Pirate's Cutlass

Artifact — Equipment

When Pirate's Cutlass enters the battlefield, attach it to target Pirate you control.

Equipped creature gets +2/+1.

Equip {2} ({2}: Attach this to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.)

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (17)

Kodiak509 on All Types of Pirates!!!

5 years ago

I'm pretty sure between my friend and I, I can get at least 2 of both Sulfur Falls and Submerged Boneyard Since him and his girl aren't playing any b/u or r/u rn... But that's not necessarily to dismiss the suggestion of dropping blue. And Mana has screwed me playing tonight a little. Mostly black because I realized I have a lot heavier black presence than I thought...

Also, though: I've found my most consistent win conditions seem to revolve around Storm Fleet Sprinter. 2 dam unblockable - not that special. Hopefully, I'm able to buff that up a couple times. Fell Flagship helps, and so does Pirate's Cutlass. That's 5 unblockable. But what's even more awesome is having Dire Fleet Neckbreaker as well for 2 more - but that's already all 3 colors between Storm Fleet Sprinter+Dire Fleet Neckbreaker. And the 2 extra from neckbreaker is pretty negligible unless you hit him with Buccaneer's Bravado for double strike. That's been about the nastiest I've seen this build play is when I'm able yo utilize the unblockables and also doubling that dam up. That's a 14 unblockable swing I just added up. Even just reading that is kind of astonishing right? Lol

With that said - I'm sure there's a lot changing I have to do with my archetypal theory at the moment. My SO beat me 6 of 7 hands earlier with this one Truly Competetive Saps :(. I'll have to think about what I'd be losing to drop the blue. I'm not that worried about getting cards though. Between all of us cardpooling, we really have almost any card we'd use in standard already. Even rare and mythics just because you do 'aquire' them over time. Like I know I could pull together a full set of Fell Flagship because he showed them to me the other day, I forgot them. I'm sure we have 2 copies of pretty much anything within reason...

JakeHarlow on Budget Pirate Aggro

5 years ago

@ 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!

Skippyeights on Budget Pirate Aggro

5 years ago

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!

Orion93 on Casual Pirates for lunch break

5 years ago

As a casual deck it looks fun and fair. You're right about losing some of the worse pirates to increase the numbers of the better ones. And pirates aren't expensive right now.

Maybe look into Captivating Crew and Captain Lannery Storm. Both can help stabilize your field in their own way. Captivating crew will steal creatures and Lannery is decent to help speed up your hands. Might also try something like Pirate's Cutlass or Prying Blade as well. I like casual so these aren't game breaking suggestions.

Pabs4444 on Admirals Fleet

5 years ago

Point number 2, take out lands, lol. A commander deck has 100 cards, meaning half of your current deck is lands. I'd say 38-40 should be a good number. Fell Flagship would go well in this deck. Budget too. Pirate's Cutlass could possibly go in the deck as well

MollyMab on The Admiral's Navy

6 years ago

So here is the thing. You only need about 40 or so cards that help pirates to make a deck feel piratey. And a lot of these pirates are kinda awful.

Creaturewise, I would cut Brazen Buccaneers, Cloud Pirates, Daring Buccaneer, Deadeye Tormentor, Dire Fleet Hoarder, Dire Fleet Interloper, Slippery Scoundrel, Storm Fleet Spy. They are pretty weak and their payoffs aren't great.

Crafty Cutpurse is a fun pirate who can surprise answer a bunch of EDH strategies. Dreamcaller Siren has some interesting surprise tricks. Kukemssa Pirates lets you steal artifacts from people. Ramirez DePietro is the original badass pirate. Shapesharer is a pirate and lets you copy value pirates, such as neckbreaker. Changeling Berserker is a 5/3 pirate with haste who lets you retrigger ETB effects later. Adaptive Automaton is another lord to help buff your pirates.

Land and mana wise, you want about 44 sources of mana. My rule of thumb is 38 lands, and 6-8 mana rocks for a 3 colour deck. Sol Ring is a staple as well. Signets, Commander's Sphere and stuff, all good. Path of Ancestry also gives a free scry when used to cast pirates.

For enchantments, Call to the Kindred basically is a 2-1 as people kill it before it gets going and it doesn't have great odds of hitting a pirate. Curious Obsession, Navigator's Ruin, Swashbuckling, Trove of Temptation are all low impact or actively harmful. I would cut all them.

Coastal Piracy is both thematic and rewards you for doing what you want to do. Attack. Kindred Discovery is less thematic but also helps reward you for playing pirates.

For artifacts, you have a lot of eh ones. Pirate's Cutlass is a low impact card, but thematic. Sleek Schooner and Dusk Legion Dreadnought are so weak they aren't even worth playing. Captain's Hook is just +2/+0, menace, as your creatures all have the pirate typing.

Door of Destinies is a powerful artifact in tribal decks that can get out of control pretty easily. Heirloom Blade is a more powerful, impactful weapon to equip your creatures with, as it also lets you chain through your deck. Herald's Horn lets you psudo draw more and gives a cost reduction. Obelisk of Urd is an anthem effect. Stoneforge Masterwork is an equipment that rewards a large boardstate. Skysovereign, Consul Flagship and Smuggler's Copter are both high impact vehicles who are good to tutor up, and from the new set Weatherlight fetches up artifacts when you deal damage which is fun.

For your instant/sorceries, you want to be more high impact or efficient. Duress only hits 1 person in a multiple player game. You also want some flat out draw cards. This is more up to you, but Terminate is good removal. Jace's Ingenuity is solid draw.

For more pirate themed spells, Spell Swindle and Brass's Bounty both are thematic and can be quite powerful, as well as push you to your alt win condition.

EvilArcher85 on Izzet Pirate Ascension

6 years ago

Maybe Captain's Hook instead of Pirate's Cutlass?

Zmeiritorukuno126 on Izzet Pirate Ascension

6 years ago

Tried out your deck and it semms like treasure map can help out a lot. Maybe even instead of Pirate's Cutlass for the sake of mana-curve, plus its good for your sideboard tactics.