Arcades, the Strategist

Legendary Creature — Elder Dragon

Flying, vigilance

Whenever a creature with defender enter the battlefield under your control, draw a card.

Each creature you control with defender assigns combat damage equal to its toughness rather than its power and can attack as though it didn't have defender.

Combos

• Arcades, the Strategist + Wild Pair

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (51)

Conair2013 on Arcades

6 months ago

Charix, the Raging Isle does not work in arcades as you would think, he has a big booty but no defender so Arcades, the Strategist does not do anything to change Charix. Assault Formation and High Alert do make him hit for 17 but they are 2 cards in your deck so not very viable.

keizerbuns on Prepare to get WALLoped

1 year ago

Thanks for the suggestions kamarupa!

I did actually consider Orator of Ojutai over Wall of Omens, but I figured the guaranteed extra card was better than having a flyer. However, given how often I tend to have Arcades, the Strategist in play or at least in my hand, it's worth at least adding him into the sideboard. Speaking of sideboards, Slaughter the Strong is definitely going in there too!

I also considered running Eladamri's Call but decided it was a little too expensive to run and I didn't really want to take out anything to replace it with.

I'm still on the fence about whether I want to add Wall of Denial or not. It is a really good card with amazing stats, but I wanted to keep every creature in the deck 2 CMC and under, except for Arcades and Axebane Guardian because of how vital they are to the deck. But maybe I'll add Wall of Denial in the future after some more real world playtesting.

Thanks again, I really appreciate it!

keizerbuns on Prepare to get WALLoped

1 year ago

Thanks for checking out my deck zapyourtumor!

I'm sure I could drop down to 3 copies of Arcades, the Strategist and still be fine, but he's probably the most important creature in the deck since getting him out almost guarantees I'll never have an empty hand, so I like playing a full set for the added consistency even if it means a bit of redundancy.

Wall of Tanglecord was only added to the mainboard to help against decks with lots of flyers but that's more of a sideboard thing anyways and you make a good point about not having very many 1 drops so I think I'll take your advice and replace them with 3 Perimeter Captain. I would replace Secret Door with the 4th Captain but I just really like having something to dump all of my mana into when I get the infinite mana combo out.

Thassa's Intervention may not be a great early game card but it's amazing mid-late game. When you get the infinite mana combo out then it just becomes a 2-card tutor with the added bonus of having a counter spell stapled onto it in case someone tries to board wipe me.

CoCo and Aether Vial are definitely straight upgrades but like you said they're out of my price range for this deck.

Thanks for the suggestions!

TheoryCrafter on What is your favorite tribe, …

1 year ago

Slivers. With every creature being a lord, it's not only one of the strongest tribes, it's also one of the most flexible. Most players, myself included, typically run a keyword soup and throw it at anyone not wise enough to kill it fast. However, enough slivers have been printed where you can build a Voltron deck, a go wide deck, or even, if you wish, build a defender card draw deck around Arcades, the Strategist.

qbaq84 on EDH Arcades, the Strategist

1 year ago

I found Treefolk Umbra quite usefull to play on Arcades, the Strategist. Hit for 7 commander damage with flying and vigilance and one additional life puts some preasure on opponents.

Also Kabira Takedown  ^Flip instead of 1 Plains can be life-saving.

ladygaura on Requesting Suggestions for Budget EDH …

1 year ago

My cheapest, easiest to build, and most successful deck to date (please note I just got on this site so most of my decks are not yet listed) is my Narset's Nasty Temper, which is one I actually have listed under my username. It is mostly common/uncommon spells. I also do have an Arcades, the Strategist deck (not yet listed) but I found him really hard to protect without help from spells like Swiftfoot Boots or Lightning Greaves. I appreciate constructive feedback on my decks, so please leave me comments if you check out my decklists.

420MensRightsActivist on Dominaria United Spoilers

1 year ago

i think Leaf-Crowned Visionary will definitely be modern playable, as will Vodalian Hexcatcher.

Electrostatic Infantry is sure to be a fun powerhouse in at least standard. grixis control or izzet turbo probably.

Tolarian Terror is easily a 1 mana 5/5 with ward 2 in multiple formats.

Bite Down is the exact same thing as Master's Rebuke. and both will be standard legal at the same time.

the "defiler" cycle doesn't quite seem balanced imo, with the blue and green ones being the obvious strongest.

Coral Colony seems good in an Arcades, the Strategist commander deck.

Guerric on Jenara Infinite Combos (Looking to upgrade to EDH)

2 years ago

Happy to do it! Bant is also just a one of the best three-color combos in commander with so many good options. Tuvasa the Sunlit is a very specific enchantress/combo deck, but Chulane, Teller of Tales has so much value that he's hard to build wrong. There's also the popular Arcades, the Strategist, which is one of the more inexpensive and yet powerful decks to build, and also Derevi, Empyrial Tactician that I mentioned before, who is great with tapping and untapping stuff for value. All of these commanders are really great when built right!