Here's my take on the recently released Lord of the Wall, Arcades Sabboth. This deck is part beatdown, part combo, and part blink.
Beatdown
Arcades makes defenders into attackers that cantrip. What could be better than beating down the table with a bunch of aggressively-costed creatures that replace themselves when cast? Highlights include:
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Drift of Phantasms: Not only is he an aggressively-costed well-statted flyer, this creature can tutor for any CMC 3 mana card in the deck, such as Axebane Guardian + Freed from the Real
, Blue Sun's Zenith + Laboratory Maniac
, Eternal Witness, Chromatic Lantern, Wall of Denial, Bant Charm, Ghostly Flicker, Mentor of the Meek, Always Watching, Eerie Interlude, and Slaughter the Strong! Talk about a toolbox!
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Geist of the Archives: Hey, it's free scry 1 per turn.
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Hover Barrier and Wall of Denial: Crazy big flying walls to smoosh your opponents.
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Stalwart Shield-Bearers: Aggressive cost AND gives +2 toughness? I'm in love.
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Tower Defense basically becomes a discount Overrun if played in the right situation.
Colossus of Akros is in here as a late-game finisher. An 8 drop 10/10 Indestructible that can swing and turns into a 20/20 with trample? Let's just say I wouldn't run it if it didn't also cantrip when cast. /s
Vigilance is a key part of this strategy. If the walls don't tap when attacking, they can be used to deter other players from swinging your way.
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Always Watching : This enchantment isn't irrelevant if you have another vigilance-granting effect due to the anthem effect.
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Angelic Skirmisher: Gives vigilance if you need it, and let's you choose something else if you don't!
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Brave the Sands: As if you couldn't pillow fort hard enough! Blocking double > double blocking.
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Oathsworn Giant: Anthem and vigilance on a creature is nice.
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Sight of the Scalelords: Anthem and vigilance on an enchantment is even better. Additionally, the buff occurs before combat so you can play around your own Slaughter the Strong.
The few elements of stax I included also forward my combat goals: Meishin, the Mind Cage and Meekstone shut down the capabilities of opponents to attack you or defend against your threats.
Notable exclusion from the list: I don't give my creatures trample. Instead I opted to make them unblockable: Suspicious Bookcase, Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa, Venser, the Sojourner, and Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive.
Combo
The combos themselves are as follows:
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Axebane Guardian + Freed from the Real
: Infinite colored mana. Use this to cast more defenders from your deck until you find Drift of Phantasms or Blue Sun's Zenith. Use the latter to draw the library, then cast Laboratory Maniac, recast Zenith, and win. I decided to run this combo because Axebane is insane on his own in the deck, even though Freed from the Real is basically useless without him.
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Deadeye Navigator + Peregrine Drake
: Infinite colored mana, see above. I decided to include these cards because Deadeye is a great engine for drawing cards by flickering defenders. Including one other card to let him go infinite? Easy. Once you have the mana, you can flicker your defenders indefinitely to draw your library, etc.
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Ghostly Flicker + Gilded Lotus + Mnemonic Wall
: Infinite flickers of a defender results in infinite card draw. On the last cast, untap Lotus and cast Laboratory Maniac. Find a way to draw one more card. Profit.
Any combo deck needs support in the form of card draw, deck thinning, and tutors. Card draw comes from the cantripping defenders, as well as these cards:
Deck thinning: Karametra, God of Harvests lets you tutor a basic land when casting a creature. That's efficiency.
Tutors: Drift of Phantasms can tutor for any CMC 3 card. I included a great list earlier in this description.
Blink
Flickering a wall draws you a card. Flickering multiple walls draws you multiple cards. Why, hello there Brago, King Eternal. Oh, and you've brought your friend Eerie Interlude? Additionally:
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Identity Thief: A fun piece of synergy. Either borrow someone else's threat or flicker a defender!
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Mnemonic Wall: Loves to be blinked. Also can go infinite with Ghostly Flicker
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Gilded Lotus
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Panharmonicon: Turn your flickers into double cantrips!
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Venser, the Sojourner: Man, I love this card in this deck. Each mode is relevant at nearly any point in the game. You can flicker a defender to draw a card, make your creatures unblockable and swing out, or ultimate him to slowly begin exiling the board. As with Tamiyo, the pillowy nature of the deck makes the latter a real possibility.
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Wall of Junk: Great stats, no color requirement, and the possibility to send him to your hand to recast and draw a card? That's what makes another man's junk my treasure.
Land Base
I opted for the cycle lands due to the large amount of card draw in the deck. They are not dead cards in late game. I also chose lands that have the potential to come in untapped (check and shadow lands). I love the temples, but I only included Mystery because of the high number of allied duals I was already running. The huge number of basic lands is to support Karametra.
Maybeboard
Here's reasons why these cards are here and not in the deck:
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Ghostway: Too expensive for my tastes.
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Mistmeadow Witch: Mana hungry flicker effect that's great when you have infinite mana. I prefer my other mana sinks.
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Bonded Fetch: I have better options for card draw, usually. He might be nice if you can't get your commander out.
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Jace, Unraveler of Secrets: I chose to take him out because that is not a fun ult to play against. Also, I needed to cut cards...
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A menagerie of defenders which are good, but not as great as what's on the list.
