Arcades, the Bricklayer

Commander / EDH* Casual GWU (Bant)

DarettiFan

Creature (30)

• 1x Axebane Guardian
• 1x Carven Caryatid
• 1x Drift of Phantasms
• 1x Geist of the Archives
• 1x Guard Gomazoa
• 1x Hover Barrier
• 1x Jeskai Barricade
• 1x Jungle Barrier
• 1x Mnemonic Wall
• 1x Oathsworn Giant
• 1x Overgrown Battlement
• 1x Perimeter Captain
• 1x Shield Sphere
• 1x Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa
• 1x Stalwart Shield-Bearers
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Sunscape Familiar
• 1x Sylvan Caryatid
• 1x Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
• 1x Traproot Kami
• 1x Tree of Redemption
• 1x Vine Trellis
• 1x Wall of Blossoms
• 1x Wall of Denial
• 1x Wall of Frost
• 1x Wall of Glare
• 1x Wall of Junk
• 1x Wall of Kelp
• 1x Wall of Omens
• 1x Wall of Roots

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Tamiyo, Field Researcher
• 1x Venser, the Sojourner

Land (36)

• 1x Bountiful Promenade
• 1x Canopy Vista
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 7x Forest
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 7x Island
• 1x Nimbus Maze
• 6x Plains
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Sea of Clouds
• 1x Seaside Citadel
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Dusk / Dawn
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Slaughter the Strong
• 1x Supreme Verdict

Artifact (6)

• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Meekstone
• 1x Panharmonicon
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Thought Vessel

Commander (1)

Instant (15)

• 1x Bar the Door
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Eerie Interlude
• 1x Ghostly Flicker
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Momentary Blink
• 1x Render Silent
• 1x Return to Dust
• 1x Simic Charm
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Tower Defense
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Assault Formation
• 1x Brave the Sands
• 1x Growing Rites of Itlimoc  ^Flip
• 1x Spidersilk Armor

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Maybeboard

Creature (8)

• 1x Brago, King Eternal
• 1x Colossus of Akros
• 1x Doorkeeper
• 1x Gomazoa
• 1x Hornet Nest
• 1x Orator of Ojutai
• 1x Wakestone Gargoyle
• 1x Wall of Mulch

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Always Watching
• 1x Mirari's Wake
• 1x Primal Rage

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This is my claim on Arcades, the Strategist, a commander I fell in love with the moment he got spoiled. I decided to not go with any of the silly combos that you can pull off. I think Arcades doesn't need this since he turns all the Defenders into aggro powerhouses and that's way more fun than just winning with Wall of Kelp, Axebane Guardian and Intruder Alarm.

What does this deck do?

1. Ramp: There are Defenders that can ramp you super crazy like Axebane Guardian, Overgrown Battlement and Wall of Roots. That allows you to cycle through your deck with Arcades' card draw really fast since you can play all the defenders you can get your hands on.

2. Control: Arcades is just such a great commander who lays the foundation for a control strategy with his massive card draw and also leaves space for a heavy hitting aggro playstyle. You also have good one sided control effects with cards like Meekstone, Dusk and Slaughter the Strong which can be game winning. Control also harmonizes super well with the third thing this deck does ...

3. Blinking: That's the aspect which makes my list differ the most from other lists. Ghostly Flicker, Momentary Blink, Eerie Interlude, Venser, the Sojourner - the blink effects of those cards are not only triggering the ETBs of cards like Wall of Blossoms (and similar), Mnemonic Wall and Jeskai Barricade multiple times they also draw you a card with Arcades for each defender you blink, which is pretty insane.

Other nice gimmicks with blinking in this deck:

• You can reset Wall of Roots' counters and its once-per-turn clause.
• You can reset Shield Sphere's counters.
• It makes Sun Titan (which obviously is not a defender) a much better card in here, which can get pretty much everything in this deck back from graveyard.
• The interaction of Ghostly Flicker and Mnemonic Wall which is just so silly.
• Panharmonicon

4. Combat tricks: There are so many cards that support an aggro build of Arcades: Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive, Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa, Tower Defense, Venser, the Sojourner ... the list goes on and on. It feels like Arcades does what makes Doran, the Siege Tower players have wet dreams.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	5 years
Exclude colors	BR
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 23 - 0 Rares 31 - 0 Uncommons 20 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.75
Tokens	0/1 U Creature Plant Wall, Beast 3/3 G, Emblem Tamiyo, Field Researcher, Emblem Venser, the Sojourner
Folders	Favorites