Pirate Precon Upgrade Guide | “Ahoy Mateys” | Lost Caverns of Ixalan | The Command Zone 574

[@jessrainville]

Yes! Admiral Beckett Brass is our mom. So glad my brother used her as the model back in 2017. This card is close to our heart as she passed in 2020. But she comes back in Unsinkable with more family members. 😊

[@loganzoromski6126]

So sorry for your loss! I'm glad she is still with us in spirit. The Ahoy Mateys deck is the first deck I ever bought, and I love Admiral Brass!

[@alchemist743]

😢 I'm so sorry for your loss. my God, I love this deck. admiral brass has saved my ass lots of time. It is an honor to use admiral brass and the rest of the crew

[@alexanderdalton6648]

From my experience playing against pirates, Merchant raiders is a number one target for removal. The permenent tap down is brutal especially against voltron.

[@heathbar1091]

Agree. Merchant Raiders protected me from the giant trampling dinosaurs that I wasn’t yet able to deal with. By the time MR was removed, I reanimated with Admiral Brass and started over. I think it’s a GREAT card to keep in this deck.

[@RoyalAssassinBE]

Yeah, I played the deck yesterday. And got it on the field and tapping down the biggest creatures is surprisingly good. And when it got removed it was one of the first to reanimate. And sometimes in 1 turn you can tap 3 or 4 creatures easily. I'm gonna try some upgrades. But this is not going out. Rather cut Kari in this place.

[@everitthesketh3856]

i fully agree, i had to play against the tyrinid deck (only one my friend had at the time) and it is broken against anything but the other warhammer decks, but this allowed me to almost kill him and make killing that card his main priority

[@elio1145]

Played pirates before this deck out and Merchant Raiders overperformed for me

[@KenshinKura]

As a pirate player who has locked down a Krenko deck, I can confirm. I love that card.

[@Bran_Flakes837]

2:15 they actually got the same artist to do both Brass cards, so they're actually BOTH his mom, and i think that's really cool that they did that!

[@jessrainville]

And he added more family members. 😊

[@tsuki7064]

Nesting grounds also should work great in this deck. You can move the finality counter to like a land you control, so you can have the creatures die again

[@Eddie_Makes]

or move the counter to an opponents creature

[@devi2289]

This is fun. Might have to buy that for this deck. I don't like trashing precons ​@@Eddie_Makes

[@Jonzin4BeatzNYC]

If you get timestream navigator back from the graveyard with hate (from commanders ability) You can activate it right away. I think that's it's best upside in this particular deck

[@seamusmorse7944]

Yeah, I won because of this card last night with a little help from port razzer

[@DracoX-hz3tu]

Yea no way that card is worse than temporarily getting rid of a card from the opponent's hand

[@dariogliendo]

@@DracoX-hz3tu I think Kitesail Freeboter is just a better topdeck draw than Timestream Navigator, if you can't really bring it out for free with haste it has not much upside, I think it's really situational. If you're on the backfoot it's kind of a dead draw while Freeboter is kind of good, it's evasive which helps to activate some damage triggers, and gives you some info about the game.

[@ryanfeery7361]

Really shocked no counter removal cards were added here. Just seems good for this deck to get rid of those finality counters

[@joeferreti9442]

They probably think it doesn't help you win much and because they like short games they probably think it wouldn't do enough in those 9 rounds.

[@speljester]

I added Aether Snap to mine. Also can hose token strats. Planswalkers. And 1/1 counters. Keeps if from just being win more.

[@juanfuentes5374]

A friend gave me Nesting Grounds. It moves the counters to my opponent’s creatures, turning my normal removal into exile removal.

[@seantheelite]

Jake is just always the smoothest and chill energy.

[@dr00ness]

it's honestly so cool how solid these precons are when looking at the upgrades and removals i'm thinking mostly 'yeah, i'll actually keep most of the things that were already there'; like obviously a lot of the cards to include are really strong and much stronger than the cards removed, but it seems super playable without spending an extra $50, and that's pretty great

[@serrotnodnarB]

that's how i feel as well! i love building decks for flavor rather than power and with how powerful this deck already is out of the box, it allows me to not focus on powering up the deck and instead focus on making it feel more my style without sacrificing too much power

[@MagikMufinMan]

Jake and Rachel have great cohost chemistry

[@digdude64]

I usually zone out or skip the ads. But, for the times I do listen, Rachel's reading of the line "but it ended up poison!" always gets me. LOL

[@weirdo82]

I appreciate the look at this deck, but when they made the changes, did they not consider the fact that Admiral Brass reanimates them as *4/4s with haste?* Some of the small creatures becoming 4/4s makes them better, plus granting haste is good for them too. Timestream Navigator may be janky, but it's an extra turn spell if she reanimates it. 🤷‍♂️

[@Nicd671]

Oh wow I’ve never been early for a video before! Thanks for all the quality videos you guys produce. Keep up all the good work!!!

