Nobody has the intention of building a Wall
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 459 | 324 COMMENTS | 53480 VIEWS | IN 252 FOLDERS
New Cards —July 19, 2018
I removed some underperforming cards for new ones. Thank you for your suggestions and your upvotes, they are really appreciated!
HobbyGamer007 thank you for your kind words and you suggestions. Abide from spot removals you mentioned, my playgroup runs a lot of board wipes where Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots and Alexi's Cloak wouldn't offer protection. That's why I run a lot of counter spells instead. Heroic Intervention on the other side is a great card and I might find a way in the deck for it!
July 8, 2018 3:11 p.m.
HobbyGamer007 says... #4
K4m4r0 if boardwipes are really that common in your meta, how about using them instead of fighting them instead? Since Supreme Verdict is also a thing, why not, instead of counters, run, in addition to Heroic Intervention, cards like Ghostway, Eerie Interlude, Ajani's Presence, Dauntless Escort(though less of a blowout if they see it coming) and Selfless Spirit? Mabye not all of them, but I guess you get the point. The flicker ones are especially great with some of the ETB effects, like Wall of Omens; however if your opponents have creatures that survice a wipe too, you face their creatures without blockers.
July 11, 2018 4:09 p.m.
HobbyGamer007 great suggestions, I totaly get what you meant to say. Nobody I know plays Supreme Verdict but the flicker cards would be a good "counter" and also add some benefit like you mentioned. I will consider them when I add Panharmonicon.
July 13, 2018 5 a.m.
special_lil_guy says... #7
You want to hear something cool? I JUST finished designing my own commander deck with Arcades and what would you know? The moment I came onto tappedout.net to put it together I see your very own Defender deck in the featured deck queue... WEIRD... +1... which gives you 111... which happens to be a very special number... I hope it serves you well... oh... and I'll be borrowing a couple of cards off you that I neglected to put in my own deck... feel free to check out mine if you like when it's available...
July 14, 2018 4:55 p.m.
GrandMeekster says... #8
Hey, I love the deck. 11 "power" on turn 4? Sounds great to me. Only question, No Jungle Barrier?
July 14, 2018 10:57 p.m.
Phooonix I think Mentor of the Meek doesn't stand for a great value in this Deck. I'd rather have the Mana than another card since the carddraw from Arcades is really good and I don't feel like I need more from Mentor.
special_lil_guy Cool story and welcome fellow wall builder :) I wish you all the same fun I have while playing this deck. And thank you for the +1, really appreciate it. 111 is also a cool number, it happened to be my favourite number! I'll check your deck when I'm back home!
GrandMeekster Thank you, it's a great deck, give it a try! :) I left Jungle Barrier out due to its very high cmc for rather low toughness. Sadly the extra card won't make this card better since it is just too expensive. I'm still looking for a spot for Panharmonicon to double the cards from Arcades!
July 15, 2018 11:54 a.m.
Just a little question - isn't Orator of Ojutai better than Angelic Wall? :)
July 16, 2018 10:37 a.m.
Vlasiax You are absolutely right and I need to get one! Thank you very much :)
July 16, 2018 1:49 p.m.
No problem, glad I could help :)
Also what's your opinion on Axebane Guardian + Freed from the Real
combo? Seems to be preety good "fair" infinite combo in my opinion and needs only one more defender besides himself to go
July 16, 2018 2:41 p.m.
Vlasiax I didn't add one of the untap mechanics to the final list because it turned out to be mostly a dead card. Despite the good card draw Arcades offers, if you can't get Axebane Guardian, the enchantments are not much of a useful card. I changed them for more beneficial cards to have a smoother game flow.
July 17, 2018 3:29 a.m.
One way to find combo pieces is Drift of Phantasms which when not needed can just be another defender, card draw and beater for 3 CMC, so at least I'm trying to incorporate this in my build of Arcades :)
July 17, 2018 3:55 a.m.
Vlasiax I am also looking to add Drift of Phantasms to enhance the versatility of the deck because it is a better Wall of Air. Don't get me wrong, I do think that Freed from the Real etc. are great cards or would combo well (I use it in my Merieke Ri Berit deck on Merieke, but it gives instant value once I draw it) but it's still 2 in 99 cards (3 in 99 with Drift of Phantasms) to make it work. The odds are just to low to make it happen, atleast for me, but if you are more of a Han Solo type please tell my how it turned out for you :)
"Never tell me the odds" -Han Solo, The Empire Strikes Back
;)
July 17, 2018 5:21 a.m.
Yeah, when I'll finally get all the cards then I'll definitely tell you how it went out ;)
Also I see that you use some walls that don't have good effects - how about some ramp in form of Vine Trellis and Gatecreeper Vine? And maybe Cyclonic Rift instead of too conditional counterspells like Spell Pierce?
July 17, 2018 6:20 a.m.
Vlasiax I have chosen the defenders mainly on their cost/toughness value. Some are chosen on their individual skills like Wall of Kelp or Axebane Guardian. I wouldn't tap Vine Trellis for a single green mana, since I'd need the punch but then I could have a better defender instead.Gatecreeper Vine's ability is somewhat good but it only has 2 toughness. Again I just can have a better defender in it's slot. Both cards are not that bad on their own but can't compete with other defenders.
