Defense is the best Offense

Commander / EDH Budget Casual GU (Simic) GW (Selesnya) GWU (Bant) WU (Azorius)

Zartovyx

Creature (32)

• 1x Amaranthine Wall
• 1x Axebane Guardian
• 1x Carven Caryatid
• 1x Colossus of Akros
• 1x Crenellated Wall
• 1x Dazzling Ramparts
• 1x Doorkeeper
• 1x Drift of Phantasms
• 1x Gatecreeper Vine
• 1x Gomazoa
• 1x Jeskai Barricade
• 1x Jungle Barrier
• 1x Junktroller
• 1x Laboratory Maniac
• 1x Mnemonic Wall
• 1x Overgrown Battlement
• 1x Perimeter Captain
• 1x Primordial Sage
• 1x Shield Sphere
• 1x Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa
• 1x Soul of the Harvest
• 1x Stalwart Shield-Bearers
• 1x Sylvan Caryatid
• 1x Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
• 1x Tree of Redemption
• 1x Wall of Blossoms
• 1x Wall of Denial
• 1x Wall of Essence
• 1x Wall of Frost
• 1x Wall of Hope
• 1x Wall of Kelp
• 1x Wall of Omens

Land (32)

• 1x Azorius Chancery
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Canopy Vista
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 5x Forest
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 1x Irrigated Farmland
• 5x Island
• 5x Plains
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Seaside Citadel
• 1x Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1x Simic Growth Chamber
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse

Artifact (9)

• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Darksteel Ingot
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Meekstone
• 1x Selesnya Signet
• 1x Simic Signet
• 1x Slagwurm Armor
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thought Vessel

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Assault Formation
• 1x Blind Obedience
• 1x Cryptolith Rite
• 1x Intruder Alarm
• 1x Lure
• 1x Sight of the Scalelords

Commander (1)

Instant (12)

• 1x Cancel
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Faith's Reward
• 1x Ghostway
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Sylvan Reclamation
• 1x Tower Defense
• 1x Valor Made Real

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Dusk / Dawn
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Fell the Mighty
• 1x Rampant Growth
• 1x Retribution of the Meek
• 1x Slaughter the Strong
• 1x Wave of Reckoning

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Tamiyo, Field Researcher

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Maybeboard

Artifact (1)

• 1x Dragon Throne of Tarkir

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Arcades, the Strategist Defender Tribal

A great offense can be a great defense, so why can't a great defense become a great offense as well? This deck aims to do exactly that: Make defenders hit hard for damage!

Arcades, the Strategist provides us , and , which can be seen as ramp, wraths and control. The ability to allow creatures to assign combat damage equal to their toughness rather than power makes creatures huge. Plus the ability for defenders to attack, the creatures in this deck can be insanely large!

Now, for the breakdown of this deck:

Win Conditions

1. Our win condition is to HIT FACE WITH HUGE CREATURES

This deck is focused on a single plan: Hitting with huge creatures and dealing huge damage.

The Defenders

The ones we need lots and lots of, for protection and for damage! Some of them also give us additional effects to help us with our game plan.

1. Amaranthine Wall: 2 mana is all we need to make this indestructible, at instant speed
2. Axebane Guardian: The more creatures we have on the board, the harder we ramp!
3. Carven Caryatid: Card draw
4. Colossus of Akros: Indestructible 10/10, or 20/20 monster!
5. Crenellated Wall: Buffs other defenders
6. Dazzling Ramparts: Can tap down opponents' creatures before combat
7. Doorkeeper: The more creatures we have on the battlefield, the harder the mill for an opponent!
8. Drift of Phantasms: Great tutor that also can be used as a defender if needed
9. Gatecreeper Vine: Great for mana fixing
10. Gomazoa: Use this to send opponents' commanders deep into their deck!
11. Jeskai Barricade: Sends opponents' creatures back to their hand
12. Jungle Barrier: Card draw
13. Junktroller: Graveyard recursion, use this alongside shuffle effects
14. Mnemonic Wall: Return Cyclonic Rift to our hand? Yes, please!
15. Overgrown Battlement: More ramp!
16. Perimeter Captain: Gains us life whenever our creatures attack
17. Shield Sphere: 0 mana 6/6. Take a moment and let this sink in
18. Stalwart Shield-Bearers: Buffs our defenders
19. Sylvan Caryatid: Another method of mana fixing
20. Tree of Redemption: Gives us more life in dire situations or hits hard in an attack. Now if we can just give this vigilance...
21. Wall of Blossoms: Card draw
22. Wall of Denial: 8/8 flyer that can't be targeted!
23. Wall of Essence: Protects us and gains us life
24. Wall of Frost: "Removes" a creature from combat for 1 turn
25. Wall of Hope: Protects us and gains us life too
26. Wall of Kelp: Makes more walls
27. Wall of Omens: Card draw

