Recently, minor events have kept the Pirates land locked (I took a week off to play something else, had to get more important house stuff done on a Friday so I missed FNM, played last week... and I am missing next weekend for my girlfriend's birthday).
Last Friday was kinda notable for a few reasons.. I hadn't played my pirates for a while, I didn't entirely make up my mind to play them until right before hand and I had gotten a few bedevils right before hand. This isn't quite the list I played but rather what, after a little thought, the list should look like with Bedevil in it.
I only wound up going 2-2 again but it still seemed pretty promising.
Round one was lost to Gates (1-2), which this deck had previously done quite well against. Each of the two games I lost, my opponent was able to pull two (all that they were running) Deafening Clarions and play them at opportune times. Round two was lost to Boros aggro again. Early and multiple Knight of Grace(s) is what hung me up in those games. While this deck certainly has the tools to deal with those Knights, those just weren't the cards I drew. Rounds 3 & 4 were both swiftly won (by me) against mono-blue artifacts and Esper midrange.
So, as mentioned, I took this out to fnm without play-testing it. I went 2-2, went home and immediately made a few changes to the list mentioned. I’m going to be doing my play-testing tonight and will probably wind up with a slightly different sideboard. More on all this in a bit, first the run down on how things went Friday. This deck is very fast and very aggressive, at least as fast, if not faster, than anything else I've seen in the meta thus far (in my experience at least) it has some glaring weaknesses but I think it can be pretty competitive against most decks.
Round one: Naya (mostly Gruul with a splash of white) aggro brew, 1-2.
This was a pretty solid aggro brew and the games were pretty much races. For me, this meant trying to put a lot of small, very aggressive creatures down, for my opponent it meant ramping into big trample-y creatures. The games were all really close and could have went either way.
After loosing game one, I sideboarded in my kitesail freebooters to help both as fliers to get over their big guys and to help pull some cards from my opponents hand. This worked for game two. Game three was neck and neck but my opponent came out on top.
Rounds 2&3: Gates 2-0, 2-0
I wound up playing against gates decks in rounds 2 & 3 and cleaned house against them both times. This just seems like a very favorable match up in favor of this flavor of pirates. I’m not suggesting that Gates couldn’t win against this brew, it would just be very hard.
Round 4: Boros Aggro, 0-2
This was a combination of a bad (but not un-winable) match up, bad draws and not having the right sideboard cards. Game one involved me getting 10 out of 20 lands and game two saw me mulligan down to five and then have to face a perfect curve with Lyra out on top and him pulling like 11 points of life from lifelink per round. Still, the games were closer than 0-2 might suggest and I’ve got some sideboard plans.
After I got home I changed a few things immediately. I replaced the two risk factors and carnival // carnage with a rigging runner, dire fleet poisoner and light up the stage, making all three four ofs.
The rundown:
Honestly, I was thinking this would be a one week deck for me, a nostalgic look back on pirate tribal but I’m feeling pretty good about the crew after taking them out. I’m working on a more detailed deck primer after I’ve solidified my build a bit more but if you’re at all interested at all in smashing in your opponent’s face with fast and furious creature based aggro this is a deck that you should think about.
Until then here’s a very basic primer. I’ll most likely edit it and make it more presentable in the future, nothing on the sideboard because I’m reworking it.
The cornerstone of this deck is value. The main idea is fairly simple, to pump out more pirates than your opponent can dream of dealing with and pillage away. Generally speaking this deck wants to be using as much manna as possible each turn (unless holding a poisoner ready to flash) making more threats than the opponent can deal with and using aggressive synergy to do massive amounts of damage on the swing and getting maximum value with the spectacle mechanic. Lean on Fathom Fleet Capitan to help fill the board and March of the Drowned and Light up the Stage to help keep the threats coming.
One drop pirates:
Daring Buccaneer: Is the best turn one play (provided you have another pirate in your hand… and you should) it may not have haste but as a 2/2 it’ll catch up on damage the first time you swing with it, it has a better chance to survive as a 2/2 and it frees up your other one drop creatures that can do more for you later.
Fanatical Firebrand: While Daring Buccaneer is a better turn one play, Fanatical Firebrand is not a bad one at all, swinging for 1 on turn one always feels like a small victory. This card can mean a lot more when you’ve got a Dire Fleet Capitan ready to swing, or have either a Judith, Scourge Diva or Dire Fleet Neckbreaker on board. This card can also serve as a one drop spectacle trigger in a pinch.
Rigging Runner: To the point, a 1/1 first striker for 1 is good value but a 2/2 first striker for 1 is amazing value and most turns this deck wants to attack so getting the raid trigger is no hard task.
