BlackLegendary Creature — Bird PirateFrancisco, Fowl Marauder
Mana value2Rank#6,382PartnerYes
The Commander
Flying
Francisco can't block.
Whenever one or more Pirates you control deal damage to a player, Francisco explores.
Partner (You can have two commanders if both have partner.)
Guide
Gameplan
Francisco is a cheap, evasive Partner commander that snowballs through repeated combat damage with Pirates. Each combat where your Pirates connect, Francisco explores, growing himself while filtering lands and stocking the board. You play a wide, aggressive mono-black Pirate tribal/aggro deck that chips in for damage, then closes with overrun effects or evasive beats.
Strengths
- Two-mana evasive commander that's hard to keep off the board
- Repeatable explore triggers provide card advantage and +1/+1 counters
- Partner slot lets you splash a second color or add another threat engine
- Mono-black access to tutors, recursion, and removal supports consistency
- Wide Pirate tribal base enables go-wide aggression
Weaknesses
- Francisco can't block, leaving you exposed defensively
- Triggers depend on Pirates connecting, so board wipes and blockers stall you
- Mono-black (or two-color) limits ramp and sweeper options compared to other strategies
- Pirate tribal is shallow without color support, pushing you toward generic aggro
- Vulnerable to lifegain and fog effects that blunt aggressive plans
Key Cards
- Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator — A premier Partner that rewards Pirate combat damage with card draw and treasure, pairing perfectly with Francisco's evasive aggression.
- Coastal Piracy — Turns every Pirate connecting into a card, supercharging the same damage triggers Francisco wants.
- Admiral Beckett Brass — Top-end Pirate anthem and steal engine that boosts the tribe and rewards multi-Pirate damage.
- Dockside Extortionist — Explosive treasure generation that ramps your Pirate curve and fuels black tutors.
- Forerunner of the Coalition — Tutors a Pirate to the top and drains opponents as Pirates enter, smoothing your tribal draws.
- Skullclamp — Converts small Pirate tokens into a relentless stream of cards in an attrition-based aggro deck.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana (Sol Ring, treasures via Dockside) and efficient black tutors (Demonic Tutor, Diabolic Intent) to find your best damage payoffs sooner. Pick a high-impact Partner—Malcolm for card draw and treasures, or Tymna the Weaver for refueling on combat damage—and lean into a low curve with evasion and 'whenever a Pirate deals damage' engines. Tighten the manabase with creature lands and protect your board with cheap interaction and recursion like Victimize or Phyrexian Reclamation.
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
- ▸Wide Pirate swarm boosted by anthems and overrun effects
- ▸Repeated evasive combat damage plus drain effects like Forerunner and Bident
- ▸Commander damage from a grown Francisco backed by evasion enablers
Archetypes
- Pirate Tribal Aggro — Francisco anthers an evasive go-wide tribe that triggers explore on combat damage.
- Aristocrats — Black's sacrifice and drain engines convert dying Pirates into reach and value.
- Partner Goodstuff — His Partner keyword lets you add a second commander to fix mana or add a payoff engine.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (B), by popularity.
