In my testing with my pirate deck i've found that Fathom Fleet Captain is the strongest 2 drop. I found there was to many times where I would go Wanted Scoundrels on 2 and it just gets hit by Fatal Push or Lightning Strike and they now have a 5 drop on turn 3.

Just a suggestion, sweet deck +1

LegitQuickness I was considering that card.

I'll make the adjustment and playtest it a bit.

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm curious to get your thoughts on Ruin Raider in this deck. It seems like it would help set up your Arguel's Blood Fast to flip, while providing you with more card advantage.

Ryjo my gut says no. As nice as it would be to see Arguel's Blood Fast to flip, I see it as a "get out of gaol free" manoeuvre. Not something I want to deliberately try to achieve.

It's for that reason that I have Aethersphere Harvester in the deck.

I also have my 3 drop slot currently devoted to Aethersphere Harvester because the 3/5 Flying and bit of life gain is so good, but also because it triggers Deadeye Plunderers in the late game, whereas Ruin Raider doesn't.

Ruin Raider is certainly an interesting idea, and would synergise well with Fathom Fleet Captain. I'll keep it in mind.

I did consider both those cards, Calispotato.

I ended up going with Arguel's Blood Fast for my card draw, because I can constantly activate it, over spells that I can only cast once.

I also get some card draw with Siren's Ruse, which is far more versatile.

The fact that Disallow can Counter a triggered ability means it can stop a Planeswalker from achieving its ultimate, potentially also removing it from the board for no gain. It's simply the best Counter spell in Standard, at the moment.

They're good suggestions, just not quite right for this deck.

Siren's ruse seems like a dud. Im basing that off of essence flux in the recent spirit decks. It never quite worked out right. I do get the card draw though. But if you are trying to tilt a combat situation you may just be better with push mainboard. I mean if card advantage is the game plan there are just so many options that can be faster.

As I said in my description:

"Siren's Ruse can be used to protect a Creature, to allow Hostage Taker to steal another Creature, or for card draw."

It's not used to tilt a combat situation.

The Spirit decks didn't have Hostage Taker.

Looks pretty interesting, but I think you need to run some sort of removal. Pirates are evasive and have lots of cool tricks, but there's a lot of extremely fast decks that need immediate response or you'll be pretty much dead by the time you can cast something relevant. Also, for a Pirate deck your curve is a bit high and Metallic Mimic's ability loses efficiency; have you consider run Deadeye Tracker or Kitesail Freebooter for example? Lastly, I'd replace Dive Down for Spell Pierce, which is far more versatile and can counter Planeswalkers.

Interesting deck. I'll have to playtest it against my Grixis Bolas deck (post-rotation edition)

Countermage, removal is in the Sideboard, so I can tailor it to what my Opponent is playing.

The fast decks are playing lots of Creatures, yet most of the things you have suggested only address Non-Creature spells. For that reason I won't be putting Kitesail Freebooter or Spell Pierce in the deck.

I would rather run Duress than Spell Pierce, anyway.

Metallic Mimic helps to buff Deadeye Plunderers later in the game.

If you have a look at Tribal decks like #1 Black Zombies just about all of them run Metallic Mimic. I did in Worthy Minotaurs, and it was great.

I prefer Siren Stormtamer to Deadeye Tracker. If I find that I need an Exile outlet I will probably put some Scavenger Grounds in the deck.

It's a pretty solid deck(+2 if I could). Of course there may be changes, but I wouldn't dare to suggest cards, without knowing your playgroup. As a standard guy, the only thing I HAVE to say, is pre order a couple of Hostage Takers and Sword-Point Diplomacy. They are both sick cards and their prices may spike.

Argy,
The deck looks great!

One thing I wanted to mention though for people who might play this deck on MTGO: Right now, Cavern of Souls and other "creature type" Lands don't work right online ... they only work for the first creature type in a type-line. For example, "Human" would work for Deadeye Plunderers but not "Pirate". HOPEFULLY they'll have this fixed before XLN release or there are going to be a lot of people frustrated about Unclaimed Territory ...

Draw well!

Hey ROUROU I'm more than happy to hear suggestions.

I may not adopt them all but, even if they don't suit me, they get me to think about the card choices I've made.

You make very good suggestions so ... HIT ME!!

Hostage Taker is sooooo freaking good that I can't believe it. It turns games around. It's not even LEGENDARY. Hence the 4 of.

clayperce that's a good heads up.

Hopefully MTGO sorts its shit out soon.

Gonna be kind of important, coming into this next season.

Seeing your mana-curve, I would suggest a 3drop, like the one above (Sword-Point Diplomacy) but, the deck is perfect as it is. This is my problem. I wouldn't risk replacing something, cause I would compromise its integrity...

I will try and playtest it against some other decks and inform you.

Thank you for your kind words :D have a great day m'lady

Land ho, ye scurvy dog!

(chuckles)

Jimmy_Chinchila avast, landlubber!

Hostage Taker MVP! Damn that card is so scary to play against, its so good... This deck looks like a lot of fun to pilot! +1 !

