raid trigger activated because a 2/2 first striker for 1 is great (once again, especially if you’re pretty certain you’re going to get a Neckbreaker or you’ve got a Poisoner up your sleeve... the good Admiral doesn’t hurt either).
2 Mana
4 Dire Fleet Captain , this card is an all star here for a pretty uncomplicated reason; all your creatures are pirates so it’s going to get +1/1 for every other body swinging with it. Most of the time, when you swing the DFC will be your biggest guy and he only costs 2 mana.
3 Dire Fleet Poisoner , a deathtouch grizzly bear with flash that if you flash in during an attack you can also use as a combat trick is hard to beat. If I could sneak in four of these I would, and I might at some point. Obviously, you get the most mileage off of this card if you flash (especially if someone tries to block one of your first strikers with a big body) it in but it’s not bad on its own.
3 Kitesail Freebooter , this card isn’t quite as aggressive as the rest of the deck but there are lots of great reasons to play it on turn two or whenever. A 1 /2 flier isn’t bad, especially if your opponent has no fliers but being able to see what they have in their hand and possibly keeping them from holding something that can be very useful against this deck.
3 Fathom Fleet Captain , this is another card I would run more of if I had the room. This card is pretty straight forward 2/1 menace will either eat up some of their removal or allow you to start pumping out pirates. If they decide to double block, that’s a great time to flash out a Poisoner if you’ve got one. This guy might not be the one who does the big hits but he and the crew he helps summon will help those big hits get through. It’s also great to have on the board later as a place to spend mana if you’re low on cards or holding back because you know your opponent has board-wipes.
3 Mana
3 Captain Lannery Storm, I’ve sometimes questioned if 3 is the right number for a legendary creature in this deck but in this case, I think it is. She’s a very useful lady. Obviously, haste is nice, there’s not a lot of haste in this deck. If she comes out on turn 3 you could feasibly (Daring Buccaneer, Dire Fleet Capitan, Captain Lannery Storm) be swinging for 8 and getting a treasure which can be applied well in a number of ways (only 3 land and a neckbreaker? Neckbreaker comes out next turn, you can maybe swing for 15. Got another land and a Vanquisher’s Banner? You’re swinging for 12 next turn and setting yourself up for a lot of card draw. Got a Rigging Runner? Pop it in post-combat and next turn you’re swinging for 11… the point is, treasure is handy). Sure, at 3 you’re likely to get more than one of her sometimes so if you do, just keep swinging with her as is reasonable because only one can be out at a time and if you have a second, she becomes a body you don’t need to bring back with March of the Drowned or a problem for your opponent. Her +1 for spending treasure can also be important at times.
2 Forerunner of the Coalition, this lady is a new addition so I’m not sure how she’s gonna work with the rest of my crew. She’s not an amazing body for attacking or blocking but she’s got a few features which help you leap from the bulk of your crew to some of your more fancy tricks. While there are reasons to tutor for most pirates in this deck. depending on what your hand looks like your best bet is either Capitan Lannery Storm, Dire Fleet Neckbreaker or Admiral Becket Brass. This is her primary reason for being here, (like Lannery) she’s a 3 drop that helps you bring out your guys that’ll make your little guys a bit bigger. Her point of damage for each pirate cast is undoubtedly useful on some level at any point but this gets super crazy with your artifacts in play.
4 Mana
2 Dire Fleet Neckbreaker, this guy is a force of nature, generally speaking you don’t even have to attack with him. That he gives +2/0 to all of your attacking creatures is pretty great but this is doubly true for all of your first strikers. While it can be a pretty nasty attacker too it’s probably best not to use him as such unless you are pretty sure that there is no way your opponent can kill him (blockers, combat tricks, Settle The Wreckage) when you do so because his bonus to all other attackers will do you a lot more good in the long run. As is also the case with Brass, the reason there’s only two of these guys in the deck is trying to keep the curve low but with two Forerunners they’re both effectively four ofs if you want them to be, which take up half the number of slots.
2 Admiral Beckett Brass, Brass was a bit of an experiment that went well. By the time you can cast her, chances are you’ll have come across an unclaimed territory or Capitan Lannery Storm, so that blue mana should be no problem. Generally speaking, the Neckbreaker will help you win faster but in some situations you may find yourself better served stealing their stuff or making your other bodies a little tougher.
