Hey, how good is Experimental Frenzy in 2 colours, I don't know. I've seen it only in mono red. I would definitely squeeze somewhere Vanquisher's Banner and Radiant Destiny in there. They're just too good to pass out on when playing tribal decks.

Also, fix this.

Dire Fleet Poisoner: Flash is good against control, and she can pump a Pirate for extra damage. Most importantly, she can offer a surprise trade for something dangerous like a Lyra Dawnbringer.

Lyra Dawnbringer has flying, Dire Fleet Poisoner does not.

@ vaperowned: Hey, thanks for the comments!

First item: Experimental Frenzy is actually very good in the deck. We don't have much of an issue when it comes to mana, and our curve is low enough to make good use of the card. This will only get better when we get Blood Crypt next set. Vanquisher's Banner is too expensive mana-wise, and we have other forms of card advantage anyway. Radiant Destiny isn't in our colors and were won't be able to afford to splash for it.

As for Dire Fleet Poisoner...there's nothing to fix here other than to further specify that we'd need to give deathtouch to an attacking Pirate that also has first strike (so, Rigging Runner or Dire Fleet Daredevil. Yes, Lyra Dawnbringer has flying, so the trade would not be via a surprise block. Remember, the Poisoner can only give an attacking Pirate deathtouch, so I'm talking about a surprise trade for when we attack into a Lyra with a first strike Pirate. If Lyra blocks, we can flash this in to give whatever she's blocking deathtouch. As long as it's a Rigging Runner or a Dire Fleet Daredevil, they will hit each other and Lyra will die to deathtouch. Correct, we will not be trading with a Lyra when we are the ones blocking (that's not what I was referring to) — only when we are the ones attacking will we be looking to offer a surprise trade with a Lyra via a Pirate with first strike. Should have been clearer about that.

@ vaperowned: I edited the card choice explanation for Dire Fleet Poisoner in the description. Hopefully my meaning is clearer now.

Ah, ok I got it. I completly forgot Radiant Destiny is white. Had it in my mind that it's na artficat for some reason. You're correct about banner that it costs too much mana and doesn't go well with Experimental Frenzy. It only helps a lot if the game stretches out however.

Dire Fleet Poisoner is clear now. Tought you meant it for defense at first.

Good luck with your deck!

Love to see some tribal in standard that's not vampires or merfolk.

How are you fairing against Izzet Drake decks? I've a similar deck but I'm struggling to find an answer to them

@ Wayneh73:

The strongest card for the Drakes is Lava Coil. It's the best answer for the Phoenix as well. You should be running 4 of these in your 75.

Fiery Cannonade will kill the Phoenixes on their turn, which is good, but all the Drakes will survive it. Attacking into a Drake with deathtouch via Dire Fleet Poisoner is a reasonable strategy but savvy opponents probably won't fall for it more than once.

Honestly, your best bet is aggro. Outpace your opponent for damage and race them. Use removal on the Drakes whenever your opponent doesn't have countermeasures open.

If your opponent is running tons of removal and answering your threats, March of the Drowned is a reasonable sideboard card. Duress is also pretty decent, too.

This deck looks sweet. I feel like both Dire Fleet Captain and Captain Lannery Storm could probably go in but I'm not sure what to take out except for maybe Fathom Fleet Captain. I'm currently running Mono red Experimental Frenzy but I've been considering switching over to a Rakdos build depending on what shows up in Allegiance and this could be a cool deck to check out in the wait for that.

@ zangfang:

Both Dire Fleet Captain and Captain Lannery Storm are solid Pirates. Storm is probably the better of the two as she smoothes out the mana curve and is a hasty topdeck (not to mention she can hit harder when you use Treasure). I’m just not sure where she goes in here. Fathom Fleet Captain is far too important a card for us to cut — it is one of our “must answer” threats and it can just run away with the game on its own (not to mention its powerful synergy with Dire Fleet Poisoner — if it gets double blocked we can two-for-one the opponent). Also, extra three-drops are a little awkward for our mana base, since we’re on a 21-land plan. Still, I know this card is strong and I’ve wrestled with including it for the entire time I’ve brewed and played this list.

