Arcades, the Strategist

Commander / EDH GWU (Bant) Tribal

Dapwrd4getr

Creature (27)

• 1x Axebane Guardian
• 1x Chulane, Teller of Tales
• 1x Drift of Phantasms
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Glacial Wall
• 1x Hover Barrier
• 1x Jeskai Barricade
• 1x Mnemonic Wall
• 1x Mother of Runes
• 1x Orator of Ojutai
• 1x Overgrown Battlement
• 1x Perimeter Captain
• 1x Riptide Turtle
• 1x Shield Sphere
• 1x Stalwart Shield-Bearers
• 1x Sunscape Familiar
• 1x Sylvan Caryatid
• 1x Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
• 1x Traproot Kami
• 1x Wall of Blossoms
• 1x Wall of Denial
• 1x Wall of Ice
• 1x Wall of Junk
• 1x Wall of Omens
• 1x Wall of Roots
• 1x Wall of Shards
• 1x Wall of Tanglecord

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Rampant Growth
• 1x Sevinne's Reclamation
• 1x Slaughter the Strong
• 1x Supreme Verdict
• 1x Triumph of the Hordes
• 1x Wave of Reckoning

Land (36)

• 1x Azorius Chancery
• 1x Bant Panorama
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Canopy Vista
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 6x Forest
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 1x Irrigated Farmland
• 5x Island
• 1x Krosan Verge
• 8x Plains
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Scattered Groves
• 1x Seaside Citadel
• 1x Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1x Temple Garden

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Always Watching
• 1x Assault Formation
• 1x Aura Shards
• 1x Brave the Sands
• 1x Concerted Effort
• 1x High Alert
• 1x Mirari's Wake
• 1x Primal Rage

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
• 1x Venser, the Sojourner

Commander (1)

Instant (16)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Bar the Door
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Eerie Interlude
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Evacuation
• 1x Faith's Reward
• 1x Familiar's Ruse
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Tower Defense

Artifact (3)

• 1x Bident of Thassa
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Sol Ring

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After contemplating what deck I wanted to run also, I noticed that Arcades wasn't too difficult to build/pilot. This decklist is supposed to be built with budget cards and the ability to remain competitive.

1/11/19: As to this date, this deck is no longer budget since I received a Cyclonic Rift, but it's easily replaceable. Let me know if you need a replacement for your budget needs.

2/23/19: I've been pretty satisfied with the results of my deck after playing it for quite some time, but this deck is suspect to the boardwipes and destruction amongst my current playgroup. This means I may probably cut the Creature count from my deck and will probably play more protection cards or destructive ones.

6/9/19: Now that most of my other decks are basically complete, I'm trying to find ways to make this Arcades, the Strategist deck win some games and impact the board in a consistent way. One of the ways I am trying to do this is find more anthem/pump spells to make my walls more dangerous, or draw into my control spells to dictate the board state. This is also one of the funner decks to build in my opinion because there is the flexibility to be budget-friendly. Let's see how it goes.

7/15/19: Seems like I failed in creating this deck to become budget-friendly (if not at all) as it has a couple of inexpensive tutors built in. Of course, a Defender deck cannot really win on the spot with a few searched pieces, but it does keep my beatdown plan consistent by looking for the particular combat tricks that progress my board state. The upgrades also allow me to not have to rely on my Commander so much aside from the card draw (Bident of Thassa may be the only piece that helps that). I also may take up a "Stax" approach when building the deck by playing cards that would allow me to pressure my opponents and punish them for overdeveloped board states.

Date added	6 years
Last updated	4 years
Exclude colors	BR
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 25 - 0 Rares 33 - 0 Uncommons 18 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.61
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U, Emblem Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Emblem Venser, the Sojourner, Soldier 1/1 W
Folders	Commander/EDH, wall