Admiral Beckett Brass Commander Deck Guide

Last updated on April 5, 2023

Admiral Beckett Brass | Illustration by Jason Rainville

Ahoy! Are ye lookin’ for loads of treasure fer yer next EDH build? Then ye’ve come to the right place!

Admiral Beckett Brass’s abilities may not initially be centered around Treasures but it's ready with its fleet to find as much treasure as you need to gain the advantage and win the game.

Today we’ll be looking at a powerful list with the Admiral at the helm to sail your way to victory!

The Deck

Captain Lannery Storm | Illustration by Chris Rallis

Before we get too far into things let’s do a quick overview so you can decide whether or not you like today’s deck. You’re trying to win by generating sheer value with your pirates or getting buffs off your commander and cards like Corsair Captain or Captain Vargus Wrath. Other win conditions lie with Revel in Riches and Mechanized Production, both of which won’t be too difficult to manage how you have to generate Treasures.

You also have a bunch of ways to disrupt your opponents during the game and generate extra value for yourself. If you like what you hear so far, it might be time to meet the crew.

The Commander

Admiral Beckett Brass is leading your charge into the fight, wielding with it the powerful ability to give all your pirates a +1/+1 buff at all times. To augment this you’re playing a solid portion of pirate creatures.

But that’s not the biggest threat the Admiral poses to your foes. Its strength lies in its ability to steal a nonland permanent controlled by a player who was dealt damage by three or more pirates during that turn. This means that you’re pretty likely to yoink a powerful card to bolster your own board state while chipping away at your opponents’ by getting your pirates through for some damage.

It can be hard to get three creatures through your opponent’s defenses to pull this off at times, but that ability’s existence alone can be enough to threaten your opponents and manipulate some decision making around the table.

Pirates

You’ve got some powerful pirates in your lineup as well as some equally powerful honorary pirates. The creatures in the deck can be divided into a few categories to keep track of their purposes.

Pirate Synergies

First up you have the pirates that the rest of your crew rally behind. You’re looking towards trusty cards like Captain Vargus Wrath and Corsair Captain. They’re here to buff your pirates so they’re harder to deal with when you swing them at your opponents.

Malcom, Keen-Eyed Navigator is ready to reward you for hitting your opponents with your pirates by granting you a Treasure every time you deal combat damage to your opponents with pirates.

You also have Dire Fleet Captain to act as one of your deadliest weapons since it swings harder for every other pirate that’s also attacking.

Dire Fleet Poisoner is a fun combat trick that you can use to bait your opponents into unknowingly getting their stronger creatures killed.

Forerunner of the Coalition will tutor any pirate you need when it enters the battlefield and drains your opponents whenever another pirate enters the battlefield.

Treasure Hunters

Next you have some creatures that can take your Treasure tokens to new heights by milking them for more value. Such effects can be found on Goldspan Dragon and Galazeth Prismari. Goldspan makes your Treasures sacrifice for more mana so that you can use less as you make more and Galazeth lets you tap them like lands so that you don’t have to use them up at all.

Xorn straight up doubles your Treasure production.

You also run various creatures that help you generate more Treasures including Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer (fantastic for an opening hand), Captain Lannery Storm, Deadeye Plunderers, Impulsive Pilferer, Dockside Extortionist, and one of your honorary pirates: Kalain, Reclusive Painter. The most notable of the Treasure makers are Dockside Extortionist for its ability to make absurd amounts of Treasure at once, and Kalain, Reclusive Painter for its ability to make use of your Treasure by buffing your creatures that are cast with mana from Treasures.

This means you won’t just be twiddling your thumbs while waiting for your win conditions. Instead you're able to slam some bigger pirates on the board when you need to.

Toolkit Pirates

These guys don’t contribute to the pirate or Treasure synergies, but they do their part in causing some mayhem to keep us in the game. Ruin Raider, Glint-Horn Buccaneer, and Spectral Sailor work to keep cards in your hand.

Hostage Taker and Dire Fleet Daredevil yoink some cards from your foes to give you access to options you wouldn’t have otherwise.

Port Razer is a huge threat since it can grant you up to three extra combat phases to batter your opponents with attacks.

Departed Deckhand can make sure that Port Razer hits its mark by making it unblockable for the turn.

You’ve also got Siren Stormtamer to protect you or your creatures and Timestream Navigator to grab an extra turn.

Protean Raider and another honorary pirate, Phantasmal Image, are around to act as another copy of any particular creature you might need.

Dauthi Voidwalker, Opposition Agent, and Notion Thief are all wildly disruptive to your opponents by blocking off common avenues of value like recursion from the grave, searching, and drawing respectively. They may not be pirates but they more than make up for it in their contributions to the crew.

