This Aggro Pirate Warrior deck list guide for the Kobolds and Catacombs expansion will teach you how to play this extremely fast paced Warrior deck. It uses aggressive Pirate minions with Weapons and Weapon synergy to generate a lot of early game pressure to defeat your potion. Our Aggro Pirate Warrior guide includes Mulligans, Gameplay Strategy, Card Substitutions, and Combos/Synergies!
Introduction to Pirate Warrior
Pirate Warrior is very controversial because it has the ability to kill opponent’s very quickly and many view unfairly. This deck, however, can run out of steam and can be hurt with tech cards such as Golakka Crawler and Weapon removal like Acidic Swamp Ooze, Gluttonous Ooze, or Harrison Jones. One of the big weaknesses of this deck is that it contains no card draw, so if it draws a slow hand or a handful of weapons it can just lose on the spot.
The deck took a pretty big hit with the nerf to Fiery War Axe, but Prince Keleseth seemed to soften the blow. Pirate Warrior isn’t as strong as it once was, but with the addition of some new tools in Kobolds and Catacombs it might be in a better spot than it was in the Frozen Throne meta.
Kobolds and Catacombs Update
Warrior didn’t get anything too great for Pirate Warrior in the Kobolds expansion. However, it did get Lesser Mithril Spellstone which looks kind of like an odd addition, but when paired with Spiteful Summoner makes for a pretty big mid-to-late game board swing. As most aggressive decks have done, it also includes Corridor Creeper which rewards aggressive lists for trading early and allowing them to accelerate a higher stat minion to the board.
Update: Aggro Pirate Warrior – February 2018
It might finally be the nail in the coffin for Pirate Warrior in Standard. Patches and Corridor Creeper are both being nerfed. Creeper looks to be totally dead, but Patches could still see play in full Pirate based decks. Pirate Warrior might be finally relegated to Wild.
Starting Out Tips
First, don’t just throw a minion down on your first turn and immediately pass the turn. I can’t tell you how often I would absentmindedly do this while Patches the Pirate would be shot out of a cannon and make me feel like a fool. This is an aggressive deck, but it doesn’t mean you have to play every card at lightning speed! Another card that tripped me up in the beginning was Bloodsail Cultist. For some reason I thought it buffed a weapon if you had a weapon equipped, unfortunately for me it requires that you have a Pirate on the board. Hopefully these couples of tips will save you some of the embarrassment I originally went through.
Why is Patches the Pirate Good?
I see this question a lot so I’d like to address it. Patches is a minion that lands on your board for free the majority of the time unless you get him in your first draw or mulligan. Think of it as starting the game off with a 1/1 minion already on the board, and a deck that has 29 cards in it. A thinner deck enables you to draw more reliably. Also, starting off with a 1/1 minion on your board for free gives you a pretty nice advantage. Patches is also a Pirate, which in a Pirate synergistic deck means you’ll be able to enable cards like Bloodsail Cultist more easily on curve.
Think about this first turn on The Coin: N'Zoth's First Mate, The Coin, Patches hits the board, you play Southsea Deckhand. You get a 1/3 Weapon, two 1/1s, and a 2/1 on turn one. That’s a pretty crazy first turn and is difficult for your opponent to deal with.
Aggro Pirate Warrior Mulligan Guide and Strategy
Without Fiery War Axe you are looking for cheap minions to populate your hand. Fire Fly, N'Zoth's First Mate, and sometimes Southsea Deckhand (with support). However, the key now is Prince Keleseth. If you start with him in your hand your winrate increases significantly! Always be mulliganing hard for the Prince and only really look to keep Fire Fly & N’Zoth’s First Mate which are very good openers. If you have a 1-drop and especially if it’s a Pirate, then you keep Corridor Creeper! I know it sounds crazy to keep a 7-cost minion, but just trading a few minions brings it down to a 4-cost card, and by turn 3 it could be even lower. You will often be able to get Corridor Creeper down to 0-mana by turn 4 which gives you a huge tempo swing.
You can potentially keep a 3-drop like Bloodsail Cultist, Frothing Berserker, or Southsea Captain if you have Keleseth already.
Aggro Pirate Warrior Win Rates
Winrate stats are currently unavailable for this deck at the moment!