Instants
1 Mana
2 Fatal Push, it’s pretty good at killing things. There’s only 2, if you get one use it wisely.
2 Mana
2 Lightning Strike, is decent at killing things and a swell way to dish out a final blow to an opponent. Once again, there’s only 2, use them wisely.
Sorcery
3 March of the Drowned , this card has the potential to be a real back breaker in this deck. Clearly, it’s always good to be able to bring back guys from the dead but all of these creatures can come back from the dead at a rate of 2 creatures for 1 mana with this card. That’s a better value than many, if not most removal out there. Most of your pirates are pretty cheap so it’s not unreasonable to have them back on the battlefield pretty soon after getting them out of your graveyard.
Artifacts
5 Mana & 6 Mana
1 Vanquisher's Banner / 1 the Immortal Sun.
I have these two gems together on this list for a reason. They weren’t in my earliest drafts and when I show off my deck these two cards cause the most head scratching. While earlier versions seemed to work pretty well, there seemed to come a point pretty early (in test games) where, if I didn’t win by my Pirates would be getting outclassed (they might be really efficient one and two drops but most of my creatures are still one and two drops). Obviously, they’re a bit heavy on the casting cost. While I love what it looks like when they can get out there I’m not feeling brave enough to put more than one of either one in more than once (not only because you don’t want to get stuck with two cards like this early game but because there’s not much room in the deck but still, getting these two out together feels good enough to make me want to run them both as two-ofs) but I do tend to think of them as a two of rather than two one ofs.
The idea is this, the deck is pretty efficient. There’s very little haste but it’s pretty easy to fill up the board and your “worst” Pirate is a 2/2. Unfortunately, by the time you could play a card with 5-6 cmc you’ll probably find yourself with a mostly (if not entirely) empty hand and that your creatures are starting to get outclassed by midrange decks or getting the clampdown put on you by control. Both of these cards help out by making your guys a bit bigger and helping out with card advantage and they both do so in slightly different ways which in combination (which, admittedly involves a great deal of luck but I’ve had it happen more than a few times) makes this deck into a machine that’s probably going to win you the game provided you can live long enough to reap the benefits. In both cases, +1/1 is useful to all but exceptionally useful to all your first strikers.
The Immortal Sun is situationally very useful against all walkers which factors differently game to game but it’s never a bad thing for you.
If you get both of these cards out your “worst” Pirate is 4/4 (and if you have a neck breaker too your worst is a 6/4, add a Brass and you’re at 7/5…. which costs 1 mana and gives you a draw). Your creature curve becomes even lower, and you can cast most of your deck for 1 manna. You draw twice on your draw step and once per pirate you drop down (and most of the deck is pirates). If you have a Forerunner of the Coalition on board, each pirate entering the battlefield does a point of damage to your opponent. Even without trample (though early versions of this deck utilized Crash Through (and Fell Flagship) , I sacrificed the slots to more creatures, which it needed but they were both situationally very useful and may be good sideboard options). These cards work great here because they help the deck do what it does (being cheap and efficient) better (cheaper and more efficient) with more draws and so more chances to play cards that are super cheap and crazy efficient but they’re only both one ofs. They’re not something useful to have in an opening hand but in an ideal world, by the time you can cast either one you’ll have drawn one of the two and either one can help you get to the other a bit faster (but you probably won’t need it).
….
That was more than I thought it would be… This report will come in installments. That’s part I…. Next I’ll delve into my sideboard.
