imperial fizxczxczxczsts take 3 by Jar1g00b

Format: Commander

Commander: Arcades, the Strategist

Bracket: 4

Deck overview

Arcades, the Strategist is a defender-tribal tempo deck. It floods the battlefield with high-toughness walls, turns each wall into a draw trigger, and uses Arcades/High Alert/Assault Formation to attack with toughness instead of power. Its primary finish is an infinite-mana untap loop (Axebane Guardian or Bloom Tender with Freed from the Real/Umbral Mantle), after which every defender is pumped to lethal size and given haste by Walking Bulwark or Crashing Drawbridge. A second line uses Finale of Devastation as an overrun finisher, and Approach of the Second Sun with Mystical Tutor provides a slower combo backup. Arcades accelerates the plan, but the redundant toughness effects and commander-independent combos keep the deck functional without him.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Amulet of Vigor
  • 1 Angelic Chorus
  • 1 Approach of the Second Sun
  • 1 Arbor Adherent
  • 1 Arcades, the Strategist
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Assault Formation
  • 1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
  • 1 Axebane Guardian
  • 1 Birds of Paradise
  • 1 Bloom Tender
  • 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
  • 1 Bountiful Promenade
  • 1 Brave the Sands
  • 1 Breeding Pool
  • 1 Chulane, Teller of Tales
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Crashing Drawbridge
  • 1 Crystal Barricade
  • 1 Cyclonic Rift
  • 1 Drift of Phantasms
  • 1 Dusk // Dawn
  • 1 Elvish Mystic
  • 1 Enlightened Tutor
  • 1 Esper Sentinel
  • 1 Fell the Mighty
  • 1 Fierce Guardianship
  • 1 Finale of Devastation
  • 1 Flooded Strand
  • 7 Forest
  • 1 Freed from the Real
  • 1 Hallowed Fountain
  • 1 Heroic Intervention
  • 1 High Alert
  • 1 Hover Barrier
  • 8 Island
  • 1 Lightning Greaves
  • 1 Mana Drain
  • 1 Meekstone
  • 1 Misty Rainforest
  • 1 Mnemonic Wall
  • 1 Mother of Runes
  • 1 Mystic Remora
  • 1 Mystical Tutor
  • 1 Noble Hierarch
  • 1 Ocelot Pride
  • 1 Overgrown Battlement
  • 1 Path to Exile
  • 8 Plains
  • 1 Primal Rage
  • 1 Reliquary Tower
  • 1 Rhystic Study
  • 1 Sea of Clouds
  • 1 Serra Ascendant
  • 1 Shield Sphere
  • 1 Shield-Wall Sentinel
  • 1 Slaughter the Strong
  • 1 Smothering Tithe
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Spara's Headquarters
  • 1 Stoneskin
  • 1 Sunscape Familiar
  • 1 Swan Song
  • 1 Sylvan Caryatid
  • 1 Temple Garden
  • 1 Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
  • 1 The Pride of Hull Clade
  • 1 The Walls of Ba Sing Se
  • 1 Tower Defense
  • 1 Umbral Mantle
  • 1 Walking Bulwark
  • 1 Wall of Blossoms
  • 1 Wall of Denial
  • 1 Wall of Frost
  • 1 Wall of Omens
  • 1 Wall of Runes
  • 1 Wall of Stolen Identity
  • 1 Weathered Sentinels
  • 1 Windswept Heath