Aggro Pirate Warrior Play Strategy
Pressure and damage to the face is the name of the game with this very aggressive deck. Now, that doesn’t mean you should send every Weapon charge to the face, in fact the Weapons are normally better used for keeping their board relatively clean while your fragile minions continue to punish your opponent. You want consistent and repetitive damage with your minions, but trading away a couple 1/1s to preserve a larger minion on your board is usually the correct play.
Using your Weapon charges also greatly depends on what you have in your hand. If your hand is clogged with Weapons then you should be more readily using up the charges. This is especially the case with N’Zoth’s First Mate’s weapon, you are going to have stronger weapons to get to in the later game so it can be best to use it up while you can.
In Aggro matchups, you want to make trades as efficiently as possible so you are dictating the terms. You’ll only go hard to the face when you make your final push for lethal. Aggro decks have a hard time coming back into the game. In the Pirate Warrior mirror, they won’t be able to draw into many cards. In these Aggro matches, you can pretty much flood the board as quickly as possible because there’s rarely any AOE issues (unless it’s Shaman with Maelstrom Portal).
This deck gets a whole lot better against aggressive matchups if you are able to play Prince Keleseth. The +1/+1 stats give you a big advantage and this alone can often determine the game.
Control matchups are the times where you can’t really afford to make trades. You need to pressure them and force them to keep playing on the back foot. If they are able to eliminate your early threats you’ll have a hard time coming back in the game unless you find yourself able to build up a large damage combo with stuff like Leeroy Jenkins.
Corridor Creeper is the new kid on the block, and a lot has already been said about it in the community. It’s an insane card, and it’s even better when used in a deck that has Patches the Pirate in it. You are often trading your minions back and forth in the early game, so Corridor Creeper’s cost is reduced immediately. On turn 2 if you and your opponent both played a card and have Patches on the board then Creeper is already going to be down to 3-mana with those trades. So you could see a scenario where the costs 1 or 0-mana on turn 3!
The kind of odd addition to Pirate Warrior is the Spiteful Summoner & Lesser Mithril Spellstone combination. You basically don’t ever want to draw the spellstone and instead are hoping to get a good outcome from Spiteful Summoner, but you don’t really want to draw her until late in the game. These two cards do help give you some late game firepower, but if you draw them early they are going to be pretty dead in your hand.
Aggro decks test your ability to understand how to play your hand. You’ll have to learn how to judge when it’s time to go all-in, and when you should trade. If you are against the ropes, then it’s best to just throw it all on the board and see if they can answer it. If they have the answers, well you were probably going to lose anyway. On the other hand, you’ll win some games you had no business winning because they didn’t have the cards to stop you.
Aggro Pirate Warrior Alternate/Tech Cards
These are cards that go in and out of the deck and can also be used to replace cards you might not have.
- Upgrade! – You have a lot of weapons so this card makes sense, unfortunately it’s a bit weak if you don’t have a weapon and you will rarely want to equip the 1/3.
- Bloodsail Corsair – Early game pirate with an upside, unfortunately it’s pretty much outclassed by Fire Fly and the synergy Fire Fly has with Creeper.
- Mortal Strike – Great finishing potential and allows you to do direct damage around taunt minions. Unfortunately if you draw this in the early game it’s really bad, and can be a completely dead draw when you are looking for a weapon or minion. One good thing about this card just existing is that a better opponent will play around it and potentially give you an extra turn to live by avoiding bringing you down to 12.
- Arathi Weaponsmith – Weak stats and an okay effect, but you are looking for impact out of a 4-mana minion and you are largely hoping to be leading into turn-5 with an Arcanite Reaper.
- Captain Greenskin – Obviously a strong card when you have a Weapon equipped, but can be really slow if you don’t.
- Spellbreaker – A great way to get rid of an annoying taunt while developing the board.
- Naga Corsair – Still sees play in some versions of the deck, it’s a solid body with Pirate synergy that can buff your weapon. Also great for budget versions of the deck.
- Phantom Freebooter – A new card from the Frozen Throne, it isn’t a game changer but it can be very strong when played with a big Arcanite Reaper. It also will demand removal if you hit it with a buff and hopefully allow the rest of your board to survive.
- Bittertide Hydra – Largely being phased out by Corridor Creeper at the moment, but if you don’t have the Creeper then play the Hydra instead.