[@augiealvarezii]

54:43 Idk, this cut is hard for me. I played the precon for the first time this past Friday. I was doing a ton of shenanigans with Don Andres and Brass, then I activated Timestream Naviagtor and the table scooped 😂

[@SpicyPlay]

Glinthorn Buccaneer. You already got Malcolm in the deck. Might as well go for an on theme combo

[@RoseRamblesYT]

I very recently got into MTG thanks to my husband who is a big fan and has been playing (mostly on Arena) for about 2 1/2 years or so. I've played 6 games, ever, now against my husband using this Pirate deck, and... I've won each time. 😆 The first 4 times were against a Faerie deck he built, and twice against the recent Vampire deck that came out. The Vampire deck is a lot of fun and definitely challenging to go against. I can't think of the card name, something with Vein in it, but it was a huge pain to fight against with my Pirate deck, because this specific card would exile anything of mine that died. For a pirate deck, I need my pirates in the graveyard haha. I'm excited about some of the suggested cards to switch out with, but I will say that Merchant Raiders absolutely helped me get a big win on one game, and Timestream Navigator has been a great help too in two games for me. For now I'll hold on to them.

[@moedark4390]

I also like Azure Fleet Admiral, ur basically guarantteed to have the monarch everytime on your turn. Left it in

[@Beckola44]

I think that the Pirate Precon is pretty good. The changes were not bad. I may add some different cards and change out some of the lands for better ones. Thank you for the video.

[@ingolf82]

Black Market connections specifically says "Choose ONE or more" so you MUST choose at least one. so if you are 1 life, you die, You cannot just none. Dockside Extortionist is so good, it's worth your whole budget! Ragavan too.

[@joeferreti9442]

Dockside Extortionist is overpowered and boring. Ragavan too.

[@meyeneetuks4680]

Dockside still $60 mate…

[@heathbar1091]

Just played the precons for the first time. I was pirate deck. Merchant Raiders was my best card that kept me alive. It got targeted and killed. I reanimated with Brass. Departed Deckhand actually won me the game at the end lol

[@snakeman830]

Definitely think Nesting Grounds and/or Energy Conduit should go into the deck to get rid of those finality counters.

[@tsunason3023]

Power Conduit

[@snakeman830]

@tsunason3023 yeah, power conduit, not energy. Mixed up the name

[@joshking7824]

In my experience I've gotten to use timestream navigator 2 times the first game, and like 4 in the next, reanimating to give haste with brass is really good

[@zd-1249]

I would love to have seen maybe a Buried Alive in this list of cards to add. Sculpt your gy to reanimate the perfect pirate later with Admiral Brass.

[@Tupiaz]

Command zone have gone away from most of the tutors to have more different plays. Definitely a powerful card however it also streamline games. Which is not something every body wants. Some want to see the game end up differently.

[@stevenjoubertofficial]

It’s not the most unique or original pick but I’d probably go with wonder over zephyr singer. It’s actually cheaper and your creatures don’t need to be tapped to get the evasion. Also, you’re already milling and discarding so getting wonder in the graveyard wouldn’t be hard to do.

[@taylorjohnson5148]

Good thing I already got this earlier this year for my knight deck

[@metalgearsolid5881]

Enjoy watching these upgrade videos! Also appreciate the End Step as always. :-)

[@lotoftoast]

noticed alot more jokes being edited in especially in the recent game knights been really funny i like them alot

[@1ntegrator]

I think Fain the Broker is a great card for this deck because you can make combat more difficult for blockers by sacrificing a threatened creature from your opponents or you can remove finality counters to ramp.

[@JadeHex]

not a big fan of like removing multiple etb pirates in the Reanimator pirate deck for...a random blink instant. gyruda and a self mill engine that doesn't always self mill?

[@stevenjoubertofficial]

Been waiting for this one to drop! Yeeeee

[@miguelvargas7008]

skip to minute 35 for the upgrades

[@Nick-82]

Waaaaaaaay too many sponsers too. I miss when they actually played the game but every time its this over edited video

[@mrmelloman86]

Bro, I thought this comment was a joke

[@Nick-82]

@mrmelloman86 theres others that literally do a 10 minute video on upgrades and i feel those are better. 10 cards in, 10 cards out. No need to go into the history of every card blah blah blah.