Spell Pierce is a very strong and viable card, since most non-blue-players tap out and you can easily counter an threat. Cyclonic Rift is a very strong card, especially in EDH but for some reason it didn't make the cut, can't tell you why :)
July 17, 2018 5:24 p.m.
Well my main argument is that this deck needs to cast its commander ASAP, that's why 2 mana ramp is crucial to the strategy so cards like Farseek, Nature's Lore and 2 cmc walls should be included. Because you throw T3 Arcades, you have your draw engine going one turn earlier
Another thing is that instead of having so many counterspells dealing with one thing at the time it's better to wipe estabilished boards with cards like Slaughter the Strong, Retribution of the Meek and Dusk - also there might be the place to make cuts and add that Rift :)
July 18, 2018 1:58 a.m.
Vlasiax I know, but instead of creatures I'd add a Signet or Fellwar Stone becausre they don't suffer from summoning sickness and they get lesser hate than creatures overall. As soon as I get Prairie Stream I'll add Farseek :)
As I mentioned earlier I don't get much use of Slaughter the Strong and Retribution of the Meek because I play against a lot of 1/1 and 2/2 token decks. I have considered Dusk but haven't found it necessary yet but I'll keep it in mind!
July 18, 2018 2:58 a.m.
HobbyGamer007 says... #20
If you play against a lot of token decks, Echoing Truth bounces and in consequence exiles all tokens of the same type as the initial target.
July 18, 2018 2:47 p.m.
HobbyGamer007 That's great. Ill get one and try it in a few games. Thank you!
July 18, 2018 3:28 p.m.
HobbyGamer007 says... #22
Always like to help. Btw what is your budget, you do run a few suboptimal cards, especially in the land and ramp department, so I just wondered. Noble Hierarch would be an obvious include, but yeah it costs a lot.
July 18, 2018 3:46 p.m.
HobbyGamer007 I normally don't have a budget (well not into the thousands) but I wanted the deck to be a bit budget friendly. I mentioned some other Land/Ramp options under the "Fast Mana Base" tab including Noble Hierarch. But out of curiosity what would you change? I may change this in the future.
July 18, 2018 4:05 p.m.
HobbyGamer007 says... #24
Sure thing. Sorry that took a while:
Out:
- Woolly Razorback: too expensive, not good
- Hindering Light: not good
- Remove Soul: not good
- Render Silent: too expensive, hard to cast
- Rewind: you don't wanna leave 4 mana open
- Chromatic Lantern: fixes all your mana, so it will be destroyed right away
- Cultivate: not good
- Skyshroud Claim: too late
- Condemn: not good
- Disenchant: claim is better
- Shield Wall: calculate mana cost/toughness boost. a 2 toughness per mana boost is good, anything wose should just stick or do something(like Call to Glory or Glorious Anthem, and even these are kind of bad.)
- Steadfastness: see shield wall
- Disallow: trickbind is better imho
- Pongify: leaves a 3/3
- Mana Leak: can be useless
- Dispel : very narrow for a deck like yours. I'd prefer Autumn's Veil or Heroic Intervention. adding the latter.
In:
- Reality Shift: exile is awesome
- Noble Hierarch: mana dorks
- Elvish Mystic
- Llanowar Elves
- Fyndhorn Elves
- Arbor Elf
- Birds of Paradise
- Wild Growth
- Selesnya Signet: mana rocks
- Azorius Signet
- Simic Signet
- Mystical Tutor: finds everything
- Nature's Claim
- Echoing Truth
- Trickbind
- Muddle the Mixture: finds a lot of really crucial cards and doubles down as an emergency counter
- Sylvan Library: too good not to run, even without paying life, fetches make this great. maybe also consider Mirri's Guile
Mana base(33 is enough at this average cmc):
- Tundra
- Savannah
- Tropical Island
- Arid Mesa
- Flooded Strand
- Marsh Flats
- Misty Rainforest
- Polluted Delta
- Scalding Tarn
- Verdant Catacombs
- Windswept Heath
- Wooded Foothills
- Horizon Canopy
- Reflecting Pool
- Adarkar Wastes
- Brushland
- Yavimaya Coast
- Ancient Tomb
- Nimbus Maze
- Strip Mine: Maze of Ith so you always wanna have one of these four sooner or later during a game.
- Wasteland
- Ghost Quarter
- Tectonic Edge
- 3 Forest
- 3 Plains
- 4 Island
That's what I'd do and then playtest it and go tweaking. Hope that helps and also that it wasn't too brutal. For real tweaking please add a list of decks you play against or how a normal game looks like(amount of combo decks, creature decks, control decks per game). You do run lot's of creature spot removal, but I let that in, since you might need it.
HobbyGamer007 says... #1
I love this deck and the way you built it. It is effective and deals tons of damage. But there's also one thing I hate about it. You don't run enough non-walls or protection for Arcedes. My playgroup runs tons of removal and if they saw that their Swords to Plowshares will make 3 7/7 beaters into 0/7 walls, they are sure as hell going to do that. And once Arcedes dies 4 times, at 12 mana, he's gonna be nearly uncastable. I'd run at least Heroic Intervention Lightning Greaves Swiftfoot Boots and Alexi's Cloak or the likes to cheaply and effectivly protect him. Maybe even Darksteel Plate but I personally would abstain from that, since it doesn't protect against exiles, which are everywhere in EDH. Other than that, great deck!
July 8, 2018 1:46 p.m.