Check out our List of the Best Standard Decks for Hearthstone Ladder
Aggro Pirate Warrior Card Substitutions
- Patches the Pirate – I wouldn’t run this deck without him. Before you ask, yes I would craft him still even though he’s going to be rotated out of Standard when the first new expansion releases in 2018.
- Captain Greenskin – Solid card but not necessary if you don’t have it. Corsair or Bitter Tide Hydra can work in its spot, but you might even want Spellbreaker to deal with annoying taunts.
- Leeroy Jenkins – This is a very solid finisher. Leeroy is also a solid craft because he won’t rotate out of Standard (unless he’s added to the Hall of Fame, in which case you’ll get full dust back). You can run Bittertide Hydra instead, or try any of the alternate cards listed above.
- Spiteful Summoner – If you don’t have her then don’t run the Mithril Spellstones either. Bittertide and Naga Corsair are your best options if you haven’t used them as replacements yet.
- Corridor Creeper – This card fits in just about every deck right now, but if you don’t want to craft them you can run Bittertide Hydra instead or as a really cheap option go with Naga Corsair.
Aggro Pirate Warrior Combos and Synergies
That first turn N'Zoth's First Mate, Patches the Pirate, The Coin, with Southsea Deckhand is an awesome combo that gives you an impressive board state.
All of these cheap minions synergize well with Corridor Creeper. Try to get it to 0-mana so you can play it on the same turn as another minion for maximum tempo swing.
If you have Prince Keleseth in your hand, you might not want to play a Pirate immediately so you can buff your Patches and get a 2/2 charger on the board for free. This can be the case if you went second and your opponent plays a minion that will just easily kill Patches.
Any ideas for corridor creeper ? It doesn’t look soo good since the last update
does the deck work without greenskin?
Sure. I think is good to use spllbreaker instead of greenskin.
I mean spellbreaker. Its good card when you fight with Cotrol / Cube warlock.
i dont understand the qq here. this deck is the bomb. long winstreak from 19-15 on ladder right now like 8-2 wins.
i dont see a reason why it wont work further on.
Try getting to rank 10 and you’ll see
I made level 5 with this last month pretty easily.
At first I thought this was an awesome update to pirate warrior. Got Lynessa Sunsorrow 3 times in 3 different games from Spiteful Summoner. I know it is just bad luck, but I think it is time to admit that pirate warrior is dead. This deck is all about getting the prince on curve or getting a good spawn from Spiteful. Too many “if” makes this a fun deck to play but not to climb. RIP Pirate warrior
Well i have been playing the following list with some decent win-rate (62%): AAECAQcErwTUBZG8ApziAg0csAKRA/8DjgWoBfIF7gaCsAKIsAK5vwLrwgL70wIA
In the long run sticking with a Prince oriented pirate list have increased my win rate, but i still trying figure out how to deal against Face Hunters and Secret Mages whiout a strong play on turn 2.
Unfortunately, this deck loses rate against other aggro decks is 60% and because on the ladder the decks 70% is aggro now this is sack :I
“Bittertide Hydra – You could go with Naga Corsair for a cheaper option.”
But Naga Corsair is already at the list 🙂
this deck is rubbish. spend 2.4k dust craft keleseth and some missing epic and stuck at rank 16 forever wont go up while use some budget dk rexxar can go up to rank 10. auto lose against aggro druid/taunt druid/evo shaman no matter how good your mulligan is. use your keleseth at other deck but not this junk deck.
I feel like his deck is now a tier 3 maybe 4 deck. Tried it and the deck just gets beaten by all the tier 1 and 2 decks in KFC.
Been playing this card trying to get my three win 40 dust daily and I’m at 0-7 so far it’s too slow against most decks and terrible against the 3-6 taunts that pop up at turn 6 or against most decks these days. I managed to get a warrior down to 3 but he then was at turn 8 and dropping big taunt minions which fire fly just can’t beat 🙁
Perhaps I’ve been unlucky with the deck but at the current meta its just not quick enough and has two many one drops that do nothing late game
Learn to mulligan properly. If you’re top decking it later in the game you’re doing it wrong.
Too many one-drops? Prince Rogue has the same amount of them (6 + patches) and somehow it is considered as tier 1 deck. Of course you can have sometimes bad start, but with some early pirates and weapons + keleseth, this deck can still beat up anyone. It is not unstoppable like before (God bless!), but not so bad to go 0-7 or calling it garbage. Maybe you just don’t know how to play it correctly?
I feel this guide its mixed up between prince warrior and post nerf warrior, can you please make it right?
Sorry about that, it looks like the deck list was wrong.
Thanks man!
If I would rather like to keep Prince Keleseth then what card could be removed from current version of the deck?
Thanks fot the ideas.
Maybe you can take some from zisjs’s deck
Just one question. Your guide says Mortal Strike doesnt with the Prince. But it includes both. Suggestions?
Sorry, that was a mistake. It’s fixed now.
got legend with this exact deck on EU. thx . pirate warrior still rockin. 🙂
Can you replace prince or it is unreplaceble !
no prince=shit
Agree that Pirate Warrior is alive and kicking. I’m a FTP player and just hit level 4 which is my best season ever, primarily playing a post-nerf Prince Kelsef variant of Pirate Warrior. Argghh mateys! Shocked by the poster who went 0-10. I’ve been experiencing 55%+ win rate, which is consistent with reported stats for the deck. Don’t think I will make it to legend with only a few days remaining, but I expect to continue slow progress and should at least make it to level 2 or 3!
Hello, today i am using this new deck of pirate warrior , with the Prince Kelsef. How do you play it?, all the face or make trades?. I am stuck at ranking 5, i want to be at last rank 3, i start again like 2 month before.
Broke four legendarys to create Prince Kelsef, 3 for de Magic Adventure a 1 Don han cho, that i get to day with the trick of free legendary at 10 packs from street expansion.
Maybe i want to concede to Shaman? to not lose time lol
Why not Small-time bucaneer instead of firefly?? adding some sinergy to the deck? and why just one southsea??
Because Firefly can be played as a 2-drop and Small-time bucanner is really bad, especially without fiery war axe?
This deck is literally trash. 0-10 even with perfect draw of N’Zoth’s mate, coin Southsea Deckhand, T2 Keliseth, and T3 Southsea Captain it gets wrecked. Wasted 5 minutes of my life reading the guide, then another 30 playing some of the worst games I’ve ever played.
TL:DR- Don’t waste your time or dust on this garbage.
If you lose 0-10 with this deck, I would suggest to overthink your style of playing. Dont get salty, use Deck Tracker and watch streams. It’ll get better.
Have to agree, I’m not sure how you can go 0-10 with this deck.
The decklist at the top of the page very strongly does not seem to match the guide at this point. Doesn’t include several key cards, most notably Prince Keleseth! Here’s the list I came up with within the limits of my collection (primary lacking cards that I felt should be in were Bittertide Hydra and to a much lesser extent Captain Greenskin, although I honestly feel the deck can get on fine without him):
2x Fire Fly
2x N’Zoth’s first Mate
Patches
2x Southsea Deckhand
2x Upgrade!
Prince Keleseth
2x Bloodsail Cultist
2x Fiery Waraxe
2x Frothing Beserker
2x Southsea Captain
1x Vicious Fledgling (mostly a fill-in card since I didn’t have some things)
2x Dread Corsair
2x Kor’kron Elite
2x Naga Corsair
2x Spellbreaker
2x Arcanite Reaper
Leeroy Jenkins
Is that approximately how it’s *supposed* to look these days? (given the aforementioned lack of Hydras)
I mean, you had a perfect draw, but you didn’t play it correctly.
You coin Prince on 1, N’Zoth’s + Deckhand on 2 (you patches is now a 2/2) and then Captain.
Not going to listen to the advice of someone who copied the deck and excepted to get all the wins cause they did not know what they were doing your salty comment just proves those comments of pirate warrior being cancer or mindless wrong since if it was mindless surely you could get wins with it.
o deck na munha opinião continua muito bom o nerf so atrasa um pouco mais não prejudicao deck como eu pensava
What now after FWA nerf?
What now after FWA nerf?
As you can see alot of lists have taken out the heroic strike and bloodsail raiders to run the 3 drop prince kalenseth that gives all your minons in your deck +1/1 if you have no 2 mana cards
just a question… how much lose this deck with the nerf at fery war axe?
i understand it will be a little bit slower, but will it remain competitive in your opinion? ^^
yep, lose the freebooter and add a second spellbreaker then get up the ladder before they nerf the war axe.