[@BladedCreed]

@@Nick-82then just don’t watch this then. You see how long the time stamp is and they are a massive studio that needs money to do all of this research

[@Nick-82]

@connorcrozier5294 ah yes the ol "dont watch" and then less and less people watch and then they cant make content. Im saying I miss the days when they cared more about playing the game than having 30 minutes of scripted sponsors in an hour long video. Feels like more effort is out into the "ads" than the content itself.

[@asinclair666]

Personally i prefer haunting voyage over bidding, more on theme and only benefits you, also stays well within budget.

[@andrewroy5677]

Agatha factor commercial always gets me... again...🤣😂🤣. And this deck's value is nuts. BMC is a staple for the channel for sure! Captivating crew is a very good pirate card, repeatable threaten effect on legs. Still, great picks, Jake!

[@AUZZYNAPALM]

ghost of ramirez gets back something that was milled by the general. it has high synergy being re-animated on the turn you cast the general. there is not much in the deck that is able to return to hand from the graveyard, this inclusion is very strong and typically gets through as other pirates are more worthy of being blocked. and as other comments have said, timestream navigator is great in the build.

[@tylerrizzi8]

I added Angrath, Minotaur Pirate. Great planeswalker for the deck

[@DracoX-hz3tu]

Yeah no way is timestream navigator a cut, litterally better than most of the adds (like how the hell is an extra turn worse then temporariliy exiling one card from one opponent's hand). The thing gets haste when reanimated so just a 4 mana extra turn basically, one of the best cards in the deck

[@MrHocotateFreight]

'Tis a challenge, but im working to charter a blue-green pirate crew. They're surprisingly crafty!

[@Beelzebubba1983]

I can't play commander, no one in my tiny town plays mtg. I'm trying to get some play groups together. It's rough going but almost always watch you guys and gals for some amazing tips! Plus it's just fun to watch. Thanks everyone!

[@joshclune149]

she has a great voice for radio!

[@alexanderforbes1452]

Jesus Christ Superstar is wall to wall bangers, respect, Jake.

[@lococelsos]

i built Don Andres with Obecka, Marchesa and Kess stealing creatures. I love Rachel's Charisma :3

[@maxjones8724]

Thank you guys! I wanted a complete guide and you’ve done it! 🙏

[@johnathanrhoades7751]

Love the Jesus Christ Superstar reference 😂 and the deck! Looks a lot of fun. Really enjoy all the precons so far.

[@Ciecior_95]

Golden Argosy, the best boat

[@vishalkote1475]

For the Timestream navigator, it is actually a good card for brass beacuse of her reanimation and but if you add oriq loremage to the deck you get an infinte combo.

[@pugdaloriansquad1361]

Very funny tribe, I prefer the first admiral Beckett that the new one.

[@crocholiday]

I have this precon and love to play Windfall early, especially when you hear the table groan. It's almost as much of a joy killer as blasphemous act.

[@goldenglaive8078]

27:12 Wow, this was the last place I expected to hear a Jesus Christ Superstar reference lol. Love that movie tho, even if you're not religious it's worth it for the music and watching Jesus flip a bunch of tables in rage

[@bikeguy3034]

Add Revel in Riches, and a bunch of 'create a Trteasure Token' cards and make it a Treasure stashing deck...like a Pirate! Also, with Gyruda, you don't get the second Don Andreas trigger as you don't 'Cast' the milled creature - you 'put onto the battlefirld'. That isn't 'casting'...something I had to be careful of as I have Don as my Commander and there are a lot of cards with 'Put' or 'Cast' - need to have the right ones!

[@Beckola44]

I appreciate the two of you sharing the good upgrades for this Pirate deck. I will add these upgrades for sure. I did buy all 4 of the Commander Decks from the new Ixalan set. Thank you for the video.

[@megatrooper44]

Timestream is part of one of my favorite infinite turn combos, so ofc I put it in my deck upgrade for this deck

[@seantheelite]

whoever wrote the Agatha - Factor Meals script deserves a raise and Rachel for the voice lmaoooo

[@noahpatch1483]

Ravager is good enough to stay for cool factor itself. Also add Walk the Plank for flavorrr

[@everitthesketh3856]

dire fleet ravager is super deck situational, the three times i have used it, it was being used against someone who had lifegain, and it was only good because of the rounded up part of the card

[@Tclark6199]

So does Admiral Brass trigger each time you attack with Port Razer? Or just once?

