Welcome one and all! This is Captain Red Zone, coming to you with the next Dual Color deck in my series for your viewing delight. This week I have to be honest. After last week when Black walked out on me, I was so grief stricken that I didn’t even notice… Black owed me another deck! We did Black with White, Red and Green, then it left me here with Blue! So I went to my local Prerelease, because where there’s Magic players playing Limited, there’s Black bringing the removal. When I got there, it was hiding inside the Innistrad packs, where it though it could blend in with the Vampires, Zombies, and Demons. Long story short, I found Black and we had a long “talk” and it came back with me to my place to finish what we started.
When I got home, I found Blue playing Duels of the Planeswalkers and the three of us sat down to start working on this week’s deck. So this week, 3TF brings to you a Blue/Black deck ready to hit the high seas. This week we theme it up Pirate style. So hoist the anchor and set the sails as we head out into open waters!
Yaaarrrrr!
This deck starts with two problems. First, the amount of pirates in these two colors is good, but falls a little short of where I would want the creature count to be. The other issue is picking a Commander for this deck. The Creature thing is easy enough to fix, so let’s start with the Commander issue. On the one hand we have.
Ramirez is a legendary pirate. In fact I believe he is the only one… that isn’t an Illusion.
Yeah yeah, we get it.
As the only REAL pirate Ramirez seems like the best choose for this deck, but on the other hand we have…
A legendary Ship also makes for great pick for a commander. How can you have a pirate deck without
ship for them to raise the jolly roger? I was so split between the two that I left the deck as a 98 card deck. This way you can pick one as the Commander and put the other one in the last card spot. I’ll leave it up to you to decide which to use as the Commander here. Let me know which you think is the best. With that, let’s start filling up the rest of this deck with high seas goodness.
Rishadan Footpad, Rishadan Cutpurse, Rishadan Brigand, Steam Frigate, Kukemssa Pirates, Cloud Pirates, Armored Galleon, Talas Air Ship, Pirate Ship, Rishadan Airship, and Predator, Flagship: What self respecting pirate would be caught dead without a crew of sea dogs to man his ship? Here we have a starting crew ready to board. This is not enough to make a deck so lets grab a few Rogues to help with the day to day activities.
Cutthroat il-Dal, Grave Robbers, Hada Spy Patrol, Lore Broker, Lurking Informant, Master Thief, Neurok Spy, Rag Dealer, Looter il-Kor, Trespasser il-Vec, Highway Robber, and Vectis Agents: Human rogues will help fill out the rest of our crew members. Cutthroat il-Dal, Hada Spy Patrol, Vectis Agents,Looter il-Kor, Trespasser il-Vec, and Neurok Spy are little, but they are very sneaky with abilities that make them unblockable. Grave Robbers and Rag Dealer bring their shovels for treasure digging and exile cards you would have no use for. Lore Broker can help draw cards with his looter effect, but may help your opponents with a little looting of their own. Lurking Informant can help deal with Sensei’s Divining Tops or just put the top card in the grave for Grave Robbers and Rag Dealer to remove. Master Thief can be very useful by taking artifacts that range from all forms of play.
Circu, Dimir Lobotomist: When you’re out on to sea for a long time, it’s a good idea to bring along a doctor of some kind. Circu here may have lie a little bit about what he specializes in, but hey it not like we have much of a choice left.
Dream Thrush, Tideshaper Mystic, Reef Shaman, Shimmering Mirage, Jinx, Lingering Mirage, Sea's Claim, Spreading Seas, and Aquitect's Will: We have a few guys here that can’t attack unless there is water on the other side of the board. While Blue is a popular color, there is no guarantee that Islands will be on your opponents’ side of the board. Here we have a package of cards that will help make sure that all the world is open to our crew. Dream Thrush is not only here because it can turn any land into what we want at instant speed, but also what pirate ship is complete without a parrot? Tideshaper Mystic and Reef Shaman are here to fit in as mermaids… Really ugly mermaids. Shimmering Mirage, Jinx, Lingering Mirage, Sea's Claim, Spreading Seas, and Aquitect's Will round out the rest of our package with instant and permanent ways to spread the seas.
Oh and FYI when this...
starts to look this...
it’s time to go back to the main land.
And while we’re going to the main land, let’s pick up some supplies. All good ships need supplies, so let’s start with…
Expedition Map, Star Compass, Mystic Compass, Explorer's Scope, and Trailblazer's Boots: A map to know where we’re going, two compasses to know how to get there, a scope to spot land from afar, and some boots for the long walk. That sounds like a good start on what we may need. Now let’s arm ourselves.
