The best offense is a good defense, am I right?

Commander / EDH* Casual Combo GWU (Bant) Infinite Combo Theme/Gimmick Tribal

strangewayshwc

Creature (30)

• 1x Axebane Guardian
• 1x Carven Caryatid
• 1x Crenellated Wall
• 1x Doorkeeper
• 1x Drift of Phantasms
• 1x Fog Bank
• 1x Hornet Nest
• 1x Hover Barrier
• 1x Jeskai Barricade
• 1x Jungle Barrier
• 1x Mentor of the Meek
• 1x Mnemonic Wall
• 1x Orator of Ojutai
• 1x Overgrown Battlement
• 1x Perimeter Captain
• 1x Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa
• 1x Stalwart Shield-Bearers
• 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 Frost
• 1x Wall of Junk
• 1x Wall of Mulch
• 1x Wall of Nets
• 1x Wall of Omens
• 1x Wall of Roots

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Assault Formation
• 1x Brave the Sands
• 1x Meishin, the Mind Cage
• 1x Pemmin's Aura
• 1x Spidersilk Armor

Land (36)

• 1x Azorius Chancery
• 1x Canopy Vista
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 6x Forest
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 1x Irrigated Farmland
• 6x Island
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 6x Plains
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Scattered Groves
• 1x Seaside Citadel
• 1x Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Temple of Enlightenment
• 1x Temple of Mystery
• 1x Temple of Plenty
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse

Artifact (10)

• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Darksteel Ingot
• 1x Darksteel Plate
• 1x Dragon Throne of Tarkir
• 1x Lifecrafter's Bestiary
• 1x Slagwurm Armor
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Umbral Mantle

Commander (1)

Instant (11)

• 1x Chord of Calling
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Dissipate
• 1x Eerie Interlude
• 1x Ghostly Flicker
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Sylvan Reclamation
• 1x Syncopate
• 1x Teferi's Protection
• 1x Tower Defense
• 1x Void Shatter

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Bring to Light
• 1x Dusk / Dawn
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Fell the Mighty
• 1x Skyshroud Claim
• 1x Slaughter the Strong
• 1x Wave of Reckoning

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Maybeboard

Creature (12)

• 1x Amaranthine Wall
• 1x Cathedral Membrane
• 1x Colossus of Akros
• 1x Dragon's Eye Sentry
• 1x Grozoth
• 1x Guard Gomazoa
• 1x Mirror Image
• 1x Shield Sphere
• 2x Silklash Spider
• 1x Steel Wall
• 1x Wall of Essence

Instant (4)

• 1x Aetherspouts
• 1x Bar the Door
• 1x Essence Scatter
• 1x Negate

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Verdant Confluence
• 1x Wargate

Land (1)

• 1x Homeward Path

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Angelic Chorus
• 1x Freed from the Real
• 1x Sight of the Scalelords
• 1x True Conviction

Artifact (3)

• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Selesnya Signet
• 1x Simic Signet

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"The best offense is a good defense, am I right?"

• Whiterun Guard, ca. 4E 201

Probably just like every other Arcades, the Strategist deck you'll ever see, except without Wall of Kelp, Wall of Shards, and/or Shield Sphere due to speculators and investors. ಡ_ಡ

With Arcades, every defender is a cantrip. With Arcades, every defender is a beater. To take advantage of these two things, I employ the cheapest and most valuable walls with the biggest booties. Wall of Denial and Tree of Redemption are all-stars; and Wall of Frost, Wall of Junk, Sunscape Familiar, and Crenellated Wall deserve honorable mentions. In general, however, the draw-walls are my favorite -- Orator of Ojutai, Carven Caryatid, Wall of Omens, et cetera. These walls plus Lifecrafter's Bestiary and/or Arcades give us so much value!!!

This deck employs the obvious infinite mana combo with Axebane Guardian and Pemmin's Aura/Umbral Mantle, and there are plenty of fun things to do with it! I choose Pemmin's Aura over Freed from the Real due to the aura's increased versatility. Drift of Phantasms, Chord of Calling, Bring to Light, and pure draw power serve to find any missing pieces.

Things to do with Axebane/Mantle/Aura infinite mana combo:

• Mill out your opponents with Doorkeeper.

• Gain infinite life with Umbral Mantle and Tree of Redemption.

• Draw your deck with Ghostly Flicker and Mnemonic Wall - ideally with another draw-wall.

• Draw your deck while drawing into more gas with Arcades, the Strategist, Lifecrafter's Bestiary, and Mentor of the Meek.

• Make the equipped creature infinitely large with Umbral Mantle.

• Pump all of your creatures infinitely with Assault Formation. (Especially Arcades!!)

• Pump all of your creatures infinitely and give them trample with Dragon Throne of Tarkir.

• Perhaps make many things unblockable with Suspicious Bookcase.

This whole deck seems to synergize well within itself, especially when it comes to the low power of the creatures within. For consistency, there are cards that fetch our necessary combo pieces and Lifecrafter's Bestiary and Mentor of the Meek for the extra draw.

To get aggressive, Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa and Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive let our defenders with conveniently low power slip through our opponents' defenses with ease; all the while toting gargantuan booties due to cards such as Slagwurm Armor, Spidersilk Armor, Stalwart Shield-Bearers, and Tower Defense.

Control cards that care about power that our conveniently low-powered walls avoid include Dusk, Slaughter the Strong(!!!!!), and Meishin, the Mind Cage. Meekstone has been considered, but it just feels too unfun/unfair to play against.

A small counterspell/removal suite, alongside Teferi's Protection, Ghostly Flicker, and Eerie Interlude, help protect our board and/or facilitate our combo, and the latter two have a pleasant synergy with Mnemonic Wall.

There is also a small bit of potential for Voltron if it happens to show up before other combo pieces do. Slap a Darksteel Plate and Slagwurm Armor on Arcades with an Assault Formation or Dragon Throne of Tarkir in play and kill in two hits!

Overall, I think this deck is pretty tight, and it can be fairly consistent though dirdly at times. It can, unfortunately, have do nothing games, it can fizzle hard after a combo gets going, and it suffers pretty badly to removal. And it isn't very interactive with the opponents' boards aside from one-sided board wipes. Bbbbbbuuuuuuuttttttt this deck can just explode out of basically nowhere if given the opportunity!

Date added	5 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 0 Mythic Rares 25 - 0 Rares 32 - 0 Uncommons 22 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.92
Tokens	Insect 1/1 G w/ Flying, Deathtouch
Folders	Arcades