Ahoy Mateys Precon: Decklist, Value, and Verdict

Admiral Brass, Unsinkable

When Admiral Brass enters, mill four cards. At the beginning of combat on your turn, you may return target Pirate creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield with a finality counter on it. It has base power and toughness 4/4. It gains haste until end of turn. (If a creature with a finality counter on it would die, exile it instead.)

Singles value

$83.02

TCGplayer market, 85 cards, basic lands counted at $0

Sealed price

$46.75

TCGplayer price for the box (Amazon $49.98) · singles are 1.8× that

New cards

10 / 100

First printings in this deck

Bracket

Core, out of the box

Is Ahoy Mateys worth buying?

from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander Decks: Are They Worth It? by Timothy Zaccagnino

I’m going to say something very similar for most of these decks, but your enjoyment of this product comes down to one of two factors: Either you’re buying it for the excellent reprint value and bolstering your collection, or you just enjoy the thought of playing with a pirate-themed deck. If neither of those apply to you, this won’t appeal to you, and the same goes for any of the other. However, if there’s even a hint of a swashbuckler in you, this is a great pick-up that’ll give you your money’s worth. I’d say that’s a steal. Too on the nose? Alright, moving along!

How Ahoy Mateys plays

primer from Ahoy Mateys Upgrade Guide: 10 Easy Changes You Can Make by Timothy Zaccagnino

Arghhh! ‘Tis a pirate deck, me hearties. Look, I already got my pirate puns out in my upgrade guide for Ahoy Mateys, so let’s keep it professional, eh? This here’s a pirate deck, what did you expect? It plays pirates, it attacks with pirates, and sometimes, if you’re really lucky, the pirates will do things with your other pirates. It’s an aggro deck that either runs opponents over or leaves you swabbing the poopdeck. Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Your captain is Admiral Brass, Unsinkable, which showcases the new finality counters we can expect to see in sets moving forward. It’s an excellent typal payoff and gives players an alternative to Admiral Beckett Brass, though I’ll leave it up to your which version you prefer. The alternate commander is Don Andres, the Renegade, which incentivizes you to play your opponents’ spells. I’m sure they’ll love that. I think Andres is really cool, but the precon is only half-committed to this theft theme, so I think it’s better built as their own deck instead of being used as the commander here.

The strategy is very simple: Play pirates and attack or don’t play pirates and lose. I’d say that’s not a very exciting gameplan, but it’s perfect for new players if they’re just getting their Commander toes wet. Part of the fun is trying to find workarounds to the finality counters put on your creatures with Admiral Brass, Unsinkable. In fact, a good portion of my upgrade guide is dedicated to circumventing the finality counter downside.