Ahoy Mateys is a Pirate deck, but Admiral Brass, Unsinkable gives the tribe a much more interesting identity than straightforward Grixis aggro. She wants Pirates in the graveyard, then turns combat into repeatable reanimation by bringing one of them back every turn as a 4/4 with haste.
That changes what makes a good upgrade. Cheap Pirates still matter because they establish the battlefield and support the tribal package, but your best graveyard targets should provide immediate value when they return. Pirates with enter-the-battlefield abilities, attack triggers or combat-damage payoffs become far more attractive than creatures that are merely large.
The stock list already contains many of the strongest pieces for that plan. Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator, Port Razer, Coercive Recruiter, Hostage Taker, Captain Lannery Storm, Broadside Bombardiers, Pitiless Plunderer, Black Market Connections and Faithless Looting are already in Ahoy Mateys. The best upgrades should make that reanimation loop more reliable rather than turning the deck into generic Pirate goodstuff.
How Admiral Brass Turns the Graveyard Into a Crew
Admiral Brass, Unsinkable costs for a 3/3 Human Pirate. When she enters the battlefield, you mill four cards. Then, at the beginning of combat on your turn, you may return a target Pirate creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield with a finality counter on it. That Pirate has base power and toughness 4/4 and gains haste until end of turn.
This means the deck wants Pirates in the graveyard before combat begins. Discard effects and controlled self-mill are particularly valuable because they let you choose or at least influence which creatures are available rather than hoping Admiral Brass mills the perfect target herself.
The finality counter also matters. If that returned creature would later go to the graveyard from the battlefield, it is exiled instead. You should therefore prioritize Pirates that have already generated meaningful value by the time that happens. If Hostage Taker removes an important permanent or Coercive Recruiter steals something when it enters, you have already received a substantial return even if the Pirate is eventually exiled.
The same logic makes attack-based Pirates particularly dangerous. Admiral Brass gives the returned creature haste, so something brought back immediately before combat can attack during that same combat step.
Best Ahoy Mateys Upgrades
Roaming Throne is one of the strongest additions if you want to push the tribal engine harder. Choose Pirate as it enters, and triggered abilities from Pirates you control can trigger an additional time. That can dramatically improve many creatures in the deck, including Admiral Brass herself, whose beginning-of-combat trigger can occur twice and potentially return two Pirates instead of one.
It also scales with the stock list exceptionally well. Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator, Port Razer, Coercive Recruiter and other Pirates already have triggered abilities worth multiplying. Roaming Throne currently appears in a meaningful share of Admiral Brass lists despite being a non-stock addition.
Glint-Horn Buccaneer is another excellent fit because the deck already wants discard outlets. Whenever you discard a card, it deals 1 damage to each opponent, and while attacking it can let you discard a card to draw a card. That means it helps stock the graveyard with future Admiral Brass targets while turning the same action into table-wide damage.
Wonder is less exciting to cast but very attractive to discard or mill. As long as Wonder is in your graveyard and you control an Island, your creatures have flying. A Pirate deck that relies on combat benefits enormously from giving the entire crew evasion without spending another battlefield slot on an enchantment. It is also a card you are genuinely happy to see enter the graveyard, which fits Brass naturally.
For a premium one-drop, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is an obvious Pirate upgrade. It generates Treasure and access to opposing cards when it connects, while its low mana cost helps improve a deck whose best reanimation targets tend to sit higher on the curve. It is not necessary for the strategy to function, but it remains a common inclusion in current Admiral Brass lists.
The Best Reanimation Targets Do Something Immediately
Port Razer is one of the most dangerous cards already in the precon. Whenever it deals combat damage to a player, it untaps each creature you control and gives you another combat phase. Admiral Brass can bring it back immediately before combat with haste, which means a Pirate sitting harmlessly in the graveyard can suddenly threaten an additional attack step.
Coercive Recruiter offers a different kind of payoff. When it or another Pirate enters under your control, it temporarily steals an opposing creature and gives it haste. Bringing Recruiter back through Admiral Brass can therefore add both the 4/4 Pirate and an opponent’s creature to your attack for the turn.
Hostage Taker gives you interaction instead. Its enter-the-battlefield ability can exile another creature or artifact until Hostage Taker leaves the battlefield, and you may cast the exiled card. Reanimating it before combat can remove a blocker or an important utility permanent while adding another attacker.
Even Broadside Bombardiers can become a strong graveyard target because it gives the deck a way to convert creatures into direct damage. The lesson is that you should not evaluate Admiral Brass targets only by combat stats. Since she makes the returned creature a base 4/4 anyway, the text box is usually more important than the printed power and toughness.
That also means some inexpensive utility Pirates can become unexpectedly strong reanimation targets. A small Pirate with a good ability does not come back as a small creature; Admiral Brass turns it into a 4/4 while preserving the useful ability.
Fill the Graveyard Without Losing Momentum
Faithless Looting is already one of the best setup cards in Ahoy Mateys because it draws two and lets you deliberately discard the Pirates you want Admiral Brass to return. Its flashback makes the card useful again later, so there is very little opportunity cost to using it early.
The stock Geier Reach Sanitarium and Desolate Lighthouse give the mana base similar functionality, providing ways to filter cards and put unwanted Pirates into the graveyard. Nephalia Drownyard offers direct self-mill when you have spare mana. Those lands are slower than dedicated spell-based setup, but they occupy land slots rather than consuming additional cards in the 99.
