First Mate is one of those cards that doesn’t try to do ten things—it just does one thing really well, and that’s tempo.
If you’re running Bilgewater aggro or midrange, this is a clean 3-drop that opens up cheeky plays without overextending.
No flashy keywords, no convoluted conditions—just a solid body and a ready trigger that keeps your game plan moving fast.
Gameplay / Cool Mechanics
For 3 mana, First Mate drops with 3 Power and 3 Health—nothing special on statline, but you’re not here for raw numbers.
The real value is in the play effect: When you play me, ready another unit.
That’s a deceptively strong line of text. It doesn’t just let you recover a stunned or exhausted ally—it enables surprise trades, back-to-back attackers, or even cheeky support combo chains if you’re sequencing right.
You don’t need an engine to make this card feel good; you just need one other unit that already did its job and wants to do it again.
First Mate is the kind of card that keeps your opponent guessing. Is that 2-drop going to attack again this turn? Is your Champion about to pull off a second ability pop?
There’s flexibility here that supports both aggression and trickery, especially in decks that care about maintaining pressure across turns.
Visuals
First Mate’s art leans full pirate fantasy, and it rules. We’ve got a wide-stance, shirtless giant with a grin that screams “my turn.”
The heavy golden light filters through the sails, casting long shadows across the deck—classic golden hour on a warship.
He’s not threatening because he’s angry; he’s threatening because he’s having fun.
Slawomir Maniak’s composition keeps the action forward and lively. That raised weapon isn’t for flavor—it’s a signal. He’s calling the next move.
Pull Rate & Value Speculation
First Mate is card 132/298 in Riftbound’s base set and feels like a Common or possibly Uncommon, depending on how heavily Bilgewater is supported across rarities.
No alternate version has been revealed yet, but if we get a foil version with that golden sunlight glinting across his blade? That’s a collector piece just for the vibe alone.
From a meta perspective, this card isn’t flashy enough to be a chase on its own, but its ability to slot cleanly into multiple Bilgewater archetypes will make it a reliable pickup in draft and early constructed decks.
First Mate is the kind of card that keeps things moving. It doesn’t win games on its own—but it makes sure your other cards can.
Clean, flexible, and fun. Exactly what Bilgewater should feel like.
Read more – Mushroom Pouch from Riftbound TCG
