One of the most fascinating things about Magic: The Gathering is its ever-evolving nature. Not only has the game’s design philosophy shifted hugely over time, but many of its foundational rules and mechanics have too. These changes have been either fantastic or terrible, depending on who you ask, but they have more objective consequences too. Some older MTG cards, like the recently-rediscovered Piracy, have been totally recontextualized by time.
This card has lain deep under the radar for years now, but players are starting to take notice of it again thanks to online discussions. Unfortunately, divorced from its original rules context, the card isn’t particularly powerful in the modern game. There are still some niche applications available, but for the most part, this is a card that doesn’t warrant its $50 price tag.
Piracy: An MTG Card Out Of Time
At first glance, Piracy looks like a pretty incredible card for MTG Commander. Getting to steal your opponents’ mana could potentially lead to a huge ramp burst, especially with three opponents to work with. Unfortunately, in practice, the card just doesn’t function this way.
The major problem with Piracy is that your opponents can just tap their lands in response to you casting it. The card doesn’t let you access their mana pool like Drain Power, so this simple action denies you much of Piracy’s intended advantage. If used during your first main phase, this will leave your opponents without mana for your second, mind you, which can effectively lower their shields if you’re going for a combo win. That said, there are plenty of cards that fill the same role without being useless in other scenarios.
What’s sad about Piracy is that it used to be much more interesting. When the card was first printed in 1999, Mana Burn was still a part of Magic. This rule meant that, if you ended a phase with any unspent mana in your mana pool, you’d lose one life per mana. In that world, Piracy created a dilemma for your opponents. Do they give you access to their mana, or take Mana Burn damage for tapping out and not using it? In most cases the latter option is preferable, which turns Piracy into a wacky blue burn spell.
Today, without this element, Piracy is really just a clunky combo protector and little more. It’s a very unpopular card, showing up in just over 1000 decks according to EDHREC. Because of its scarcity, however, the card is actually still very expensive, sitting at around $50 on average. It’s only been printed a couple of times, after all: once in Portal Second Age, and once in the 1999 Starter Decks. This means there have been no new copies of Piracy for 26 years, which naturally puts a strain on supply.
Desperate Measures
The combination of a high price tag and low power makes Piracy an unattractive option for most MTG players. The card isn’t totally without uses, however. If you’re so inclined, there are a few potent interactions you can use to make the most of it.
For starters, Piracy plays perfectly alongside Price of Glory. Since this enchantment destroys lands tapped during other players’ turns, it makes the decision to tap out in response to Piracy much trickier. Most opponents would rather keep their lands around than deny you a one-turn mana advantage, which can allow for some explosive plays.
Piracy is also a very solid addition to Sen Triplets Commander decks. This groan-inducing legend gives you access to most of one opponent’s resources each turn, but not their mana. Piracy gives you that last crucial edge, making it much easier to cast spells from their hand. Thanks to Triplets’s ability, your opponent won’t be able to tap out in response to Piracy, either.
Finally, Piracy makes a pretty decent target for Panoptic Mirror. Preventing your opponents from interacting during one of your turns is alright, but doing so for all of them is actually quite powerful. While this combo is quite mana-intensive, once it’s off the ground it’s a much more resilient version of something like Voice of Victory.
These interactions aren’t enough to truly recommend Piracy, but they do salvage the card from total oblivion. If you’re flush with cash and looking for an unusual classic card to try out, this could be the one for you.
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