This card is definitely useful. I honestly like
the versatility of it. It's going to be a lot
more useful in sealed than in constructed. If I
was playing a low casting cost deck with blue,
though, I might consider it.
My only complaint about this card is that it's
called "Piracy Charm", yet there's no mention of
pirates anywhere else in Time Spiral Block and
the card itself doesn't really suggest piracy. I
guess in a world ravaged by war and cataclysms,
there's nothing left to pillage.
Anyway, let's break it down. There's islandwalk,
which could help a big beefy attacker finish off
an opponent, but that's IF you have a big beefy
attacker (which blue isn't known for) and IF
your opponent has an Island (is this what
Vedalken Plotter is for?). Then there's +2/-1,
which could kill a creature (maybe with combat
damage on the stack) or turn your attacker into
the king of beatstick that you'll wish you could
give islandwalk to. This mode is either creature
removal, or the equivalent of a Shock, so you'll
never regret using this mode. Finally, there's
the discard effect. If you've got superior board
position, you can play this during your
opponent's draw step and lock them out of a
draw. Or you can just use it to support a
discard deck, which blue can now pull off.
Either way, you'll pretty much always be glad to
see it.
Piracy Charm -
Yar! I must say I'm somewhat disappointed at the
distinctly non-pirate flavor of a pirate-named
card, but still this is a fine charm. In fact,
it's a timeshifted version of one of the best
charms ever printed - Funeral Charm. It's
removal, it's discard and it's landwalking.
Played at an important moment, any one of these
effects can win a game. That's not bad for only
one mana. Blue often has trouble dealing with
small, easily replayed creatures. Piracy Charm
really shines as a method to take out
troublesome utility creatures.
It was quite good when it was in black, so I'm
not sure why that would change in blue. It gives
blue two abilities it doesn't usually get
(creature kill and instant discard) and one
ability that doesn't usually matter (islandwalk).
In constructed, the ability to knock off an X/1
creature (even one with protection from the
normal colors of removal), or the ability to
boost your own guy for a little extra damage to
a player or a pesky blocker, is quite nice.
Instant speed discard is broken, but only if you
have other synergistic ways to keep your
opponent's hand-size down. The islandwalk
ability could be very useful in limited, or in
casual games where that Lure-enchanted Thicket
Basilisk is bearing down upon you.
Constructed - 3+
Casual - 3
Limited - 4
David Fanany
Piracy Charm
Well, it's Funeral Charm except in blue. There's
a reason Funeral Charm was timeshifted into the
Time Spiral block: it was the best of its cycle
and has three abilities which can be very
useful. It's seen play in mono-black and
black/white decks with The Rack, Castigate,
Smallpox, and Jotun Grunt. Will Piracy Charm see
similar play? Since it's blue, it doesn't
automatically have the support that Funeral
Charm had. However, being in blue gives you
access to cards like Venarian Glimmer and
Remand. It also gives blue decks a way to kill
Llanowar Elves on the first turn; don't
underestimate the effect that can have on decks
that need the acceleration. In casual play,
Piracy Charm's three abilities are often less
relevant than in either constructed or limited,
but lots of casual and multiplayer decks still
depend on having finely-crafted hands or combos
using X/1 creatures. It can be a solid or even
game-breaking card in limited as well - removing
creatures, forcing trades, and giving Spectral
Force islandwalk. Ouch!
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 2/5
Limited: 4/5
LennonMarx
Monday March
12: Piracy Charm
Constructed:
Back in the day, Funeral Charm was good, or so
I've been told. Instant speed discard is always
scary because if you can recur it continuously,
you can lock your opponent out of the game once
you/they empty their hand. Considering that
isn't an option in T2 (I don't think), and in
extended there are better things to lock your
opponent out with that can be imprinted on
Isochron Sceptor (read: Orim's Chant), the
discard portion of the spell is only
situationally useful. The Islandwalk part can
puch through the last few points if the opponent
is blue, but again, situational. The +2/-1 part
is the good part, not for the pump, but for the
removal aspect. Especially in extended, this
takes care of alot of probomatic critters for
blue. The 3 elements separated are pry are junk,
but together they are a solid card.
3/5
Casual
I can so see some crazy Eye of the Storm deck
using this to wipe the board and take a chunk
out of its opponent(s)'s hand(s). Still as solid
as it was above, though there are likely to be
more beefier creatures here, so the removal
aspect is likely lost.
2.5/5
Limited
Any removal is good removal. If you're playing
blue, I wouldn't pick this really high, but its
solid and I wouldn't feel bad playing 1 or 2 in
the main. The discard is basically a Time Walk
in the late game, and the +2/-1 can keep
pressure off early to let you set up. Good
stuff.
3.5/5
PsychoAnime
PsychoAnime
To start the week off we get another charming
card, and yes, please notice the
pun. Piracy Charm, like the other charms, hold 3
different abilities.
1. Target creatures gets islandwalk until end of
turn.
Back in the days of mono-coloured (yes, "colour",
I'm Canadian), there's a
20% chance of encountering a deck with Islands.
In this multi-colour format,
there's a 40% chance. This means islandwalk
isn't as useless as it seems,
although maindecking this card based on this
ability alone isn't the
smartest thing to do. This ability is a good
"extra" to the other abilities.
2. Target creature get +2/-1 until end of turn.
It's blue removal and a combat trick so it can't
be that bad. This ability
will almost always be used and can be extremely
useful in a matchup against
Boros Deck Wins.
3. Target player discards a card.
Instant speed discard should always deserve
recognition as it can become a 1
mana Timewalk under the right conditions. As
well, this ability should almost
never be dead, and if it is, there's a high
chance you're winning.
With 3 decent abilities, the versatility of all
of them put into one makes
this card rather decent.
Constructed: 3.5/5, I could see this being put
in a sideboard somewhere to
counter Boros.
Casual: 3.5, Charms are fun. Instant speed
discard is fun.
Limited: 3.5/5, it's removal and someone's going
to play Islands.
Necro
nomikron
Piracy Charm:
Ahh, another charm. Let's break it down, shall
we?
1. Islandwalk. Limited usefulness, but, hey,
it's a charm, that's just one option.
2. +2/-1. This is the one I'd be most likely to
use it for, either punch of the damage by a tiny
bit, or remove a X/1 creature.
3. Discard a card. Not too big on this one, but,
hey, it goes in some decks.
Constructed, I'm not big on this card for
constructed, but, hey, it's not bad. It goes in
The Rack discard. Also goes nice in the
sideboard in some decks for use against X/1
creatures.
Casual, well, this is where The Rack discard
would really shine, so, not bad here. Also takes
out small utility creatures and lets you
occasionaly punch through. Not bad.
Limited is where this thing shines, though.
Removal, pump and lets you punch through for
some damage sometimes.
Constructed: 2.5/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 3.5/5
Aethereal
Monday - Piracy
Charm
The only charm that is a timeshifted card.
Funeral Charm is a pretty useful and versatile
card, and I don't see why changing it to blue
and changing the Swampwalk to Islandwalk would
really change anything. So now, if you're
running a U/B deck and you want to play eight
Funeral Charms for some reason, now you can do
so. The versatility of this card is what makes
it nice.
In casual, it's alright.
In limited, a decent pick, but not a truly high
one. The best ability here is the +2/-1, which
can kill a problematic little guy (hi, Mire
Boa). The Islandwalk can help you crack through
a cluttered board for the final points of
damage, too.
