“Bonds Are Fragile Things, Wont Break Under Strain.”
Art:Arcbound Shikari
by Campbell White
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Arcbound Shikari is a mean red-white counter machine! We are easily able to buff our creatures a ton and if Arcbound Shikari ever dies we also have there modular ability! Arcbound Shikari allows us to play an aggressive artifact strategy and allows us to make big swings with only a few mana and a few ETB’s and Re-ETB’s on Arcbound Shikari! We do have the typical weaknesses that most Boros strategies have but we also have a ton of strengths that can help us get the advantage over our opponents!
The Deck:
Arcbound Shikari Artifact Blink
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Why Arcbound Shikari?
The main reason we chose Arcbound Shikari is that there ETB covers our entire creature package so when the ETB for the first time or we blink them we can buff our entire board which makes our board get out of hand very quickly! Combine that with the fact that a lot of our creatures are modular and we can play through a lot of single target removal and get the benefits out of it! Arcbound Shikari can be cast pretty early on turn 3 but we almost never cast him till we have a substantial board. They can be game and combat warping when Shikari comes out!
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck!
Creatures:
This may come as a surprise but there is a ton of artifact creatures in this deck! Some of our best include cards like Arcbound Mouser
, Chrome Steed
and Hovermyr
all of these are strong early threats that are pretty decent even before we get a couple Shikari triggers! Arguably the best two creatures in our deck are Ingenious Artillerist
and Reckless Fireweaver
which are both absolute damage machines, with this out we can easily threaten our opponents life total! We also have some big creatures that come down early like Razor Golem
, Myr Enforcer
and Sojourner's Companion
all of tehse are really strong late game creatures that we can play super early! We also have a few creature who are psuedo-blinks since we can bounce Shikari to our hand like Kor Skyfisher
, Whitemane Lion
and Ancestral Statue
.
Instants:
Our instant package is where nearly all of our blink effects live with sweet cards like Cloudshift
, Ephemerate
and Acrobatic Maneuver
all of these are going to be used to either protect a creature or re-ETB Arcbound Shikari! Since Shikari puts a ton of counters on our creatures we have a few ways to proliferate and make our board even bigger like Unbounded Potential
and Volt Charge
which are cards with upside that also proliferate! We also have a decent amount of card draw like Big Score
and Unexpected Windfall
. We also have some artifact based spells like Lens Flare
and Galvanic Blast
and Foundry Helix
which all care about artifacts and give strong benefits for not a ton of mana!
Sorceries:
We are in Boros so our card draw is limited so cards like Faithless Looting
are pretty much auto-includes in our deck. Mine Excavation
and Recommission
are both great ways to get our creatures back and a good way to fight back against prevalent single-target removal! Settle Beyond Reality
is a really cool card since we can blink Shikari or exile an opponents creature! Flame Slash
is another great sorcery speed way to kill an opponents creature!
Artifacts:
Since nearly all of our creatures are artifacts our artifact package is actually pretty small just consisting of mana like Arcane Signet
and Boros Signet
as well as Bonder's Ornament
which is a great card since it is commonly run in Pauper EDH and we can often get more than one card from it!
Enchantments:
We have a ton of creatures and in the case of Arcbound Shikari enters multiple times! So Impact Tremors
is a great way to get some extra damage in to our opponents! The only other enchantments we have are pieces of spot removal like Journey to Nowhere
, Pacifism
and Oblivion Ring
all of these are strong pieces of removal to take a permanent or creature completely out of the game!
Land Base:
We have a pretty simple land base as tends to be the case in Pauper EDH, since we dont need a ton of mana to cast our spells we can easily use cards like The Fair Basilica
or The Autonomous Furnace
to draw cards after we already have an established board! We are an artifact deck so we absolutely had to include Ancient Den
and Great Furnace
which both synergize with some of our cards that have affinity for artifacts!
Strengths of the Deck:
- Easy to win combat and buff our board enmass
- Arcbound Shikari can be blinked a bunch and further our board
- Decent amount of card draw
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Not a ton of interaction
- Overall very low cost of cards, can sometimes run out
- Weak to control strategies
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops in the deck. Our main win condition is through combat, Arcbound Shikari helps with this a ton since they buff every creature in the deck, combine this with the fact that a lot of our creatures have modular and artifact synergies and it is not hard for us to build a huge board and swing for the fences!
Conclusion:
In conclusion Arcbound Shikari is a really sweet commander who is a very powerful Boros commander, being boros we have access to a ton of blink effects to re-ETB and continue to pump our creatures. While this deck is by no means the most powerful in Pauper EDH it is a ton of fun to play and great for any pauper lovers! Hope you enjoyed this article and thank you so much for the support! Thank you for reading to the end!
