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Coercive Recruiter

Creature — Orc Pirate

Whenever this creature or another Pirate you control enters, gain control of target creature until end of turn. Untap that creature. Until end of turn, it gains haste and becomes a Pirate in addition to its other types.

CMC
5
Mana cost
{4}{R}
Color identity
R
Rarity
rare
Set
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander
Price
$0.28
EDHREC rank
#3365
Buy on TCGplayer
Coercive Recruiter card art
Coercive Recruiter steals a creature every time you cast or copy a Pirate, which in the right shell means your opponents' best threats are switching sides on a regular basis. The cost is a five-mana body that does nothing the turn it enters unless you have a Pirate to cast alongside it — but pair it with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker or drop it into Admiral Brass, Unsinkable and that trigger fires repeatedly.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Admiral Brass, Unsinkable

Admiral Brass, Unsinkable

89.8% of decks · synergy 0.84

Admiral Brass, Unsinkable reanimates Pirates from the graveyard, and each of those triggers Coercive Recruiter — meaning a single combat step can chain into multiple stolen creatures and a growing board of undying Pirates.

02
Admiral Beckett Brass

Admiral Beckett Brass

80.7% of decks · synergy 0.75

Admiral Beckett Brass already wants to attack with multiple Pirates to steal permanents, and Coercive Recruiter layers on a second theft vector that fires before combat even starts, letting the deck accumulate stolen creatures from two angles simultaneously.

03
Breeches, Brazen PlundererMalcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator

Breeches, Brazen Plunderer // Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator

62.4% of decks · synergy 0.61

Breeches, Brazen Plunderer // Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator floods the board with Pirates through Breeches's attack triggers, and every new Pirate that enters play fires Coercive Recruiter again — the two effects compound into a constant drain on opponents' creatures.

04
Don Andres, the Renegade

Don Andres, the Renegade

64.7% of decks · synergy 0.59

Don Andres, the Renegade rewards playing with opponents' cards, and Coercive Recruiter fits that identity precisely — each stolen creature is another piece Don Andres, the Renegade can exploit, whether that's using their abilities or sacrificing them for value.

05
Edward Kenway

Edward Kenway

55.9% of decks · synergy 0.50

Edward Kenway generates token Pirates and incentivizes going wide, and Coercive Recruiter converts that token production directly into stolen threats, punishing opponents for having good creatures on the board.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern not legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is the format where Coercive Recruiter actually lives up to its text — Pirate tribal is a real and well-supported archetype, and a five-mana creature that repeatedly steals is exactly the kind of value engine that matters in longer games against three opponents. Outside Commander, Coercive Recruiter is legal in Legacy and Vintage but sees no play in either; five mana for a conditional triggered ability doesn't come close to competing with those formats' speed. In Oathbreaker it's legal and could slot into a Pirate-adjacent shell, though the format's smaller game count limits how often that comes up. Modern, Pioneer, Standard, and Pauper are all off the table. Treat Coercive Recruiter as a Commander card first and last.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.28 bulk tier

At $0.28, Coercive Recruiter is bulk — which is genuinely surprising for a card that appears in over 90% of Admiral Brass, Unsinkable decks. High print volume is keeping the price flat, so grab copies freely without worrying about the cost.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.