Sword of the Meek, Sword of Light and Shadow, Sword of Feast and Famine, Banshee's Blade, Deathrender, Leonin Scimitar, and Trusty Machete: Let’s face it, our crew is kind of lacking in the power department. But that’s what Swords are for, and matey do we have a selection here. I left out three of the Mirrodin swords because those three see enough play as is. The rest are here more for favor and when their played usually have a smaller target on them.
Fodder Cannon, Lux Cannon, Mogg Cannon, and Myr Turbine: You can’t have a good ship without a few cannons. Just to let you know ahead of time, we’re a little short on cannon balls. But that’s ok because on my voyage to pick up the two swords from Mirrodin I found a Myr Trubine laying around. I think we may need more tokens later. Hey! If anyone on our crew starts lacking in their duties, there will be no walking the plank here. On our ship we stuff the cannon!
Do What You Want Cause A Pirate Is Free!
Treasure Trove, Treasure Hunt, Greed, and AEther Vial: Treasure’s abound and we’re going to get us some. Treasure Hunt, Treasure Trove, and Greed are all about finding the trinkets we need. AEther Vail is good with about three counters on it here. You can always take it up another knot if you need to, but I say hold it at three until you need it.
Piracy Charm, Treachery, and Treacherous Urge: If your crew knows that their on a do or die ship, you will have at least a few planning to stab you in the back. Those treacherous dogs! Be ready for them by recruiting others to stand in the way. At least long enough for you to turn the tables with your Charm.
Now it’s time to make a few picks that are a little less theme based, but still really good ideas to kick around.
Tezzeret the Seeker, Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas, and Liquimetal Coating: When it comes to finding value in junk, no one in all of Magic is better than Tezzeret. As the Seeker, he can work the cannons and Myr Turbine while digging deep into the deck to find swords, maps, and any other artifacts we may need. As the Agent of Bolas , with Liquimetal Coating, he can make anything of ours into a 5/5 beater. This sounds like a strong combination because it can pump up smaller creatures, give us man-lands out of basics, and can be used on other peoples cards. Grave Pact getting out of control? Now it’s an artifact creature ready to die in the next board sweep.
Alluring Siren, Wrexial, the Risen Deep and Stormtide Leviathan: What high sea adventure doesn’t have a battle with giant creatures of the deep? A boring one, that’s what. Remember, we’re not hunting Moby Dick here. Think of these as some of the beast you get to see on the open waters.
You Are A Pirate!
With 18 Swamps and 18 Island we can start to honor that restraining order I received from Black. Like I’m going to let a piece of paper stop me. As always, my mana base here is just a starting point. At the bottom, you can check out the deck list. Next week we get to finally build without Swamps, I Promise! As always, thanks for the read and I will see you next week for another article!
Hope you had fun and please leave any comments or suggestions. Until next time,
This is your Captain speaking… We’re heading into the Red Zone!!!
1 Ramirez DePietro
1 Circu, Dimir Lobotomist
1 Skeleton Ship
1 Talas Air Ship
1 Steam Frigate
1 Rishadan Footpad
1 Rishadan Cutpurse
1 Rishadan Brigand
1 Rishadan Airship
1 Pirate Ship
1 Kukemssa Pirates
1 Cloud Pirates
1 Armored Galleon
1 Cutthroat il-Dal
1 Grave Robbers
1 Hada Spy Patrol
1 Lore Broker
1 Lurking Informant
1 Master Thief
1 Neurok Spy
1 Rag Dealer
1 Trespasser il-Vec
1 Vectis Agents
1 Dream Thrush
1 Tideshaper Mystic
1 Reef Shaman
1 Shimmering Mirage
1 Jinx
1 Lingering Mirage
1 Sea's Claim
1 Spreading Seas
1 High Tide
1 Aquitect's Will
18 Island
18 Swamp
1 Predator, Flagship
1 Sword of the Meek
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Banshee's Blade
1 Deathrender
1 Trailblazer's Boots
1 Leonin Scimitar
1 Trusty Machete
1 Treasure Trove
1 Treasure Hunt
1 Treachery
1 Treacherous Urge
1 Greed
1 Fodder Cannon
1 Lux Cannon
1 Mogg Cannon
1 Expedition Map
1 Explorer's Scope
1 Wrexial, the Risen Deep
1 Stormtide Leviathan
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
1 Liquimetal Coating
1 Looter il-Kor
1 Alluring Siren
1 Piracy Charm
1 Mystic Compass
1 Star Compass
1 Myr Turbine
1 AEther Vial
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