The best troll would be to just openly allow actual direct link piracy on /r/piracy. if reddit bans /r/piracy, then it functionally re-privates the sub (the thing they wanted to avoid). And if they allow it, then it's a bastion of actual piracy. win-win!
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.