As for Dire Fleet Captain, it looks great on paper. If we play it on-curve, it’s an attacking 3/3 on Turn 3, which is great (and has the potential to get stronger as the game goes on, assuming we swing out). Post-wipe, though, it’s a weak topdeck, and it doesn’t have any form of evasion. It doesn’t interact at all either. There are also many situations in which it simply doesn’t get big enough to do the job. In practice, it has been really underwhelming, and I find that I’d rather run 3x Dire Fleet Daredevil for the first strike and spell interaction.

If you look at my maybeboard, you’ll see I’ve been considering these cards. I recommend you run this deck. It’s cheap to build and it’s actually pretty good! Just remember to mainboard the Duresses if your meta has a ton of control like mine. Otherwise, use Fiery Cannonade on the mainboard to blow out aggro, weenies, and tokens in Game 1!

Thanks for checking out the deck. If you do end up running your own version, please do reach out to me about your build and its results! I’m sure that my list could be improved upon, and maybe it does need to be running the cards you’ve suggested!

I am just returning to mtg after a 15+ year absence (before October the last expansion I purchased was Onslaught) so I am still catching up on the changes to the game. That being said, I hope you will forgive me if my questions/comments seem stupid.

First off, I really appreciate how tight the curve is that you have built into your deck. I have been dinking around with a Rakdos Pirate deck using either one or both of the Angrath planeswalkers and Captivating Crew. Unfortunately, I don't see it being competitive for FNM because without any good way ramp it, it's just too slow. There were a few cards, however, that I was looking to use and I was wondering how they might fit into your design. They are:

Deadeye Tracker. I don't think it would fit well in the main deck because it certainly doesn't pack the punch of a Daring Buccaneer but how useful would it be versus something like a Golgari midrange, Arclight Phoenix or any other deck that likes to manipulate the graveyard or utilizes Jump-start. Plus it explores so you get that benefit too.

Forerunner of the Coalition. It is kind of a pirate tutor and could help you draw whatever pirate you may need to address you current board, plus it is another body you can throw in front of a stompy. The problem is its near the top of the curve and it telegraphs to your opponent what your next turn is likely going to be.

Pirate's Cutlass. Equipment is whole new concept for me, so I don't really know how effective it could be. I can see it being useful against some control decks because it might survive a board wipe and could help buff any new creatures you cast. It could also be useful versus weenies and tokens. Besides, don't pirates kinda have to use cutlasses?:-)

Finally...Garna, the Bloodflame. I know that he is not a pirate and that he is expensive, but would he help against control? It would make rebuilding easier after a board wipe,but that would require you to leave a big chunk of mana untapped. Then again, control can long run depending on it's kill mechanism so you may have the extra mana lying around. Plus, he isn't a pirate so he may be unexpected.

Again, I really your deck. It looks a lot like some of the "sligh" decks people were running in the early days, but seems to be more versatile verses a wider variety for decks. I also really appreciate your detailed explanation about why you chose the cards you did, especially the sideboard. It helps a veteran newbie get caught up. Thank you!

@ Skippyeights:

First off, I want to thank you for checking out the deck, and also for your very kind words and suggestions. I’m glad that you were able to get something out of my card explanations — it’s always my hope that my reasonings for card choices are clear in my descriptions.

Secondly, don’t worry! None of your questions and or suggestions were even remotely stupid — and indeed, you’ve raised some very valid possibilities that give me food for thought. I’ll go through your ideas below and reflect on them, and also tell you what my initial ideas for these cards were (if I had any before now).

• Deadeye Tracker: Pirates are a surprisingly versatile tribe, and this is its best piece of anti-graveyard tech. Against the Golgari and Arclight Phoenix lists, you are absolutely right that it would do work. My reasons for not including it are: 1) It’s quite small and fragile, thus not really on-theme with our aggressive plan, and requires a pretty hefty mana investment to get it to a useful size for combat; 2) Since we are using a 21-land mana base, explore is far less likely to hit a land and draw it for us — not to say that makes it useless, since we can still pitch away whatever’s on top of our deck, but it also weakens some of our topdecks like Dire Fleet Poisoner, since we really don’t want our opponent to know if we have that card in hand or not; 3) We already have reasonable anti-graveyard maindeck pieces in Dire Fleet Daredevil and Lava Coil, although admittedly Deadeye Tracker is better than both of those in that particular role; and finally 4) though it’s strong against the Golgari and Arclight Phoenix decks, we’ve got strong tech in the form of Fiery Cannonade already — it kills almost all of Golgari’s creatures apart from Doom Whisperer and the Findbroker, and it kills the Phoenixes at instant speed after they come back, effectively fizzling the opponent’s spell string (but admittedly not permanently getting rid of the Phoenixes).

