Arcades by jtchristie

Format: Commander

Commander: Arcades, the Strategist

Bracket: 3

Deck overview

This is a Bant defender-tribal deck built around Arcades, the Strategist, converting a swarm of 0-power walls into an attacking army that deals damage equal to toughness. The game plan is to deploy cheap defenders early, land Arcades on turn four, and use his ETB trigger to turn every subsequent wall into a cantrip while Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive, Access Tunnel, and Suspicious Bookcase make the high-toughness bodies unblockable. Backup enablers Assault Formation, High Alert, Huatli, the Sun's Heart, and Treefolk Umbra keep the strategy online if Arcades is answered. The deck also packs a compact infinite-mana engine with Axebane Guardian or Overgrown Battlement plus High Alert, and one-sided wipes like Dusk // Dawn and Slaughter the Strong to clear opposing boards while keeping its own walls. It is a midrange combat deck that wins through repeated evasive attacks rather than a single combo turn.

Decklist (100 cards)

• 1 Access Tunnel
• 1 Angelic Wall
• 1 Arcades, the Strategist
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Assault Formation
• 1 Axebane Guardian
• 1 Azorius Chancery
• 1 Azorius Guildgate
• 1 Azorius Signet
• 1 Bant Charm
• 1 Bar the Door
• 1 Blossoming Sands
• 1 Brave the Sands
• 1 Brokers Hideout
• 1 Carven Caryatid
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Crashing Drawbridge
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Dusk // Dawn
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Fell the Mighty
• 1 Flumph
• 7 Forest
• 1 Fortified Rampart
• 1 Gatecreeper Vine
• 1 Geist of the Archives
• 1 Growth Spiral
• 1 High Alert
• 1 Hover Barrier
• 1 Huatli, the Sun's Heart
• 5 Island
• 1 Jaddi Offshoot
• 1 Jeskai Barricade
• 1 Jungle Barrier
• 1 Mnemonic Wall
• 1 Negate
• 1 Overgrown Battlement
• 1 Perimeter Captain
• 10 Plains
• 1 Portcullis Vine
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Return to Nature
• 1 Rigo, Streetwise Mentor
• 1 Riptide Turtle
• 1 Search for Tomorrow
• 1 Seaside Citadel
• 1 Selesnya Guildgate
• 1 Selesnya Signet
• 1 Shield-Wall Sentinel
• 1 Sight of the Scalelords
• 1 Simic Guildgate
• 1 Simic Signet
• 1 Slaughter the Strong
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Solidarity
• 1 Stalwart Shield-Bearers
• 1 Steel Wall
• 1 Stoneskin
• 1 Sunscape Familiar
• 1 Suspicious Bookcase
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
• 1 Teyo, the Shieldmage
• 1 The Birth of Meletis
• 1 Thornwood Falls
• 1 Tower Defense
• 1 Tranquil Cove
• 1 Treefolk Umbra
• 1 Vine Trellis
• 1 Wall of Blossoms
• 1 Wall of Denial
• 1 Wall of Essence
• 1 Wall of Frost
• 1 Wall of Glare
• 1 Wall of Mist
• 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