Budget Pirate Aggro

Standard* JakeHarlow

SCORE: 39 | 24 COMMENTS | 16704 VIEWS | IN 12 FOLDERS

FNM - 01.18.19; 3rd Place, four rounds of Swiss —Jan. 18, 2019

This was a bit of a truncated FNM, since the midnight Prerelease for Ravnica Allegiance was scheduled to immediately follow (as a side note, I participated at all five Prerelease events hosted by Jacksonville Game Center that weekend — three single-player, banded four-round events, and two Two-Headed Giant, banded four round events — and I 4-0’d all five of them, for a perfect 20-0 Prerelease record; I might post more about this elsewhere). Despite the fact that the tournament would be cut short to accommodate the Prerelease, it was even more well-attended than usual. The Top 8 was forced to split. The competition was a bit stiff, but the scurvy seadogs managed to cut a way into the Top 4 yet again. This was mostly due to my tiebreaker percentage being very strong.

• Round 1 Grixis Control: 2-0 Win

Not much to say here. Duress and Kitesail Freebooter went to town on his hand, stripping out sweepers and removal. I played out some lesser Pirates to soak up the removal I couldn’t avoid, saving a couple of Dire Fleet Neckbreakers for when the coast was clear. By the time I cast the first one, the game was all but over. Game 2 was no different, made easier by a timely March of the Drowned to get back a pair of Kitesail Freebooters. It was too much for the control deck to handle, and its pilot conceded.

• Round 2 Boros Weenies: 2-0 Win

This was, at the time, the most popular deck in the format — and remains very popular into Ravnica Allegiance Standard. Duress effects aren’t always the best against this list, but they did do some relevant work in Game 1. I was able to snag both History of Benalia and Heroic Reinforcements from my opponent’s hand before he was able to make trouble with them. Coupled with early pressure from my Pirates and a perfectly-curved Dire Fleet Neckbreaker, this proved too much for the opponent. Game 2 saw us bring in all four Fiery Cannonades and two Cast Downs. To make room, I pulled two copies of Duress and all four copies of Ruin Raider (we don’t want to be losing more life against aggro). The Cannonades made a mess of our opponent’s board when we played it in response to Venerated Loxodon’s triggered ability — before his creatures got their counters for convoking the big Elephant, they were blasted off the board with a salvo of shipboard cannon. The lone Elephant faced down a big attack bolstered by Dire Fleet Neckbreaker, and died a noble death. The damage was too much for my opponent, and lacking any remaining creatures to block a second swing, he offered his hand in defeat.

• Round 3 Mono-Red Aggro (splash of white): 1-2 Loss

These were some close games. Razor close. My opponent was on a slightly-modified mono-red aggro plan, splashing white for Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice (which I still think was a weird decision — but he did beat me after all). He edged me out in Game 1. I was on the draw and I also had to mulligan down to 6, which didn’t help. Still, I was a turn from killing him before he topdecked a burn spell to kill me. Game 2, I also had to mulligan to 6, but had the advantage of going first. I’d put in two copies of Cast Down, a copy of Price of Fame for Aurelia, and three copies of Fiery Cannonade (I stopped short of four because it doesn’t kill Goblin Chainwhirler or Aurelia — at least not on its own). I boarded out two copies of Duress (maybe a mistake because of how many burn spells he was playing) and all four copies of Ruin Raider (since I didn’t want to lose excess life). Anyway, in Game 2, my opponent could not break serve. I plucked away burn from his hand with Duress effects, hit him with his own burn spells with Dire Fleet Daredevil, and curved into a Dire Fleet Neckbreaker to narrowly edge him out. Game 3 was almost identical in every respect — except for the fact that it was my opponent who played first. He played very well, and although I was eventually able to assume control of the board and put him within one swing of death, he’d gotten me low enough to be in burn range. He topdecked exactly two burn spells — exactly enough damage to kill me. Good games; I extended my hand in defeat. This one could have gone either way, but it favored him in the end. Good stuff!

• Round 4 Naya Midrange: 2-1 Win

This guy had built a very powerful (and expensive) deck, packed with a consistent curve of good cards. It was essentially a “tribal legendary” build with a token sub-theme, featuring Shanna, Sisay's Legacy, Emmara, Soul of the Accord, Legion Warboss, History of Benalia, Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice, Shalai, Voice of Plenty, Trostani Discordant, and Lyra Dawnbringer. I kept a greedy one-lander and paid the price in Game 1. Absolutely trounced, but I got some information about what my opponent was doing. If ever there was a matchup for Price of Fame, this was it. All three were promptly boarded in, along with all four copies of Fiery Cannonade, which, while relatively useless against the top of his curve, was very good against the bottom half. I pulled out all four copies of Duress because it seemed rather underwhelming here, along with the three copies of Dire Fleet Daredevil since there weren’t many targets for it in this matchup. Game 2, my opponent kept a greedy two-lander and paid the price. He stalled at two lands, unable to draw a third in time to stem the Pirate rush. Game 3 was a nail-biter. I kept an ultra-low curve, but still greedy, one-lander. I avoided punishment. I drew enough lands to curve aggressively, but so did my opponent. We traded blows and removal, and eventually the board stalled. All seemed lost when he dropped a Lyra Dawnbringer with a Shalai, Voice of Plenty on board. However, the combination of a Fiery Cannonade and two Lava Coils in the same turn — a truly fortuitous series of draws I’d been able to piece together and sit on until the right moment — cleared the way for a game-winning swing. First, a Fiery Cannonade to deal 2 damage to the Angels. Then, a Lava Coil to Shalai, to kill her and remove hexproof from the Lyra. Finally, the last two mana for the final Lava Coil to finish off the Lyra. What followed was a truly titanic swing of seadogs for the game — and a thriller of a game it was. Rarely will I tap seven mana in a single turn, and even more rarely does such a play lead to me winning a match. At the end of the tournament, I was the top-ranked 3-1 player and secured the 3rd place spot. The piratical Top 8 streak would continue.