• Forerunner of the Coalition: I really like this card. Tutoring is almost always strong, and adding unblockable damage with its triggered ability gives the deck new reach. However, it has the drawback, which you correctly recognized, of telegraphing our next play — something we’d like to avoid if possible. Additionally, its subpar size for its mana cost is problematic, coupled with the fact that it has no evasion or keywords of its own. That said, it’s far from being a bad card, and I’d probably be playing the full playset if Ruin Raider wasn’t such a strong 3-drop. Its triggered abilities are very good.

• Pirate's Cutlass: There is definitely a Pirate deck out there waiting to be built that will run these. It will probably utilize fast, hard-to-block creatures like the blue Pirates, and also run Buccaneer's Bravado as a finisher. At three mana, though, it’s fighting for a spot against some of our best cards, and while it is a really cool card, it’s not high-impact enough for our strategy to use. We’d usually rather spend the three mana to cast Ruin Raider and start drawing extra cards, etc.

• Garna, the Bloodflame: Honestly, I forgot all about this card. Sure it isn’t a Pirate...but it is supremely good anti-board sweep tech. At five mana, she’s steep and a bit fragile for her cost. Currently we are using the more-easily cast March of the Drowned as our board wipe recovery card. Garna is definitely very interesting though, and worth a look. Although I’ll note that when I’m playing 21 lands, 5-drops can be pretty tough to cast.

Thanks again for the comment and I hope this helped you. Feel free to get back with me if you have more thoughts!

Got to admit this list looks way better than my RB pirates one (RB Pirates 1.0 and RB Pirates 2.0). I was having such a blast with my Ixalan Block Constructed UB Tempo Pirates - RIX Standard that I ended up making some RB equivalent, but they feel a tad underwhelming. So I might take a few hint from your build. Also cool to see the price of Dire Fleet Daredevil went down.

2 Other things. 1. Somebody who can ruin a Teferi player's day is alright in my book. 2. I love that you took time to describe your matches and how the deck plays against different archetypes.

@ MaxDion:

Thanks for the kind words! Glad to see we’re cut from the same cloth when it comes to Teferi players. Handing them beatings with a budget pile is one of the best feelings you can get from a game of Magic. :)

If you take your RB Pirates to FNM again, I would love to hear how it goes for you. I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the tournament reports; I’ll keep them coming. Cheers!

Tonight I played in my first FNM since returning to the game. I have assembled some decks of my own and played a few casual games, but for my first constructed competition, I wanted something that I felt would not lead to abject failure. I ran a clone of your deck. Wow.

There were only six people so we played a causal structure with just three matches. Your beautiful deck went 2 and 1.

I was totally clueless to the meta, so I used the original build that included the Fiery Cannonade . Unfortunately, I would have been better off with the Duress package.

The first opponent was a very experienced player (it was his card shop) using a Dimir control/midrange that relied heavily on surveil for card advantage and to fuel some 2nd and 3rd turn Dimir Spybug s in the first game. Unfortunately I had to mulligan having drawn only one land. The next hand had two but I failed to draw another until the fifth turn. By then, one of the bugs was 4/4, the other was 3/3, and we had traded blows with the smaller pirates I had been able cast. Luckily, my third land let me launch a Fiery Cannonade that took out the smaller bug (alas, the heroic Rigging Runner it had blocked didn't make it) as well as the two Nightveil Sprite s that had pumped the bugs. Next turn I was able to cast a Kitesail Freebooter and when I sent a full charge the next turn, he blocked with his big (now 6/6) bug only to find a flash-cast Dire Fleet Poisoner helping out the Freebooter. Hurrah. I was able to drop in a Dire Fleet Neckbreaker and the game was quickly over. For the second game, I sideboarded in the Duress package as well as the Cast Down s and Price of Fame s. I used two of the Duress to great effect snagging countermagic both times, and the Cast Down s were useful against a wide variety of Dimir nasties like Dream Eater , Nightveil Predator , and Thief of Sanity . It took a bit of time, but I finally defeated my opponent after dropping two Neckbreakers for a big charge.