[@stevenjoubertofficial]

Port easer grants you an extra combat phase which means there will be an additional “beginning of combat” step. So each combat gets you an extra creature.

[@stevenjoubertofficial]

Razer*

[@thelegendofbardock3816]

awesome guys! most of these upgrades are in my pirate deck already! having to see the command zone talk about the same cards i have in my pirate deck makes me happy knowing i made a good pirate deck. thank you 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@bryceduyvewaardt8136]

I ADORED the Krabby Patty reference! Jokes and funny edits always add appeal to these videos; keep them coming 😆

[@mistermastermind528]

Yep. I suddenly miss the Krusty Krab Training Video episode.

[@Kthemurderful]

Thoughts on Corpse Churn? The self mill seems good and u can get a pirate with an etb back to ur hand

[@senor-mm]

u generally want creatures to stay in the graveyard, but this could be a good piece to save a pirate in case someone tries to exile ur grave…”Bojuka Bog…in response: Corpse Churn”

[@arthurlam1756]

they should totally do honorable add and drops of cards

[@slash00815]

Does „Pirated Copy“ work with the Legendary Rule!?

[@noobtuber10]

Just put in a grenzo dungeon warden in the 99, then timestream is a wincon.

[@mwalker3005]

Have you considered doing a series where you play these decks after you've made the recommended changes to them.

[@typerez8132]

How do yall never pop timestream off? Its so easy

[@narfidy444]

Definitely think most of my upgrades are gonna be from the new set. Lots of goodies

[@davidthompson3869]

Which cards are you counting for “ fill the grave yard”? I get 15

[@ProphetofEndTimes]

Jake time traveled back to rivals of ixalan

[@chrishogan9143]

"...this time I'm gonna be more agreeable ." What does this mean? Was someone mean to Jake last time? WE LOVE JAKE EPISODES.

[@Tacti_Kal]

Ended up convering backto Izzet Malcolm & Breeches for my Pirate Tribal fix. More consistency then Admiral Brass. To slow & the fact she cost 5 CMC to cast. Should've been 4 CMC honestly.

[@dreyfus37_65]

Y’all are wild for removing ghost of Ramirez de Pietro. Go ahead and mill, swing with him, and get one of those cards back to your hand. It’s super solid

[@senor-mm]

a bit too conditional and u have to rely on having a mill piece or commander. sure, commander gets it there and gives it haste, but would hate to dead draw into Ghost

[@dreyfus37_65]

@@senor-mm I’ve never had an issue with it in the deck I upgraded. But I can understand what you’re saying

[@Joolenplus]

Glint-Horn Buccaneer

[@MrGenyaAvacado]

36:40 Crads to add: Pirated Copy , Forerunner of the Coalition , Patriarch's Bidding, Siren's Ruse, Drowned Secrets. TAKE OUT Daring Saboteur???

[@WarpsmithAdam]

I think telling people to take out Daring Sabetour is pretty good advice. Most of the time, your opponents are going to be able to block it, so you're going to need to pay 3 mana every time it attacks in order to connect with it.

[@gillian464]

Tbh altough i can see the cutting of departed deck hand but the second effect in a prolonged game can make some real nasty threats like a port razer with unblockable by everything but spirits is very scary

[@NeonTownExchange]

9:42 is when the video starts

[@Beelzebubba1983]

Merchant Raiders doesn't look good until you see it says whenever another pirate etbs you get to tap down creatures.. as long as you have the tiniest bit of protection for it then you will love it.. its cheap and gives a reason to recur some of less desirable pirates in your graveyard.. just to give the tap down effect. I don't know.. I just think it's cool.

[@jeffreyanderson9931]

The pirate/vampire commader as well as the original Beckett Brass seems way more on theme for pirates than this new version

[@Metachenco]

The energy between the hosts is worth watching through the parts people say to skip.

[@piotraugustyniak6591]

Great video. I will add indentity theft for more bilnk and remove counters from pirate to deck and Wonder for flying. Arcane adaptation if you exile opponnet creature card and cast it will count as casting pirate and trigger any ability when pirate enter battlefield. Reflection of Littjara would double number of pirates- in deck what aren't what many legendarnys it can work well with Discovery.Tomb robber would be great ad to deck.

[@piotraugustyniak6591]

Cuting blood money, evacuation and blasphemous act replace with boardwipe what kills only opponnet creatures or you can add Insurection. Go add would be Anger for haste. Marauding looter is good with enterprising scallywag. Ruthless knave second ability let you sac 3 treasure: draw a card- you sac tapped ones. Blasphemous act is way better in Dino precon when you have Wrathful Raptors on battlefield and cast act you are winnig game.