Modern: Goblins,Storm
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Simic Merfolk
Modern: Goblins,Storm
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Simic Merfolk
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/decks/1554-ni-dieu-ni-maitre-pirates
4 Rigging Runner
4 Dire Fleet Captain
3 Dire Fleet Poisoner
3 Fathom Fleet Captain
3 Kitesail Freebooter
2 Forerunner of the Coalition
2 Captain Lannery Storm
2 Admiral Beckett Brass
2 Dire Fleet Neckbreaker
5 Swamp
5 Mountain
4 Canyon Slough
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Unclaimed Territory
Artifact
1 Vanquisher's Banner
1 The Immortal Sun
Instant
2 Fatal Push
2 Lightning Strike
Sorcery
3 March of the Drowned
2 Dire Fleet Daredevil
2 Fatal Push
2 Abrade
1 Vraska's Contempt
3 Fiery Cannonade
3 Lost Legacy
2 Kari Zev's Expertise
Modern: Goblins,Storm
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Simic Merfolk
4 Daring Buccaneer
4 Rigging Runner
4 Fanatical Firebrand
4 Dire Fleet Captain
4 Dire Fleet Poisoner
4 Fathom Fleet Captain
3 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4 Shock
4 March of the Drowned
4 Buccaneer's Bravado
Lands (21)
8 Mountain
8 Swamp
1 Dragonskull Summit
4 Unclaimed Territory
4 Fatal Push
4 Kitesail Freebooter
4 Abrade
3 Fiery Canonade
*Note, I only have one Dragonskull Summit, yes I'd like three more.
Modern:R 8Whack R|W White Knights W
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.
Round 1: (2-0) Win Vs. Rakdos Pirates
Both games went pretty much the same, we both came out cannons a’ blazing. His guys were a little faster to come out but my guys weren’t far behind and they got much bigger much quicker.
Round 2: (1-2)Loss Vs. G/W Dinosaurs
Game 1 was close but he came out ahead. Game 2 was close but I came out ahead. Game 3 I only got the two lands I started with and while I had a good start they didn’t have any kinda mana problems and they powered through my slow stream of pirates.
Round 3: (1-2) Loss Vs. Grixis Pirates
My opponent in round 3 had a pretty interesting Grixis pirate deck. While I don’t have the list, it was a toolbox deck based around Forerunner of the Coalition. Of the three games, my victory was pretty well decided while both of theirs were squeaked out (but earned none the less). Game 3 was incredibly close (I was a fatal push away from a killing attack, but he managed to squeak by with one life and top decked what he needed to kill me). I take the loss for what it was but it could have went either way, at the end of the day I’d take my pirates over his but for folks looking to go more grixis Toolbox Pirates could be the way to go. Still, while he wasn’t running arcane adaptation, that could be a thing that allows you to toolbox any creatures you can cast as pirates and possibly take this idea to a next level of nasty (then again, maybe not).
Miserable
Round 4: (2-0) Win Vs. Merfolk
It seemed like a solid Merfolk build in theory. Hexproof stuff, stuff that can’t be blocked, counters and the normal the G/U staples. His creatures wound up dieing as blockers before they could get big enough or numerous enough to pose any kind of threat to me at any point.
While I can’t speak for every shop, this week showed me a few things.
First of all, there were a lot more people pirates than there was when I started. I wouldn’t be shocked to see some flavor of pirates on the meta list sooner rather than later.
Secondly, at least on local level, the meta is as good in most ways as it reasonably can be. There currently are a lot of creative, competitive deck builds going, none of which dominate every match up but many of them have the potential to win any, if not most, match ups depending on how the games go.
There are things this deck does worse against some decks than others ( solid midrange, lots of white stuff, and any typical thing that generally mauls folks like Scarab God) but given a good line of play the pirates are one of the many deck types that consistently have a good chance to win against anything (in standard, right now).
Modern: Goblins,Storm
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Simic Merfolk
One creature I might suggest slipping in (and I'm kinda a late convert to this one as well) is Forerunner of the Coalition it seems kinda slow and weak (and in some ways it is)but it works well with other pirates for a few reasons: It's a pirate so while it may only be a 2/2 if you've got to swing with her Neckbreaker will help her out and she'll help out the Dire Fleet Captain, admittedly there are a lot of other great pirates so this isn't the strongest point but it's something... It'll help you curve into your lords by either tutoring for them or for Captain Lannery Storm which can help give you the manna that you need to cast a neck breaker (or whatever). Finally, that point of damage per pirate can really matter; you've got a ton of cheap pirates and it works particularly well with Fathom Fleet Captain.
