It accomplishes the goal by liberal use of the goad mechanic and creating a hostile environment should people consider swinging your way
You can remove counters from anything you control, not just itself or other creatures
Soldiers dont really have any shared mechanics or characteristics that unify them besides their creature type, but a lot of them usually have abilities that reflect either combat mastery like first strike or vigilance or strategic abilities with Propaganda-like abilities and can't attack effects, and other ways to have more control over combat
Opponents will know what choices opponents earlier in the turn order made, although cards chosen to be discarded this way won't be revealed until they're discarded at the end of the process
Captain Nghathrod The typal build here is horrors, not pirates, but thats very fitting for a pirate that looks a lot like Davy Jones
You can't try and hide it