Overview:

Edward Kenway leads a Pirate/Assassin/Vehicle tribal deck focused on generating Treasure tokens and stealing opponents' cards through combat damage. The strategy revolves around attacking with evasive Vehicles crewed by synergistic creatures, using Edward's end-step Treasure generation for ramp, and leveraging exile-play effects for card advantage. While lacking infinite combos, the deck creates substantial value through tribal synergies and resource denial.

Primer:

Core Strategy: Deploy evasive Vehicles and Pirate/Assassin creatures to generate Treasure tokens via Edward Kenway's end-step trigger. Use combat damage triggers to exile and play opponents' cards while ramping into powerful Vehicle payoffs. Key phases:

1. Early Setup (T1-4): Play mana rocks, low-cost Pirates like Spectral Sailor, and utility Vehicles like Smuggler's Copter.
2. Midgame Value (T5-7): Activate Edward's Treasure engine with tapped attackers, deploy payoff Vehicles like Skysovereign, Consul Flagship, and use tutors to find Conspiracy for tribal unification.
3. Endgame (T8+): Convert accumulated Treasures into game-ending plays via Time Sieve extra turns or overwhelming board presence with The Indomitable.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 3 lands and early plays (Vehicles with Crew 1 or Pirates)
• Prioritize Sol Ring/Demonic Tutor for explosive starts
• Avoid hands without early creatures to crew Vehicles

Key Tips:

• Time Edward's cast to follow board wipe recovery
• Use Roaming Throne (naming Pirate) to double combat damage triggers
• Sacrifice Treasures pre-combat to enable Time Sieve extra turns
• Conspiracy turns all creatures into Edward's preferred types

Avoid Traps:

• Overextending Vehicles before establishing protection
• Holding interaction instead of advancing board state
• Wasting exiles from Edward's trigger on low-impact spells

Weaknesses:

Critical:

• Heavy reliance on combat damage triggers (folds to Propaganda/Ghostly Prison)
• No graveyard recursion beyond March of the Drowned

Moderate:

• Slow recovery from board wipes
• Limited instant-speed interaction

Minor:

• Vulnerable to artifact hate (Treasure destruction)

Most Important Cards:

• Conspiracy
• Roaming Throne
• Time Sieve
• Bident of Thassa
• Phyrexian Arena
• Demonic Tutor
• Adéwalé, Breaker of Chains
• Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
• Rogue Class
• The Indomitable

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 5/10

• Goldfish win around T8-10 through combat/extra turns
• Relies on incremental damage rather than explosive combos

Resilience: 6/10

• Redundant card advantage engines (4+ coastal piracy effects)
• Moderate recursion (March of the Drowned, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel)
• Vulnerable to stax pieces that prevent attacking

Consistency: 7/10

• 6 tutors including Demonic Tutor and Deadeye Quartermaster
• Tribal redundancy (20+ Pirates/Assassins, 15 Vehicles)
• Strong card selection via looting effects

Interaction: 5/10

• Limited removal (Chaos Warp, Lookout's Dispersal)
• Reactive protection only through counterspells
• Strong in combat with forced blocks from Breeches, Eager Pillager

Rating Justification:

This deck sits between Optimized Casual (5.0) and High-Power Casual (5.5) on the rubric. It outpaces precons through focused tribal synergy and efficient tutors but lacks the speed (T8-10 vs T8-9 benchmark) and protection of true high-power decks. The combination of treasure-fueled extra turns and consistent card advantage pushes it above average casual builds, but its combat-focused wincons and vulnerability to common stax pieces prevent higher placement.

Power level: 5.0 - 5.5