Arcades, the Strategist commander deck, 'cause the best offense is a good defense, right?
So the new Elder Dragon is fairly cheap to cast, 3/5 Flying/Vigilance. Everything else cares about Defenders. You draw a card whenever one ETB's under your control, and they can attack using their toughness. Such an interesting fellow. Let's look at what he's building...
The Defenders
Fortified Rampart & Glacial Wall - High toughness walls that drop early.
Wall of Frost - The king of Defenders. Freezes whoever it blocks and has a 7 toughness bottom to swing around.
Hover Barrier & Angelic Wall - Walls with wings. Not only to block opposing flyers, but to be opposing flyers as well.
Amaranthine Wall - Costs generic mana for a 6 toughness that can become indestructible at the cost of . Welcome aboard.
Perimeter Captain - 0/4 that's letting you gain 2 life whenever your Defenders do their defending job.
Stalwart Shield-Bearers - Buffs up their fellow defenders 0/+2, so how can he not be here?
Mnemonic Wall - ETB's one of your Instant/Sorcery spells from the grave, which can be very useful.
Wall of Denial - Probably Arcades' most dangerous wall. 8 toughness that flies with Shroud. Good luck getting rid of him, my foes.
Axebane Guardian and Overgrown Battlement - Ramping Defenders.
Consulate Skygate and Wall of Tanglecord - Defenders with Reach (or the capability to have it).
Dragon's Eye Sentry - 1/3 First Strike Defender for . Has the possibility to cause harm when blocking before we set up, but then uses that toughness for its First Strike.
Geist of the Archives - While sitting around waiting to defend your fortress, he Scry 1 during your upkeep. Makes sure you don't draw something ya don't really need now.
Wakestone Gargoyle - A Defender with Flying and 3/4 stats, so it could actually hurt people. But its activated ability allows our Defenders to attack. Though we'd need them doing so with their toughness, so a last resort ability.
Colossus of Akros - The Big Boss Defender. Indestructible on a 10/10 we have the power to actually attack with before we even make him Monstrous. Yes please.
Manor Gargoyle - Basically Colossus of Akros's little brother. Block everything, shouldn't need to risk his Indestructibility to make him fly with all the effects we got going around. Plus I like him.
Doorkeeper - Do a little milling on your spare time.
Tree of Redemption - 13 toughness. And that's if we don't do any life-switching shenanigans. Possibly one of our greatest defenders.
Wall of Blossoms, Wall of Omens, & Jungle Barrier - ETB draw a card. With our Commander out, that's two cards. Not bad.
Gatecreeper Vine - ETB to grab one of the three Gates, so replaces itself by itself and can mana fix.
Jaddi Offshoot - A one-drop that Landfalls some life for ya.
Guard Gomazoa - Unkillable in battle. Fog Bank is the discount version.
Soulsworn Jury - They better not cast a creature you don't want if you have the mana available to have the Jury condemn it.
Toughness Matters
Assault Formation - To back up our Commander in case he's not out while also letting him use his 5 toughness to fight with. Also can boost toughness on the team if needed and allow them to attack. Basically made for this deck.
Belligerent Brontodon - Partial-Walking Assault Formation for redundancy and being a big pal in general.
Zetalpa, Primal Dawn - Key Word Soup. Now imagine being able to use that 8 toughness... Oh baby...
Oathsworn Giant - Has Vigilance himself while granting everyone else it as well as 0/+2. Good boy.
Builder's Blessing - Gives all our untapped creatures 0/+2, hopefully also granting them Vigilance so that they'll hit harder. At least they'll block meaner. And it's got some flavor on it so.
Angelic Chorus - May as well get some life to help us continue in the game. A nice chunk of life ;D
Leyline of Vitality - Hey, maybe it'll come out for free. Otherwise granting your sqaud 0/+1 and gaining you a life whenever anyone ETB's under your control.
Spidersilk Armor - Don't let anyone try to fly over your squad, who are also boosted 0/+1.
Hold the Gates - This card came out of nowhere for me. Grants everyone Vigilance as well as 0/+1 for each Gate you control. So an excuse to use those budget lands as dual lands. Live the dream of all three Gates being out with this card.
Tower Defense - With the right set-up, this could end the game for at least one of your foes.
Accorder's Shield - Costs nothing to cast and grants the wearer Vigilance and 0/+3.
Slagwurm Armor - 0/+6 armor that costs to cast and to put on. But man, what the boost bro.
Warmonger's Chariot - A simple +2/+2 boost, but lets Defenders wearing it attack. Sure.
Dragon Throne of Tarkir - Now, this is one I'm very interested in. Put it on our Commander or someone like Belligerent Brontodon to let them gain our Commander's benefits. Or, at the very least, some sort of boost to our attackers with some sprinkled in Trample. Looking forward to see this play out.
Additional Battlements
Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, & Sphere of Safety - While your Defenders are tapped (from not having Vigilance), you can have a heavy tax invaders must pay to breach your perimeter. And we have a decent amount of Enchantments for the Sphere to count on.
Brave the Sands - Grants Vigilance and the ability to block 2 attackers, which many of these high-toughness fellows can handle.
Quest for Renewal - Pseudo-Vigilance is Vigilance none-the-less. So if we don't get any of our Vigilance-enablers, this can do the job. Yes, four things will have to attack (or tap some other way), and your boys will be untapping with your foes. Doorkeeper is a fan of this.
Dusk, Fell the Mighty, Wave of Reckoning, & Slaughter the Strong - Our board wipes that are essentially one-sided. Plus the Aftermath of Dusk can retrieve many of our lost Defenders. Good thing we have Reliquary Tower.
Heroic Intervention - Save your squad.
Sphinx's Revelation - I mean, I had a copy collecting dust. Let's try to put it to use.
Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, & Pir's Whim - Mana Ramp, 'cause why else be part-? Plus Pir will make your foes toss away one of their enchantment/artifacts. So everyone is probably your Foe, so...
Sol Ring, Selesnya Signet, Azorius Signet, Simic Signet, & Commander's Sphere - Mana rocks. What else do I need to say?
Sylvan Reclamation - A personal favorite card. If you're in dire straights, trade it in for a basic land. If not, then exile two artifacts/enchantments that are bugging you.
*f-pre*
*f-pre*