JUSTIN'S DRAFT DECK #1 PILFERING PIRATES

PLANESWALKERS OF MIDGARD PRESENTS

JUSTIN'S DRAFT DECK#1 PILFERING PIRATES

As explained in Zach's Draft Deck we finally started doing some serious testing and, if our first night of testing was illuminating, our second day of illuminated an entire new spectrum of light and information yet explored in the r & d phase of Fulcrum. The colors explored, alongside Zach's deck, were my attempt at a white, blue, and red deck, but the clear winner was Justin's deck attempting to take advantage of blue-red pirate mechanic.

A little note before we get into the breakdown of Justin's deck; when I created the sister mechanics of Pirate X (When this creature deals damage to a player, that player puts the top X cards of their library into their graveyard) and Thief (When this creature deals combat damage to a player, that player discards a card at random, and the creature's controller draws a card) my intent was to create a worthwhile mill-mechanic and a worthwhile loot mechanic that would lead to a great new blue-red synergy in the set. It worked; it worked far too well in limited and this led to the slight neutering of all pirates.

And without further ado, lets talk about the deck that with a record of 4 wins and 0 losses is the current heavy weight champion.

CONTAINS 40

CREATURES

(14 Creatures: 7  Blue Creatures, 7 Red Creatures )

Deck contains. 1.

Reasons? Anglerwolf has the potential to be overpower. He is a 2/2 for tow blue with a pretty nasty bit of control. He compels opponents to attack when, really, they might be better off not attacking, and more importantly, in a pirate deck, help tap creatures and clear a path. For this reason, as I type this, I realize he may be overpower and need some nerf. (nerfed)

Deck contains. 2.

Reasons? Barbarians and pirates working together? I think that Justin was trying to combo the ability for blue to get to the end zone to help pump the bloodthirst. A clever strategy.

Deck contains. 1.

Reasons? The pirates decks are all about trying to cut corners and getting a potential 4/4 on the field makes this an attractive card to round off the creature pool.

Deck contains. 1.

Reasons? (just nerfed) Comparing Fairy Drake to Aether Adept and it became obvious that the card was undercosted, but for a three drop that puts a 1/1 flyer down and returns a creature to your opponent's hand, Fairy Drake still feels like a strong piece of temp-removal. He certainly got his share of performance during the test.

Deck contains. 1.

Reasons? Malakite Bucaneer is a card that is guaranteed to put a smile on the face of anyone who puts it down. He guarantees you a draw every time you swing and he can pirate for five. A nifty rare and he definitely gets across the snarky Malakite flavor. Justin certainly smiled when he used him and even though I exiled him...he had a weird trick up his sleeve (keep reading)...

Deck contains. 2.

Reasons? River-Bandit made it too clear that pirate could end up overpowered. On turn three, you put him down if your opponent doesn't have a monster and swing for two damage and dump 4 cards out of your foe. He is a nasty worker and adds to the flavor. No card was more frustrating for my blue control to try to deal with because no matter how many times I return to Justin's hand he would just play it on the next turn.

Deck contains. 1.

Reasons? Here is a rare designed for clearing your enemies ramparts and swinging for a scoop-licious three damage. Justin used it pretty effectively to kill my weenies.

Deck contains. 1.

Reasons? Here we got another example of a fun card I had to nerf a little. Here ability to tap creatures when she swings, combined with other similar cards, just made her a little too nasty when Justin used her.

Deck contains. 1.

Reasons? Here we got "Murkdog" which is the funnest name to say in the playtest. Murkdog's got this adorably creepy quality and, even though he is a technically inferior Invisible Stalker, we still love him.

Deck contains. 2.

Reasons? Nymble Pirate has this cool pseudo ninja/pseudo vigilance thing that makes him attractive to be sure. He'll mill your opponent out and, if your opponent can't deal with a 1/1 creature, he is gonna be able to block on the next turn.

Deck contains. 1.

Reasons? Rorrani Horseman has seen his fair bit of nerf, but he served Justin's creatire pool well in limited.

NON-CREATURE SPELLS

(9 Non-Creature Spells: 2 Blue Enchantments, 3 Blue Instants, 2 Red Enchantment, 2 Red Instants)

Deck contains. 1.

Reasons? Here we have an awesome and worthwhile enchantment to have. I basically took two enchantments; Firebreathing (underpowered) and Claws of Valukut (love em but a little overpowered) and smashed em together. Justin used it quite effectively to boost the damage output of his creatures.

Deck contains. 1.

Reasons? Red doesn't get a lot of control, but Hellchains is pretty effective. For one red, you can force a creature into constant attack and that's exactly what Justin wanted. Forcing my creatures to attack means he had a clear field to swing his pirates.

 

Deck contains. 1.

Reasons? I love this card. It is a solid instant with a strange little added bonus. Its a lightning bolt that can turn that 1 mana, possibly red, into blue. Not as fast as the one cast Lightning Bolt (you gotta have the mana to cast this one) but Justin used Hexellian Plasma to great effect in removal.

 

Deck contains. 1.

Reasons? I was a little surprised to see Justin play this one and, after watching him play, it inspired me to improve it a little to make it  more feasible.

 

Deck contains. 1.

Reasons? This defensive removal is a great card to have on standby. Shock sucks and this is pretty decent. This gets the job done and combined with the stuff that forces your opponent to attack, boosts its quality.

 

Deck contains. 1.

Reasons? Justin shocked me with the inclusion of this aura and I think he was even surprised when he used it to return Malakite Bucaneer from exile...a brilliant move for a real niche card.

 

Deck contains. 1.

Reasons? Here we have a workhorse that I expect to see in plenty of blue decks and Justin used it a couple times. Its simple, effective, and blue..very blue.

 

Deck contains. 1.

Reasons? Cards like Scry and abilities like Thief are what makes Spellblock a feasible and reasonable card to run. Justin used this bit of removal to put a little more bite in his deck's offensive capabilities.

 

Deck contains. 1.

Reasons? Turn to Toad is a card that I was happy to see get use and it helped Justin clear the way for a win in the final game we played.

 

LANDS

(17 Lands: 8 Mountains, 9 Islands)

CONTAINS: 8

CONTAINS: 9

A special thanks to Justin for playing this awesome deck and helping me learn more about my own mechanics; pirate and thief make milling a possible strategy...if you dream it, you can build it!