My second opponent was another recent returnee to Magic--we both tend to play with out land in front on the battlefield as was illustrated in the original MTG instruction pamphlet. He was playing an unmodified Ral Planeswalker deck. The speed of the pirate deck made short work of him in about ten minutes. For the remaining time, we swapped decks and played again. He wasn't familiar with the cards or mechanics so it was drawn out, but he was winning when the other matches ended. He also sends you compliments on the pirates...Arg.

Third match was against the winner from the other bracket. The player is the local judge, and she lives and breathes the game. She was playing a Teferi control deck. The deck was four colors (no green) and the manabase cost enough to feed a small goblin tribe for a decade--there were no basic lands. The first game I was able to get a decent start and was able to do significant damage before she cleared the board with a Deafening Clarion . She then dropped a Lyra which I was unable to answer and that game was soon over.

I almost swapped in the entire sideboard, leaving out only one of the March of the Drowned . I had a decent draw, but unfortunately, the three lands--two swamps and an Unclaimed Territory were the only land cards I drew for at least six turns. I was able to cast some pirates and did draw both Sorcerous Spyglass s and used them both against Teferi (the first was destroyed). Unfortunately, she cast a Rekindling Phoenix and without any regular red mana sources, the only way I could get rid of it was to use two Cast Down s, first during her turn, then during mine. The next turn, she cast another. After finally dropping a mountain, I was able to Lava Coil the buzzard and got in a few decent hits before the bitch Lyra hit the board again. Luckily, I drew into a Price of Fame and got rid of it, only to have her cast another. I did try to use a Dire Fleet Daredevil to borrow one of her creature kills, but she counterspelled him. My demise was as quick as it was inevitable.

Overall, the deck did well. I don't know enough about the Teferi deck to figure out what else I could have done against it, but the second round would have been much closer if I had not been mana hosed.

Having successfully used the deck, I have two questions. First, when you sideboard, what cards do you tend to pull to make room? I figure it is rather situational based on what the opponent's deck looked like in the first game, but what are the most likely cards you pull. Against the Teferi, I stripped out the Rigging Runner s and the Fiery Cannonade s. I also dropped two Ruin Raider (which may have been a mistake because she quickly burned the one I was able to cast in game 2) and all four of the Dire Fleet Poisoner s--the Deathtouch would be worthless against Lyra and I don't think she would have fallen for the same attacking Freebooter trick I pulled against my first opponent to get rid of the phoenix.

Second, what plans do you have to include cards from Allegiance? The creature cards don't fit the pirate theme, but with the possibly diminishing payoff of the Fiery Cannonade (which may change if the is a resurgence of aggro from Rakdos or Orzhov via the Allegiance cards) would it be worth it to include some non pirate creatures?

Aside from creatures, I think both Light Up the Stage and Theater of Horrors could be viable ways to get additional card advantage. With Spectacle, Light Up the Stage is a cheap way to access two more cards and you have until the end of your next turn to use them.. I saw the card used to great effect in the prerelease.

Theater of Horrors ? Don't know..your opponents see all cards as they build up, but that could be to your advantage if they focus on the potentials of the exiled cards and may not anticipate cards in hand. Plus basically drawing two card every turn without worrying about hand size? Only fear is removal that kills your enchantment andthus permanently exiling everything.

Anyway, thanks again for your deck. I am more confident about trying my decks, but I may still the sirens call to go sailing some Friday night with those scurvy seadogs. :)

@ Skippyeights:

First off, congrats on your 2-1 finish! That’s an excellent showing! I’m thrilled to hear you decided to take the deck for a spin, and did so well with it! I also really, really enjoyed your tournament report — thank you so much for posting it. Seriously, it made my day. Well-written and fun to read. I really got a kick out of it. Keep them coming!!

