I saw that +1/+0 from Fell Flagship, but it just doesn't help yo uwant to trade a 3/2 menace token or any of your other pirate with evasion to crew a 3/3 with no sign of evasion that won't probably hit and payoff ? I playtested your deck a couple of times against the deck i plan to play for Ixalan, and a merfolk deck i had just seen a couple minutes before and Fell Flagship was Always a kind of dead card, i would personnaly just replace it for creatures, even if it's not a pirate the best card i see for your deck would be Glint-Sleeve Siphoner.

Also i read your description when playing it, eihter i played it wrong, which is possible, or it just feel like an aggro / midrange decks, you dont have the impactful 4-6 drops a control decks has, nor the beggining of a control of the board. You have some CA but has i said in my other post, you don't have exciting cards to draw according to me.

And yeah, i'm still surprised, if you plan/want to play control why so many defensive instants ?

Also for info, my deck i used to playtest yours against : 6-2 Sultai Ixalan Value

Nowhere did I say this was a Control deck.

I said, "It plays like a CONTROL deck."

It interrupts the Opponent's tempo.

I won't put any Non-Pirates in this deck unless they have some outrageously outlandish synergy.

Any thoughts on red?

March of the Drowned is overpowered! Definitely run some in the side. :) I love your deck, I have a UB pirate deck as well and it's awesome how different they are and yet they both seem really good. I love the vehicle theme you've taken here. I played with Fell Flagship at prerelease last night and it did really well. I'm debating on putting it in my deck as well but I'm not entirely sure what to cut from it at the moment.

Variux I considered March of the Drowned but decided against it due to there being so many Exile cards in the current Standard meta.

Prerelease is different because people can't stack their decks with things like Magma Spray and Scavenger Grounds.

Thanks for the kind words.

I'll take a look at your deck.

i thinking what you will do agaist Carnage Tyrant decks?

This deck looks pretty awesome, not gonna lie. The pirates are going to be intense in standard.

I'm curious how this has tested against Temur Energy with the Glorybringer's and Chandra, Torch of Defiance's and all other burn that is going around.

Control does give you fits Argy

I tried it against my post-rotation bolas deck, and 2-0'd it. HOWEVER your blink spells and hexproof spells make it harder for me to kill things so that's a bonus

jokse I will be attempting to outrace Carnage Tyrant, then River's Rebuke it for a large final hit.

Link cards. It's seriously not that difficult.

Calispotato nice suggestion.

I will keep Doomfall in mind.

AgentGreen I'm curious. When you test do you act as though you can't see the other deck you are playing against?

Do you deliberately make the mistakes you might irl?

Do you Sideboard both decks?

Just asking coz I'm pretty sure I can beat Control decks in testing if I don't test like that.

However, that is how I DO test.

I already said Control is a tough matchup. I do have some Sideboard cards to use against it, though.

I should also point out that StuBi and I have been playtesting decks against each other.

That is a better way of seeing which deck wins.

Thanks for the update on Temur! That really puts a damper on my SCG Open coming up, but it's great information.

I'm playing in my first open on Saturday in Fort Worth with a Temur deck in my profile (linked here Temur Energy). Granted, I don't expect to finish top 16 or something crazy like that, but I wanted to be competitive and have a good time. Hoping to see some of the new stuff make it into the tournament like this to see how it hangs. But I will definitely be way more aware of getting things started asap with the pirates having this much control. If that means I ping stuff as soon as it comes out instead of waiting for bigger stuff, then so be it.

This may not be the place for it, but have you considered doing Naya dinosaurs at all? I would be curious to see how you would go about. I plan to make a dino EDH but not sure I would run anything in standard. I'm afraid it would be too slow. Plus Hostage Taker is downright scary.

So, to rephrase my question that never got answered before, what would be the reason for excluding red in your build here? I'm not suggesting as much as I prefer non-control decks, but I still want to play pirates, so I'm curious as to why you, a very professional player I've noticed, have chosen to play UB.

