Storm Fleet Swashbuckler MTG Card

Storm Fleet Swashbuckler - Rivals of Ixalan

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Creature — Human Pirate
Abilities	Ascend
Released	2018-01-19
Set symbol
Set name	Rivals of Ixalan
Set code	RIX
Power	2
Toughness	2
Number	117
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Kieran Yanner

Key Takeaways

The ascend ability provides Storm Fleet Swashbuckler with double strike, greatly enhancing combat effectiveness.
Synergizes with treasure and mana acceleration to quickly gain the upper hand with the city’s blessing.
Demands a strategy that retains a robust hand to fully harness its power, thus challenging deck construction skills.

Text of card

Ascend (If you control ten or more permanents, you get the city's blessing for the rest of the game.) Storm Fleet Swashbuckler has double strike as long as you have the city's blessing.

"A bolt to the eye, a blade to the neck. That's the way to clear the deck!"

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Storm Fleet Swashbuckler has the potential to tilt card advantage in your favor through its ascend attribute. Once you have the city’s blessing, this creature’s double strike ability allows it to outclass single blockers, potentially eliminating two opposing threats in combat or delivering decisive damage to your opponent.

Resource Acceleration: While the Storm Fleet Swashbuckler itself doesn’t provide direct resource acceleration, it synergizes well with cards that enable quick treasure token generation or mana ramp, ensuring that you meet the ascend condition rapidly and exploit its double strike ability sooner.

Instant Speed: Though this creature does not operate at instant speed, the aspect of raid within its design encourages strategic play at the end of your combat phase. Cleverly navigating combat to ensure the Swashbuckler enters the battlefield with its power boosted can simulate the surprise factor often associated with instant speed interactions.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Although Storm Fleet Swashbuckler does not directly prompt you to discard cards, it does rely on having a surplus of cards to activate its ascend ability. A hand that’s light on cards might not maximize this creature’s potential, leaving you at a disadvantage.

Specific Mana Cost: Storm Fleet Swashbuckler’s cost is colored, demanding both red and generic mana which might not seamlessly fit into multi-colored decks. This can be restrictive, especially in formats with a vast mana pool.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost requiring two mana, including one red, players may find that in decks focused on speed or efficiency, there could be alternative creatures or spells that provide greater value or impact earlier in the game.

Reasons to Include Storm Fleet Swashbuckler in Your Collection

Versatility: Storm Fleet Swashbuckler’s ascend ability offers potential benefits across a wide array of deck types. Its adaptability rises in decks crafted around triggering the city’s blessing, thereby making it a valuable card for various strategies.

Combo Potential: With double strike as attainable as you meet the ascend criteria, this pirate can serve as a key component in decks looking to capitalize on amplifying combat damage or using equipment and auras to escalate its impact on the game.

Meta-Relevance: Considering decks that focus on aggression or those leveraging creature-based synergies, Storm Fleet Swashbuckler fits snugly. If the prevailing meta leans towards faster gameplay, having a card that can quickly become a significant threat is highly advantageous.

How to beat Storm Fleet Swashbuckler

Storm Fleet Swashbuckler poses a unique challenge on the battlefield, with its ascension ability granting it double strike when the city’s blessing is achieved. To counter this formidable creature, players should focus on removal spells or strategies that can neutralize it before the city’s blessing comes into play.

One effective tactic is to use instant-speed removal like Fatal Push or Shock to dispatch the Swashbuckler early in the game. If the Swashbuckler manages to gain double strike, board wipes such as Wrath of God can clear the field regardless of a creature’s abilities. It’s crucial to control the board and limit the number of permanents on the opponent’s side to delay the city’s blessing.

Ensnaring creatures with enchantments that prevent them from attacking or blocking, such as Pacifism, is another viable option. Keeping the Swashbuckler at bay with such effects will significantly reduce its threat level, buying time to advance your board state or find a more permanent solution. Timing your interactions correctly and prioritizing threats will give you an edge over the swashbuckling adversary.

Understanding the Versatility of Storm Fleet Swashbuckler

The allure of Storm Fleet Swashbuckler lies in its potential to become a formidable force on the battlefield. This creature card, much like the renowned Fencing Ace, has the capacity for double strike, which can quickly turn the tides of a match in favor of its wielder. However, unlike Fencing Ace that comes with double strike by default, Storm Fleet Swashbuckler requires a certain cunning – the city’s blessing – to unlock its true potential. Although it initially presents as a modest creature, once the city’s blessing is attained, its power can escalate rapidly.

Cards like Storm Fleet Swashbuckler

Storm Fleet Swashbuckler dances on the fine line between an initial investment and a highly rewarding payoff, akin to other creatures in MTG that harness the ascended state. Adanto Vanguard, for example, shares the Swashbuckler’s aggressive early-game presence but provides a different form of resilience through its indestructibility ability. While the Swashbuckler requires a boardwide build-up to activate its double strike, Adanto Vanguard offers a more targeted survivability at the cost of life points. Another parallel can be seen in Sky Terror, which, for an identical mana investment, offers flying and menace, guaranteeing consistent damage output but without the scaling threat of double strike.

In essence, Storm Fleet Swashbuckler embodies a compelling proposition for deck builders by offering a low-cost creature that can potentially deliver high-impact turns, particularly in decks designed to quickly satisfy the city’s blessing condition. Its ceiling for growth encapsulates the thrill of playing such cards in MTG, where strategic layering of abilities can lead to a victorious crescendo.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Storm Fleet Swashbuckler MTG card by a specific set like Rivals of Ixalan, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Storm Fleet Swashbuckler and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Storm Fleet Swashbuckler has restrictions

Format	Legality
Historicbrawl	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Restricted
Oathbreaker	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Commander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Penny	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Storm Fleet Swashbuckler card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2018-01-19	A permanent is any object on the battlefield, including tokens and lands. Spells and emblems aren’t permanents.
2018-01-19	Ascend on a permanent isn’t a triggered ability and doesn’t use the stack. Players can respond to a spell that will give you your tenth permanent, but they can’t respond to getting the city’s blessing once you control that tenth permanent. This means that if your tenth permanent is a land you play, players can’t respond before you get the city’s blessing.
2018-01-19	If Storm Fleet Swashbuckler gains double strike after it has dealt regular combat damage, it won’t go back and deal first-strike combat damage. On the other hand, if it gains first strike somehow and then it gains double strike after dealing first-strike combat damage, it will also deal regular combat damage.
2018-01-19	If you cast a spell with ascend, you don’t get the city’s blessing until it resolves. Players may respond to that spell by trying to change whether you get the city’s blessing.
2018-01-19	If you control ten permanents but don’t control a permanent or resolving spell with ascend, you don’t get the city’s blessing. For example, if you control ten permanents, lose control of one, then cast Golden Demise, you won’t have the city’s blessing and the spell will affect creatures you control.
2018-01-19	If your tenth permanent enters the battlefield and then a permanent leaves the battlefield immediately afterwards (most likely due to the “Legend Rule” or due to being a creature with 0 toughness), you get the city’s blessing before it leaves the battlefield.
2018-01-19	Once you have the city’s blessing, you have it for the rest of the game, even if you lose control of some or all of your permanents. The city’s blessing isn’t a permanent itself and can’t be removed by any effect.
2018-01-19	Some cards get power, toughness, and/or abilities once you have the city’s blessing. If another card has an ability that triggers when creatures with certain characteristics enter the battlefield (such as Mentor of the Meek or Elemental Bond do), use the entering permanent’s characteristics after you have the city’s blessing to determine whether those abilities trigger. This is true even if the entering permanent is your tenth permanent.