I’m also glad that your second opponent enjoyed the deck! I humbly thank him for his compliments.

Now, let’s talk strategy. I agree with you that generally it is more correct to mainboard the full playset of Duress and to keep Fiery Cannonade on the sideboard. The general metagame simply has too many rich targets for the card, and too many cards that can wreck your game unless you snag them. Also, I’d note, too, that without Duress , control decks are extremely tough to beat in Game 1. I think Duress is the way to go for now.

First, let me try to answer your questions.

1) “First, when you sideboard, what cards do you tend to pull to make room?”

Generally, my matchups tend to fall into one of three broad categories: control, midrange, or aggro. What follows are my general sideboard approaches to the three, and reasons why. Keep in mind that all decks are different, though, so tweak your plans based on your observations and instincts in the moment.

• Aggro: -4x Ruin Raider , -4x Duress , -1x Dire Fleet Daredevil ; +4x Fiery Cannonade , +3x Price of Fame , +2x Cast Down (or just five additional pieces of whatever targeted removal you are playing on the sideboard; Bedevil is good too if you have it)

Aggro is about keeping your opponent’s creatures at bay while attacking with your own. These matchups are often a race, so your life total is precious. Hence, Ruin Raider is out. Since aggro usually runs lots of low-toughness creatures, Cannonade does big work here. Most aggro lists run comparatively few spells, so you can leave Duress behind here most of the time. Adding in lots of removal helps make sure you will stay alive. If your opponent does the same thing, you can consider sneaking in some March of the Drowned for Game 3.

• Midrange: -4x Rigging Runner , everything else depends; bring in various cards that “seem good” against what the opponent is doing

It’s hard to neatly categorize midrange decks because there’s so much diversity in this broad group. Basically, these decks all share one aspect — they all want to grind. They tend to have lots of removal, lots of creatures that double as spells and provide incidental value ( Ravenous Chupacabra is a great example), and piles of late-game threats like Doom Whisperer and Carnage Tyrant that can win the game if unanswered. In general, Rigging Runner is weak against decks that want to grind because it is such a poor draw late in the game. So almost always, he comes out. What do you put in? Almost always some number of March of the Drowned because these decks are so grindy and removal-heavy, usually at least a couple of hard removal spells like Cast Down to deal with any game-winning creatures they resolve late in the game, and maybe even Fiery Cannonade if they have a substantial suite of creatures that lie lower on the mana curve (mana dorks like Llanowar Elves ramp decks are good fodder for Fiery Cannonade ). Sorcerous Spyglass is great against midrange decks using lots of planeswalkers. You’ll have to often tweak things and use your judgment here.

• Control: I’ll make it easy here, just do this exact sideboard.

-4x Rigging Runner , -4x Lava Coil , -1x Dire Fleet Poisoner ; +4x March of the Drowned , +2x Sorcerous Spyglass , +3x Price of Fame . You want as much card draw ( Ruin Raider ) and recursion as you can get here, and you want as many Duress effects as possible. Price of Fame will kill their finishers apart from hexproof threats (especially good against Lyra Dawnbringer ) and help fix the top of your deck so you can close out the game (surveil also works pretty well with March of the Drowned ). Note that if they’re on the Rekindling Phoenix plan that you’ll want to hang onto some Lava Coil s, too. If you do this sideboard, you’ll stop them cold almost every time. You just have too many ways to disrupt their plan, and either to prevent or recover from their sweepers. There’s a certain skill of playing against control, too, so you will need to get the hang of it. It’s not easy, and it’s a different approach to the game. Avoiding overcommitment to the board if you fear a sweeper, playing around a Settle the Wreckage , deciding which cards to cast into countermagic — all of these are decisions you must make correctly if you want to defeat the control player.

2) what plans do you have to include cards from Allegiance?

Well, aside from the obvious upgrades of the shock lands ( Blood Crypt ) being inserted in place of 4 basic lands, I opted to put in 3 Bedevil in place of three of the targeted removal spells I previously used on the sideboard (one Cast Down , and two Price of Fame ). Bedevil hits so many things. Now I can hit either Lyra or Teferi against control, and we even have an option against artifacts.

