Ruthless Knave – Magic: The Gathering Card of the Day – Pirate Week!

We’re starting a week of Pirate cards with one of the most piratish pirates who ever pirated – at least, if we hold that the main goal of pirating is to get treasure and plunder. This guy literally provides you with an endless stream of treasure, in exchange for a continuous stream of sacrificed creatures. But you’re in black – you don’t care about that? (Bonus points for using Thallids or Breeding Pit!) It’s a great consolation for when your creatures inevitably die in combat, and the card-drawing ability that comes online when you accumulate three Treasures is the icing. Plus, it goes infinite if you also have something like March of the Machines in play, which is kind of hilarious.

Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
EDH/Commander: 4/5

Constructed: 4
Casual: 5
Multiplayer: 3
EDH: 4

Welcome to Pirate Week, so climb aboard and bring along all your hopes and dreams. It should go without saying that Ruthless Knave excels in a Grixis treasure deck as both a generator and mana fixer. His ability is priced as low as it can without be broken, which is nice. Besides the plethora of cards that trigger when they are sacrificed, this creature triples the effectiveness of Dire Fleet Hoarder, Wily Goblin, or Sailor of Means. You probably shouldn’t target wanted scoundrels though. The fact that you can use his ability and instant speed and more than once per turn is pretty nice. You can attack to trigger Raid then sacrifice your creature before it gets chump blocked. You can also give Deadeye Plunderers a quick +2/+2 boost. Just have Captivating Crew steal a creature then turn it into treasure. Finally, Ruthless Knave can sacrifice himself for the last few pieces of treasure needed to win with Revel in Riches. In multiplayer he suffers a bit in multiplayer due to the fact that you usually want as many blockers as possible, but on the flipside his ability can help salvage a board wipe. Ruthless Knave is a versatile card and welcome aboard my crew any day.