Dragon's Labyrinth - Arcades the Strategist

Commander / EDH Battlecruiser GWU (Bant) Tribal

KoiBoy

Creature (34)

• 1x Axebane Guardian
• 1x Basilica Guards
• 1x Drift of Phantasms
• 1x Gatecreeper Vine
• 1x Grappling Sundew
• 1x Hover Barrier
• 1x Junktroller
• 1x Mentor of the Meek
• 1x Mnemonic Wall
• 1x Orator of Ojutai
• 1x Overgrown Battlement
• 1x Perimeter Captain
• 1x Portcullis Vine
• 1x Progenitor Mimic
• 1x Resolute Watchdog
• 1x Shield Sphere
• 1x Soulsworn Jury
• 1x Stalwart Shield-Bearers
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Sunscape Familiar
• 1x Suspicious Bookcase
• 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 Junk
• 1x Wall of Nets
• 1x Wall of Omens
• 1x Wall of Reverence
• 1x Wall of Roots
• 1x Wall of Runes

Land (32)

• 1x Azorius Guildgate
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Command Tower
• 6x Forest
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Homeward Path
• 4x Island
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Maze's End
• 1x Mystifying Maze
• 1x Nimbus Maze
• 4x Plains
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Seaside Citadel
• 1x Selesnya Guildgate
• 1x Simic Guildgate
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Temple of Enlightenment
• 1x Temple of Mystery
• 1x Temple of Plenty

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Austere Command
• 1x Circuitous Route
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Dusk / Dawn
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Fell the Mighty
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Retribution of the Meek
• 1x Triumph of the Hordes

Planeswalker (3)

• 1x Ajani, the Greathearted
• 1x Teyo, the Shieldmage
• 1x Venser, the Sojourner

Commander (1)

Instant (14)

• 1x Bar the Door
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Disallow
• 1x Eerie Interlude
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Mizzium Skin
• 1x Ojutai's Command
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Return to Dust
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Teferi's Protection
• 1x Voidslime

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Assault Formation
• 1x Aura Shards
• 1x Feed the Pack
• 1x High Alert
• 1x Pemmin's Aura

Artifact (2)

• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Sol Ring

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The Labyrinth

Defender tribal, but Arcades is Not a defensive deck. In addition to putting the E and D in EDH, this general is a resilience and aggression engine. Low CMC creatures come with off the charts power thanks to him, often with additional bonuses. The creatures replenish themselves when committed, so if you get board wiped starting over is easy.

This deck also carries a small Maze/Labyrinth/Wall subtheme, represented in art and card names.

The Path

This is not a terribly complex deck to play. Fat Walls on the field, enable them, swing for damage. Get it? Got it. Good. This is not a cEDH deck, but it can be imposing at Battlecruiser tables that are familiar with its ability to constantly threaten with big creatures. The finesse comes with your interactions at the table. There's broad spectrum spot removal and numerous ways to clear the field, many of which you can duck under yourself. There is a fistfull of counterspells, because some things just shouldn't resolve. Force of Will is your classic Gotcha out of Nowhere. Voidslime and Disallow are cures for whatever ails you. Soulsworn Jury is blatant, but makes the board awkward to play into. Ojutai's command is technically there too, but if you're like me it will mostly be used in Revival/Cantrip modes. Because the CMC is rather low and we have lots of draw power, I kept my ramp at a minimum. Cultivate/Kodama's Reach/Farseek/Circutous Route are more to fix colors than for ramp.

Dead Ends

This is a general focused deck. This is an easily exploitable weakness, so the deck has some backups. Mizzium Skin not only no-sells targeted removal, its a minor offensive buff. High Alert and Assault Formation are surrogate enablers. Feed the Pack changes your strategy from Tall to Wide, but does a very fine job of it. Eerie Interlude blanks board wipes and is a hand infusion to boot. And of course there's Teferi's Protection and Lightning Greaves.

Guides

Three planeswalkers have recently been added. Most obviously is Teyo the Shieldmage, who essentially is 6 power and 2 cards for a very efficient 3 mana. This makes him better than most of our walls, and then we get Hexproof to boot. I eagerly look forward to what future, higher rarity iterations of this walker will bring. In this deck Venser the Sojurner is a +1 draw engine and easy alpha strike, with the chance to get real nasty with the emblem. Ajani the Greathearted is a test. He replaces Oathsworn Giant in this build at a lower CMC for the same vigilance, similar power boost, but also a way to reload Teyo and speed along Venser. He does not play well with Tetsuko, however.

The Exit

Three is a very important CMC in this deck. Bar the Door to pump a board for a kill, High Alert/Mentor of the Meek to imitate the big man, Aura Shards to cut through the red tape, Pemmin's Aura + Axebane Guardian to combo out, half our counterspells, our strongest creatures (Wall of Denial), our blanket protections (Teferi's Protection, Eerie Interlude). Because of its wide use, Drift of Phantasms tutors up whatever you need right now to win.

I hope you enjoy my deck. Please leave any thoughts or suggestions belowit is always a work in progress.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 29 - 0 Rares 32 - 0 Uncommons 19 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.97
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Copy Clone, Emblem Venser, the Sojourner, Wall 0/3 W, Wolf 2/2 G