Re: Theater of Horrors and Light Up the Stage ...I feel that we have plenty of card advantage in Ruin Raider and Dire Fleet Daredevil (the Daredevil does provide free cards quite often). And they are on-theme as a creatures and as Pirates. The Theater though, is a really good card and worth a try. It provides damage and cards, both very good against control. I’m not a huge fan of exiling cards face-up because it robs Dire Fleet Poisoner of its surprise factor and therefore much of its power. Still, if the Theater lands against control, it could be very, very good. However, I feel we are already strong against control, so I’m not sure we need it. I think these cards are good though, and you could very well be onto something. If you do incorporate them into your build, I’d love to hear how they perform.

Remember you can always read my updates posted to this deck page for my tournament reports. I give some info about how matches and sideboard decisions turn out, if a bit choppily put at times. We are Pirates, after all!

Thanks again for the comment — I’m super happy and flattered to hear you are enjoying the deck. I’m looking forward to hearing about your further successes!

I had a rakdos pirates deck before rotation and it did well. Hoping I could make some quick and cheap changes for rotation I brought it to the store with your deck in mind. I went 2-2 and probably could have played some better lines. My deck currently is more aggressive with 10 one drops creatures, and non-creature sets rof shocks and lightning strikes. I found a lot of good midrange decks were I played and found I was unable to go wide around the two matches I lost, and I haven’t bought the appropriate cards to deal with large creatures. I think the drill bits and cast downs will be helpful when i get them. My suggestion for you’re deck are to try out a forerunner of the coalition and take out a neckbreaker. I feel like this makes my deck quicker. I also run 21 lands so if having 4 neckbreakers isnt too slow for you maybe I should try it.

@ Funkymonks:

Thanks for the comment! Your build sounds cool. Maybe it’s time to include Forerunner of the Coalition in my build, in some number. How is your list working with Shock and Lightning Strike ? What specific matchups seem really good for you, and what are the hardest?

Glad my list gave you some ideas. I highly recommend mainboarding some hand disruption — since you have a more aggressive list, perhaps you should try running 3-4 Drill Bit . Let me know how that goes if you do it. Cheers!

I had no idea how much work you put into this deck, not only in the updates to the main / sideboard but also tournament reports, single card discussions (reasoning for why you are using the cards you are etc), and here in the comments answering questions. Awesome.

My two cents; you should really post a deck-tech or something of that nature to https://www.reddit.com/r/spikes to gather a wider audience and critique from other excellent players such as yourself. Keep on keepin on brotha!

I would put Buccaneer's Bravado and Captain Lannery Storm back in. The combo of the two with sacking two treasure = 10dmg from just her is massive. Bravado is just a good card period for pirate tribal. R/B Aggro Pirates v1 is my version of this and it very rarely gets beaten.

Hey JakeHarlow! I have just started coming back to MTG since I left to play Pokemon TCG. I left right after M15 came out. Ever since Pioneer has become a format I've gotten brought back to the game. I have to say that the new Pioneer Format is AMAZING!!! I've been playing the pirates since my return and have been doing pretty well with them. I have my current deck posted as of right now. However, for a few nights now I've been play testing the heck out of yours and holy cow is this thing AWESOME!!! Is there anyway we can get to gather and talk about updating this to the pioneer format because I feel like this deck alone as is is already an INSANE deck, but all the additions from the other box sets we could turn this thing into a MONSTER contender.

@ Spongee07:

Thanks so much for commenting!!

After Standard rotated (with the Ixalan block no longer being legal), I stopped playing Standard and haven’t been back since — I haven’t played the format with Core 2020 or Throne of Eldraine. Mostly this was because I could no longer play my Pirates!!

Then, Pioneer popped up, and just like you, it got me thinking. I haven’t thrown a list together yet, but I had considered upgrading these Pirates and seeing how they’d do in the new environment.

I would LOVE to have a discussion with you on how to upgrade this decklist for the new format. Send me a PM here on Tappedout, and maybe we can do a Google Hangouts or whatever and have an actual chat about it!

