Arcades, Stompy Taxes (Commander / EDH MTG Deck)

Arcades, Stompy Taxes

Commander / EDH Casual GWU (Bant) Stax Zoo

strembl7

Land (35)

Synergy (12)

Wincon (3)

Defender (23)

Control (14)

Tax (5)

Safety (4)

Commander (1)

Ramp (17)

Draw (14)

Tutor (4)

Sideboard

Tutor (6)

Draw (5)

Ramp (3)

Stax (4)

Other (3)

Maybeboard

Draw (23)

Defender (9)

Land (5)

Goodstuff (1)

1x Treachery

Other (23)

Ramp (9)

Safety (4)

Tax (1)

1x Glowrider

Control (14)

Synergy (12)

Tutor (7)

Stax (2)

Wall (1)

1x Hover Barrier

Intro

This is my attempt at building a mostly creature Arcades, the Strategist deck that employs using both wall-ball and tax strategies instead of the usual aggro or combo-control approaches. I leaned really hard into a nearly creatures-only build so that I could maximize the benefit from the tax effects Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Thorn of Amethyst, Glowrider, and Vryn Wingmare as well as Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, Stony Silence and Null Rod. Being mostly creatures also breaks the symmetry of artifact and/or enchantment board wipes, so cards like Bane of Progress are very good.

This is certainly not the best build of this commander, but I wanted something a little unique, and something appropriate for the definitely-not-competitive meta of my LGS.

There are plenty of guides to building Arcades out there, so I won't bother explaining the core of the deck Instead I'd like to explain the more unusual choices that I made in order to run the tax suite and avoid non-creature spells.

Card Selection

The Arcades shell consists mostly of cards with defender, some redundancy for Arcades in the form of High Alert and Assault Formation, and a few enablers to allow your walls to actually knock someone out: Triumph of the Hordes, Venser, the Sojourner and Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive.

If your meta has moral objections to infect, you can always swap out Triumph of the Hordes for a Craterhoof cheating package consisting of some combination of Craterhoof Behemoth with Natural Order, Defense of the Heart, Tooth and Nail and Pattern of Rebirth. The Craterhoof package is probably a better win condition than my current one, and I will be subbing it in if I find that the deck does not perform to my liking in my meta. However, for now, I prefer the evasion and Triumph approach because it involves fewer non-creature permanents, and offers more redundancy, which makes the deck more consistent and makes better use of the taxes.

Current Issues

1) Getting through boards of tokens is a pain. We are able to gain trample from Triumph of the Hordes, and then we also have Cyclonic Rift but if your meta is heavy on token decks then you may want to add some tech to counter it. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite is an excellent option as far as solutions that are creatures go. Just be aware that your board wipes will suddenly become symmetrical if you aren't careful.

2) Having no graveyard hate is rough. I'm considering throwing in a Muddle the Mixture (probably in place of Herioc Intervention) as well as a Rest in Peace. I really don't like that both are non-creature, though, so for now they are not in the deck.

Suggestions

Updates Add

Changes — April 24, 2019

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Removed Glowrider and Ghostway for Captain Sisay and Cloud Key

Removed Seaside Citadel for Academy Ruins

I found myself almost never wanting to draw the Ghostway, and having both it and Eerie Interlude in hand is awful. Ideally it saves you from a board wipe, but it can also make you draw a ton of cards when you already have a board and an engine - essentially making it a winmore card in that instance. This deck really does not want to hold up mana between turns, so I think it's better to run the Captain Sisay which provides card advantage on its own, and is a creature, and can tutor up Gaea's Cradle. Since she can also tutor Thalia and GAAIV, I felt I could cut the Glowrider. I will be adding Muddle the Mixture when I get one.

Changes - Acquired a Gaea's Cradle — April 11, 2019

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Fiddling — April 5, 2019

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Changes 2019-03-23 — March 23, 2019

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Card Odds v1 Draw hand

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Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Exclude colors	BR
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 3 Mythic Rares 55 - 14 Rares 22 - 3 Uncommons 10 - 4 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.94
Tokens	Emblem Venser, the Sojourner
Folders	Multi
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