Argy,
I was thinking about possible 3-drops (just to smooth the curve a little) and was wondering if you've looked at Fell Flagship yet. I think it's worse on an empty board than Untethered Express (since Siren Stormtamer can't Crew it alone) but it seems like it'd be very good (on both offense and defense) in every other case. Not sure if it's better than Crazy Train though ... may come down to how often you almost win via Pirate damage/just barely lose to opposing Creature damage vs. how often Train runs away with the game.

I must admit the Crew 3 turned me off it, but I wasn't considering the +1/0, which would make Crewing easier.

My three drops are a bit sparse.

There aren't many times I lose with the Crazy Train, but that doesn't mean the deck can't be stronger.

My 2 drops are also causing me problems. They're just not strong enough/plentiful enough.

I might even take out Metallic Mimic for this. I have to do a lot of thinking about the deck.

clayperce good call on Fell Flagship.

It's made SUCH a big difference.

It fits the theme of this deck perfectly, where Creatures also disrupt the Opponent.

Since this deck is now tagged as both Dimir and Vehicles, I would be remiss if I did not suggest Scrapheap Scrounger, as it's easy to cast, you can easily cast it from the graveyard, it's resilient, and it can crew any of your vehicles.

In your update, you mentioned potentially dropping down on lands. Frank Karsten wrote in an article (link syntax for outside sites doesn't work for me, but here's the URL: https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/how-many-lands-do-you-need-to-consistently-hit-your-land-drops/) that the amount of lands in a deck should be approximately 16 + (3.14 * Average CMC of the deck), so 24 seems to be the correct number, though draw spells can reduce the number of lands needed. I think you should be able to shave 1, maybe 2 lands and still be in good shape.

And how would you feel with Storm Fleet Aerialist over Kitesail Freebooter? The Freebooter takes a card, but having a 2/3 out on turn 2 can do more to end the game quickly.

My land issue had a lot to do with whether or not I needed one more Creature to Crew Vehicles.

After extensive playtesting with StuBi it turns out that the number of Creatures is fine.

Especially since Cradle of the Accursed has been added to the deck.

I'm reluctant to put Scrapheap Scrounger in this deck due to the fact that there are now so many cards around that Exile Creatures, or empty graveyards.

I also prefer what the other 2 drops have to offer.

Last night I sat down and had a big think about whether to use Storm Fleet Aerialist or Kitesail Freebooter.

So it's timely that you mention the option.

In playtesting the Freebooter has been SO good. Swallowing a card and seeing an opening hand is fairly hard to beat.

I agree that a 2/3 Flyer on Turn 2 is brilliant ... but you can't guarantee that will happen.

If it doesn't, you're left with a 1/2 Flyer, when you COULD have had a 1/2 Flyer that swallowed a card.

This deck has a Control feel when playing it. It's going for a long haul win, rather than a speedy one.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will keep them in mind if something just isn't working for this deck at FNM.

From a pur deckbuilding view, it seems to me that first of all you run run too much combat tricks instant for not a lot of creatures, would peronnaly advice to reduce them, and what also bother me is that you don't have good creatures to crew 3, using 2 creatures to crew the Skysovereign seems to be ok for me, to crew something like the fell flagship seems to be a bad deal .. and playing it only for the +1/+0 .. it's your choice but i would personnaly prefer more creatures than Fell Flagship.

Also from a deckuilding perspective you use too much vehicules for too few creatures, it's "too easy" to control your board since your creatures aren't big, sure there is a lot of flying but you wouldnt win a race against most non flying aggro or even midrange decks, ranging from constrictors decks, to dinausors or anything with this flavor .. Also you have a lot of CA but you don't have the impactful cards you want to draw in the middle of the game.

Plus you play black, in a deck (pardon me if i'm totally wrong) that seem to be kind of aggro, your creatures aren't that great, as i said before you play too much defensive instants, i would largely prefer pushs in mainboard, i mean if anyone plays some constrictors, rishkar, some dinausors you can't to anything, you can't respond, and you can't race.

But overall the deck seems ok, if it's what you want to play it's totally possible, i just think it's necessary to add more creatures, and more instants that suits your gameplan.

XorKoS I don't think you have read the Description for this deck, or playtested it.

It plays like a CONTROL deck, not an Aggro deck at all.

Hence why most of the Creatures act like non-creature spells.

You've missed something rather import about Fell Flagship. Every Pirate in the deck that has 2 Power or more can SOLO Crew it, because it gives them +1/0.

That's OK. It took me a while to get it.

I've been play a Vehicle deck for four seasons now, called Speedway Champions, so I have a LOT of experience with how many Creatures to Vehicles you need in a deck.

The answer is around 17 Creatures for 9 Vehicles.

With Cradle of the Accursed I have 18 Creatures in this deck.

In extensive playtesting, against the type of decks you mention, we have never had problems with lack of Crew members (StuBi has been my playtest partner).

The combat tricks are mostly to protect Crew members, Vehicles, and Hostage Taker. You must remember that this deck has a LOT of Creatures if you count Vehicles.

Thanks for the Comments. I'll keep them in mind while playtesting.

Countermage I want to thank you for your suggestion to run Kitesail Freebooter

I have done so and it has really lifted the deck.