Pirate Obsession

Standard* Tempo Tribal UB (Dimir)

wisegreenbean

Creature (23)

• 4x Dire Fleet Poisoner
• 4x Fathom Fleet Captain
• 2x Hostage Taker
• 4x Kitesail Freebooter
• 2x Ruin Raider
• 4x Siren Stormtamer
• 3x Thief of Sanity

Land (23)

• 4x Drowned Catacomb
• 7x Island
• 1x Memorial to Folly
• 7x Swamp
• 4x Watery Grave

Enchantment (4)

• 4x Curious Obsession

Instant (10)

• 2x Cast Down
• 3x Dive Down
• 1x Fungal Infection
• 4x Lookout's Dispersal

---

Sideboard

Creature (3)

• 1x Crafty Cutpurse
• 1x Deadeye Tracker
• 1x Plaguecrafter

Instant (7)

• 2x Disdainful Stroke
• 1x Fungal Infection
• 4x Moment of Craving

Sorcery (5)

• 2x Golden Demise
• 2x Thought Erasure
• 1x Walk the Plank

---

Maybeboard

Creature (2)

• 1x Dreamcaller Siren
• 1x Warkite Marauder

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Walk the Plank

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Dead Weight

Instant (1)

• 1x Spell Pierce

---

Essentially this deck is trying a variant on the mono blue tempo Curious Obsession tempo lists. Pirate synergies grant more staying power and slightly higher overall card quality; a Kitesail Freebooter has far more utility than a 1/1 unblockable creature for U, and kill spells are better removal than bounce spells on average. I think this melding of archetypes is reasonable, because my main issue with UB pirates in the past was a lack of punching power and a heightened vulnerability to Goblin Chainwhirler. Between obsession and support cards like Dive Down that have natural synergy with freebooters and hostage takers, and obsession offering that highly significant +1/+1, I think this is a strong direction for pirates and the tempo list.

I eventually talked myself out of grixis. Buccaneer's Bravado and Fiery Cannonade and Lightning Strike were the red cards, supplemented by no basics and a mana base of 4x Sulfur Falls 4x Dragonskull Summit. We're gonna put that to the side in light of some reasonable on color replacements. Losing Lava Coil is painful, but Hostage Taker can handle troublesome Rekindling Phoenix issues as well. warkite maruader also supplements this by making it more kill-spell susceptible. I don't know if Crafty Cutpurse or Golden Demise has the chops to take us home in those difficult tokens matchups or not. Walk the Plank is also a much more reasonable spell in dimir than in grixis.

I'm taking some notes from streamer Jeff Hoogland and https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=20328&d=333021&f=ST, but frankly, Daring Saboteur seems really bad. This deck only rarely gets into board stalls; having droves of evasive threats is good for that. It also REALLY doesn't have mana to spare on average, what with the strong card draw, Fathom Fleet Captain activations, and holding up protection. I recognize that a certain threat density is critical, but playing actually bad cards is the beginning of the end. I'd rather max out Thief of Sanity, honorary pirate, who basically comes with a curious obsession attached.

I might pony up for some Vraska's Contempt if I like standard enough and am sufficiently plagued with FUCKING Rekindling Phoenix.

Date added	6 years
Last updated	6 years
Legality	This deck is not Standard legal.
Rarity (main - side)	23 - 2 Rares 19 - 6 Uncommons 4 - 7 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.03
Tokens	City's Blessing, Pirate 2/2 B, Saproling 1/1 G
Folders	Old Standard Decks, Decks I Own