If you want another efficient graveyard setup piece, Frantic Search is a strong option. It draws two cards, discards two cards and untaps up to three lands, effectively letting you stock the graveyard while keeping mana available. Big Score can serve a similar purpose at a higher cost while creating Treasure tokens.
The key is not to add large amounts of blind self-mill. Admiral Brass only reanimates Pirates, so milling ten random cards is far less useful if none of the creatures you actually want are among them. Selective discard is often stronger because it allows you to put Port Razer, Coercive Recruiter or another specific target exactly where the commander needs it.
What to Cut
Don Andres, the Renegade is the alternate commander and supports a legitimate theft strategy, but that plan does not overlap perfectly with Admiral Brass. Don Andres rewards creatures you control but do not own, while Brass is primarily interested in your own Pirates and graveyard. He can stay if you enjoy the theft side of Ahoy Mateys, but he is one of the easier cuts when focusing entirely on reanimation.
Blood Money is powerful but expensive. Seven mana for a board wipe that creates Treasure can produce spectacular turns, yet a streamlined Grixis deck has access to cheaper sweepers and may prefer to keep mana available for rebuilding after removal.
Vanquisher’s Banner is another reasonable flex slot. The tribal anthem and card draw are useful, but five mana is a significant investment in a deck that already has strong sources of advantage through Black Market Connections, Bident of Thassa and its commander. It becomes easier to replace once the curve starts coming down.
Commander’s Sphere is an even simpler efficiency cut. Ahoy Mateys already has Arcane Signet, Dimir Signet, Izzet Signet, Rakdos Signet, Sol Ring and Wayfarer’s Bauble. Replacing a three-mana rock with a cheaper piece of acceleration helps Admiral Brass arrive sooner without weakening the Pirate count.
I would preserve the less flashy Pirates when they support the engine directly. Current Admiral Brass data still heavily favors stock cards such as Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator, Skeleton Crew, Port Razer, Coercive Recruiter, Corsair Captain and Hostage Taker.
The Grixis Mana Base Can Be Faster
Ahoy Mateys has a workable three-color foundation with Command Tower, Exotic Orchard, Choked Estuary, Foreboding Ruins, Frostboil Snarl, Smoldering Marsh, Sulfur Falls and Sunken Hollow. Tribal fixing from Secluded Courtyard, Unclaimed Territory and Path of Ancestry also makes sense in a Pirate-heavy list.
The slower lands are where I would start making changes. Crumbling Necropolis fixes every color but always enters tapped, while the three Thriving lands are functional budget fixing rather than particularly efficient options. Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse are also replaceable once better Grixis sources are available.
I would be more inclined to keep utility lands such as Geier Reach Sanitarium and Desolate Lighthouse because filtering cards into the graveyard directly supports Admiral Brass. Rogue’s Passage also has some value once a key Pirate needs to connect, although too many colorless lands can make a three-color deck less reliable.
Our Mana Base Upgrade Guide is the natural internal link for readers who want to rebuild the lands more extensively. For Ahoy Mateys, however, the first priority is simply reducing the number of tapped lands while preserving the utility sources that actually help the graveyard plan.
How the Upgraded Ahoy Mateys Deck Plays
The early turns should establish a few Pirates, develop mana and begin preparing the graveyard. Faithless Looting can discard a high-impact target while cards such as Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator and Captain Lannery Storm start building resources through combat.
Once Admiral Brass enters, the graveyard becomes part of your battlefield plan. Bring back whichever Pirate solves the current problem rather than automatically choosing the creature with the highest mana value. Hostage Taker can provide interaction, Coercive Recruiter can steal another attacker and Port Razer can threaten an additional combat if it gets through.
A card such as Roaming Throne raises the ceiling substantially by multiplying tribal triggers, while Wonder in the graveyard can make the entire crew much harder to block. Meanwhile Treasure engines such as Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator, Captain Lannery Storm and Pitiless Plunderer help keep enough mana available to cast the Pirates you draw naturally.
The deck becomes strongest when combat, graveyard setup and reanimation are all parts of the same loop. Pirates attack and generate resources, useful creatures enter the graveyard, Admiral Brass brings them back, and those returning Pirates create another wave of value before joining combat again.
PreconForge Verdict
Ahoy Mateys already gives Admiral Brass, Unsinkable an excellent Pirate core. Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator, Port Razer, Coercive Recruiter, Hostage Taker, Captain Lannery Storm, Broadside Bombardiers, Pitiless Plunderer, Black Market Connections and Faithless Looting are all already in the official precon.
The strongest upgrades sharpen that existing reanimator plan. Roaming Throne can multiply Pirate triggers, Glint-Horn Buccaneer turns discard into both graveyard setup and damage, Wonder rewards you for putting it directly into the graveyard, and premium options such as Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer improve the early curve.
Most importantly, choose your reanimation targets for what they do, not how large they were originally. Admiral Brass already makes them base 4/4 creatures and gives them haste for the turn. What separates a good target from a great one is the ability attached to that body. Once the graveyard contains Pirates that remove permanents, steal creatures or create extra combats, every beginning of combat becomes another opportunity to pull exactly the right crew member back onto the ship.