Finally I’d like to mention a very fun combo here, calling back to Kalain, Reclusive Painter and adding Marchesa, the Black Rose to the equation. Kalain lets your creatures enter the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter while Marchesa brings back creatures that died with +1/+1 counters on them. Sure, it’s not a loop or anything crazy, but it’s a super fun addition to Marchesa already giving all your creatures the dethrone ability.

Planeswalkers

You’re only running two planeswalkers in this list. Those lucky two being Karn, Scion of Urza to help with card draw and make some Karnstructs that benefit from you having tons of Treasure, and Angrath, Minotaur Pirate to bring your dead pirates back so they can keep doing their thing. Angrath also has merits as a selective board wipe that can also do massive damage if it gets a chance to use its ultimate.

Enchantments

You have a multitude of enchantments that assist your game plan by rewarding you for having pirates.

Call to the Kindred lets you enchant a pirate to play a pirate for free from the top of your deck. It can be used on other creatures but you likely won’t hit any value if you don’t enchant a pirate.

Kindred Discovery helps you draw cards when you play or attack with pirates.

Arcane Adaptation turns everything into a pirate.

You also have Storm the Vault to help generate a few more Treasures.

You’re also running Animate Dead to bring back one of your bigger players later in the game. There are still a few more enchantments to cover, but I’ll save those for when we go over your win condition pile. 

Instants and Sorceries

You’ve got a good few of these in the 99. Just like your creatures these are going to be grouped based on their uses. Let’s take a look.

Removal

You aren’t running tons of removal but you’re definitely running enough. You have access to Chaos Warp and Terminate for some quick single-target removal.

After that you’re looking at cards like Fiery Cannonade, Cyclonic Rift, Toxic Deluge, and Kindred Dominance to hit entire boards, with Dominance being the best of them all in the late game when it’s time to push for the win.

Then you have Vandalblast to take out artifacts and Pyroblast to deal with any pesky Rhystic Studies or other blue cards that you might encounter.

Counterspells

You run a scarce few counterspells but they’re good for you. Hornswoggle makes a Treasure when it resolves.

Spell Swindle can make you tons of Treasures depending on the mana value of the spell that gets countered by it.

Mental Misstep is around to take care of some tutors and cheap combo pieces.

And as you have noticed you run Pyroblast to take care of those annoying blue cards.

Tutors

Once more a scarce few tutors, but they help you find what you need when you need it. Mystical Tutor searches up any instant or sorcery you might need.

Scheming Symmetry and Vampiric Tutor are good to make sure you know what you draw on your next turn.

Value Pieces

These spells don’t quite fit a category but they work wonders.

Ad Nauseum is insane draw power.

Reanimate brings back the dead to recover a powerful creature you might lose in the grand scheme of things.

Brass's Bounty gives you tons of Treasures on the spot to feed into your win conditions. Speaking of which…

Win Conditions

It’s about time we go over your win conditions. While it's certainly possible to win by just beating on your opponents’ life totals throughout the game, you have ways to make sure the game ends when it’s time.

Revel in Riches and Mechanized Production are what you're always going to be working towards. They win you the game when you meet their requirements, and it just so happens that those requirements are tons of Treasures!

If you’re looking for another way out there’s always the cards I like to call the “pier pressure” package. Standardize is a card that turns all creatures on the field into whatever type you choose. Yes, even your opponents’ creatures. Why would you do that? Simple. You’re then going to cast Peer Pressure which lets you take control of all creatures of a chosen type if you own more of the chosen type than any other player. As long as you have the most bodies on the board this combo nets you all the creatures on the field.

If that’s not an option because somebody’s playing a deck that goes wide, you can just take what you need using Unnatural Selection to pick and choose what creatures you want to steal by turning specific creatures into pirates. As long as you don’t give an opponent more pirates than you then anything you turn into a pirate becomes yours. And once you have all the creatures on the board, just swing them into your opponents to take the game.

The Mana Base

The mana base for this deck isn’t too large. You run a total of 35 lands, which is a tiny bit over a third of your deck size. You've got three of the classic Commander mana rocks: Arcane Signet, Commander's Sphere, and Sol Ring. If you think that’s not a lot then remember that you're making tons of Treasure. Plus you aren’t looking to hoard Treasure all the time.

That said, let’s look at the lands. You run just about as many dual lands as you can find, save the true duals because they're wildly expensive unless you’ve got an abundance of money to burn or a severe disregard for your monthly bills.

You've got the shock lands Blood Crypt, Steam Vents, and Watery Grave.

There's also Smoldering Marsh and Sunken Hollow as slow lands with basic land types, and Canyon Slough and Fetid Pools as other duals with basic land types.

Along with the basic lands in your colors that’s a total of ten targets for Bloodstained Mire, Polluted Delta, and Scalding Tarn. It should be a little easier to grab whatever mana source you might be missing this way.

