I like the idea of trying to get as many DMCA requests against it as possible so that reddit has to deal with them

That is a galaxy brain move.

Problem is, if it's privated or open, they can still point users to this community

Not possible if it's banned; another would probably take its place

Never been an /r/piracy user, but this is so obviously the correct response that I feel embarrassed I didn't think of it as soon as I saw this drama being posted here.

but then they could simply put in their own mods. remove the original team and make the rules whatever they want while keeping it open