Two drop pirates: Dire Fleet Poisoner: This will often function as this deck’s primary source of removal, either flash it in to block your target or to pump up one of your attackers that’s being blocked by something you want to kill.
Dire Fleet Captain: This creature is a real powerhouse in this deck, at it’s worst it’s just a grizzly bear but in most cases it’ll be much larger on the attack with each other pirate giving it +1.
Fathom Fleet Captain: This card should, in most cases be your first option if it’s reasonable to cast and activate the trigger. It dies to everything but until it does it can help you fill up your hand with a back up crew by dedicating your first two manna to making a token every turn. The obvious exceptions would be if playing some other card would win you the game that turn or that you would have to discard things that might be more useful than a 2/2 with menace.
Three drop pirates(?):
Judith, the Scourge Diva: Sure, Judy isn’t a pirate but she might as well be. In most cases, unless there’s no risk to her at all, or if doing so would win you the game you won’t be attacking with her. She doesn’t get to be revealed to make Daring Buccaneer cheaper, she doesn’t get a bonus from Dire Fleet Neck Breaker or help Dire Fleet Captain by attacking… But she does give all the attacking pirates +1/0 (and there will likely be a few of them) and when / if the (likely) inevitable happens and the glass cannon that is this deck blows up it’ll do a bit more damage to your opponent in doing so. Does this make Judy and honorary pirate? I think so.
Four drop pirates:
Dire Fleet Neckbreaker: +2/0 for all attacking pirates is a thing that can make for a lot of damage.
The not pirates:
March of the Drowned: One black to bring two dead pirates back to your hand beats one for one removal for value in my book and helps deal with the problem of an empty hand.
Light up the stage: This will most often be cast for 1 and helps this deck have things to play, which is what this deck wants to do.
Skewer the Critics: Most of the time this will be cast for 1, most of the time the best target will be the opponent’s face but it can also, at times, if needed aid as removal…
About a year ago I was running pirates (rakdos and then grixis). The other day a friend suggested revisiting the tribe, I had put a little thought into it already so I decided to throw something together and give it a go this Friday (tonight! and I haven’t even played it yet… this fits in with the deck’s theme, however).
The plan is pretty simple. Blast out a bunch of super cost efficient pirates. Use Light up the Stage, March of the Drowned, and (maybe) Risk Factor to keep the fire burning. I plan on smashing face until I leave my opponents wondering if they should brew up some pirates or possibly just repeatedly loose in a blaze of glory.
Fair enough. I recently took it to a lgs modern night and did kinda average (2-2 with each of my wins being 2-0 and each of my losses being 2-1) with it but felt I could have done better if I had more artifact hate in my sideboard (Chalice of the Void on one was my biggest issue for the night) so I added some more. I don't tend to do more than lgs events and I'm just kinda starting up doing modern (planning on making it a one lgs modern event every few weeks kinda deal) so not exceptionally competitive.
I'm an educator, Wizards has been awesome in bringing magic to my students.There are a few ways to approach this but you're probably best off starting (as others have said) by finding some other players in your new school (it wouldn't be unheard of that your school already has a MTG / Gaming club in place). It never hurts to keep two decks around to help show someone else how to play but yeah, most LCS's should have some welcome decks. If you can (and it's really hard to say what your chances are) try to find a staff member who plays, has played, is familiar with the game, if there isn't already a student group dedicated to this sort of thing find out the procedures to start one (chances are your group will need a staff "sponsor"), just bring it up to them (mentioning the following webpage isn't a bad idea). If you have a hard time doing this (honestly, I imagine it could be kinda harder than it seems at first [I'm the only staff member at my school who plays magic]) don't be discouraged. If there's one thing I could tell highschool me about navigating through school that I never thought of if that you really don't know your teachers. This sounds more menacing than it is. I don't think there's a subject or type of teacher you need to keep an eye out for. There's a lot of math involved, so obviously math teachers might be a good hook (if you go there work up the math angle) but at the same time English and History (/ any "soft" science teachers) in my experience seem to be from the "nice guy athlete grown up" to the most far-out / nerdy people you can imagine, one group of teachers that you may not deal with (and your school may not have many / any) are special education folks and if you have a hard time they might be your last best shot. Special education is a pretty broad term and their specialization could be in a number of things which share a ton of elements from behavior specialists to communications, learning theory... all kindsa stuff. Before that, find at least two or three other students who would be interested.
Wizards has a program in place to help support magic clubs and you can possibly find some level of support there too (This is a link to said Wizards program).
Remember, your greatest tool will be inclusiveness. This can possibly be your biggest challenge depending on who you find to play with (if they've got problematic tendencies) but it could also be no problem at all. It's important when forming a group that everyone feels welcome regardless of who they are (provided they show that same level of respect towards others).