Speaking of fetches, you also run Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds.

You've also got the full sets of bounce lands, pain lands, check lands, slow lands, and filter lands in your colors as other duals and color fixing along with Command Tower as your classic catch-all and Treasure Vault as another way to make a ton of Treasure in the late game.

The Strategy

Alrighty, the time has come. The deck is built and you’re sitting at the table with some friends. Time to draw that opening hand and steer this ship to victory! And here’s how you’re gonna do it.

The Opening Hand

You’re looking for a way to access all your colors. Yes, you make Treasure. No, you don’t want to rely on Treasure. You’re ideally looking at three lands in your opening hand, or at least two and one of your mana rocks. If you don’t see these, mulligan.

But, as per usual, don’t ever mulligan below five cards in your hand. At that point your ability to make plays starts to suffer more than you need it to, and it ain’t worth it. The only reason you don’t keep a hand of five is if you don’t see any lands at all.

You also want a 1- or 2-drop creature in your hand on top of the lands. Every creature in this deck does something, and most of them get better as the game goes on. After that the rest is pretty much free to be whatever fills the spot as long as your hand isn’t stuck with huge spells, but they should be spells rather than lands.

Turns 1 to 4: Chart A Course

Your first goal is to establish a board state. You’re more tempo than anything else, with some combos at the end of the road. Play a creature or two, generate some Treasures, maybe get an enchantment on the field.

Once you’re at turn 4 you’re looking to summon your commander. If you’re facing a board state where you can’t afford to summon it, that’s fine. But you probably should if you can since it just helps and is a body on the field that doesn’t require you to lose card advantage.

But if there’s a better play, by all means, do that instead.

Turns 5 to 10: Searching for Gold

This is a longer turn span, but keep in mind that it could always take more or less time. This is just a ballpark average. You’re going to spend this time building your board and trying to mildly disrupt your opponents with creatures like Dauthi Voidwalker, Opposition Agent, or Notion Thief.

You’re also looking to make some Treasures and get more pirates on the field. Goldspan Dragon, Galazeth Prismari, and Xorn are cool to see here to help this plan out while you make big plays with Hostage Taker, Port Razer, Departed Deckhand, and Dockside Extortionist. You might wind up casting a tutor or removal spell while you’re at it. Remember, you don’t need to hoard your Treasure all the time if it can get you an advantage on the field.

Finally, you’re going to want to either have enchanted a Treasure with Mechanized Production or have put Revel in Riches on the field. Either of these set you in motion for the win, but preferably hold them up until you have the Treasures you need on the field after being super frugal with them or something like Dockside Extortionist or Brass's Bounty in your hand to get tons of Treasures fast.

Alternatively, if you have Revel in Riches and Kindred Dominance in hand, play out Revel and slam Kindred dominance swiftly after. With any luck you have just enough Treasures to be able to cast both, and your opponents have enough creatures on the field so that you get tons more from Revel triggers.

Turns 11 and Onwards: X Marks the Spot

From here on you’re looking to close out the game. You’re not in too much of a rush. You don’t have any instant-win combos since the automatic wins trigger at the beginning of your turn and the combat damage might not always be fatal on the first swing.

First, just have Mechanized Production or Revel in Riches on the field and try to get Kindred Dominance or Brass's Bounty to resolve. Either of these should put you in the winning range or close to it. Hold up your counterspells while you wait for your turn and it should all fall together nicely.

If that doesn’t work you’re looking to combo Peer Pressure with Standardize or Unnatural Selection depending on your situation to steal your opponents’ stuff and beat them up. 

If neither of those win conditions are available, keep trying to survive until they become available. If they don’t work you’re going to be in for a tough ride. Don’t worry, it’s not impossible. Some of the pirates in your deck are wildly tough and you aren’t out of the game as long as you can get them through to your opponent and deal damage.

Not to mention you’ve likely benefited from Admiral Beckett Brass’s effect once or twice and have gotten some strong pieces from your opponent to use against them. As long as you haven't missed a play and continuously generated some form of value each turn, even if small, you’ll be in a good spot to ride out the storm until someone becomes the victor.

Combos and Interactions

There are several fun interactions in this deck that grant you solid value and can help your game go much better.

The first is one I’ve preached a couple times already, but Kalain, Reclusive Painter and Marchesa, the Black Rose create a situation that makes sure any creature that enters the field can be recurred with Marchesa’s effect with enough Treasure generation present. Marchesa and Kalain become beacons for removal, but if that’s the case then that’s removal that your more important pirates aren’t eating.

Malcom, Keen-Eyed Navigator

Departed Deckhand granting Port Razer unblockable lets Port Razer hit each opponent once, guaranteeing four damage each turn for everybody since Razer will untap your creatures and start a new combat phase for each player it hits. Think about cards like Malcom, Keen-Eyed Navigator or Storm the Vault that generate Treasures whenever your creatures deal combat damage. 