I don’t really have much of an idea about the Pioneer metagame. Is it even settled yet into smallish group of dominant strategies, or is it still wide open? I honestly have not been paying much attention.

Since Pioneer is basically Return to Ravnica forward, minus fetch lands, here are my initial thoughts right off the bat:

• Mainboard Duress moves aside for the full playset of Thoughtseize . When they reprinted this in Theros, I immediately thought it would be absurd in an aggressive shell, and Pirates is perfect for that. Given the incredible performance of Drill Bit as auxiliary hand disruption out of the sideboard (we only run in when we are on the play or against hard Control), I’d say we would be happy to mainboard 4 copies of Thoughtseize .

• Mana Confluence : Maybe run four of these over Dragonskull Summit ? If we can reduce the probability of playing taplands (and therefore having slow starts that could cost us games) to 0%, I feel like we would be well-served. When I did lose games with this deck, over half the time I’d say it was to drawing awkward mana and having too many Summits coming in tapped. If the meta is aggressive or burn-heavy, we might want to think twice before running so much pain in our mana base, but it’s worth considering.

• Rending Volley : Possible sideboard option? Don’t know the meta but this is a fairly good color hoser. The other card in this Dragons of Tarkir cycle that we have access to, Self-Inflicted Wound , comes to mind as well, but it doesn’t strike me as a competitive enough to be playable in Pioneer.

• Ob Nixilis's Cruelty : I think this is still a really good removal spell for the sideboard. Deals with indestructible, stops graveyard strategies and reanimation, and gets things with 5 toughness off of the board ( Siege Rhino comes to mind here). What do you think?

• Sorcerous Spyglass vs. Phyrexian Revoker : As a creature, Revoker is squishier and easier to kill, but it does advance our clock faster against control and combo decks because it can attack. Losing the ability to peek at the opponent’s hand is also a drawback, but with hand disruption and Game 1 information, we should already have a pretty good idea of what the opponent has and is relying on. Revoker can also turn off mana dorks, since his ability does cover mana abilities, so that’s an upside too. This gives us some play against ramp decks, and since Elvish Mystic and Llanowar Elves are in the format, I’d say we might want to have an extra card against ramp!

• March of the Drowned : I still think this is one of best cards against grindy matchups and Control decks, and depending on how Pioneer’s meta is, we might even want to play more than two copies. It’s a really cheap and efficient reanimation card for Pirates.

• Kolaghan's Command : This card seems too good to ignore for the sideboard. Extra removal, hand disruption, reanimation and artifact hate on one card? I’d say it’s better than Angrath's Rampage even though it costs more (and it is an instant, too).

• New Pirates?: I know Core 2020 added Glint-Horn Buccaneer , which at 3 mana and 4 toughness is very interesting and within our curve. It’s far sturdier than all our other creatures, does have haste, and causes incremental damage when we discard a card to its ability. This could be very useful against Control or grindy midrange in particular, since it can help us get through land pockets if we run into one. Against aggro matchups, it blocks fairly well if we are on the ropes. Definitely not a bad Pirate or a bad three-drop. But what to cut for it? Is it just a sideboard piece too? Or do we skip it? Also, are there other new Pirates in these colors that I am overlooking?

Anyway, those are my initial thoughts. Shoot me a private message and I’ll give you my gmail and maybe we can link up and have a real discussion! I agree with you that there is real potential here! Thanks for your interest and have a great day!!

I first saw this deck a while ago during its time in standard. It took me a while- but I found it again today, lol. I think the amount of work you have put into this deck is amazing and I really love all the description. I do think this would be a good pirate aggro deck in pioneer. I think the deck looks good as is- probably a full 4x of Thoughtseize in the SB (maybe even main). Love the deck!

@ I_Want_To_PlayAllTheDecks:

Thanks for the +1 and the follow! I’m glad you liked the deck and enjoyed the descriptions!

I’m looking into playing this archetype in Pioneer, actually, and your instincts are correct — Thoughtseize is a key addition, along with Fatal Push. Here is my first crack at a list, if you want to see it. I have not gotten a chance to play any Pioneer yet but I plan on doing so. Cheers!