Modern: Goblins,Storm
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Simic Merfolk
But even with treasure Neckbreaker (which will be Forerunner's target most of the time) can't really come out in either of our decks until turn 4 (maybe turn 3 if you pull something like a turn 2 fatal push to an opponents Wanted Scoundrels or something along those lines but that's not something we can accomplish on our own) it doesn't matter too much that we have to wait a turn to get to cast it because we wouldn't be able to any way. If, in the case that you have a Neckbreaker to come out but not enough manna to cast it, Captain Lannery could be a good way to go. Yeah... it's kinda round about and this is the slower of the two options but it's kinda a you take what you can get situation there and you can still get Neckbreaker out (albeit on turn 5). In an ideal world, our opponents will crumble at the sight of a Neckbreaker but they're also gonna have some tools at their disposal and the game can go on. Those extra points of damage can really help too, when playing against a deck like Approach you may find your pirates kinda in stasis, unable to cause any damage with our attacks (Or maybe you're at a point where your opponent is low on life but you've got to reserve your creatures for blocking), but we can still power our way through such situations with the help of cheap pirates (and especially Fathom Fleet Captain). It also helps counter some of the effects of an opponent's potential Authority of the Consuls.
While all these things are pretty great, it still comes back to a 2/2 for 3 just isn't a very good deal. In most situations, it's ideal to be able to play a Neckbreaker on turn 4 and this can help make the dream real. Sure, it can sometimes feel like an extra step but it only costs 3 and is way more flexible (but not nearly as good) as Neckbreaker (I'd much rather have one of each than two Neckbreakers in my opening hand). This is why I run 2 (and 3 Neckbreakers), it gives you a really good chance to curve into a T4 Neckbreaker.
At any rate, good luck with the SPD!
Modern: Goblins,Storm
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Simic Merfolk
4 Daring Buccaneer
4 Grasping Scoundrel
4 Fathom Fleet Captain
4 Dire Fleet Poisoner
4 Dire Fleet Captain
1 Dire Fleet Neckbreaker
4 Fatal Push
4 Lightning Strike
2 Fell Flagship
6 Mountain
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Unclaimed Territory
Right off the bat, there are some odd choices.
First is Grasping Scoundrel. I know he's pretty bad, but he DOES attack for 2 each turn. I see that most of you are running Fanatical Firebrand as the 3rd 1-drop of choice, so I'll try that next time I take the deck out.
Next is Ruin Raider. Years of playing Confidant made this card an immediate consideration, and I've loved it every time I've cast it. The average mana cost of this deck is 1.166, so you rarely lose much life off this, and it helps gas back up (this deck runs out of cards QUICKLY). He plays nicely with the crappy 1 drops, and Dire Fleet Poisoner, because your opponent can never be exactly sure what your attack means. Why is he attacking with 2 2/2s into my actual good creatures? Is he going to Deathtouch them, or is he just activating Raid for Pirate Confidant? Sometimes you have both, and they're just going to have a bad exchange.
Last is 1 Neckbraker, 2 Flagship. Resolved Neckbreaker with 2 or more creatures on board is extremely strong... but it costs 4 which is a lot for this deck. It can also open you up to serious blowouts if they have removal. Flagships are cheaper, and provide half the benefit up front while also providing a hedge against control decks with the discard effect. Abrade kills everything in the deck anyways, so being an Artifact isn't really a downside.
- - -
This deck is very much a budget, "rotation proof" deck, but it does actually play well. It's definitely not tier 1, but it has real game. In the 6 sanctioned round, I've gone 1/0 against Mono Red, 1/1 against Grixis, and 1/0 against Sultai and 1/0 against 4 color Cycling (0/1 against RG Monsters).
As mentioned above, I will swap Fanatical Firebrand for Grasping Scoundrel next time, and I would like fit 2 Kari Zev and 2 Buccaneer's Bravado in (probably over 2 Push, 2 Fathom Fleet Captain). Kari Zev's 3 Toughness is appealing, and she makes for a great Dire Fleet Poisoner target. Bravado sets up for nice burst damage, which the deck could really use.
I have two questions:
1. Does Vance's Blasting Cannons have any chances in BR Pirates?
2. [offtop] I haven't found any UBRon this forum. I could offer to estimate a variant. If you'll find it as good as your BR variant I'll make a new topic.
