Ahoy, me hearties. Your EDHREC precon guru is back, and he’s drinking all your rum (this one’s my favorite).

In our Precon Review of Ahoy Mateys, the Grixis Pirates deck from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, we saw that this deck is already in good shape to be an aggro/recursion powerhouse. So today we’re just beefing it up a bit and tossing the flotsam overboard.

We’ll break our upgrades up into two parts: budget (~$5 or less) and non-budget ($5 or more).

Old Salt

To recap, this deck is led by Admiral Brass, Unsinkable, a 3/3 Human Pirate that mills you for four when she enters the battlefield. At the beginning of each of your combat steps, you can grab a Pirate from your graveyard and bring it back to the field as a 4/4 with a Finality counter and haste. 

Our first mate is Don Andres, the Renegade, a 4/3 Vampire Pirate that bestows gifts to creatures you control but don’t own, and gives you Treasures when you cast a spell you don’t own.

Here’s the original decklist:

Carousers and Seadogs

In our Precon Review, we noted that the deck doesn’t provide any ways to remove the Finality counters. So our upgrades will start there. 

Nesting Grounds is our best addition here, since it doesn’t really take up a card slot. The drawback is that it’s sorcery speed, so you can’t activate it during combat, which is when the creature will come back with the counter. So just hope your creature doesn’t die before you get back to your main phase.

For instant-speed counter removal, let’s add Power Conduit. We’ve got no use for charge counters, but +1/+1 counters are always appreciated. Last we’ll add Heartless Act, which is a very fine modal spell. I couldn’t find room in the upgrade for them, but Clockspinning and Fate Transfer are also solid options. I particularly like Fate Transfer as a way to deal with an opponent’s creature that’s about to get looped back and forth from the grave (think Gray Merchant of Asphodel).

This is a Pirate deck, so let’s add some Pirates too. Breeches, Eager Pillager does so many good things, especially if you can get all three modes each turn. 71% of decks are adding the little guy. Coastline Marauders becomes much better when it’s a 4/4, but in a pinch can be multiplied with its Encore ability. The drawback to that is that it’s in exile and can’t be brought back by Brass. Forerunner of the Coalition fetches up our best Pirate, and drains large amounts of life from our opponents on attacks. And Dire Fleet Neckbreaker is going to do great work in this aggro list.

For some extra recursion, let’s bring Haunting Voyage aboard. Brass is just one creature per turn, and sometimes we might need more, especially after a board wipe. Aggravated Assault gives us as many extra combats as we can afford. And Kindred Discovery is the best card draw engine we could ask for.

Here are the cards sinking to Davy Jones’ Locker: Arm-Mounted Anchor, Blood Money, Captain Lannery Storm, Dire Fleet Ravager, Don Andres, the Renegade, Kari Zev, Skyship Raider, King Narfi’s Betrayal, Lethal Scheme, Rogue’s Passage, Vanquisher’s Banner.

Yes, I’m taking Don Andres out. I decided not to focus the upgrade on larceny, and he just doesn’t do enough without more theft in the deck.

Here’s the budget upgraded decklist:

Buried Treasure

Here be the real treasures. Let’s bring Revel in Riches and Dockside Extortionist on board, for ramp and the possible alternate win-con. 

Deflecting Swat gives us a bit of extra protection, while Coat of Arms makes our Pirate army insurmountable. Rise of the Dark Realms fills up our board with the undead, and Pirated Copy does exactly what its name suggests. 

Last is Roaming Throne. Yes, I’ve added it to all of these upgrades. Yes, it’s that good.

These cards are getting marooned: Bident of Thassa, Coastline Marauders, Commander’s Sphere, Dire Fleet Daredevil, Haunting Voyage, Rakdos Charm, and Timestream Navigator.

Here’s the non-budget upgraded decklist:

X Marks the Spot

We’ve come to the end of our Upgrade Guides for Lost Caverns of Ixalan! What did you all think of these four decks? Personally, I’d be happy if Wizards doesn’t do anymore full-typal sets for a long time. They get a bit repetitive. Thankfully, Murders at Karlov Manor seems to be going in a different direction.

See you next time for some murder mystery precon puzzles.

Read More:

Veloci-Ramp-Tor Upgrade Guide

Blood Rites - Precon Review

Andy Zupke

Andy's been playing Magic on and off since Fallen Empires. He loves to travel, drink, eat, and spend time with family and friends.