Legendary Creature — Human Pirate

Ramirez DePietro, Pillager

Mana value4EDHREC#4,893

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The Commander

When Ramirez DePietro enters, you lose 2 life and create two Treasure tokens.

Whenever one or more Pirates you control deal combat damage to a player, exile the top card of that player's library. You may cast that card for as long as it remains exiled.

Guide

Gameplan

Field a wide, evasive crew of Pirates, connect for combat damage, and play your opponents' decks against them by exiling and casting their top cards. Treasures from Ramirez's ETB ramp you into bigger threats and help cast off-color exiled cards, while Dimir control elements keep you alive long enough to grind value.

Strengths

Repeatable, snowballing card advantage that ignores your own deck's resources
Treasure generation enables splashing the colorless cost of any exiled card regardless of color
Pirates support evasion (menace, unblockable, flying) making combat damage reliable
Blue/black gives premier removal, card draw, and interaction to protect the engine

Weaknesses

Strategy collapses if you can't connect in combat; chump blockers and fog effects shut it down
Three-mana-value-four commander that does little defensively on its own and dies to spot removal
Tribal payoff requires a critical mass of Pirates, narrowing deckbuilding
Slow against fast combo decks since the engine needs combat steps to generate value

Key Cards

Admiral Beckett Brass — A second Pirate lord granting +1/+1 and letting you steal permanents on combat damage, doubling down on the aggressive theft plan.
Coastal Piracy — Turns every Pirate connection into extra cards, stacking with Ramirez's exile-cast engine for explosive advantage.
Dockside Extortionist — A Pirate that floods you with Treasures, fueling casts of exiled cards and ramping into haymakers.
Rogue's Passage — Guarantees a Pirate gets through for combat damage, reliably triggering Ramirez even through blockers.
Forerunner of the Coalition — Tutors a Pirate to the top and pings opponents, smoothing your tribal curve.
Breeches, Brazen Plunderer — Adds Treasure and lets you cast exiled cards, layering more free value onto every combat hit.

Upgrade Path

Tighten the Pirate count and add reliable evasion (Whispersilk Cloak, Key to the City, Rogue's Passage) so Ramirez and crew always connect. Lean into Treasure synergies (Dockside Extortionist, Breeches, Revel in Riches) for ramp and incidental wins, and add protection like Lightning Greaves and Heroic Intervention to shield the commander. Top-end can move toward an extra-combat or overrun finish (Aggravated Assault, Craterhoof-style payoffs) to convert your wide board into lethal pressure.

Core Cards

The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.

Win Conditions

▸Beat down with an evasive, lord-pumped Pirate crew
▸Out-value the table by casting a steady stream of exiled cards and Treasures
▸Steal opponents' best threats with Admiral Beckett Brass and turn them around
▸Close with finishers like Coastal Piracy-fueled card advantage into overwhelming board states

Archetypes

Pirates Tribal Aggro — Ramirez rewards a wide evasive Pirate board with cascading card theft on combat damage.
Theft/Value — Casting opponents' exiled cards turns their own decks into your resources, the core identity of the deck.
Treasure Ramp — His ETB and Pirate payoffs like Dockside flood you with Treasures to accelerate and fix mana.
Dimir Control-Tempo — Blue/black removal and counters protect your attackers while you grind incremental advantage.