2x Captain Lannery Storm
3x Fathom Fleet Captain
3x Hostage Taker
3x Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
3x Kitesail Freebooter
3x Ruin Raider
4x Siren Stormtamer
2x Abrade
2x Fatal Push
4x Lookout's Dispersal
1x Negate
2x Vraska's Contempt
2x Chart a Course
4x Dragonskull Summit
4x Drowned Catacomb
5x Island
2x Mountain
4x Swamp
4x Unclaimed Territory
2x Dire Fleet Daredevil
3x Duress
2x Essence Scatter
2x Fiery Cannonade
2x Harsh Scrutiny
2x Lost Legacy
2x Spell Pierce
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.
hey @Nicephorus_Uranus, here is what i started to discuss about grixis, i dont updated this, but i went 3-1 last showdown here this week. if interesting for you ... https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/standard-type-2/deck-creation-standard/790030-grixis-pirates-rix-std-help-with-my-deck
Going into this week I was feeling fairly confident; I wasn’t expecting a 4-0 but 3-1 seemed likely and 2-2 seemed like the worst case scenario going in. The Pirates performed pretty well for me so far and I felt like this build had kinda stripped away all the goofy stuff for a more balls-to-the-wall aggressive approach. The funny thing here is, at the start I would say things like “no, it’s totally not an aggro deck” because guys like Kitesail Freebooter, Direfleet Daredevil just didn’t feel very aggro too me. Still, I’m hard pressed to say what it was if it wasn’t aggro so I kinda gave in a bit and opted in cards that were more aggressive than what I had been doing, messed with things a bit to give me a more aggro curve. In a world of goldfish, things were looking a great deal more efficient for me to take my opponent from 20 to 0 quicker, in theory. That’s not how it played out. Once more my losses were close, but still not in my favor. While changes I had made over the past several weeks had given the deck a “better” (but is it better if it doesn’t win as much?) curve which I hit more consistently and could theoretically do more damage quicker it had sacrificed a level of responsiveness that set it apart in order to get there.
Due to circumstances entirely unconnected to MTG I’ll be missing FNM for the next week, possibly two… and this week I may or may not have a playtest night either. I’ll be conducting a massive overhaul on these buccaneers. More to come...
As for if this should be a specifically Rakdos or general Pirates thread, it doesn’t matter to me too much (I sometimes splash in Brass so I guess I’m kinda Grixis sometimes…) I mostly stick to Rakdos because while there are good blue / blue-combo pirates , the R & B ones seem the most to the point to me and it’s more efficient not to get too fancy with color stuff… But I totally am willing if something pops out.
Modern: Goblins,Storm
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Simic Merfolk
Fanatical and Kari Zev were very strong, and I did not miss the 2 Fatal Pushes that I took to the board. I beat Merfolks twice 2/0, and Sultai Hadana in the finals 2/1. Planning to take this deck to many more standard tourneys.
Could you explain sideboard plan?
I have been playing 2x Fiery Cannonade, which does work against swarms of non-pirates. If you're looking for more options, there's Blazing Volley.
Going forward, I'll probably make my board look something like this...
Kitesail is good for the control decks, but not a good enough attack for the main deck if you're going hyper aggressive, which I am.
Cannonade mops up Merfolk/Vampires/Tokens.
Magma Spray and Fatal Push look similar, but perform very different depending on the deck. If you're against Constrictor, Spray won't get it done, so you need Push. If you're against stuff that they want to get back from the yard, then Spray is better.
Daredevil, like Kitesail, isn't quite reliable enough for the maindeck, but can do wonders when it works. I intend to side out Fathom Fleet Captains for Daredevils against decks with burn. You're never gonna stick Fathom Fleet, and Daredevil lets you rebuy their spells which are cheap enough to cast.
March seems reasonable in grindy matches, so I'm gonna give it a try.
Modern: Goblins,Storm
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Simic Merfolk
Before getting all hopeful, I'll start with my concerns... On the negative side I see this making the deck a little slower in two ways. Firstly, the land base is kinda funky. Uncharted Territories are a bit of a boon and a bane, it's great because my deck is mostly creatures and as such functions as a three color land which comes out untapped but they don't help too much with spells or Siren Stormtamer's ability, they also don't help with my checklands. Secondly, while they rarely come out, my Immortal Sun / Vanquisher's Banner both add a bit of card advantage and umph, this is also true about Sword Point Diplomacy. Besides those points, the Stormtamer & Marauder are in a lot of ways less aggro-efficient than many other options. Finally, and this is a bit of a shaky point but Stormtamer's ability is only as useful as my ability to keep a blue source untapped and philosophically, in theory I don't tend to have a lot of lands hanging around untapped by the end of my turn (but to be fair, if I can keep something around for a Push I could probably do so for a Stormtamer even with fewer blue sources).
