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I was about to make a site post about ranking the Top 10 overall game pieces. I’m finding it extremely difficult. XD This is my current draft of that post but it is really up for endless debate to say the least. 🙂 Feel free to release your own list!
Top 10 Game Pieces Overall
The Best of the Best in Pirates CSG
It’s been a while since I released a new Ranking! There are a lot of categories still out there to be explored in regards to ranking various Pirates CSG items, and this one is rather difficult. It feels like a tossup for a lot of the spots and the order of things.
Rules for my list:
-Only unique game pieces subject to the No-Duplicates Rule are being considered. That means no generic crew, islands, terrain types, etc.
The No-Duplicates Rule
-A player cannot have two or more of the same character, ship, sea creature, event token, or fort in their fleet at the same time unless it is captured from an opposing player. Generic crew and equipment are not limited in this way.I am excluding events because a lot of them are insanely overpowered and I don’t want game pieces I hate to dominate this list.
-I really didn’t want to include an entry for “Sac Captain”, since it is less unique and there many of them. I also didn’t want to just put Captain Blackheart and not acknowledge others, so I focused mainly on ships.
All game pieces can be found in the Master Spreadsheet.
This list is subject to change! It is subjective to a decent degree, especially ranking ships against crew or comparing a 10 master to native canoes.
My Current Top 10 Pirates CSG Game Pieces Overall:
1. Banshee’s Cry
The best gold runner in the game is one of the most OP (overpowered) game pieces ever. She gets the nod due to her cheapness (can easily fit the ship into just about any fleet) and game-winning prowess.
2. Captain Jack Sparrow (Common version)
I was going to put Captain Jack Sparrow first overall, but he is a confusing niche piece who usually needs a fleet built around him (generally at least 30 points’ worth of support) to be insanely effective. If you do get the UPS strategy from Darrin set up properly, you will almost always win unless your opponent does the exact same thing.
3. San Cristobal (Rare version)
Spanish 5 master with a potential speed of S+S+L+S (often doubled with her linked crew’s EA), plenty of cargo and decent cannons. Absolute game changer and a staple of the “meta” game. (though not as much as you might think due to the top 2 pieces and the Hai Peng)
4. Shap’ng Tsai (Savage Shores version)
Here is essentially a Sac Captain for ALL of the factions due to the Ex-Patriot keyword. Great for use on 10 masters or any capable gunship to make them far more dangerous.
5. Darkhawk II
6. HMS Grand Temple
7. Bloody Jewel
8. Tiger’s Eye
9. Santa Isabel
10. Paradis de la Mer
Honorable Mentions: Zeus, American Native Canoes, HMS Endeavour (speed/cannons/ability difference arguably makes her better than Acorazado/Constitution in smaller games such as 50 points and below), Christian Fiore, Hai Peng, L’Intrepide
A few UT’s I thought of that could also be honorable mentions (too difficult/random to use perfectly to ever make the actual list): Altar of the Loa, Plague, Odin’s Revenge.
Some of the comparisons feel like a tossup: Zeus vs. American Native Canoes? Santa Isabel vs. Intrepide? Tiger’s Eye vs. Santa Isabel? I thought I would be including the Hai Peng, but without CJS she’s not as good. Those two have such unique synergy.
Can’t really argue too much with the list.
I probably wouldn’t have included Tsai, despite how ubiquitous Sac-captains became, because he’s really only useful to the nations that don’t have a Sac of their own and/or don’t have other reliable sources of extra actions. The nations that already have one of their own aren’t going to bother with Tsai unless they’re going in with a fleet large enough to support multiples.
La Monarca would have made my list, or at least would have been a high-level honorable mention. It’s a little pricier for a runner, but its built-in speed can’t be beat without help from other abilities, the little push-off it gets adds up over time, it’s got plenty of space to haul things, and with a spare mast it can survive getting popped by Odin’s Revenge or rammed by an opposing runner.
American Canoes over Zeus for sure. It’s a big scary ship that’s horribly underpriced, but it’s still a single basket of eggs. The canoes can scatter in five directions, and are quick enough that even without chaining them, they can pull in a lot of gold before an opponent hunts them all down.
American Canoes over Zeus for sure. It’s a big scary ship that’s horribly underpriced, but it’s still a single basket of eggs. The canoes can scatter in five directions, and are quick enough that even without chaining them, they can pull in a lot of gold before an opponent hunts them all down.
Both are extremely good, just hard to compare. I haven’t used the American canoes much in a competitive/tournament setting. In larger games they can help you win, but combining the Zeus with Hidden Cove, a sac captain, and/or Captain Jack Sparrow can be absurdly effective and dangerous.
Tsai’s entry is almost a weird representation of the Sac Captain in general, I just didn’t want to include a ton of extra stuff in the list with so many “duplicates” of the same type. Just went with him because he’s the most versatile, and can really optimize any 10 master to be super nasty.
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