Arcades by user3862780

Format: Commander

Commander: Arcades, the Strategist

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 38

Deck overview

This Bant deck leverages Arcades, the Strategist to transform inexpensive, high-toughness defender creatures into hyper-efficient attackers and recurring card draw engines. The game plan opens by deploying 0/4 and 0/7 walls like Wall of Roots, Overgrown Battlement, and Wall of Denial. Casting Arcades on Turn 4 immediately enables these creatures to attack using their toughness for damage while turning every future wall into a cantrip. The list exploits devastating asymmetric board wipes—such as Slaughter the Strong, Wave of Reckoning, and Dusk // Dawn—which eliminate opposing high-power threats while leaving the low-power wall army completely unharmed. Evasion enablers like Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive ensure that high-toughness attackers bypass blockers entirely. Supported by backup toughness-combat enchantments and dense defensive stats, the deck maintains substantial board presence, out-drawing opponents and closing games through combat by Turn 7.

Decklist (100 cards)

• 1 Access Tunnel
• 1 Aether Hub
• 1 Amaranthine Wall
• 1 Angelic Chorus
• 1 Arcades, the Strategist
• 1 Assault Formation
• 1 Austere Command
• 1 Axebane Guardian
• 1 Bant Charm
• 1 Botanical Sanctum
• 1 Brave the Sands
• 1 Carven Caryatid
• 1 Colossus of Akros
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Crashing Drawbridge
• 1 Crystal Barricade
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Darksteel Mutation
• 1 Drift of Phantasms
• 1 Dusk // Dawn
• 1 Eerie Interlude
• 1 Equilibrium
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Fog Bank
• 8 Forest
• 1 Genesis Wave
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Glasspool Mimic // Glasspool Shore
• 1 Grappling Sundew
• 1 Helm of the Host
• 1 High Alert
• 8 Island
• 1 Jeskai Barricade
• 1 Jungle Barrier
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Ludevic's Test Subject // Ludevic's Abomination
• 1 Marble Titan
• 1 Meandering River
• 1 Meekstone
• 1 Mirage Mirror
• 1 Mnemonic Wall
• 1 Mystic Gate
• 1 Negate
• 1 Overgrown Arch
• 1 Overgrown Battlement
• 5 Plains
• 1 Render Silent
• 1 Reunion of the House
• 1 Riptide Turtle
• 1 Rupture Spire
• 1 Scour the Desert
• 1 Selesnya Guildgate
• 1 Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1 Sight of the Scalelords
• 1 Simic Growth Chamber
• 1 Slaughter the Strong
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Spidersilk Armor
• 1 Stalwart Shield-Bearers
• 1 Suspicious Bookcase
• 1 Sylvan Caryatid
• 1 Temple of Plenty
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
• 1 Teyo, the Shieldmage
• 1 Tranquil Expanse
• 1 Tree of Redemption
• 1 Vine Trellis
• 1 Vivid Creek
• 1 Wall of Denial
• 1 Wall of Frost
• 1 Wall of Glare
• 1 Wall of Kelp
• 1 Wall of Mulch
• 1 Wall of Nets
• 1 Wall of Roots
• 1 Wall of Stolen Identity
• 1 Wall of Tanglecord
• 1 Wave of Reckoning
• 1 Zendikar Resurgent