Name: Black Pearl (Pirates)

Card: PC #087 (Super Rare)

Points: 16

Masts: 4

Cargo: 2

Moves: S+S

Guns : 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L

Hit %: 200 (S), 200 (L)

Ability: Fear. If this ship has a captain crew, she gets +1 to her cannon rolls.

There were three different versions of the Black Pearl in PotC, ranging from average to very good. This one falls in the middle.

Just about all of her stats are a bit above the average for current releases (or a bit below average, for us old-timers who fondly remember the days of Crimson Coast and Revolution). The exception is her cargo, which is awful. To make this ship a really effective fighter, you have to use combo crew, like Captain Barbossa (move/shoot and world-hater) and the CC Jack Hawkins (SAT and crew protection). Of course, this ain't cheap, but you get what you pay for. Fear is an overpriced ability that works only 33% of the time, but it can be handy if it does work.

If you decide to assemble your super-rare Black Pearl and use her in battle, give her a fighting crew. You can stand off and let your cannons do their work at L range, or get in close so your Fear can work. This isn't the most cost-effective four-master you could use, but she isn't horrible, either.

Goldship rating: 2.6 / 5

Gun Ship rating: 4.5 / 5

Boarding rating: 3.0 / 5

Value for points: 2.7 / 5

Today, we review the SR Black Pearl.

Black Pearl, 16 points, Pirate

Masts: 4

Cargo: 2

Speed: S+S

Cannons: 3L 3L 3L 3L

Abilities: Fear. If this ship has a captain crew, she gets +1 to her cannon rolls.

Flavor Text: "You've seen a ship with black sails that's crewed by the damned, and captained by a man so evil that Hell itself spat him back out?" —Mullroy

Two things bother me about this ship. First of all, the flavor text.

Talk about a cop-out. WRITE SOME REAL FLAVOR TEXT. Secondly, why doesn't this ship have the Ghost Ship ability? Just two things that bother me. At least it's transparent.

Onto the ship, though.

Another thing bothers me-the 2 cargo. Yikes. I know that there's some Pirate crew that can link to any Pirate ship, which is good. Use them!

First and foremost, give this ship a Captain. Then again, what fighting ship DOESN'T have a captain? Yeah, exactly. Name a time where you didn't give the Harbinger a captain. Now, name a time where you did that, and won. Nothing comes up? Exactly.

With a captain and helmsman, this ship moves S+S+S, and has all rank 2 cannons! Pretty devastating, isn't it? Then we have the Fear Ability.

This is really lame. It requires you to be within S, and all of your cannons are L range. So...yeah. Lame combo right there. Unless you pull up to your opponents and like having a 33% chance of doing something that probably won't affect them much, don't do it. But then again, it could be useful against ships that can't be hit by L range cannons...

So, here's a rather nice build for the Black Pearl...

Black Pearl, 16 (29)

Captain Barbossa, 7

Helmsman, 2

Jimmy Legs, 3

Oarsman, 1

You can move 2x S+S+S, and you have all rank 1, L range cannons!

Dang, that's pretty good.

This ship gets a 3.5/5 from me.