If this fails, your best best is just to find local shops that run FNM. This will find you magic players to play with but in my (limited) experience most of these players won't be your age (The shops I've been to most of the guys have been in their 20's-40's but with a handful of younger players) but tend to be supportive of younger players.
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.
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.
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.
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.
1
Last Friday was kinda notable for a few reasons.. I hadn't played my pirates for a while, I didn't entirely make up my mind to play them until right before hand and I had gotten a few bedevils right before hand. This isn't quite the list I played but rather what, after a little thought, the list should look like with Bedevil in it.
4 Rigging Runner
4 Fanatical Firebrand
4 Fathom Fleet Captain
4 Dire Fleet Captain
3 Daring Buccaneer
4 Dire Fleet Poisoner
3 Judith, the Scourge Diva
3 Dire Fleet Neckbreaker
1 Theater of Horrors
3 March of the Drowned
4 Light Up the Stage
4 Skewer the Critics
Pillaged & Plundered:
4 Dragonskull Summit
7 Mountain
4 Swamp
4 Blood Crypt
3 Kitesail Freebooter
3 Fiery Cannonade
3 Bedevil
3 Warlord's Fury
3 Drill Bit
I only wound up going 2-2 again but it still seemed pretty promising.
Round one was lost to Gates (1-2), which this deck had previously done quite well against. Each of the two games I lost, my opponent was able to pull two (all that they were running) Deafening Clarions and play them at opportune times. Round two was lost to Boros aggro again. Early and multiple Knight of Grace(s) is what hung me up in those games. While this deck certainly has the tools to deal with those Knights, those just weren't the cards I drew. Rounds 3 & 4 were both swiftly won (by me) against mono-blue artifacts and Esper midrange.
1
Round one: Naya (mostly Gruul with a splash of white) aggro brew, 1-2.
This was a pretty solid aggro brew and the games were pretty much races. For me, this meant trying to put a lot of small, very aggressive creatures down, for my opponent it meant ramping into big trample-y creatures. The games were all really close and could have went either way.
After loosing game one, I sideboarded in my kitesail freebooters to help both as fliers to get over their big guys and to help pull some cards from my opponents hand. This worked for game two. Game three was neck and neck but my opponent came out on top.
Rounds 2&3: Gates 2-0, 2-0
I wound up playing against gates decks in rounds 2 & 3 and cleaned house against them both times. This just seems like a very favorable match up in favor of this flavor of pirates. I’m not suggesting that Gates couldn’t win against this brew, it would just be very hard.
Round 4: Boros Aggro, 0-2
This was a combination of a bad (but not un-winable) match up, bad draws and not having the right sideboard cards. Game one involved me getting 10 out of 20 lands and game two saw me mulligan down to five and then have to face a perfect curve with Lyra out on top and him pulling like 11 points of life from lifelink per round. Still, the games were closer than 0-2 might suggest and I’ve got some sideboard plans.
After I got home I changed a few things immediately. I replaced the two risk factors and carnival // carnage with a rigging runner, dire fleet poisoner and light up the stage, making all three four ofs.
The rundown:
Honestly, I was thinking this would be a one week deck for me, a nostalgic look back on pirate tribal but I’m feeling pretty good about the crew after taking them out. I’m working on a more detailed deck primer after I’ve solidified my build a bit more but if you’re at all interested at all in smashing in your opponent’s face with fast and furious creature based aggro this is a deck that you should think about.
Until then here’s a very basic primer. I’ll most likely edit it and make it more presentable in the future, nothing on the sideboard because I’m reworking it.
Current build
4 Rigging Runner
4 Fanatical Firebrand
4 Fathom Fleet Captain
4 Dire Fleet Captain
3 Daring Buccaneer
4 Dire Fleet Poisoner
3 Judith, the Scourge Diva
3 Dire Fleet Neckbreaker
4 Dragonskull Summit
9 Mountain
3 Swamp
4 Blood Crypt
Sorcery
3 March of the Drowned
4 Light Up the Stage
4 Skewer the Critics
3 Kitesail Freebooter
3 Dire Fleet Daredevil
1 Risk Factor
3 Banefire
2 Carnival // Carnage
3 Drill Bit
The cornerstone of this deck is value. The main idea is fairly simple, to pump out more pirates than your opponent can dream of dealing with and pillage away. Generally speaking this deck wants to be using as much manna as possible each turn (unless holding a poisoner ready to flash) making more threats than the opponent can deal with and using aggressive synergy to do massive amounts of damage on the swing and getting maximum value with the spectacle mechanic. Lean on Fathom Fleet Capitan to help fill the board and March of the Drowned and Light up the Stage to help keep the threats coming.