That said, there are a few reasons why it may work well too, in no particular order here's how I can see these changes being advantageous. The two blue cards both have flying which can be very useful, in this current build I've got 9 flyers and 3 menace-y guys who make more menace-y guys. That's a good bit of evasion which can help a great deal especially if they're backed by a lord. As I've said before, most of the time Neckbreaker is your best option for a lord if you're tutoring one up but sometimes Brass will do you much better and more pirates that'll get through will help you steal things (while a lot has been said about her limitations, her ability is nothing to sneeze at). Essentially my criteria for choosing lords is as such, if the Neckbreaker will let your guys swing for lethal (which will likely be most times but with enough exceptions to justify Brass main board) you should probably choose the Neckbreaker; if not, you should probably choose Brass.
As for the cards themselves... Stormtamer (besides being a flyer) can protect you and your creatures from a lot of nasty effects for the cost of a blue manna while Warkite Marauder's can at the very least neutralize a blocker but is a very good excuse to sideboard in Magma Spray against decks with really nasty creatures as a swing with a Marauder followed by a Spray will exile anything without hexproof no matter how vicious it would otherwise be.
Anyhow, I'll see how it goes tonight and post more sometime soon. Here's what my maindeck is looking like right now, my sideboard is a bit up in the air as this build is pretty experimental.
4 Siren Stormtamer
2 Kitesail Freebooter
3 Rigging Runner
2 Captain Lannery Storm
3 Fathom Fleet Captain
4 Dire Fleet Captain
3 Daring Buccaneer
2 Forerunner of the Coalition
3 Warkite Marauder
3 Dire Fleet Poisoner
1 Admiral Beckett Brass
2 Dire Fleet Neckbreaker
1 Island
2 Mountain
3 Swamp
4 Canyon Slough
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Unclaimed Territory
2 Fatal Push
2 Lightning Strike
Sorcery
2 March of the Drowned
Modern: Goblins,Storm
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Simic Merfolk
4 Daring Buccaneer
4 Grasping Scoundrel
4 Fathom Fleet Captain
4 Dire Fleet Poisoner
4 Dire Fleet Captain
4 Ruin Raider
1 Dire Fleet Neckbreaker
4 Fatal Push
4 Lightning Strike
2 Fell Flagship
7 Mountain
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Unclaimed Territory
2 Fiery Cannonade
2 Dire Fleet Daredevil
2 March of the Drowned
3 Magma Spray
2 Kitesail Freebooter
2 Fatal Push
Took 1st out of 8 today with the same list as last week, Pirates serving me well!
Round 1 vs. Lifelink Vampires w/ Crested Sunmare
Too slow, Sunmare kills me in game 1. But then I'm too fast, and a Poisoner on Kari Zev takes a few tokens of his on what he wanted to be a trade. Game 3 is much the same.
Round 2 vs. U/W Approach
I'm too fast, and I see only 1 Settle in 2 games, which I played around and won. Pirate Confidant did serious work here.
Round 3 vs. U/B Control
Scarab God and Blue Gearhulk are amazing cards, but when you get rushed down before you can cast them, they don't work so well. March of the Drowned for 2 Pirates was very key to victory here.
Chyar!
What about your sideboard?
4+2 Fathom Fleet Captain
4+2 Fatal Push
O_o
I haven't found Kari Zev, Skyship Raider in your deck o_O
Maindeck should have:
-2 Fathom Fleet Captain
-2 Fatal Push
+2 Kari Zev
+2 Buccaneer's Bravado
Fathom Fleet is great when you have time, but Kari Zev is a faster kill (and her First Strike makes for more Savage Poisoner plays).
Bravado is often worth 4 damage when you put it on an unblocked 2/2, sometimes it's worth 7 damage on a Dire Captain. In a pinch, it can save a guy from burn or mess up combat. Often sideboard it out, especially if I use it in a game.