Defender stuff by nachothedog

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. The primary plan is to cast Arcades, flood the board with 0/x defenders that cantrip, and attack with toughness instead of power for steady combat damage. Secondary paths include a token swarm with Wingmantle Chaplain, an infect finish with Triumph of the Hordes, and an infinite-mana engine with Axebane Guardian plus High Alert that needs a separate outlet like Shifting Wall or Gold-Forge Garrison. Arcades acts as draw engine and attack enabler; High Alert and Bedrock Tortoise serve as backup enablers and hidden commanders when Arcades is unavailable.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Adarkar Wastes
  • 1 Arcades, the Strategist
  • 1 Arcane Denial
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Assemble the Players
  • 1 Axebane Guardian
  • 1 Bedrock Tortoise
  • 1 Brushland
  • 1 Carven Caryatid
  • 1 Chromatic Lantern
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Crashing Drawbridge
  • 1 Crystal Barricade
  • 1 Cultivate
  • 1 Drift of Phantasms
  • 1 Dusk // Dawn
  • 1 Evolving Wilds
  • 1 Fabled Passage
  • 1 Farseek
  • 1 Fecund Greenshell
  • 1 Fell the Mighty
  • 1 Flooded Grove
  • 1 Floriferous Vinewall
  • 7 Forest
  • 1 Fortified Village
  • 1 Gathering Place
  • 1 Generous Gift
  • 1 Gleaming Bastion
  • 1 Golden Guardian // Gold-Forge Garrison
  • 1 Growth Spiral
  • 1 High Alert
  • 7 Island
  • 1 Jeskai Barricade
  • 1 Jungle Barrier
  • 1 Mentor of the Meek
  • 1 Monumental Henge
  • 1 Nature's Claim
  • 1 Overgrown Battlement
  • 1 Panharmonicon
  • 1 Path to Exile
  • 1 Plagon, Lord of the Beach
  • 7 Plains
  • 1 Port Town
  • 1 Portcullis Vine
  • 1 Raise the Past
  • 1 Rammas Echor, Ancient Shield
  • 1 Reliquary Tower
  • 1 Return to Nature
  • 1 Return to the Ranks
  • 1 Reunion of the House
  • 1 Rigo, Streetwise Mentor
  • 1 Riptide Turtle
  • 1 Rogue's Passage
  • 1 Shield-Wall Sentinel
  • 1 Shifting Wall
  • 1 Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa
  • 1 Slaughter the Strong
  • 1 Smile at Death
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Stalwart Shield-Bearers
  • 1 Sunpetal Grove
  • 1 Sunscape Familiar
  • 1 Suspicious Bookcase
  • 1 Sylvan Caryatid
  • 1 Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
  • 1 The Battle of Bywater
  • 1 The Birth of Meletis
  • 1 The Pride of Hull Clade
  • 1 The Walls of Ba Sing Se
  • 1 Triumph of the Hordes
  • 1 Vine Trellis
  • 1 Vineglimmer Snarl
  • 1 Wall of Blossoms
  • 1 Wall of Denial
  • 1 Wall of Mulch
  • 1 Wall of Omens
  • 1 Wall of Roots
  • 1 Wall of Stolen Identity
  • 1 Weathered Sentinels
  • 1 Wingmantle Chaplain
  • 1 Yavimaya Coast