Arcades, the Strategist

Format: Commander

Commander: Arcades, the Strategist

Bracket: 3

Deck overview

Arcades, the Strategist leads a defender tribal deck that turns high-toughness Walls into card draw and damage. Arcades lets defenders attack and deal damage with toughness, while drawing a card for each defender that enters. The deck floods the board with cheap Walls that replace themselves, builds toughness anthems, and swings for lethal combat damage. High Alert and Assault Formation act as backup copies of Arcades. Axebane Guardian plus High Alert creates infinite mana as an engine, but the deck wins through combat, not a combo outlet, using go-wide Birds, unblockable effects, and toughness pumps.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Angelic Wall
  • 1 Arcades, the Strategist
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Assault Formation
  • 1 Assemble the Players
  • 1 Axebane Guardian
  • 1 Azorius Signet
  • 1 Bant Charm
  • 1 Bar the Door
  • 1 Beast Within
  • 1 Blossoming Sands
  • 1 Brave the Sands
  • 1 Canopy Vista
  • 1 Carven Caryatid
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Corrupted Shapeshifter
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Crashing Drawbridge
  • 1 Crystal Barricade
  • 1 Cultivate
  • 1 Drift of Phantasms
  • 1 Dusk // Dawn
  • 1 Evolving Wilds
  • 1 Exotic Orchard
  • 1 Expel the Interlopers
  • 1 Farseek
  • 1 Fell the Mighty
  • 6 Forest
  • 1 Fortified Rampart
  • 1 Generous Gift
  • 1 Glacial Fortress
  • 1 High Alert
  • 1 Hinterland Harbor
  • 1 Hover Barrier
  • 6 Island
  • 1 Jeskai Barricade
  • 1 Negate
  • 1 Overgrown Battlement
  • 1 Path to Exile
  • 1 Perimeter Captain
  • 8 Plains
  • 1 Prairie Stream
  • 1 Rampant Growth
  • 1 Reliquary Tower
  • 1 Seaside Citadel
  • 1 Selesnya Signet
  • 1 Shield-Wall Sentinel
  • 1 Sight of the Scalelords
  • 1 Simic Signet
  • 1 Slaughter the Strong
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Stalwart Shield-Bearers
  • 1 Stoneskin
  • 1 Sunpetal Grove
  • 1 Sunscape Familiar
  • 1 Suspicious Bookcase
  • 1 Swiftfoot Boots
  • 1 Swords to Plowshares
  • 1 Sylvan Caryatid
  • 1 Temple of Mystery
  • 1 Terramorphic Expanse
  • 1 Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
  • 1 Teyo, the Shieldmage
  • 1 The Pride of Hull Clade
  • 1 Thornwood Falls
  • 1 Tower Defense
  • 1 Tree of Redemption
  • 1 Vine Trellis
  • 1 Walking Bulwark
  • 1 Wall of Blossoms
  • 1 Wall of Denial
  • 1 Wall of Frost
  • 1 Wall of Glare
  • 1 Wall of Junk
  • 1 Wall of Mulch
  • 1 Wall of Omens
  • 1 Wall of Roots
  • 1 Wall of Runes
  • 1 Wall of Stolen Identity
  • 1 Wall of Tanglecord
  • 1 Weathered Sentinels
  • 1 Wingmantle Chaplain
  • 1 Yavimaya Coast