Simply put, if you manage to get Xorn on the field and copy it twice with Protean Raider and Phantasmal Image, you’ll generate three extra Treasures whenever you make one. This means you can crank up your Treasure count to something absurd if your Xorns don’t get removed. It’s an unlikely combo but it’s really funny and nobody would blame you for taking the opportunity if you had it.

Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is a repeatable draw spell when paired with Kindred Discovery. It can also be used with Forerunner of the Coalition in the same way. In fact I'd suggest never casting Ragavan for its normal cost. Always dash with Ragavan in case you draw into Kindred Discovery.

Keep in mind that Arcane Adaptation makes creatures in your deck into pirates, too. This means that both Forerunner of the Coalition and Call to the Kindred can hit creatures that normally couldn’t be hit, which gives you a much greater selection of tools when you use them. Go ahead and tutor Opposition Agent to your hand. What are they going to do about it?

Rule 0 Violations Check

The only considerations here for Rule 0 are light ones, if that. You’re running two cards that have the words “win the game” on them. But their conditions aren’t that easy to meet on turn 2 like some other combos in EDH. That said, some players hate it when those words are written on a card, and I get it. So just make sure that your buddies are okay with it.

There's also Peer Pressure, which can combo can yoink an entire board and leave everybody with literally nothing to defend themselves with. I don’t consider it for Rule 0 myself but I can see a world where some players might. Again, better to cover all your bases before starting rather than find out in the middle of a game that there’s an issue.

Budget Options

Okay, yes, I concede that this deck is absurdly expensive. So let’s fix that.

First let’s talk about the elephants in the room. Remove Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and Dockside Extortionist. They’re super expensive at just under $100 and take up almost a fifth of the deck’s price. Replace them with Breeches, Brazen Plunderer and Ruthless Knave. The next most expensive creature to remove would be Goldspan Dragon which you can replace with Pitiless Plunderer. 

Next you're cutting down on enchantment prices. Get rid of Kindred Discovery and bring in Coastal Piracy. You could remove Mechanized Production, but I wouldn't in this build. Having it as a second win condition that's similar to Revel in Riches is too valuable in case somebody gets rid of your Revel. If you want to ditch Animate Dead you can. I’d replace it with a pirate of your choice.

Next on the chopping block are the expensive instants and sorceries. Kindred Dominance is first and gets replaced by Crippling Fear. It’s not a true board wipe but it’ll deal with wider boards and keep your pirates safe from the hit at the same time. Also toss out Toxic Deluge and swap it for Grim Bounty. You may be moving into some bigger and less effective kill spells, but you’re gaining access to more Treasure to speed you along in exchange.

You also want to remove Vampiric Tutor, Cyclonic Rift, and Mystical Tutor. Replace those with Contract Killing, Profane Tutor, and Diabolic Tutor. If you want to replace Ad Nauseam you can go for another big draw spell like Blue Sun's Zenith.

Now onto the lands. Start by chopping out all three fetches and all three shocks. Replace them with two of each basic land. If you want to run other cheap dual lands then by all means, go for it. But where you have to keep some slightly pricey cards in the 99 since they’re too valuable to the tempo and board state with their effects you have to compensate by just going basic. The price cut is always immense with lands when budgeting a list.

Anyways, you also want to take the time to chop out Sulfurous Springs, Sunken Ruins, Underground River, Shipwreck Marsh, Haunted Ridge, Drowned Catacomb, Stormcarved Coast, Graven Cairns, and Cascade Bluffs. Replace them with three Swamps, three Mountains, two Islands, and a Myriad Landscape to help find this abundance of basics you now have.

And voila! You've now reduced the deck from sub-$1,000 to sub-$300. I know that might still be a lot for some players, and I get it. I’ve been there with my decks as well where I just can’t afford to spend that much at the time. From here on out I can only recommend chopping those $5 and $10 cards off the list and replacing them with cheaper removal, card draw, and pirates.

Take out Reanimate and run Persist, take out Opposition Agent and Dauthi Voidwalker and grab up any pirate that suits your fancy. This also serves to shift the build from a Treasure deck to a true pirate tribal build as you ditch more pricey cards and add in some cheaper pirates. You’ll get more on-theme with cards like March of the Drowned or Walk the Plank and still have tons of fun with the deck.

Wrap Up

Revel In Riches | Illustration by Eric Deschamps

And that’s all folks! What do y’all think? You want to join the crew and wield a powerful pirate as your commander? Do you have a different build you like to run with your friend groups? Is there anything different you would do with this build? Feel free to let me know down in the comments or over in Draftsim's official Discord. I always enjoy hearing from you.

Thank you all again for stopping by. Stay safe, and I’ll see you in the next one!