Piracy MTG Card

Portal Second Age (P02)
1998-06-24 - Number 42

Starter 1999 (S99)
1999-07-01 - Number 45

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Rare
Type	Sorcery

Key Takeaways

Card advantage comes from seizing control of your opponent’s resources temporarily, boosting your position.
Piracy’s instant speed offers great flexibility, letting players respond to opponents’ actions on-the-fly.
Mindful of drawbacks like discard requirements and the card’s specific mana cost for deck building.

Text of card

This turn, you may tap your opponent's lands to help pay for your spells.

The sea gives, and the sea takes. Some just help with the taking.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Piracy card creates a distinct edge in obtaining card dominance by allowing the player to temporarily gain control of their opponents’ resources. Particularly impactful in late-game scenarios, it can lead to overwhelming card superiority.

Resource Acceleration: This strategic card can facilitate a significant leap in resource management by enabling access to extra mana sources, albeit briefly. It often catalyzes the deployment of high-impact plays much sooner than normally possible, offering a surge in momentum.

Instant Speed: The convenience of instant-speed play cannot be understated with Piracy. It opens up various tactical moves, providing flexibility to respond adeptly to an opponent’s actions. This reactive capability ensures resources are only committed when most advantageous, potentially disrupting crucial stages of an opponent’s strategy.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Piracy MTG card can put players at a disadvantage with its necessity to discard, potentially depleting valuable hand assets which could be integral for later plays. This requirement can be particularly cumbersome when your hand is already stretched thin in resources.

Specific Mana Cost: With its requirement for blue mana, Piracy demands a deck that either runs heavily on blue or has a robust mana fixing strategy to accommodate this color-specific demand, potentially limiting the card’s versatility across various deck archetypes.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The return on investment for using Piracy isn’t always optimal. The mana you invest into casting Piracy could arguably be allocated towards other cards with lower costs and more immediate board impact, thus questioning its efficiency in a tightly contested game scenario.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: The card Piracy offers a unique flexibility that allows players to disrupt their opponent’s mana base, potentially leading to a significant advantage in the game. It’s a surprise element that can be slotted into decks that aim to control the pace and resources of the match.

Combo Potential: With Piracy, savvy deck builders can devise potent combos, effectively using it to gain control of crucial lands at pivotal moments. This can support strategies that rely on denying resources or using additional lands to fuel powerful spells.

Meta-Relevance: Considering the shifting meta, a card like Piracy could counter decks that heavily depend on lands to execute their game plan. In a landscape where players are building towards massive, game-ending plays, interrupting their mana can be a game-changer.

How to beat

Dealing with Piracy in MTG can be a real challenge. This card poses a unique dilemma by allowing your opponent to tap all lands they control as if they were their own during your turn. To outplay this strategy, it’s crucial to think one step ahead. Holding back on tapping your lands until you need them is wise. This reactive playstyle forces the opponent to consider whether casting Piracy is worth it since the effect becomes less impactful.

Another method is to play instant speed spells or abilities in response to Piracy, which uses the mana before your opponent gets a chance to usurp it. This limits the effectiveness of their card, making it almost a wasted move. Additionally, incorporating cards that don’t rely heavily on lands for mana production can also circumvent the disruption caused by Piracy. Utilizing creatures, artifacts, or other spells that generate mana ensures that you maintain control over your resources, effectively diminishing the power of this frustrating card.

In essence, to successfully counteract Piracy, adaptability and strategic resource management are key. By staying flexible and maximizing the use of your mana at the right moments, you can neutralize Piracy’s influence and maintain the upper hand in the game.

Cards like Piracy

Piracy is an intriguing card within the realm of resource disruption in Magic: The Gathering. It shares a stage with other mana denial cards, yet stands out due to its unique approach. Unlike Sinkhole, which destroys a land outright, Piracy offers a different angle by temporarily denying resources during the upkeep phase. While Sinkhole is a permanent solution, Piracy is more of a tactical strike aimed at specific timing for maximum inconvenience.

Comparably, Mana Short is another card that operates on a similar principle. It also taps out an opponent’s lands but does so in a way that affects all lands at once, making it more of a sweeping measure against opponents’ mana bases. Though Mana Short hits harder across the board, Piracy has the potential to be more disruptive by targeting the untap phase, which can intricately disrupt an opponent’s planned plays for their turn.

In evaluating these cards side by side, Piracy occupies an intriguing space among MTG’s land interference spells. Its selective timing can provide strategic players with a tool to finely unpick an opponent’s plans, marking its unique value in games that hinge on precise disruptions.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Piracy MTG card by a specific set like Portal Second Age and Starter 1999, 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 Piracy and other MTG cards: