Captain Howler, Sea ScourgeCaptain Howler, Sea Scourge | Art by Mark Zug

Keelhaul that filthy landlubber...

Greetings and salutations, welcome to yet another installment of From the Brim to the Trim, written with haste in mind. I'm Arnaud, and I'm thrilled to take you on a journey of piracy, discard shenanigans, and face-smashing.

Last time, we parted ways with our traditional poll to determine this week's contender. It seems the choices I provided yielded much less interest, as the total votes, at the time of writing, stood at a lowly 69. Thanks to all of you who took the time to express your opinion; without you, I'd be lost! Third place went to Tor Wauki the YoungerTor Wauki the Younger, with 18 votes (26%). No pinging nor burning this time. Second place went to Averna, the Chaos BloomAverna, the Chaos Bloom, with 24 votes (35%). No cascading either it seems. With 27 votes (39%), the top spot went to our sea-faring Shark scourge.

Let's take a closer look. Our good Captain is a 5/4 with an annoying ward and two life, all for a puny . Great stats to start with, but there's more.

Every time you discard something, a creature gets a power buff and draws you a card when dealing combat damage. I smell value here! Looks like we'll be playing a lot of hand cycling.

Without further ado, let's dump each and every card from our commander's page on EDHREC, including normal and budget settings. This nets us a massive 341 cards, more than enough to ensure some good tides. Let's dive in.

First Trim – The Cardboard Chainsaw Massacre

For each and every one of you new to this series, I bid thee a warm welcome. Here, we're all about budget brewing. Specifically, we exclude from the list any card worth more than $1.10 (the 10 cents being there to account for price variation).

With that in mind, let's axe each card not fitting our criteria. Staying at the $2 threshold, this already cuts down close to 80 cards. Before we move on, let's see what gems lie in the $1.10-$2 range.

• Unexpected WindfallUnexpected Windfall: That would have been lovely as a discard outlet for our Captain.
• Mizzix's MasteryMizzix's Mastery: This is the sort of card that turns any game in a tale for the ages.
• Smuggler's CopterSmuggler's Copter: I absolutely love this in conjunction with our commander. Built-in evasion, triggers on attack, and is annoying to remove.
• Library of LengLibrary of Leng: Don't want to lose your best cards? No problem.
• Dack FaydenDack Fayden: Another reusable quality engine.
• Inti, Seneschal of the SunInti, Seneschal of the Sun: While not exactly card draw per se, it's still a nice pump outlet.
• The IndomitableThe Indomitable: Yes, I would love to draw more cards.
• Pinnacle MonkPinnacle Monk: Expensive, but versatile. Getting an instant or sorcery to reuse is never a bad deal.
• Silent HallcreeperSilent Hallcreeper: An unblockable creature with benefits, all for a teeny weeny ? Solid.
• Full ThrottleFull Throttle: Another fun one. Especially with creatures that trigger discard/draw upon attacking, piling up buffs, and card draw.
• Kaito, Cunning InfiltratorKaito, Cunning Infiltrator: While it's not that easy to keep him around with four players around the table, that +1 ability is everything we need, and you'd be surprised at how easy it is to bring him up to ultimate range.

This leaves us with four cards in the $1-$1.10 range:

• Brass's Tunnel-GrinderBrass's Tunnel-Grinder: A very nice wheel for yourself that can eventually lead to even more value.
• Geier Reach SanitariumGeier Reach Sanitarium: Not bad, but paying three mana for that effect is a bit too expensive for my taste.
• Matzalantli, the Great DoorMatzalantli, the Great Door: Recursive discard/draw, and potentially huge payoff.
• Artful DodgeArtful Dodge: I'm not 100% sure about this one. I feel like most of our creatures will already have some form of evasion.

And with that, we're already down to 235 cards. Rather on the higher end compared to previous Trims, but that's only more fun for us to wade through. Onwards.

Second Trim – Cardward Scissorhands

We have an interesting problem at hand. Before we even start of the thematic aspect, we need to address the direction we'll take regarding card draw.

First, I'd like to address a crucial point: spells that ask you to discard an additional card to draw two do not provide card advantage. After the spell resolves, you end up with the same number of cards in hand you had prior to casting the spell. Cards like Faithless LootingFaithless Looting are even worse, as you're losing three cards to gain two. This is crucial, as you need a certain number of spells that will actually refill your hand with gas and/or give you reusable value to keep going. You can't entertain a status quo with your hand; you need to diversify your options. Bear in mind that your commander will not always be around to provide the much needed card draw.

One could also argue that there are two separate paths between cycling and looting (the aforementioned status quo), but the end result is usually comparable, with one caveat: there are a bunch of cards that actually react when you cycle something. Although we'll deal with these in the next section, I'll still split them from actual card draw/value for the time being.

Second, we need to keep an eye out for outlets that can be triggered multiple times in a row with individual activations. If I discard five cards with, say, a BreakthroughBreakthrough, our commander's ability will give us only a single card back when combat damage occurs, whereas an outlet like CompulsionCompulsion can yield multiple card draw with a single hit.

Overall, here's where we stand:

With this in mind, let's get trimming, with a focus on our usual vegetables at first. I'll keep all wipes for now since they are few and far between.

There, much much better. After giving the land base a healthy shave, we're down to... wow, 180 cards. There's still a lot of work ahead.

Third Trim - Cutting Off the Rough Edges

So. 81 cards to go. Let's have a closer look at what's left and what we want to do.

The core idea is simple in essence: discard a bunch of cards, possibly one at a time, then hit hard with the pumped creature to refill our hand and deal a hard smack in the process. Of course, we'll need a couple of Plan Bs should our commander get removed too often.

We already talked about the elephant in the roomelephant in the room, cycling and looting spells. These are the meat of our deck, so we'll want to keep a decent number, probably around 20 or so.

There's also a slew of counterspells. You know how I feel about these in a casual bracket 2 deck, so most of them shall go away.

We then have a bunch of evasive outlets, in the form of creatures or enablers. I don't know if I'm comfortable enough with how many there are at the moment; we might adjust that number later on.

What else... A bunch of useful token-makers, a few pump spells, some protection outlets, a bit of recursion...

Let's try and put some order into all of that.

Phew, that's a lot of cards, and the last ones weren't so obvious. Wait, what? 10 more to go? Oh well, let's end this.

Final Trim - Heart-Wrenching Choices

Here we are, our final contenders. As usual, bear in mind that, at this point in the build, there's no inherent bad choice, just personal preferences.

Here's what I'm cutting:

• New PerspectivesNew Perspectives: Let's face it. After cutting almost all cycling cards, and with a prohibitive cost of , this can just leave.
• Change of FortuneChange of Fortune: We're not running that many wheels, and I'm uncertain on the actual potential of this card, aside from very niche situations.
• Imprisoned in the MoonImprisoned in the Moon: I need a spot in Removal, and this one's the least best of the better worse... You get the idea.
• Key to the CityKey to the City: Most of our creatures already sport solid evasion. We can do without this.
• Malcolm, Keen-Eyed NavigatorMalcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator: Cute, but slow, as we don't have that many Pirates left in the deck.
• CompulsionCompulsion: I really have a soft spot for this card, but is a lot to pay repeatedly for a looting effect.
• ScuttletideScuttletide: Lovely outlet full of flavor, but I'm running out of ideas, and this seems to be on the weaker end.
• Siren StormtamerSiren Stormtamer: Let's live dangerously!
• Duelist of the MindDuelist of the Mind: This was a hard one to choose, as flying and vigilance make for a powerful combination. But in the end, we're not committing that many crimes, so I feel like that loot ability won't trigger that much.
• StarstormStarstorm: Because I genuinely don't want to cut anything else.

Well, this was harder than the past few Trims, but we got there. I give you...

Additional Trim - A Look Into the Past

I have fond memories of this brew, a spicy attempt at using Gyruda, Doom of DepthsGyruda, Doom of Depths as a companion for Sidisi, Brood TyrantSidisi, Brood Tyrant. Let's see how kind time has been to the list.

Here's what's overpriced today:

• WonderWonder: $1.18
• PersistPersist: $1.43
• Mystic SanctuaryMystic Sanctuary: $1.47
• Skyshroud ClaimSkyshroud Claim: $1.69
• Splendid ReclamationSplendid Reclamation: $1.79
• Kogla, the Titan ApeKogla, the Titan Ape: $1.95

Ouch, ouch, and ouch. Let's find some suitable replacements:

• IslandIsland: Sadly there's no real solution against the fantastic Mystic SanctuaryMystic Sanctuary
• Kagha, Shadow ArchdruidKagha, Shadow Archdruid: An interesting mill outlet that acts as a pseudo-Muldrotha, the GravetideMuldrotha, the Gravetide
• FarseekFarseek: ClaimClaim it is not, but still a robust ramp spell.
• Jarad, Golgari Lich LordJarad, Golgari Lich Lord: Granted, it's a color-heavy spell. But the payoff can end games.
• Undead AugurUndead Augur: A little more card advantage never hurt anyone.
• Shigeki, Jukai VisionaryShigeki, Jukai Visionary: A bit slow, but it's ramp and mill all in one.

You can find the updated list here.

Conclusion

It's been a fun, if wavy journey. I hope you'll enjoy this take on a discard-heavy commander as much as I had fun building it.

I'm also curious to hear from you, dear readers, on anything, related to this deck or not: did I miss anything? Any gross mistakes? Any thoughts on the Trim series in general, stuff you'd like to see more, less, differently?

Please, please, please let me know in the comments section below, and I'll see you in two weeks!