My first thought when I saw this was Colossus of Akros but that's way out of your cmc range. Awesome deck that would be interesting to both play and play against!

hey nice build with arcades, care to see mine? :D +1 Strategist's Defense

InfinityMinusOne I'll have some more games on friday and I will keep an eye focused on the new strategy and how to implement it. Maybe I'll recognize a few things I can easily swap for the necessery cards. First which come to my mind are Cultivate and Chromatic Lantern, since I have my Mana Base updated by then.

Coroner13 That's a really cool card, could even be an alternate wincon if Arcades gets too much hate. The downside, like you mentioned, the very high cmc :/

I know it would only help one creature at a time, but what about Slagwurm Armor?

Looking good! If you wanted some more (mostly) one-sided board wipes, you could consider Austere Command, Dusk and Slaughter the Strong. You can even deal with larger creatures on a somewhat permanent basis via Meekstone, Noetic Scales or Marble Titan. Ensnaring Bridge is probably the best at what it does, but it's hella expensive.

You could also get some more card draw from Abzan Beastmaster and/or Ulvenwald Observer, in case Arcades wasn't always enough. Reveillark would also be interesting since it can bring back basically any two creatures in the deck!

And by the way, are you sure Shield Wall is good enough? You might get more use, certainly in the long run, with Spidersilk Armor or even Ensouled Scimitar, which can increase a creature's damage capability by 5 or functionally be a 5/5 flyer itself!

MurrSheep Slagwurm Armor is a good card but it's a bit slow due its "cost of 4 mana". I don't see it in my list, sorry. But thank you for mentioning it!

ClockworkSwordfish Thank you for suggesting a lot of cards! Austere Command and Slaughter the Strong wouldn't work too well in my meta, beacause I play a lot against token decks which usually consits of creatures from 1/1 to 3/3. I am however looking for a spot to add Dusk!

Ensnaring Bridge looks like the best of the four you mentioned. I'll try to get my hands on one and test it for sure.

Abzan Beastmaster and Ulvenwald Observer are very interesting together with the suggestions InfinityMinusOne amde. Could be coupled with blink and a Laboratory Maniac combo. As I said earlier, I'll have some more games today and after that I'll decide in which way to go with the deck. Atleast I will try the other method!

You are somewhat right about Spidersilk Armor and I should get one. Whereas Shield Wall is more like a "wincon" Spidersilk Armor would give a boost the whole time.

Ensouled Scimitar is too expensive for me for 5 mana. Also it can't attack with its toughness like the other creatures because it doesn't have defender. It would sadly stay a 1/5 with flying.

I have a friend building this as well, thought it was coincidentally entertaining!

I love this deck and the way you built it. It is effective and deals tons of damage. But there's also one thing I hate about it. You don't run enough non-walls or protection for Arcedes. My playgroup runs tons of removal and if they saw that their Swords to Plowshares will make 3 7/7 beaters into 0/7 walls, they are sure as hell going to do that. And once Arcedes dies 4 times, at 12 mana, he's gonna be nearly uncastable. I'd run at least Heroic Intervention Lightning Greaves Swiftfoot Boots and Alexi's Cloak or the likes to cheaply and effectivly protect him. Maybe even Darksteel Plate but I personally would abstain from that, since it doesn't protect against exiles, which are everywhere in EDH. Other than that, great deck!

HobbyGamer007 thank you for your kind words and you suggestions. Abide from spot removals you mentioned, my playgroup runs a lot of board wipes where Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots and Alexi's Cloak wouldn't offer protection. That's why I run a lot of counter spells instead. Heroic Intervention on the other side is a great card and I might find a way in the deck for it!

K4m4r0 if boardwipes are really that common in your meta, how about using them instead of fighting them instead? Since Supreme Verdict is also a thing, why not, instead of counters, run, in addition to Heroic Intervention, cards like Ghostway, Eerie Interlude, Ajani's Presence, Dauntless Escort(though less of a blowout if they see it coming) and Selfless Spirit? Mabye not all of them, but I guess you get the point. The flicker ones are especially great with some of the ETB effects, like Wall of Omens; however if your opponents have creatures that survice a wipe too, you face their creatures without blockers.