[@piotraugustyniak6591]

Black market connections is great card but in aggro deck it will be problematic you always lose life. It much better in Vampire tribal precon. Exquisite blood is much better in pirate it cover on big weaknees of aggro decks.

[@holzinatorius]

Use both :-)

[@nitezion]

Lol most expensive pirate?!?!? Dockside and ragavan would like a word.

[@ehsanrahee7411]

Ya I'm really surprised neither were even mentioned

[@brandoozy4595]

I added deadeye navigator it's a champion in the deck it negates the finality counter easy add for me imo

[@moedark4390]

not a pirate, its out

[@timkenney6842]

Malcolm is in there so why not add glinthorn buccaneer.

[@KZRock]

Adds Drowned secrets, takes out all the blue pirates 😂😂😂

[@MrLbi13]

I love that they cut almost every mono blue creature from the deck lmfao.

[@Flyboy245]

Rachel keeps killing commander sphere 😭. We love a lasagna

[@rhyswilansky-traynor1170]

i love the channel although i think the timestream navigators can be good since the commander reanimates with hast meaning you can activate it right away if you can get into the gravyard and possibly looop the effect with a sac outlet

[@Birbbato]

Timestream doesn't work with sac outlets. Part of the cost is to put it on the bottom of your library.

[@senor-mm]

timestream is still so good in this deck 👍🏽

[@MysticLeviathan]

I don’t agree with the analysis on timestream navigator. first, if your opponent wants to use their removal on it, by all means. removal is a premium and this is a 2mv card. secobdly, extra turns are better turn 5 or 6 than turn 4, and in a pirate deck with treasure it shouldn’t be difficult to get an extra turn by turn 6. I’d rather the opponent use removal on this than a big expensive creature that uses a big amount of mana for the turn.

[@heathbar1091]

Agree. And they have to remove it before your next turn, otherwise you can respond to their removal spell by activating the ability.

[@Mteverfresh]

I'm surprised merchant raiders was taken out before Kari zev

[@senor-mm]

menace & fs is decent evasion, recur w/ commander or even as a 2-drop is not terrible either. either way, agree that merchant raiders should stay

[@josephlck]

I feel the only way to play Pirated Copy is with a proxy 😂

[@redzone4412]

Love the SpongeBob reference 😂

[@Uefeti]

Меч? Рыба Меч!

[@itayraviv2422]

No way you get timestream navigator out 😭 what are you onnn As long as it's in your graveyard it's a huge threat, brought back with commander and activated right away.. This might be the BEST deck for this card and you ditch it

[@emilyholway9892]

Would Morag Fury of Akoum work?

[@Dtoszi]

I personally found the entire precon was best used as an upgrade to the existing Pirate tribal deck. Both new Brass and Don Andres fit in perfectly there. It’s a very casual deck, but it works nicely.

[@Nerdiac]

Dat dedelee dat dedelee dat!

[@Nr4747]

The new artwork for Black Market Connections doesn't fit this deck at all, what a shame !

[@theinvisiblegentleman1142]

I've been screwing with the deck for a little bit, converting it into a don andre theft deck, but one card I'm really excited about is changling outcast. One mana for an unblockable shapshifter, which works with the indomitable/bident of thasa, as well as all the "when I pirate deals combat damage to a player..." cards. Cephalid face taker does the same, but can copy one of the "when a pirate does damage" sources, doubling the value. If you have admiral brass and both of them, you only need to hit with one more pirate to steal a commander permanently. They're nice cheap little dudes that aren't flashy, but have a lot of synergy with the deck.

[@chrisdavis9896]

If you have a Dockside add the Dockside

[@mrxpibb]

Pirated Copy now costs $50 lmao

[@Doctor_Faust17]

A little bit of necroposting considering that this video is 7 months+ old, but this might be the first time a bunch of the cuts were actually better than the adds. Timestream Navigator and Merchant Raiders always overperformed for me

[@Negative_NBG]

Pirated Copy is like $18 😨

[@BR-jo1lf]

More like proxy pirate now...

[@senor-mm]

yea, lucky if u have one, but not necessary by any means!

[@Freddyman0]

Funny to say that Wizards know what they are as a creature type when they’re so torn between abusing etb triggers, taping and untapping shenanigans or spellslinger synergies

[@gurglerburglar6168]

Blood rites upgrade >:(

[@Z-S-H]

First 😂