I had already built a very good Pirate deck that utilized the power of Roaming Throne alongside all of the artifact-centric pirate abilities, but Aetherdrift gave this strategy so many new goodies that I couldn't resist switching it up. The haste provided by Fearless Swashbuckler and Chandra, Spark Hunter lends the deck to a much more aggressive style while also providing so much card selection and advantage in the process. Couple the raw aggression with all of the value engine synergies and you've got yourself a recipe for a very good aggro deck that can go the distance in the late game while also having access to some amazing sideboard cards since we're playing the color blue.
Beating Aggro:
The cheap interaction and creature base full of synergy make this matchup very winnable as long as we know what to prioritize and how to flip between the roles of defender and aggressor. Though it can still be very play/draw dependent, this deck is absolutely capable of racing other aggro decks while keeping them off balance. Sometimes defensive speed and early trading off is more important to stabilize with a healthy life total and proceed to win the game from there via incremental advantage. Our sideboard has more burn spells and a couple of one-sided damage-based wraths to safely get us to the midgame.
Beating Midrange:
This matchup is pretty 50/50 depending on how much removal our opponents are playing, but the strength and versatility provided by all of the different pirate abilities is usually good enough to keep up on its own - providing maps, clues, treasures, card advantage, interaction, evasion, and even +1/+1 counters. All we have to do is board in counterspells to answer their removal, and spot removal for their bombs to gain an edge.
Beating Control:
You may think that because this is a creature-based deck that our game essentially ends after a board wipe, but you'd be wrong. Look a little closer and you'll realize that pretty much all of our creatures are two-for-ones that keep our hand gassed and that our hasty threats paired with our scalable burn provide enough reach for any game. Sideboarding in counterspells for their board wipes and planeswalkers is generally all we need to do to secure a victory here.
Beating Combo:
This could actually be our toughest matchup, as most of our synergy is built upon amplifying our board past our opponents while having little interaction with the stack or with graveyards in game one. Our deck can be fast, but not always fast enough to kill before an effectively game ending combo has been presented by the opponent so our sideboard is going to be the real key to victory here. Just pay extra close attention to how the opponent is trying to win in game one and then sideboard in the appropriate tools to prevent that accordingly.
