(ni dieu, ni maître) Pirates.
Main Board (60)
Creature (26)
Basic Land (23)
Sorcery (8)
Planeswalker (3)
Sideboard (15)
Creature (2)
Artifact (2)
Instant (9)
Sorcery (2)
Quick Info
Tinkering with the pirates again... this time it's a l'il slower to start but once the (cannon) ball gets rolling...
Early Game
1-2 CMC:
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.
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...).
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 attacker on board and he only costs 2 mana.
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.
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.
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. If you get this card out and you can make it happen in any meaningful way you probably want to use its ability for tokens before using cards in hand. This’ll help you get the most out of this card, improve your board state at a reasonable rate and help you rebuild your hand a bit in case of board wipes and whatnot.
Fatal Push, it’s pretty good at killing things. There’s only 2, if you get one use it wisely.
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.
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 forms of removal out there in standard. 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.
Mid Game
3-4 CMC:
Captain Lannery Storm, 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… Use a treasure for a mana to push an opponent’s creature and it comes in with the Revolt trigger, do it before combat and give Lannery +1/0 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.
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. Her tutor ability is useful ( you will probably find yourself tutoring for a neckbreaker) This is her primary reason for being here, (like Lannery) she’s a 3 drop that helps you (search for) bring out your four drops guys that’ll make your little guys a bit bigger. Her point of damage for each pirate cast is undoubtedly useful and works really well with Fathom Fleet Captain in particular.
Dire Fleet Neckbreaker, this Pirate is a force of nature, generally speaking you don’t even have to attack with it. That it 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) if you do so because his bonus to all other attackers will do you a lot more good in the long run.
Late Game
Vanquisher's Banner / The Immortal Sun
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. In an ideal world you’ll have won by the time you find yourself able to play either of these cards but your opponent will probably have done something to try to stop from you winning. While neither of these cards produce one splashy bomb type effect that wins you the game on the spot, both of these cards help make your deck do what it does better, cheaper and faster. Either one of these are helpful on their own but both together they turn your pirates into a quickly growing horde of bad-assed pirates. The conditions either card help create are generally useful but if you also have a Forerunner out it adds a new dimension of hurt to the fact that you’re filling up the board with some nasty threats, at pretty impressive rate, by this point.
General
Tweaked deck just a little, made a rough sideboard and went 3-1 at FNM (2-9-18).
Messed with the sideboard a bit (took out 2 Mastermind's Acquisition's and 1 Fiery Cannonade for 3 Lost Legacy) went 3-1 again at FNM. Swapping out a Mountain for a Canyon.
Experimenting with Beckett Brass, messed with my numbers a bit and am going to test this list before Friday but the idea was to make my curve look a bit better with the Forerunners. They're not great bodies but they count for something and their tutoring may prove useful than more lords which cost a bit more (and the one damage per pirate won't hurt). I'm running pretty low on lands right now but it's generally not too hard to get to 3, should you have a lord in hand and not enough / the right mana a Lannery Storm can help you. If you've got the mana and not a lord pick a lord and go with it. If you find yourself in a situation where you need any given pirate go for it. Anyway, this is what I'm taking to playtest this week.( 3/4/18) Also changed my deck avatar, the Admiral outranks the good Capn'.
3/7/18 haven't taken it to playtest this week yet but tinkering with the land still.
3/9/18- Took out the 2 copies good admiral and replaced her with another Neckbreaker and another Lannery Storm. Brass does work here, I wouldn't call it a failed experiment but after some play-testing this is consistently faster. Updated info.
3/20/18
Edited the list a bit. Taking this week off of FNM (and play-testing) for some real life stuff. Still tinkering with stuff to get ready for next week.
3/28/18
Tweaked things up a little bit with the goal of improving the deck's tempo and card advantage. Not crazy about the idea of 21 land but it seems to work fine enough to bring it into playtest at my pal's this week.
4/3/18 Tinkering with a more grixis look this week. If It sticks I'll update the rest of the deck description but I'm not sure how much will stick this time. In a vacuum, it seems to function worse but that's kinda to be expected as the blue stuff added are things that help neutralize threats rather than taking the opponent from 20-0 quicker.
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