HobbyGamer007 great suggestions, I totaly get what you meant to say. Nobody I know plays Supreme Verdict but the flicker cards would be a good "counter" and also add some benefit like you mentioned. I will consider them when I add Panharmonicon.

Mentor of the Meek

You want to hear something cool? I JUST finished designing my own commander deck with Arcades and what would you know? The moment I came onto tappedout.net to put it together I see your very own Defender deck in the featured deck queue... WEIRD... +1... which gives you 111... which happens to be a very special number... I hope it serves you well... oh... and I'll be borrowing a couple of cards off you that I neglected to put in my own deck... feel free to check out mine if you like when it's available...

Hey, I love the deck. 11 "power" on turn 4? Sounds great to me. Only question, No Jungle Barrier?

Phooonix I think Mentor of the Meek doesn't stand for a great value in this Deck. I'd rather have the Mana than another card since the carddraw from Arcades is really good and I don't feel like I need more from Mentor.

special_lil_guy Cool story and welcome fellow wall builder :) I wish you all the same fun I have while playing this deck. And thank you for the +1, really appreciate it. 111 is also a cool number, it happened to be my favourite number! I'll check your deck when I'm back home!

GrandMeekster Thank you, it's a great deck, give it a try! :) I left Jungle Barrier out due to its very high cmc for rather low toughness. Sadly the extra card won't make this card better since it is just too expensive. I'm still looking for a spot for Panharmonicon to double the cards from Arcades!

Vlasiax You are absolutely right and I need to get one! Thank you very much :)

Vlasiax I didn't add one of the untap mechanics to the final list because it turned out to be mostly a dead card. Despite the good card draw Arcades offers, if you can't get Axebane Guardian, the enchantments are not much of a useful card. I changed them for more beneficial cards to have a smoother game flow.

Vlasiax I am also looking to add Drift of Phantasms to enhance the versatility of the deck because it is a better Wall of Air. Don't get me wrong, I do think that Freed from the Real etc. are great cards or would combo well (I use it in my Merieke Ri Berit deck on Merieke, but it gives instant value once I draw it) but it's still 2 in 99 cards (3 in 99 with Drift of Phantasms) to make it work. The odds are just to low to make it happen, atleast for me, but if you are more of a Han Solo type please tell my how it turned out for you :)

"Never tell me the odds" -Han Solo, The Empire Strikes Back

;)

Vlasiax I have chosen the defenders mainly on their cost/toughness value. Some are chosen on their individual skills like Wall of Kelp or Axebane Guardian. I wouldn't tap Vine Trellis for a single green mana, since I'd need the punch but then I could have a better defender instead.Gatecreeper Vine's ability is somewhat good but it only has 2 toughness. Again I just can have a better defender in it's slot. Both cards are not that bad on their own but can't compete with other defenders.

Spell Pierce is a very strong and viable card, since most non-blue-players tap out and you can easily counter an threat. Cyclonic Rift is a very strong card, especially in EDH but for some reason it didn't make the cut, can't tell you why :)

Vlasiax I know, but instead of creatures I'd add a Signet or Fellwar Stone becausre they don't suffer from summoning sickness and they get lesser hate than creatures overall. As soon as I get Prairie Stream I'll add Farseek :)

As I mentioned earlier I don't get much use of Slaughter the Strong and Retribution of the Meek because I play against a lot of 1/1 and 2/2 token decks. I have considered Dusk but haven't found it necessary yet but I'll keep it in mind!

If you play against a lot of token decks, Echoing Truth bounces and in consequence exiles all tokens of the same type as the initial target.

HobbyGamer007 That's great. Ill get one and try it in a few games. Thank you!

Always like to help. Btw what is your budget, you do run a few suboptimal cards, especially in the land and ramp department, so I just wondered. Noble Hierarch would be an obvious include, but yeah it costs a lot.

HobbyGamer007 I normally don't have a budget (well not into the thousands) but I wanted the deck to be a bit budget friendly. I mentioned some other Land/Ramp options under the "Fast Mana Base" tab including Noble Hierarch. But out of curiosity what would you change? I may change this in the future.