One drop pirates:
Daring Buccaneer: Is the best turn one play (provided you have another pirate in your hand… and you should) it may not have haste but as a 2/2 it’ll catch up on damage the first time you swing with it, it has a better chance to survive as a 2/2 and it frees up your other one drop creatures that can do more for you later.
Fanatical Firebrand: While Daring Buccaneer is a better turn one play, Fanatical Firebrand is not a bad one at all, swinging for 1 on turn one always feels like a small victory. This card can mean a lot more when you’ve got a Dire Fleet Capitan ready to swing, or have either a Judith, Scourge Diva or Dire Fleet Neckbreaker on board. This card can also serve as a one drop spectacle trigger in a pinch.
Rigging Runner: To the point, a 1/1 first striker for 1 is good value but a 2/2 first striker for 1 is amazing value and most turns this deck wants to attack so getting the raid trigger is no hard task.
Two drop pirates:
Dire Fleet Poisoner: This will often function as this deck’s primary source of removal, either flash it in to block your target or to pump up one of your attackers that’s being blocked by something you want to kill.
Dire Fleet Captain: This creature is a real powerhouse in this deck, at it’s worst it’s just a grizzly bear but in most cases it’ll be much larger on the attack with each other pirate giving it +1.
Fathom Fleet Captain: This card should, in most cases be your first option if it’s reasonable to cast and activate the trigger. It dies to everything but until it does it can help you fill up your hand with a back up crew by dedicating your first two manna to making a token every turn. The obvious exceptions would be if playing some other card would win you the game that turn or that you would have to discard things that might be more useful than a 2/2 with menace.
Three drop pirates(?):
Judith, the Scourge Diva: Sure, Judy isn’t a pirate but she might as well be. In most cases, unless there’s no risk to her at all, or if doing so would win you the game you won’t be attacking with her. She doesn’t get to be revealed to make Daring Buccaneer cheaper, she doesn’t get a bonus from Dire Fleet Neck Breaker or help Dire Fleet Captain by attacking… But she does give all the attacking pirates +1/0 (and there will likely be a few of them) and when / if the (likely) inevitable happens and the glass cannon that is this deck blows up it’ll do a bit more damage to your opponent in doing so. Does this make Judy and honorary pirate? I think so.
Four drop pirates:
Dire Fleet Neckbreaker: +2/0 for all attacking pirates is a thing that can make for a lot of damage.
The not pirates:
March of the Drowned: One black to bring two dead pirates back to your hand beats one for one removal for value in my book and helps deal with the problem of an empty hand.
Light up the stage: This will most often be cast for 1 and helps this deck have things to play, which is what this deck wants to do.
Skewer the Critics: Most of the time this will be cast for 1, most of the time the best target will be the opponent’s face but it can also, at times, if needed aid as removal…
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The plan is pretty simple. Blast out a bunch of super cost efficient pirates. Use Light up the Stage, March of the Drowned, and (maybe) Risk Factor to keep the fire burning. I plan on smashing face until I leave my opponents wondering if they should brew up some pirates or possibly just repeatedly loose in a blaze of glory.
3 Rigging Runner
4 Fanatical Firebrand
4 Fathom Fleet Captain
4 Dire Fleet Captain
3 Daring Buccaneer
3 Dire Fleet Poisoner
3 Judith, the Scourge Diva
3 Dire Fleet Neckbreaker
4 Dragonskull Summit
8 Mountain
4 Swamp
4 Blood Crypt
Instant
2 Risk Factor
Sorcery
3 March of the Drowned
3 Light Up the Stage
1 Carnival // Carnage
4 Skewer the Critics
3 Kitesail Freebooter
3 Dire Fleet Daredevil
1 Risk Factor
3 Banefire
2 Carnival // Carnage
3 Drill Bit
I’ll most likely have some kinda write up on how it went next week.
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Wizards has a program in place to help support magic clubs and you can possibly find some level of support there too (This is a link to said Wizards program).
Remember, your greatest tool will be inclusiveness. This can possibly be your biggest challenge depending on who you find to play with (if they've got problematic tendencies) but it could also be no problem at all. It's important when forming a group that everyone feels welcome regardless of who they are (provided they show that same level of respect towards others).
If this fails, your best best is just to find local shops that run FNM. This will find you magic players to play with but in my (limited) experience most of these players won't be your age (The shops I've been to most of the guys have been in their 20's-40's but with a handful of younger players) but tend to be supportive of younger players.
Good luck
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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
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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
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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.
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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.