TheRedGoat I tested with and didn't go with it for these reasons:

1. It made the deck less consistent.

2. I found Admiral Beckett Brass difficult to trigger.

3. I preferred Hostage Taker to Admiral Beckett Brass.

4. Admiral Beckett Brass wasn't as good a bomb as Skysovereign, Consul Flagship.

5. The spells I would add to this deck would be removal spells. The deck plays better with the spells that interact with Creatures.

I would call myself an experienced, rather than a professional, player.

I usually do well at my LGS, if I have built an effective deck.

brandonsperry25 I consider nayasaurusrex {updated 26/9} by Kizmetto to be the best Naya Dinosaur deck on this site.

You might want to check it out and upvote it.

Aww, thanks for the shout out Argy !

I would normally suggest a card or ask questions, but looks like you've got a solid list and the testing to back it! Are you going to be building this in paper form and taking to FNM? Looking forward to some write ups to see how it goes!

Kizmetto yep, already started building this deck.

My partner StuBi will be playing it. He doesn't often write very detailed match reports, but I will try to do some summaries on here.

Argy

I was wondering, I would think that Aethersphere Harvester is not much in synergy with the deck since you have both limited energy and no interaction with the the cards you're playing. I was wondering what you would think of Panharmonicon? The ability to take 2 creatures with Hostage Taker, take 2 cards with Kitesail Freebooter and deal 6 damage with Skysovereign, Consul Flagship and tap 4 creatures with Dreamcaller Siren seems quite strong to me.

Feel free to disagree. Just want to get your thoughts since I have limited ability to try out decks and ideas.

Stormy101 Aethersphere Harvester allows me to get a 12 point swing in life totals the next two turns after it is played.

I gain 6 life, my Opponent loses 6.

It can also block for days, and has brilliant evasion through its Flying.

I've mucked around with Panharmonicon in Standard decks.

If they are specifically built around it, it is brilliant.

Otherwise it tends to be too slow to get real benefit.

I'm not going to build this deck around it, as that is not where I want to go.

Argy

Fair points. I am less familiar so I'd thought I would ask just out of curiosity. I was wondering if you'd mind considering another replacement for dive down I'd like to suggest Supernatural Stamina. My reasoning is that it will allow 2nd triggers to "enter the battlefield" and it will shake off any possible negative effects as well as boost power upwards of 3 or even 4 when Fellship is in play... It will also survive board wipes too.

That's not a bad suggestion. I do use Supernatural Stamina in my Worthy Minotaurs deck and like what it does.

I call it the Black Counterspell.

I will have a good think about it.

The thing that Dive Down does better is that it makes a Creature Hexproof for the rest of the Turn.

That can be helpful if someone tries to get rid of Hostage Taker with 2 spells, instead of just one.

It also allows me to gain more life if Arguel's Blood Fast is flipped, which can sometimes be important.

Argy

I guess it has its faults too since it doesn't protect its self form hostage taker, target exile cards. Could still be good for aggressive plays and if the meta is better suited for it. Let me know what you think

Playtested this deck MANY times. The synergy between Hostage Taker, Siren's Ruse and Skysovereign, Consul Flagship is sick!! This deck is going places :)

Thanks for the kind words, ROUROU

We've stared testing in paper and I can see a few tweaks that can be made.

i made this version of it http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/black-blue-takes-the-control/gonna try it out to the next fnm

jokse use the slug to link to your deck, like this: Black blue takes the Control

Report back here on how your deck goes, please.

Argy

Hey, its sad you think Fathom Fleet Captain isn't making a difference as you hoped. I have been playtesting the deck too and i can see that i have problems with the guy too. It almost feels shackling with him since i hold off resources to make several pirates and I don't get many chances to use it. I don't think it is that bad but you have your reasons. I was hoping i could convince you to not use Desperate Castaways for its replacement. Id prefer Storm Fleet Aerialist . My reasons are that it doesn't have any attacking restrictions, its flying, it has the ability to be a 2/3 like the castaways and it can still crew the harvester. It's entirely up to you but i just wanted to recommend it. Hope it works out.