The Support

The cards that help to solidify our game plan

1. Primordial Sage: Alternative to Arcades, the Strategist for drawing cards as we play creatures
2. Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa: Makes most of our creatures unable to be blocked by most opponents' creatures
3. Soul of the Harvest: Third card that gives us card draw as we play creatures
4. Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive: Also makes most of our creatures unable to be blocked
5. Intruder Alarm: This lets us untap our defenders on opponents' turns, allowing them to block attackers
6. Lure: Force blockers to block our "fatties" in order to get rid of them
7. Sight of the Scalelords: Gives our creatures much-needed vigilance and +2 damage in combat
8. Faith's Reward: Brings back the defenders after an opponent's wrath
9. Ghostway: Flickers our entire board. What great protection!
10. Tower Defense: Solution to blocking many flying creatures
11. Valor Made Real: The high toughness our defenders have will allow them to survive damage after blocking multiple creatures
12. Slagwurm Armor: More toughness leading to more damage
13. Tamiyo, Field Researcher: Gives us card draw. Her -7 ability can let us vomit out creatures if Arcades, the Strategist is on the battlefield
14. Eternal Witness: Returns defenders from our graveyard to our hand

Removal

In order for our plan to work, we need cards that lock the board down and remove opponents' threats

1. Blind Obedience: Delays our opponents' activation of creatures or artifacts abilities
2. Dusk: One-sided wrath with graveyard recursion
3. Fell the Mighty: 2nd one-sided wrath
4. Retribution of the Meek: 3rd one-sided wrath
5. Slaughter the Strong: 4th one-sided wrath
6. Wave of Reckoning: 5th one-sided wrath
7. Cyclonic Rift: A must-have removal spell in decks with
8. Counterspell: The name says it all
9. Krosan Grip and Nature's Claim: Artifact and enchantment removal at instant speed
10. Path to Exile and Swords to Plowshares: Exile those pesky indestructible creatures our opponents may have
11. Sylvan Reclamation: Exile the annoying enchantments or artifacts our opponents may have

Mana Fixing

In a deck with 3 colours, we may find ourselves mana-screwed more often than decks with 1 or 2 colours. Hence, we run cards to help us get the mana we so desperately need

1. Farseek and Rampant Growth: Cheap ramp spells
2. Cryptolith Rite: Makes all our creatures able to tap for mana
3. Sol Ring: A staple in commander decks
4. Thought Vessel: Mana rock that gives us no maximum hand size, perfect for a deck with multiple sources of card draw
5. Darksteel Ingot: Indestructible mana fixing solution
6. Azorius Signet, Selesnya Signet and Simic Signet: We need these

I came up with this deck when Arcades, the Strategist was first released. This deck is intended to be a budget, casual deck but can be tuned to become more competitive if the meta requires it. I'm still in the process of tuning and refining the deck so feel free to give any suggestions. Thanks!

+1 upvote if you liked it.

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Date added	5 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	4 - 0 Mythic Rares 27 - 0 Rares 29 - 0 Uncommons 25 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.90
Tokens	0/1 U Creature Plant Wall, Emblem Tamiyo, Field Researcher
Folders	new deck ideas, Arcades, Commander