Nobody has the intention of building a Wall

Commander / EDH Defender GWU (Bant) Primer Theme/Gimmick Wall

K4m4r0

Defender (32)

• 1x Axebane Guardian
• 1x Crashing Drawbridge
• 1x Drift of Phantasms
• 1x Fortified Rampart
• 1x Glacial Wall
• 1x Guardians of Meletis
• 1x Hover Barrier
• 1x Orator of Ojutai
• 1x Overgrown Battlement
• 1x Perimeter Captain
• 1x Resolute Watchdog
• 1x Riptide Turtle
• 1x Shield Sphere
• 1x Stalwart Shield-Bearers
• 1x Steel Wall
• 1x Sunscape Familiar
• 1x Thallid Shell-Dweller
• 1x Traproot Kami
• 1x Tree of Redemption
• 1x Wall of Blossoms
• 1x Wall of Denial
• 1x Wall of Frost
• 1x Wall of Glare
• 1x Wall of Ice
• 1x Wall of Junk
• 1x Wall of Kelp
• 1x Wall of Mist
• 1x Wall of Omens
• 1x Wall of Roots
• 1x Wall of Runes
• 1x Wall of Tanglecord
• 1x Wall of Vines

Land (35)

• 1x Bountiful Promenade
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Canopy Vista
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 6x Forest
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 7x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 6x Plains
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Rejuvenating Springs
• 1x Sea of Clouds
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Temple Garden

Buff (5)

• 1x Bar the Door
• 1x Sacred Rites
• 1x Shield Wall
• 1x Steadfastness
• 1x Tower Defense

Support (5)

• 1x Eerie Interlude
• 1x Ghostway
• 1x High Alert
• 1x Meekstone
• 1x Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive

Massdestroy (2)

• 1x Fell the Mighty
• 1x Wave of Reckoning

Commander (1)

Counter (11)

• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Disallow
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Dovin's Veto
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mana Leak
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Remove Soul
• 1x Render Silent
• 1x Spell Pierce
• 1x Swan Song

Removal (5)

• 1x Condemn
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Rapid Hybridization
• 1x Swords to Plowshares

Mana (3)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Skyshroud Claim

Tutor (1)

• 1x Eladamri's Call

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Maybeboard

Defender (6)

• 1x Corrupted Shapeshifter
• 1x Excavated Wall
• 1x Secret Door
• 1x The Pride of Hull Clade
• 1x Towering Viewpoint
• 1x Weathered Sentinels

Support (4)

• 1x Another Round
• 1x Chulane, Teller of Tales
• 1x Rammas Echor, Ancient Shield
• 1x Reflections of Littjara

Counter (1)

• 1x Trickbind

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Well, except for us! With Arcades, the Strategist we build like 30!

This is my take on the Elder Dragon from M19. I really liked the idea of fairly cheap Creatures with Defender bringing havoc to my opponents.

But first, let's see the card:

This allows us to attack with walls and creatures with defender with their tougness. The cmc of those creatures is normally really low and tougness really high, so you cann roll out quite good cards pretty fast. Also, when you play a creature with defender you can draw a card which gives us a huge advantage against our opponents. Combined with counters and removals you are prepared for alot of things which could harm or threaten you.

How to play

Tactics are prettty self eyplanatory, bring a lot creatures on the battlefield and overrun your opponents. Bring Arcades out as fast as possible, so that you benefit from his abilities. Get Creatures out and attack.

If possible, use Eladamri's Call or Muddle the Mixture to tutor Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive, so all you defenders are unblockable.

Card Overview

First of all, I know the land base could be a lot better. I wanted to have this deck at a budget because it should be my fun-to-play deck. I'm sure you can easily adjust it to fit your playstyle. You could find a better Land Base and artifact/dork suggestions two tabs below. The same goes for the counters, I just didn't want to buy another Force of Will or Flusterstorm.

Use Skyshroud Claim to search your Deck for Breeding Pool, Canopy Vista or Temple Garden first. Only if they are all out or your lands are fixed search for Forests.

Wincons: Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive makes almost everything unblockable. You can tutor for him with Eladamri's Call, Muddle the Mixture.

Bar the Door, Shield Wall, Steadfastness, Sacred Rites and Tower Defense give your creatures a big Toughness boost to make even more damage.

Plan B: If your Commander gets a lot of hate you can still win with High Alert giving all Creatures the ability to attack on their own (refer to "Other Cards" Tab for more suggestions).

Other Cards

Wakestone Gargoyle, Rolling Stones and Belligerent Brontodon could be also used for Plan B. Bit janky though and creature hate is a big deal in my group.

Another Plan B: Assault Formation

Also Geist of the Archives could go well with the draw ability from Arcades. Basically if the card you would draw in the draw step isn't a creature with defender put it on the bottom of your library.

If Artifacts or Enchantments are a big thing in your meta I suggest to add Aura Shards.

Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa either as a substitute for Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive or additional wincon.

Oathsworn Giant can give your defenders a little more punch.

Panharmonicon draw one additional card per defender.

Jeskai Barricade if you like flash.

Dazzling Ramparts High cmc but can offer some protection from commander damage, etc.

If you add Galvanic Alchemist, Freed from the Real or Pemmin's Aura you can get a lot of Mana with Axebane Guardian

With Brago, King Eternal and Aluren you can probably go for a win with Laboratory Maniac. Add flicker/blink and card draw for a faster win.

Mizzium Skin for another Toughness boost.

Solidarity high Toughness boost but a bit mana-expensive.

Masako the Humorless can surprise opponents when you are tapped out.

Brave the Sands and Serra's Blessing for vigilance.

Ensnaring Bridge (could be useless since I have a lot of cards in my hand most of the time)

Noetic Scales (maybe better choice than Ensnaring Bridge, depends on opponents)

For more Stax/Tax Propaganda, Crawlspace, Ghostly Prison, Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker, card:Collective Restraints and Sphere of Safety

Panharmonicon extra draw.

Fast Mana Base

Here is a faster Land Base to consider. There are no original Dual Lands in it. If you want you can add Savannah, Tropical Island or Tundra, same goes for Gaea's Cradle. Also Ancient Tomb is never a bad choice.

5x Forest

6x Island

5x Plains

1x Bountiful Promenade

1x Breeding Pool

1x Canopy Vista

1x City of Brass

1x Command Tower

1x Exotic Orchard

1x Flooded Strand

1x Glacial Fortress

1x Hallowed Fountain

1x Hinterland Harbor

1x Mana Confluence

1x Misty Rainforest

1x Reflecting Pool

1x Sea of Clouds

1x Sunpetal Grove

1x Temple Garden

1x Windswept Heath

1x Yavimaya Coast

Of course this isn't perfect for everybody. It's just a suggestion on how it could look. Feel free to add or remove any lands as you like to fit your playstyle.

I will probably adjust the actual Land Base to this list over time.

Faster Artifacts:

Chrome Mox

Lotus Petal

Mana Crypt

Mana Vault

Mox Diamond

Sol Ring

Mana Dorks:

With Defender:

Vine Trellis

Wall of Roots

Sylvan Caryatid

Without Defender:

Birds of Paradise

Noble Hierarch

Avacyn's Pilgrim

These are only some noteable Creatures, since there are a lot more Elves, etc.

My group doesn't run Sol Ring, therefore it's not in the list.

Deckname

„Nobody has the intention of building a wall“ Walter Ulbricht – June 15, 1961

Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (30 June 1893 – 1 August 1973) was a German Communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later (after spending the years of Nazi rule in exile in France and the Soviet Union) in the early development and establishment of the German Democratic Republic (GDR or, in informal, colloquial circumstances, East Germany). As the First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party 1950 to 1971, he was the chief decision maker in the GDR. From President Wilhelm Pieck's death in 1960 on, he was also the East German head of state until his own death in 1973. He and Stalin worked very closely and Ulbricht made sure that the German Democratic Republic was as close as it could be to the USSR (for example, the GDR joined the Warsaw Pact).

Source: Wikipedia

Thanks to

First of all I'd like to thank everybody who took time to read through the decklist, comment on it and leave a +1, either here or on Facebook. This is very much appreciated!

Dumgoldfish124 for pointing me to Disallow

Jouke58 for suggesting a lot of good cards but primarly Fell the Mighty

DanteGrey for suggesting Wave of Reckoning

K.P. from Facebook who suggested a lot of good cards I have to go through.

C.M. from Facebook for the Galvanic Alchemist and Axebane Guardian Combo.

InfinityMinusOne for suggesting a lot cards and giving me a very nice idea on the deck, still trying to figure out what to cut and what to add but already included his suggestion of Wall of Roots.

Storm525 for pointing me to Drift of Phantasms

user:Vlasiax for suggesting Orator of Ojutai

HobbyGamer007 who took a lot of time and effort into suggesting a lot of great cards of which some will come into this list.

THCue for continuous support.

Eloniel for being an avid Arcades player and coming up with a lot of suggestions.

Top Ranked	Achieved #1 position overall 6 years ago
Date added	6 years
Last updated	2 weeks
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 0 Mythic Rares 26 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 34 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.12
Tokens	0/1 U Creature Plant Wall, Bird 2/2 U, Frog Lizard 3/3 G, Saproling 1/1 G
Folders	Friday Magic, Interesting Commander Decks, July 2018, Juicy, EDH, Commander, EDH, Edh, Liked Decks, These are cool